Illustration by Louise Leong.

“Era Extraña” can be translated from Spanish to English as “Strange Era.” Musically, it does mark a new era for Neon Indian, one in which you can actually discern what the lyrics are saying 60 percent of the time, but for all of its washed out ‘80s pop aspirations, “Era Extraña” falls short of maturing, languishing in a navel-gazing, adolescent arrested development.

“Era Extraña” was released Sept. 13 on Neon Indian frontman Alan Palomo’s Static Tongues label. Neon Indian’s first album, “Psychic Chasms,” is a fresh “chill wave” soundscape of vintage synth and driving beats. The tracks feel cohesive but individual. In comparison, even though “Era Extraña” uses the same synths and beats, the album feels self-conscious and needy: Tracks blur together, and the vocals are no longer strange and sympathetic, but merely a disoriented, bass-y “Breakfast Club” throwback.

However, “Era Extraña” achieves a different kind of success. It serves as a spot-on musical analogy for the contemporary youth culture. Not quite innovative or fresh, not a completely pedestrian pop ‘80s throwback, “Era Extraña” struggles to find its own voice.

In the barrage of synths and melancholy vocals, there is a reflection of the hazy uncertainty our youth is entering. With economic, political and environmental uncertainty coming at you at the speed of social media, Neon Indian’s wall of sound overwhelms you to the point of acceptance while the persistent drum machine drives you on.

The sound traps you in a mental state that is aimless and deadline-less, like our Indian summer.

Tracks like “Hex Girlfriend” express disillusionment, with lyrics like, “Sullen sights always indirect/Tired eyes hypnotized by your teenage sect/Weekend rituals resurrecting/Feelings our sober minds reject” and a chorus that asks the question we’re all resistant to ask ourselves: “Does it make you, does it make you feel alright?/Did they make you, did they make you feel alright?”

The pop-y single “Polish Girl” sticks in your teeth like cotton candy and leaves you with the same saliva-mouthed, empty-stomached feeling that brings you back for more, searching for the substantive element and ultimately finding it in its impracticality.

Warbling distortion on title track ballad-anthem “Era Extraña” and dark themes on “The Blindside Kiss” (suicide? Social anxiety? Social suicide?) round out “Era Extraña” to be a more contemplative and emotional album.

Historically, sophomore albums tend to be hard, especially on the heels of a success like “Psychic Chasms.” If “Era Extraña” isn’t for you, don’t despair — check back in a year or two.

Take a listen. Keep pretending it’s summer. It may resonate with a deep, unaddressed, apathetic longing, or it may end up feeling like a drunken and dateless prom night, complete with paper stars brittle with glass glitter.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

“Helplessness Blues”
Fleet Foxes Album Review

The Fleet Foxes are enjoyable on such a basic level. Their music is like a picnic on a lush field during a sunny day. It’s like taking Prozac and going to the aquarium. Lighthearted but ambitious, full-bodied melodies rise out of their instruments and gently caress your ears and mind. Their most recent release, “Helplessness Blues,” mirrors the beauty and wonder of their 2008 self-titled album and their “Sun Giant” EP from the same year, delivering everything their fans have come to know and love while still managing to include a few new surprises.

The monotonous optimism of the Fleet Foxes’ early efforts has disappeared, now replaced with an ever-so-slightly darker

worldview. The band has become more honest and inquisitive on this album, openly exploring concepts like age and death. But this change just serves to highlight the Fleet Foxes’ considerable talent, as they tackle the complexity of the subject material with wisdom and thoughtful contemplation. On the record’s second track, “Bedouin Dress,” the band muses, “If to borrow is to take and not return, I have borrowed all my lonesome life… The borrower’s debt is the only regret of my youth.”

In a way, the album divides itself in half, with all its questions and concerns answered through the sixth song and title track, “Helplessness Blues.” After closely examining their role and place in the world through songs like “Lorelai” and “Battery Kinzie,” the band declares on the title track, “I don’t know who to believe. I’ll get back to you someday soon, you will see,” before finally settling on a direction to follow and a dream to pursue. However, despite this triumphant conclusion, the album is at its best during its darkest songs.

