Two Hours Traffic – Little Jabs
With the recent announcement of the Polaris Music Prize shortlist, I decided to review the other albums I have yet to review. The first band to become victim to my heinous crimes against the English language is Two Hours Traffic’s Little Jab.Two Hours Traffic is an indie rock band out of Charlottletown, PEI the only band I know of now that is from that little island. They released Little Jabs on July 24th of 2007 and got great reviews when they actually received some press.
Two Hours Traffic have a brand of original powerpop/pop and if you tend to follow my tendencies, I usually have a bias for independent pop bands. I’m really trying to be much more critical in that aspect but some bands make it impossible. I think Two Hours Traffic are in that latter category.
I actually had no idea what to expect, even if pop seems to be my thing, it doesn’t work sometime and luckily I was given their album upon their shortlisting nomination. Thanks KillBeat Music.
It starts off great with Nighthawk which feels like an epic 5-minute song with all the strange editions. You could argue that its straightforward pop but all of the random elements allow it to rise to the occasion.
The next track, Advances displays almost the same formula but it is just incredibly catchy, with the chorus “no advances, just romances, if I’m smart I’ll take my chances on you” embedded in my head.
Stuck for Summer has my favorite intro on the album. It’s almost hard not to dance around to. In this song, Two Hours Traffic take a jab at themselves by singing “I will let you sing my song if you can relate, let you get the lyrics wrongs, they’re not that great”. This track is just addicting with their riff and also another catchy little number. They seem to have these moments where they aren’t necessarily structured but they do have quite a bit of repetitive lyrics.
Heroes of the Sidewalk show off great vocals but with those catchy lyrics once again. The next track “Jezebel” is of the same reverb, simplicity in music but with outstanding vocals and lyrics by Liam Corcoran.
My favorite song on the album is Backseat Sweetheart, probably because it has that mark of powerpop the raging keyboard intro. I think its about a one-night stand that you don’t want to let go of but I could be wrong. It’s the most catchy song on the album.
I’m giving up the song by song review at this point. It’s getting tiresome to say this track is great over and over. The whole album is excellent. Pop at its best.
Out of the 7 of 10 albums on the short list that I’ve had a chance to listen to, this one is the best! Here are my rankings:
1. Two Hours Traffic – Little Jabs
2. Black Mountain – Into The Future
3. Holy Fuck – LP
4. Caribou – Andorra
5. The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour
6. Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue
7. Stars – In Our Bedroom After The War
This album is a great summer album, so I was glad to review it when July has gone underway.
Rating: 4.75 out of 5.
A great album, I missed out on and I’m glad I found it now rather then not at all.
Read Herohill’s review that was done last year. I guess music reviews are timeless?
Stuck For The Summer by Two Hours Traffic
Backseat Sweetheart by Two Hours Traffic
You haven’t heard Basia or Shad? … London is not impressed…
these are, in my opinion – although I’m a pretty big homer, the two best albums that made the cut.