AWmusic

The Silversun Pickups broke into the music scene in 2006 with ‘Lazy Eye’. Carnavas followed, filled with distorted guitars and Smashing Pumpkins-esque melodies. The Los Angeles band’s second album, Swoon, doesn’t stray far from what worked three years ago. The songs are longer and a bit poppier, but for the most part, it’s still the same fuzzy sound and unisex vocals we all know and (hopefully) love.

The signature SSPU sound brings both good news and bad news to Swoon. The good news: you can fall asleep to it. The bad news: you can fall asleep to it. What I mean by that is The Silversun Pickups are a laid-back band. They do a great job with the distorted guitars and building melodies. But sometimes I find myself wishing they’d lose the distortion and try something new. I feel like SSPU has the musical talent to branch out. The closest they come to trying something different on Swoon is one of my favorite tracks, ‘Catch & Release’. Well, it’s a start. Maybe their second album is too soon to hope for that, but hey, a guy can dream.

All the tracks on Swoon are pretty long; not a single one is under four minutes. Thankfully, SSPU do a great job of providing variety within songs. The tunes don’t just revolve around a single hook and chorus; on some songs, it actually seems like the only part of the song staying constant are the vocals. The band does a great job of keeping the songs interesting in this way, but they also make sure they don’t get scattered or disjointed. The variety works within the song, keeping it interesting without getting eccentric.

Because of all the variety within the tracks, it’s sometimes hard to tell when one song ends and the next begins. On a ten-track album where each track sounds like two or three individual songs meshed together, it’s hard to pick favorites. But after constant re-listening and an accidental foray into their old EP, I think I have a pretty good idea of which ones I like, besides the aforementioned ‘Catch & Release’. My immediate favorite was the opening track, ‘There’s No Secrets This Year’. It starts out fast and gets even faster. I’m not sure how, but SSPU manage to make even a breakneck tempo seem laid back. Their first single, ‘Panic Switch’ is one of their louder ones, and also one of the more complex. Instead of two or three, it sounds like the band took around five different songs and just smashed them together. And it works.

The Silversun Pickups do a great job of sticking to what’s worked for them before on their sophomore effort Swoon. My only problem with it is that I think they’re capable of something different. Not necessarily better, just different. Swoon is a step in the right direction, and we’ll see where it takes them.

Check out SSPU on their website or on myspace.

Silversun Pickups – Catch & Release
Silversun Pickups – Panic Switch
Silversun Pickups – There’s No Secrets This Year

Saturday was day one of the festival, and as all of you know the Foo Fighters were the headlining band. For those of you who love them, they were fantastic, and for those who don’t I won’t say anything more.

Saturday though, I spent a lot of time wandering around the festival, going from stage to stage checking out some of the bigger acts and a bunch of the lesser known ones. I have to say that the biggest surprise of the day for me, was a little band called The Airborne Toxic Event or TATE as they shall be henceforth referred to as. They hit the main stage as the second act of the day, following a short set by Mark Robertson. Mark Robertson was OK, but the music of TATE was both easy to listen to and easy to rock out to at the same time. They seemed really grateful to be preforming there and deserved the applause they got from the small crowd, which was to be expected for the second band of the day. Definitely give them a listen if you haven’t already.

Sometime Around Midnight by The Airborne Toxic Event

Also on the main stage was MGMT and Against me! Who were more popular than the earlier bands, but did nothing terribly new, exciting or entertaining. For me, they were just what was to be expected. The last non-Foo Fighting act on the main stage was Bloc Party, and I found their show to be entertaining and filled with good music.

Helicopter by Bloc Party

I also got a chance to walk by the Oh Henry Stage, but there was nothing special there on Saturday. The second stage however, had too huge artists from the U.K. take the stage. The Fratellis and the Kooks played one of the most active sets of the day, really engaging the audience and making it fun. Especially for the drunk fans moshing in the front. That was Day one.

Before I move on to day two, I’d like to say that the festival was very well organized and they did their best to keep it clean and fun for everyone. My only complaint in that regard is the ferries, but that is to be expected when attending a concert on an island.

Moving on to day two. Oasis hadn’t been to town in four years, so the place was JAM PACKED to see them play. Much more people than day 1. This was a good day to stay mostly at the main stage because almost all of the acts there were great. Danko Jones definitely wins the award for craziest performer, from having us giving the middle finger to the sun to his rant about how his band wasn’t family friendly. Very entertaining guy. The Weakerthans, a Winnipeg band definitely stole the afternoon part of the show. They had almost a cult following and the music was fantastic.

One Great City by The Weakerthans

Also great on the main stage were the Silversun Pickups. The Stereophonics had pretty standard music, and nothing really set them apart from anyone.

Then came my personal favourite part of the day, and that was getting to see Shad. Shad is a rapper from London, not far from Toronto and it showed. There were more people there to see him on the small stage than there were at the second stage at the time. Shad looked nothing like your typical rapper and his lyrics were completely refreshing. His overall performance was the highlight of my day and getting to hang out with him after his show was really great, down to earth guy.

Now A Daze by Shad

Paul Weller put on a good show as the last band before Oasis. Oasis was definitely interesting, when the fan jumped onto the stage it was the stupidest thing ever. He did however get his ass kicked by Liam Gallagher, and I did see a video of it. It was pretty fun. He deserved everything he got, idiot nearly ruined the concert for everyone there.

All in all a fantastic weekend. The usual overpriced crappy food, accompanied by some great music, and some less than great music.

To finish off, I leave you with a final thought,
Do Bananas Float? (Editor’s note: I think Zack is a strange one. Agreed?)

More photos after the jump!
(more…)

The first song off the album, Melatonin, displays the fusion of vocals that really impressed me throughout the album. Aubert, although retaining a softer sound in this song, will often have hints of aggression in songs such as Lazy Eye. Lazy Eye is my favourite song off the album because it has a really catchy guitar riff, that really stands out from their more conservative songs. However from start to finish, every song on Carnavas has the Silversun Pickups trademark sound, which makes for an excellent listen. I would definitely recommend this album to any indie rock fan, or any fan of rock in general.

Here are my two favourite songs:

Silversun Pickups – Melatonin

Silversun Pickups – Lazy Eye