Instant classics like the album opener “Montezuma” and the sprawling epic “The Shrine/An Argument” are hardly heartwarming, but by wrapping vivid descriptions in ambitious harmonies, the Fleet Foxes have successfully presented their topical range. On “Montezuma,” as the rest of the band hums in the background, lead singer Robin Pecknold displays his considerable vocal talent, belting, “Gold teeth and gold jewelry, every piece of your dowry. Throw them into the tomb with me.” Lines like these add a sense of mystery — and thus a welcome complexity ­— to “Helplessness Blues.”

At times, it is easy to compare the Fleet Foxes to Simon and Garfunkel or the Local Natives, but these comparisons can just as easily be dismissed. The Fleet Foxes, while occasionally employing a derivative sound, have again produced a unique and inspiring record. If you liked their previous releases, you’ll like “Helplessness Blues.”

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“Thor”
Film Review

Barring the gritty “Dark Knight” approach, comic book adaptations should be all balls and bluster, jumping from sex to explosions to comic relief. The good ones accomplish this, as a viewing of “Iron Man” proves, but “Thor” fails to deliver the goods — pun intended. The film makes obvious attempts to seem sexy, but never really succeeds, and considering “Thor” stars Chris Hemsworth as the title character and Natalie Portman as Thor’s love interest, Jane Foster, this is quite the damning fault.

Despite Hemsworth’s decent performance, Thor fails to become a likable character. The movie attempts to portray a tale of redemption, but after a moment of critical analysis it’s obvious that the main character is actually pretty douche-y. A race of individuals referred to as “Frost Giants” supposedly provides us the antagonists of the story, but how do we know the Frost Giants are evil? Well they’re ugly and kind of growl when they speak, but past those physical characteristics, “Thor” doesn’t really delve into the specifics. During one portion of the movie, after the Frost Giants attempt to reclaim a stolen artifact, Thor breaks a tenuous peace treaty by callously murdering a handful of Frost Giants and one ugly but lovable Frost Dog. Some hero.

Granted, Thor is banished from his homeland of Asgard for his actions, but that doesn’t seem to be much of a punishment, considering he promptly falls into the arms of Natalie Portman. The two have excellent chemistry, and the film doesn’t waste Portman’s acting talents, but it’s a bit unbelievable that viewers are supposed to accept Thor and Jane’s connection when the two characters share only a few minutes of screen time. Early on, the film indicates that it will progress the romance, but the time never came. Thor never seals the deal. Why under-utilize such attractive leads? This isn’t a Disney movie. It’s a Marvel Comics blockbuster.

Sadly, the action fails to distract from these pressing concerns. This isn’t necessarily the film’s fault, but the 3D was so poorly incorporated that it’s different happening onscreen every time the fighting began. Candy-colored blurs streaked by without leaving any real evidence of what was happening.

The good news about “Thor” is that it makes a great date movie. As the inevitable 3D-induced headache distracts you from the film, and after the poor picture quality causes you to give up on following the plot, all you’ll have left to do is piss off your fellow moviegoers and have a nice conversation with your romantic companion.

Illustration by Matt Boblet.

“Hanna”
Review by Hanna Toda

“I just missed your heart,” whispers a young, pale-blond, piercingly blue-eyed girl, leaning over and gazes into the eyes of the person she just killed.

Meet Hanna. She is a child-assassin trained by her father, an ex-CIA agent, to be the perfect killer for one mission. With a chillingly beautiful performance by Saoirse Ronan, director Joe Wright presents not just your average action movie, but a moving drama of humanity as Hanna leaves her isolated home in the forest to experience humanity for the first time in her life.

Hanna is by far the most frightening killer I have ever seen. With a doe-like innocence in her face and a lean, graceful body, she resembles a ballerina, ready to dance to Tchaikovsky. However, the minute she kills four men in a few swift moves, blood speckling her porcelain complexion, even the fiercest of black swans have nothing on her. The juxtaposition of her dangerous nature with her innocent façade is the movie’s ultimate weapon — it will leave you clinging to the edge of your seat, anxious to see what this little girl is capable of.

When Hanna first begins her mission, her cold, blank stare provides the intrigue. Breaking necks without a blink, Hanna resembles a robot, clearly defining the movie as an action film. However when Hanna, leaving her isolated training grounds, hears music for the first time and discovers what a kiss is, the movie turns from an action film to a drama. Hanna’s stoicism disappears, and the deeply embedded “adapt or die” motto slowly fades away.

The film impressively depicts not just the superficial shock factor of a child-killer, but also the psychological complexities of a young girl torn from a normal society. Similarly to Mary Shelley in “Frankenstein,” director Wright explores a fascinating concept of humanity, as Hanna discovers what it means to be human.

