The Heavy Pets - The Heavy Pets

The Heavy Pets - The Heavy Pets
2010, 102 Degrees Productions

Fort Lauderdale, Florida's The Heavy Pets are stylistic chameleons, blending sounds and styles seemingly without thought. The band seems to have an innate melodic sensibility that allows almost anything to work for them, a characteristic abundantly display on The Heavy Pets, the band's self-titled third album. Sounding like something a jam session between Supertramp, Train and John Mayer, "Drenched" kicks off the album in fine style with a funky feel and soulful vocals. The song is catchy and laid back all at once; a monologue from a man trapped in sadness but seeing the light in a particular lady. It's a great opening track and likely single. "Girl You Make Me Stupid" features a rapid-fire vocal/lyrical style and is highly danceable with a hip-hop feel. It's a look at the inept feeling of being a fool in love and explores how it carries over once the relationship has passed away.

For those familiar with Canadian rockers Max Webster, you'll swear "How Would I" has to be a cover of some undisclosed tune. We assure it's an original, but the guitar work sounds a lot like Kim Mitchell riffing on a theme. It's another highly catchy tune and the vocal harmonies here are outstanding. From here the 1970's take over for "Grace Blix" and "Jackie Bones"; the former an off-beat ballad and the later a guitar oriented classic rock tune that makes for a solid album track. "Lazy Anna" gets stuck in its own monotony, playing like a rap tune with rhythmic and a-melodic vocals on the verses. Things even out for the rest of the album somewhere at the midline. Over the final six songs The Heavy Pets move through solid classic-rock oriented musical blends that are enjoyable listens but don't have the vitality of the first three tracks. "No More Time" stands out here for its pleasant reggae/rock/Americana blend, and "Ichabod Train" makes a nice closer with its folky feel.

The Heavy Pets put in a solid effort on their self-titled album. The only problem is more one of perception. The Heavy Pets starts out so strongly that the rest of the album is something of a letdown by comparison. To be fair, much of this album will likely play better live than in the studio, and perhaps some of the letdown referenced above should be laid at the foot of the production board. It's clear that The Heavy Pets have a knack for writing dynamic and listenable rock music; this is a band to keep your eyes on.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about The Heavy Pets at http://www.theheavypets.com/ or www.myspace.com/theheavypets.  The Heavy Pets is available in multiple formats from the band's webstore.  Downloads are available from Amazon.com and iTunes.

Review: Evil Farm Children - Evil Farm Children II: The Evilling

Evil Farm Children – Evil Farm Children II: The Evilling
2008, Dad’s Favourite Records

When Evil Farm Children step on stage it’s like introducing alcohol to a party, literally anything can happen. The Ottawa, Ontario, Canada power trio segue from Punk to Surf to Metal to Americana like runway models change their outfits and nothing ever sounds out of place. Dave Kerr (DeadBeatDads, WizzleTeeth) plays guitar and sings on most tracks, while Janice Fitzsimmons (The Ambassadors, Revv Engine) plays bass and sings; Jeb Bond (The Restless Virgins, Screaming Bamboo, Fenton Brothers, Purple, Evil Knievel, Tall, Freudhammer) beats the skins and keeps Evil Farm Children on track. Any of the three members might be musically impressive, but when they come together as Evil Farm Children something special happens. 2008 saw the release of their second album, Evil Farm Children II: The Evilling, which raises the bar from their self-produced debut EP Knuckleduster. When playing live EFC has been known to cover such diverse artists as Dick Dale, Black Sabbath, Tom Waits, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn, Link Wray or Alice Cooper. Their original material is as unpredictable and fun to listen to. You’ll come to the conclusion that either they’re mad, or Evil Farm Children is a product of collective genius. We’re not ruling out either one.

The Evilling opens with Code Of Silence, a classic surf guitar rock song with a hint of rockabilly swing, like something from a Ventures session. Border Blaster follows a similar retro vein, getting back to Roots Rock N Roll in a classic party song. Booze Can is an interesting Garage/Punk/Surf hybrid that its feet firmly planted in the 1960’s. Much of the material here is fun to hear on CD but seems like it would be much more vibrant live. Valley Justice is interesting; written like a trail rider’s song to the slow beat of a plodding horse. The song has a dark and vaguely ominous quality with a bit of a “pulp fiction” sound to it. The highlight of the disc is the cover of Max Webster’s Hangover. While lead vocalist Dave Kerr isn’t quite as dynamic as Kim Mitchell, he manages to capture the gritty drunken essence of the song. Other songs of note are Knuckle Duster and Straight ‘N Narrow.

