| Riot!: *1/2 |
Less like a riot and more like a sullen refusal to do their homework,
teenage punk-pop phenom Paramore's second LP is a pretty dismal
affair. The kids aren't terrible musicians, but there's not hint of
inspiration or even goofy fun in the songwriting and all the riffing is
pedestrian bullshit you've suffered through a thousand times before.
Let's slog through this mess.
For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic - The lyrics are pretty generic
teen angst but the music's not bad. Josh Farro lays down some
jagged, brittle guitar riffs and singer Hayley Williams belts out the
lyrics with genuine ferocity. Not a bad sample of punk-pop. There,
that's the nicest stuff you'll hear me say about Paramore.
That's What You Get - Too much Avril Lavigne, not enough Black
Flag. It's slick and polished and that's pretty much the problem. It
sounds like Paramore's trying so hard to create something radio
friendly that they're afraid to leave the rough edges in.
Hallelujah - This one fares a little better. Bassist Jeremy Davis and
drummer Zac Farro lay down a nice sludgy beat and Josh Farro turns
in some decently stinging guitar work. It's no classic, but it's listenable.
Misery Business - Pretty flaccid. Josh Farro's lead-in riff is dull and
then we seque into generic alt rock guitar crunching. Williams
performs with conviction but the underlying material was to listless to
get a rise out of The Lemur.
When It Rains - Paramore mellows out for this tune which proves to
be a fatal mistake. It's devoid of any attitude that could've made it
interesting and ends up becoming an example of slick, soulless
pop-rock that could be a major hit on a Clear Channel station.
Let the Flames Begin - Is that a straight line? This one is almost as
boring as When It Rains and even more maudlin. Coming soon to a
mall near you.
Miracle - Better than the last two, but it's still strictly routine. There's
some moderately energetic punk riffing that still fails to gear up into
something explosive. This one clocks in as slickly produced ear
candy that's okay, but only okay.
Crushcrushcrush - Sounds like an outtake that Letters To Cleo was
too embarrassed to put on one of their discs. Twelve year olds might
find these recycled riffs hardcore but if they do, they should
immediately be put on an audio diet of Husker Du.
We Are Broken - I'd say that's a pretty honest assessment of this
band. This is the Paramore piano ballad. Yark. If you want something
edgier, try Ashlee Simpson.
Fences - This tune's got jitterbug and jive to go along with the power
riffing and it's actually a decent song. Paramoer finally tries something
interesting with the music and the rhythm section does a good job
with the jazzy beats.
Born For This - Would-be punk-pop anthem that's loud and fast, but
still too derivative of better acts to be really interesting. Besides, Josh
Farro's routine of alternating between hard and fast riffing and
staccato guitar noises on the verses has gotten really old.
Misery Business (Acoustic Version) - This wasn't a very good song to
begin with; producing an even more pussy whipped version of it was
a bad idea gone wrong.
My Hero - You kids need to apologize to Dave Grohl RIGHT NOW.
It's not completely incompetant, but it's so formulaic that it'll put you
to sleep almost as quickly as a John Tesh disc. Paramore sounds way
too restrained for their own good; go batshit insane on your next
album, kids. You'll have more fun and so will your listeners.
-Maneating Lemur (8/26/07).
teenage punk-pop phenom Paramore's second LP is a pretty dismal
affair. The kids aren't terrible musicians, but there's not hint of
inspiration or even goofy fun in the songwriting and all the riffing is
pedestrian bullshit you've suffered through a thousand times before.
Let's slog through this mess.
For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic - The lyrics are pretty generic
teen angst but the music's not bad. Josh Farro lays down some
jagged, brittle guitar riffs and singer Hayley Williams belts out the
lyrics with genuine ferocity. Not a bad sample of punk-pop. There,
that's the nicest stuff you'll hear me say about Paramore.
That's What You Get - Too much Avril Lavigne, not enough Black
Flag. It's slick and polished and that's pretty much the problem. It
sounds like Paramore's trying so hard to create something radio
friendly that they're afraid to leave the rough edges in.
Hallelujah - This one fares a little better. Bassist Jeremy Davis and
drummer Zac Farro lay down a nice sludgy beat and Josh Farro turns
in some decently stinging guitar work. It's no classic, but it's listenable.
Misery Business - Pretty flaccid. Josh Farro's lead-in riff is dull and
then we seque into generic alt rock guitar crunching. Williams
performs with conviction but the underlying material was to listless to
get a rise out of The Lemur.
When It Rains - Paramore mellows out for this tune which proves to
be a fatal mistake. It's devoid of any attitude that could've made it
interesting and ends up becoming an example of slick, soulless
pop-rock that could be a major hit on a Clear Channel station.
Let the Flames Begin - Is that a straight line? This one is almost as
boring as When It Rains and even more maudlin. Coming soon to a
mall near you.
Miracle - Better than the last two, but it's still strictly routine. There's
some moderately energetic punk riffing that still fails to gear up into
something explosive. This one clocks in as slickly produced ear
candy that's okay, but only okay.
Crushcrushcrush - Sounds like an outtake that Letters To Cleo was
too embarrassed to put on one of their discs. Twelve year olds might
find these recycled riffs hardcore but if they do, they should
immediately be put on an audio diet of Husker Du.
We Are Broken - I'd say that's a pretty honest assessment of this
band. This is the Paramore piano ballad. Yark. If you want something
edgier, try Ashlee Simpson.
Fences - This tune's got jitterbug and jive to go along with the power
riffing and it's actually a decent song. Paramoer finally tries something
interesting with the music and the rhythm section does a good job
with the jazzy beats.
Born For This - Would-be punk-pop anthem that's loud and fast, but
still too derivative of better acts to be really interesting. Besides, Josh
Farro's routine of alternating between hard and fast riffing and
staccato guitar noises on the verses has gotten really old.
Misery Business (Acoustic Version) - This wasn't a very good song to
begin with; producing an even more pussy whipped version of it was
a bad idea gone wrong.
My Hero - You kids need to apologize to Dave Grohl RIGHT NOW.
It's not completely incompetant, but it's so formulaic that it'll put you
to sleep almost as quickly as a John Tesh disc. Paramore sounds way
too restrained for their own good; go batshit insane on your next
album, kids. You'll have more fun and so will your listeners.
-Maneating Lemur (8/26/07).
| 2008 Grammy Award nominees for best new artist. I think that we can safely assume that the members of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences are utter fucktards. |