With an original score by The Chemical Brothers, the film’s whimsical music phenomenally complements both sides of Hanna’s personality — a young girl and a killer.

Although the film is a major production, the unique cinematography and camera angles echo the mood of an independent film.

This movie was surprisingly different from what I would have imagined. Supported by a star cast including the unsurprisingly suave Eric Bana as Erik and a beautifully manipulative Cate Blanchett as Marissa, this film is truly one-of-a-kind and a definite must-see before the string of terribly cheesy summer movies hits theaters.

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“Win Win”
Review by Mitchell Bates

Wrestling is relatively funny to watch, but that’s not the only thing that dramatic comedy “Win Win” — the newest offering from “Meet the Parents” director Thomas McCarthy — has to offer.

Paul Giamatti, known for his performance in the Academy Award-winning film “Sideways,” stars as struggling attorney and wrestling coach Mike Flaherty, while Amy Ryan, co-star of 2007’s “Gone Baby Gone,” plays his passionate and oblivious wife, Jackie. The two are surprisingly believable as a couple, but as I was sitting in the Del Mar Theatre scrutinizing “Win Win,” I found it incredibly difficult to shake the feeling that I was watching Holly Flax cheat on Michael Scott with Paul Giamatti. Despite this “Office” -induced confusion, the relationship between Mike and Jackie creates an excellent foundation for the film.

Mike accepts the responsibility of caring for an older client struggling with dementia, so that he can net a small monthly stipend. But he encounters problems when the man’s grandson suddenly comes to visit. The 16-year-old, played by Alex Shaffer in an incredible breakout performance, is fleeing from his drugged-out mother and her abusive ex-boyfriend. When the kid turns out to be a champion wrestler, Mike takes him in and puts him to work wrestling for his losing team. As assistant coaches, Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor provide excellent comic relief and are allowed enough character development during the film to successfully avoid falling into the typical roles of goofy and unsubstantiated sidekicks.

Life is improving for Mike, until his new star’s mother shows up to claim the stipend he received earlier in the movie. The conflicts that follow are relatively predictable and could have felt tedious, but instead they seemed genuinely emotional because of the excellent chemistry among Giamatti, Ryan and Shaffer.

While a very endearing film, the abrupt and unresolved ending of “Win Win” may leave some viewers unsatisfied. When the credits rolled, I couldn’t help but think, “This is it? They couldn’t have added one more scene?”

However, even considering its less than stellar finish, “Win Win” was a superb movie, equally funny and uplifting.

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“Nine Types of Light”
TV on the Radio album
Review by Mitchell Bates

TV on the Radio lead singer Tunde Adebimpe intones, “You threw your hands up and walked away, so it’s strange I should feel this way,” in “You,” one of the band’s new songs.

Though he is likely singing about an ex-lover, the lyrics are applicable to the band itself. After the group chose to go on hiatus in 2009, it might have been easy to forget about them, but I at least could not. For those of us who have truly missed TV on the Radio for the last year-and-a-half or so, the release of “Nine Types of Light” has been a long-anticipated event.

Considering the high expectations for this album, it’s perhaps a miracle that it doesn’t disappoint. “Nine Types of Light” demands attention from the first seconds of album opener “Second Song” and doesn’t let go until the record’s only uninspired track, “Killer Crane.” When compared to TV on the Radio’s previous albums, “Nine Types of Light” is perhaps more laid-back, but the change is enjoyable and helps to bring the gloss and refinement of Adebimpe’s vocals to the spotlight. However, they haven’t completely abandoned their edge, and tracks like “Caffeinated Consciousness” and “Repetition” serve as a helpful reminder that the band still knows how to write vivid and original rock songs.

When viewed through the concerns of the average UC Santa Cruz student — rising tuition, decreasing standards of education, an abysmal job market — the song “No Future Shock” registers as especially relevant. Backed by a catchy beat, Adebimpe commands, “Oh dance, don’t stop, do the no future, do the no future,” and it’s hard to ignore the correlations with last year’s graduate student commons occupation.

TV on the Radio’s most recent effort may not outshine 2006’s “Return to Cookie Mountain” or 2008’s “Dear Science,” but “Nine Types of Light” accompanies relaxation sessions perfectly. It’s smooth, sexy, smart and easy to like.

Lay down in the dark.

Press play.

Let the music become the world you inhabit.