Evil Farm Children have a unique sound, call it punkabilly if you want; its close but not a complete description. I can’t say I was blown away by Evil Farm Children II: The Evilling, but it was a fun listen. I strongly suspect, from all that I’ve read about the band, that the live show is the thing here. Evil Farm Children did an excellent job of capturing a live sound on The Evilling, but the charisma of the live show is much harder to translate to a CD. Nevertheless, the songs presented here are bound to whet your appetite for more from Evil Farm Children.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Evil Farm Children at www.myspace.com/evilfarmchildren. You can purchase a copy of Evil Farm Children II: The Evilling at www.cdbaby.com/cd/evilfarmchildren.

Review: The Perms - Keeps You Up When You're Down

The Perms – Keeps You Up When You’re Down
2009, Hugtight Records

The Perms are a Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada alt-rock band with a distinct pop sensibility that endears them to fans. Like alt-rock gamers Weezer, or Canada’s own Sloan, The Perms suck you into their songs with bright, garish melodies and big hooks while feeding you lyrics with more than just a little intellectual bite. The perms 5th release, Keeps You Up When You’re Down hit shelves in early 2009. Pay attention now, this is a good one.

Keeps You Up When You're Down opens with Give Me All Your Lovin', a kinetic rock song with an arena-rock worthy chorus. The Perms manage a real rock song with distinct pop hooks and a strong commercial sense. As You were keeps that energy going in a slightly more laid back setting. The Perms pull out the big harmonies and classic hooks here and throughout the rest of the album for a sound that is retro yet modern. Running Away hits the Pop meter hard, coming across as one of the most highly commercial tracks on the disc. Lead vocalist Shane Smith has a comfortable voice that is a pleasure to hear; nearly familiar but not something you can name. This is the sort of music that makes you want to go to a show. The harmonies border on Beach Boys territory at times and the melodies make you want to sing along.

World To Me is an upbeat love song perfect for any modern rock mix tape. The sheen on this song is so bright, the melody so peppy and the hooks so big I can't see how this song doesn't get licensed many times over. This is a great "summer song" candidate; if it were twenty years ago World To Me would be a major pop/rock radio hit. Nightshift opens sounding a bit like Max Webster covering Footloose; a vibrant rock song with great drive. This is another potential hit for The Perms, but my favorite song on the disc is Things Left Unsaid. Other highlights include Who Are You Fooling, The Mess, Big Mistake and Salvation.

The Perms have a distinct pop sensibility and an ability to write highly consumable and memorable Pop/Rock gems. The use of complex harmonies and a strong team writing effort make Keeps You Up When You're Down one of the more memorable albums of the young year.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about The Perms at http://www.theperms.com/ or www.myspace.com/theperms. You can purchase a copy of Keeps You Up When You’re Down at www.cdbaby.com/cd/perms5, or you can download the album through iTunes.

Review: Chris Huff - Death And Texas

Chris Huff - Death And Texas
2008, Help Us Find Food Records

Chris Huff speaks/plays a musical patois that is unique in popular culture. He's played/sung classical piano, jazz bass, folk and rock guitar, a cappella, opera, gospel, bluegrass... you name it; he's done it. And it's all here. Death And Texas is the ultimate "gumbo", where styles blend and fold into one another until the differentiated ingredients give up their respective identities to some new musical identify that has yet to acquire a name.

Listening to the opening track, Hey Now Now, I couldn’t get the vocal similarities between Chris Huff and Peter Gabriel out of my head. Huff could be mistaken for Gabriel on the virtue of his voice. Granted Gabriel has never been known to play Matthew Wilder style pop-reggae, but it could happen. Huff sets us straight on Oceans Never Freeze, taking us on tour of his eclectic musical mind. The song veers from big Max Webster style alt-punk to classic rock opus with some Beach Boys harmonies and New Music dissonance thrown in for good measure. Ghosts Of The Past and Lost In The Mausoleum continue the disintegration into post-modern sound. Each song starts with clear melody and slowly devolves to the point of sounds overlaying one another at random.

My personal favorite here is For The Trees, a dark and dirty blues/reggae hybrid. While For The Trees generally avoids the sonic cavalcade of sounds that become some of its countrymen, the Lo-Fi sound here is a perfect complement to the song itself. Neighborhood (Ain’t It Time) harkens back to the 1960’s as a strong period song. Then We’re Dead is fun little punker where Huff sounds vaguely like Ian Anderson on vocals. The album closes out with The Cause, which may be the most well-written song on the CD.

Chris Huff has some interesting divergences on his way to becoming a good songwriter. He has a strong sense of melody and song construction but is also enamored with musical deconstructionism a bit. Death And Texas is a fun listen; at times confounding, but ultimately worth the trip.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Chris Huff at http://www.huffmusic.com/, where you can purchase a copy of Death And Texas.