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By Rudy Klapper, February 18, 2010 12:00 pm

Shout Out Louds – Work

Merge Records 2010

Rating: 6/10

Whether it’s their effervescent boy-girl harmonies, lead singer Adam Olenius’ Robert Smith via Sweden accent, or merely their completely innocent, inoffensive image, Stockholm five-piece Shout Out Louds have never really been able to differentiate themselves from the wave of indie-pop bands seemingly pouring out of the Great White North since ABBA. Even after their second album, 2007’s wonderfully multicolored Our Ill Wills, the band was continually relegated to One Tree Hill-background status, while arguably less-talented bands like Peter Bjorn & John hit the mainstream with some nifty whistling. Work, then, seems like a middle finger to the rest of the industry that has largely ignored them, its laughably serious cover and simplistic title a brazen sign to the world that they’re here to work, by God! It’s stripped down and remarkably focused compared to their previous two efforts, and producer Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, the Shins) brings out the indie big guns. It’s unfortunate, however, that it’s this single-minded directive that turns Work into a bit of a regression of their sound.

Our Ill Wills was a wildly sprawling affair, one that dabbled in South American bossa nova as often as it cribbed from ‘80s new wave, but it was the band’s undeniable heart and Olenius’ often emotionally bare performances that made it one of the finest examples of Northern indie pop. Here, nostalgic opener “1999” sets things up perfectly for a dynamite sequel, with its verses mourning “how can I forget the nights we killed / every summer night / you know the sun never sets around here / that is what we wake for up here” while Bebban Stenborg’s lovely soprano colors in the borders and a yearning guitar line completes the sepia-toned picture. But follow-up “Fall Hard” is an immediate letdown, rote Cure-ish synth-rock with an admittedly money chorus that still lacks that certain emotional punch, that red-blooded fire that makes “1999” hit so hard and what made their last record so affecting. It’s a problem that continues in first single “Walls,” where the muted climax makes the slow buildup that preceded it completely lifeless. Frankly disturbing, actually, is that more than a few of the songs here take the titular noun to heart a bit too much, mid tempo slush like “Four by Four” or the aimless atmospherics of “Candle Burned Out” missing that indefinable passion; missing any sort of authentic feeling, really.

It’s these half-hearted attempts that make the successes on Work so striking when they do hit the mark. Songs like “Play The Game” and the hypnotic “Moon” are veritable Shout Out Louds classics, taking the slow burn idiom that they mastered on Our Ill Wills and elevating them, whether it be with ethereal guitar melodies, the haunting addition of strings, or Olenius’ on-the-verge-of-a-breakdown intimacy. Just as effective is the rave-up of “Show Me Something New,” which harkens back to their high-octane debut, or the riveting, anthemic “Throwing Stones,” where the band actually sounds happy to be living the dream and not so damn heartbroken. It’s these kinds of songs that make it seem near criminal that Shout Out Louds were never able to achieve the sort of exposure of a PB & J or even the Hives, and matches up the best aspects of the group’s sound: namely, swooning, sugary melodies via synths and guitar and Olenius’ distinctive, confidential vocal style.

And then the album closes out with a shimmering mess like “Too Late, Too Slow,” a jumble of fuzz and whispery vocals that never really rises above its self-created muddle, and you wonder what happened to the balls-out band of the past. Work is not a bad album by any measure, and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable experience for any fans of the genre. But as the third album for a band that seemed to be destined to make the jump from merely great to one of the landmark acts, it’s a definite step back, one that seems content to work within the boundaries of its influences and journey out only for the occasional track. In other words, it too often sounds like just work for the sake of Work.

Shout Out Louds – “Fall Hard”

See larger image Work (Audio CD) List Price: $14.98 USD New From: $8.43 In Stock Used from: $3.59 In Stock Release date February 23, 2010.

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By Rudy Klapper, July 15, 2008 12:00 pm

The Hives – Black and White Album

A&M/Octone 2007

Rating: 8/10

Original Release Date: 10/13/07

Remember mainstream rock radio in 2001? Bands that were about as groundbreaking as a Nickelodeon cartoon held the top positions, such artistic visionaries as Creed, Puddle of Mudd, Lifehouse, and the last gasp of nu-metal, Linkin’ Park.

Then something strange happened. Something fresh started popping up on the radio, heralded by a number of plural-noun bands such as the Strokes and the White Stripes, something the music press dubbed the “garage-rock revival.”

At the forefront of this new rock was Sweden’s The Hives, bursting out of the frozen north in matching black-and-white suits and ties and ridiculous stage names. Singer “Howlin’” Pelle Almqvist made the band’s live shows legendary with his crowd-surfing antics, and the band’s breakthrough, Your New Favourite Band, gave them major-label backing.

Two albums later and six years later, The Hives return to the States with The Black and White Album, a record that maintains the raucous punk spirit of their earlier albums while showing a novel musical direction that saves the album from repeating the trends of its predecessors.

Opener and first single “Tick Tick Boom” opens with a distinctive pulsating guitar line and Almqvist’s trademark yell, a typical Hives song opening up what at first seems to be a typical Hives album. Complete with back-and-forth backup shouts and a fist-pumping chorus, the track is intensely enjoyable, but it is nothing a Hives fan wouldn’t expect.

The album starts to veer off into uncharted territory around the Pharrell Williams-produced “Well Allright!,” a bouncy, swing-flavored rave-up that manages to sound fresh without completely redefining the band’s sound.

“A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors” is perhaps the oddest addition to the Hives discography, an instrumental interlude halfway through the album solely featuring a drum machine and what sounds like a B-horror movie ‘50s soundtrack. Although initially interesting, it fails to evolve much beyond a creepy melody.

The album ends with the one-two punch of “Puppet On A String” and “Bigger Hole To Fill,” both typing up the record’s creative loose ends. “Puppet On A String,” currently being featured on the Cartoon Network, utilizes only piano and handclaps and Almqvist’s nonsensical lyrics (“got your education from just hanging around / you got your brain from a hole in the ground”) to solidify the Hives’ acceptance of experimentation.

“Bigger Hole to Fill” ends the collection on a triumphant note, producing yet another catchy chorus anchored by a jagged guitar line and a simple rock beat and serving to assure the listener that the Hives won’t be abandoning their trademark sound anytime soon.

While The Black and White Album proves that sometimes some adventurous tinkering produces some intriguing new possibilities, it also affirms that if it isn’t broken, it doesn’t have to be fixed.