This is the ideal way to listen to the newest trance-inducing album by Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox). “Tomboy” is a musical odyssey into expanses of inorganic sound, droning beats and washed-out vocals.

“Tomboy,” Panda Bear’s third album and April 11 release, is not as much a step away from his most recent solo album, “Person Pitch,” as a development. “Tomboy” carries over the chorused echo vocals and watercolor-washed sound, but adds to it an awareness of dubstep and a darker, nebulous sound.

This growth is evident in the song “Slow Motion.” The beat and bouncing, dub-y bass synth anchor the swooping and fluttering of unnamable noises — chimes? Kites? Mysterious beasts in the bushes? Though a bit over the top, the vocals stay synched simplistically with the beat, giving the ears a path to follow. The simplistic melodies and beats that serve as the focal point of “Tomboy” are the album’s greatest triumph. Without them, listeners would be lost in the woods.

Like its name implies, “Tomboy” is an album of dichotomies. It is unquestionably new music, taking advantage of the best in music technology, yet it has a nostalgic sound that ages it back to the Beach Boys in songs like “Surfer’s Hymn.” The song washes in as a grainy memory, as if you’re watching the seashore on Super 8, and culminates in a joyous frenzy of shakers, darting electric xylophone and a hymnal-sounding chorus.

While the surreal carnival of “Last Night at the Jetty” and the blood-pumping beat of the titular song “Tomboy” will most likely make it onto most listeners’ playlists, the quiet gem of the album is the eerie and contemplative “Scheherazade.” The piano and vocals on this track are the most organic elements on the album, and even they warp into rippled vibrato while ghostly chimes sound in the breath-like wind.

This is not a simple album. It can’t be quickly devoured. Savor its complex palette more with every listen. Preferably on nice speakers, and in chronological order.

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Illustration by Matt Boblet.

“Battle: Los Angeles”
Review by Mitchell Bates

Aaron Eckhart is easy to like. Perhaps it’s his boyish good looks, or maybe it’s his effortless charm. But, for an endearing actor who so memorably co-starred in the blockbuster “The Dark Knight,” this movie seems like a poor career move.

In “Battle: Los Angeles,” Eckhart stars as a grizzled marine staff sergeant forced to complete one more mission before his retirement. Eckhart lost men — good men — in past battles and struggles to earn the respect of his new platoon. Sound familiar? It probably should. Honestly, I could write a book on all the plot points “Battle: Los Angeles” has stolen from other movies.

After a strange meteor shower is revealed to be an alien invasion, Eckhart and his team of vaguely familiar B-list movie and television stars are assigned a mission to rescue civilians from a police station. Along the way, they meet Michelle Rodriguez of “Avatar” fame, who has again reprised her cross-movie role as, well, essentially just Michelle Rodriguez.

Unsurprisingly, this particular platoon of marines experiences unparalleled success during combat with the alien invaders, and eventually succeeds in destroying the aliens’ command center. What happens in between isn’t really important, but it involves a fair share of rigid, annoying dialogue and small-scale combat with various aliens.

The movie’s inexperienced director, Jonathan Liebesman, does have an eye for action sequences. But his decision to employ the ground-level, shaky, handheld camera approach to cinematography is too reminiscent of “Black Hawk Down” to make this film memorable.

I tend to like corny, over-the-top action movies, but “Battle: Los Angeles” is just another one of the rehashed, uninspired films that have recently plagued theaters. Four of my friends fell asleep during the movie, and I only toughed it out to write this review. If you’re going to see it at all, get really drunk first — it might make the experience a bit more bearable.

“Contra,” the latest album from Vampire Weekend, quickly became a hit after it was released January 11, 2010, and reached the number one spot on the Billboard 200. For good reason too — the upbeat dance sounds just invite listeners to cheer the fuck up and enjoy the sounds they’re hearing — something us students could use right now with all the negative UC vibes we’ve been dealing with.

The sounds of “Contra” differ relatively dramatically from those of their first self-titled album, “Vampire Weekend,” released in January of 2008. Their debut album was more indebted to punk and alternative influences, while “Contra” has a buoyant sound more similar to pop. In other words, I challenge you to listen to it without getting up and dancing like crazy.

The biggest hit and first single from the album, “Horchata,” makes college kids want to drop everything, hop in their ’91 Volvo station wagon, and road trip to Mexico. Or maybe that’s just me. Listening to this song since January has had me anticipating summer and everything it entails almost torturously. Vampire Weekend has somehow perfected the art of making listeners travel to far away, warm places with their lyrics.

Vampire Weekend is one of our generation’s ultimate college bands, with lead singer Ezra Koenig belting out the soundtrack to student’s lives. His unique voice and appealing lyrics turn any drunken — or hey, even sober — emotional college moment into a happy memory.

Another track from their latest album that sends me to distant, pleasant lands is “Holiday.” It’s impossible to stay in study mode when listening to this track during the school year. Whatever holiday you may think this song pertains to — Cinco de Mayo, 4/20 (that’s an official holiday now, right?), your birthday — it psyches you up and makes you ready to celebrate.

It’s undeniable that a lot of popular music these days sounds pretty similar and repetitive. In an age where Justin Bieber, the Black Eyed Peas and Miley Cyrus rule the charts, pop music clearly lacks a certain sense of originality. That’s what sets Vampire Weekend apart — we haven’t heard it before. “Contra” presents us with an array of sounds and styles that we don’t see very often. It is what I want my college experience to sound like. If you can listen to “Contra” without thinking of dancing in the sunshine, painting your face, sipping cool drinks, and sporting a sunburn and a Moleskine notebook in your hand, then I feel sorry for you.

Album art from Petrychor's EP, Dryad, available to listen to and download at petrychor.com.

It’s been cloudy around the campus lately, which makes the fact that I’ve been listening to Petrychor’s Dryad EP, a gem of a black metal album, all the more appropriate. Petrychor is a one-man band out of California shrouded in mystery; the sole member, simply known as “T” according to the band’s Myspace page, plays all the instruments. “T” recently put this EP up on his website, accepting donations from listeners willing to give. Not much else is known about the band except what is found on his website, which details the band’s goal and sound: “This is music for meditation, for frustration and anger, for beauty, and above all for communication. Petrychor seeks to expand on and enhance those focuses typically associated with black metal by staying open to outside influences.” It’s these influences that set this short DIY demo apart from the crowd.

The EP opens with the title track “Dryad (I Make My Home),” a 10-minute journey from rain-spattered windows to dissonant and distorted riffs, played as if cutting through the very fog I found myself surrounded by; haunting and unseen. There’s melody throughout the song, it’s just hidden beneath the screeches and banshee cries. Petrychor plays the typical tremolo picking style guitars with crashing cymbals and blast beats, but the guitar solos stand out for their melodies. The end of the song really keys in on the themes of melancholy and isolation found in black metal. Mysteriously beautiful, the atmosphere and acoustic sections of “Dryad” manage to resonate the most within the songs.

“Gamma Leonis” and “…of Salt and Sky” continue the EP’s intimate nature. “Gamma Leonis” opens with sparse piano, setting a tension that is quickly released with such aggression and passion and build-up that you would think that post-rock gods Mono were playing. “…of Salt and Sky” whisks the listener to the ocean, watching the ebb and tide of the water, nature, and even life; an acoustic guitar and twinkling piano play alongside the sea.

Dryad leaves you craving more, fitting in perfectly within the black metal genre. Containing only three songs and clocking in at 22 minutes, Dryad could be longer. However, the proceeds of this EP go toward the creation of a full-length album, which is already in the works according to Petrychor’s Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/petrychor). Despite this EP’s short length, it succeeds in making the listener crave more, and does so without sounding incomplete.

I would give Dryad 4 zombie babies out of 5.

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You can get the EP from http://www.petrychor.com. Also look for news on the full-length album currently in production.

“Messy, Isn’t It?” is Dangers’s second full-length album, and shows us a band who’s not afraid to do the little things needed to make their music more engaging. Now this isn’t a revolutionary release, but it is, to say the very least, a good one. It’s fun, it’s serious, it’s sarcastic, it’s vengeful, it’s angry. In essence it’s superior to most other bands that play hardcore music. Sometimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just show that it’s still relevant and interesting.

Dangers pull this off with haste and urgency, having songs ranging anywhere from forty-five seconds (“Saved by the Buoyancy of Citrus”), to the three minute closer (“The El Segundo Blue Butterfly Habitat Preserve”). They know how to play fast paced hardcore, but they aren’t afraid to bring down the tempo and pump up the passion.

It’s the little things in this album that really make it stand out. Take for example “Check, Please”, which spends its first 40 seconds thrashing about like a child mid tantrum, until it hits the breakdown at which point the tempo takes a moment to breathe, finding the bands lead singer belting in French.

It’s at this moment, when hearing the pleas of “Mademoiselle, s’il vous plait, please excuse all the flesh I once ate”, that you realize that even if you don’t speak or understand French, you just don’t care. In the end you find yourself belting those lines out at the same intensity regardless.

“Opposable” finds a single voice calling for the bass to start, introducing the hardcore fury that follows. You then hear vocalist Al Brown snarl “A primate with opposable thumbs, to hold the clubs, to shoot the guns”. Overall another slower tempo song, but this is when Dangers is easily at its most dangerous.

Then there’s “Cure for Cancer” and “Cure for AIDS”, the controversially titled duo that, upon listening, are complete opposites of one another.

During “Cure for Cancer” the band plays at some of their fastest, reflecting the quickness and ferocity with which cancer can strike.

The cure here lies in playing faster, louder, and getting all the impurities out with screams and yells.

While “Cure for AIDS” finds the band slowing it down again, here Dangers utilizes its sound to reflect the way in which AIDS slowly takes a hold of its victims.

From the beginning of the song we hear “You are going to die, your parents, your children, they’re all going to die, slow painful with a methadone drip”.

It’s safe to say that Dangers is not holding back. And while some may find this somewhat tasteless, I find that it makes the band more dynamic and mature for touching on such topics and refusing to back down.

There are countless little things about this band and their music that makes them standout. Even their interludes, “Messy, Isn’t it” and “(Love Poem)”, are engaging while giving the listener a breather.

The latter track is layered by monotone voices repeating over one another, “It’s so nice to wake up in the morning all alone and not have to tell somebody you love them, when you don’t love them anymore”.

A cynic’s delight, Danger’s “Messy, Isn’t It?” is as hardcore as it is smart and subtle, drawing you in and then tearing you apart. Can’t say I would have it any other way.

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Final Verdict: 4 zombie babies out of 5

With nothing overwhelmingly original, plenty of pop singles and albums utilized beats and Auto-Tune, the program used to digitally perfect a singer’s pitch, to work their way to the top. The following artists were some of the most listened-to last year.

Lady Gaga

One artist did show us a bit of something new, and people went “gaga” for it. In the past year, 23-year-old NYU Tisch School of the Arts graduate Lady Gaga quickly ascended the charts, releasing “The Fame” (October 2008) and “The Fame Monster” (November 2009).

In all honesty, she is bizarre. But that’s what sucks people in. People want to play her love game. Her songs might be no more than catchy dance tunes, but I don’t think I’m alone in admitting that they tend to find their way onto my party playlists.

Gaga is certainly a crowd favorite. She was nominated for a total of nine awards at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, winning Best New Artist and taking home both Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects for her single “Paparazzi.” Her audience is acknowledging her for bringing something new to the scene with her over-the-top artistic style.

A few weeks ago, I witnessed a two-year-old boy singing and dancing along to “Paparazzi.” Even if that is just an example of our culture, an artist with fans as young as two is big.

What Lady Gaga’s songs might lack in great musical originality, her persona and, most importantly, her music videos make up for. If you have yet to watch the “Bad Romance” video, do it. It’s weird, but there is no denying that it is art. Gaga is someone to watch out for.

Regardless of whether her sex-dance ballads portray great musical talent, there is more to come from Lady Gaga. And I think we can expect it to be interesting.

Taylor Swift

While Kanye West might not agree, Taylor Swift has quickly created a name for herself. Having broke out of her shell this past year, Swift has made even country-music-haters put her songs on repeat. Since her debut single “Tim McGraw” was released in 2006, she has continued to climb the charts.

At 20 years old, she’s been named 2009 Artist of the Year by Billboard, and has quickly become one of the most successful country music artists of all time — all with only two full album releases.

Maybe it’s her age, maybe it’s that the majority of her songs are teen love anthems, but the album’s success — her second album “Fearless” is the biggest selling of the year, regardless of its November 2008 — was the best online start for a country album in history.

However, can Taylor Swift’s songs really be called country music? Her first album, “Taylor Swift” (October 2006) did have a sound closer to that of her major influences like Shania Twain and LeeAnn Rimes. But when “Fearless” came out, we were presented with a more synthesized pop sound.

There are certainly acoustic tracks on the album, but the most successful are the tracks with a bit of a dance back-beat. And several of her songs have been remixed into true dance tracks. I’m not sure that can be said for many country artists.

At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift took home the award for Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me.” The video portrays Swift as a high-school band geek who goes to prom to tell the football-playing guy of her dreams that she loves him, complete with happy ending and all.

Maybe this ridiculous high-school fantasy appeals to girls that are pining for that same type of guy, or maybe it’s just appealing because it’s ridiculous. Either way, fans loved this video, and they love Taylor Swift.

Jay-Z

It is indisputable that Jay-Z is successful. Since his debut in 1996, he has released 11 studio albums, all of which have reached #1 on the Billboard charts. And his most recent, the highly anticipated “Blueprint 3” (September 2009), was anything but disapointing. And having nabbed the top spot for the 11th time, he is now the current record holder for most number of albums to reach #1 on the Billboard charts.

Of all of the mainstream “hip-hop” artists today — let’s be honest, for the most part they are pop artists — Jay-Z seems to keep his fan base interested. His work hasn’t transformed into Auto-Tuned pop beats along with the rest of mainstream hip-hop. In fact, his new album features a track entitled “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” in which he addresses the state of the current music scene: “I know we facing a recession / but the music y’all making gon make it the Great Depression.”

Jay-Z’s ability to produce a #1 album without the use of Auto-Tune has to be acknowledged. Without going into what Auto-Tune has done to pop music, we have to appreciate that fact that Jay-Z refuses to use it.

The single “Run This Town,” which featured Rihanna and Kanye West, was a big hit and created anticipation that caused fans to go purchase the whole album. Speaking for myself, the rest of the album does not disappoint. “Young Forever” featuring Mr. Hudson is a redo of the 1984 Alphaville hit “Forever Young”, accurately re-appropriating the youth anthem for today. And whether or not you can catch his New York references, his track with Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind,” is certainly the big city’s new anthem.

Jay-Z gave us something original this year. In an industry filled with young’uns using new technology way too much (did I mention Auto-Tune?), Jay-Z produced a noteworthy album that can be appreciated because it’s real. And real good.

Sept. 13 @ The Catalyst Club, Downtown Santa Cruz

More Cowbell.

That’s what the audience wanted and what it got as the seven-man alternative/reggae band One Pin Short, hailing from Las Vegas, started off the evening.  The band put on quite a pre-show for a modest crowd, including a daring spectacle by guitarist Jesse Magaña, who climbed atop the club’s interior second-story balcony to strum a solo. The band was surprisingly harmonious and managed to get the sparse crowd clapping along to their melodies about peace and revolution.

Orange County natives Suburban Legends followed, and temporarily stunned the crowd with what might best be described as sounding like a boy-band infused first-grade sing along.  Though some might classify the band’s style as childish, there’s also no doubt about the group’s professionalism: with choreographed moves you probably haven’t seen since the ‘N Sync days, and energy level normally attained only by chugging 12 consecutive cans of Red Bull, these boys really know how to work a crowd.
Drummer Derek Lee stopped to chat with City on a Hill Press before the show, and mentioned with certain sadness that the night’s show would be the last one of the tour, which hit cities throughout the U.S. and Europe.   The band went all out for its last show, playing classics from its 11-year career.  Aside from their well-received rendition of the Disney song “Under the Sea,” most of the set was fully recognized only by the two high school girls in the crowd who donned “Suburban Legends” t-shirts.

Many of the members of the eclectic crowd probably wouldn’t jam out to a Suburban Legends album alone at home, but there was nary a soul at the show who could keep from chuckling and grooving with the boys as they goofed around on stage.  The younger and rowdier attendees even started a mosh-pit as horns sounded and rainbow lights flashed.

Headliners Reel Big Fish finally burst onstage and got the crowd going straight away with a spunky, fast-paced version of Aha’s 80s-era hit, “Take On Me”.  Riddled in between their own hits and crowd favorites, the band played a well-received cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” an exciting rendition of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” and a hilarious adaptation of “Beauty School Dropout” from the movie “Grease”.

The mosh pit grew steadily and practically exploded with the onslaught of “Where Have You Been,” and a guest appearance by Suburban Legends guitarist Brian Wayne Klemm, a roommate of Reel Big Fish singer Aaron Barrett.  When Klemm stepped on stage, a wild guitar battle between the roomies ensued.

As the evening reached its pinnacle, Reel Big Fish busted out with the beloved song “Beer”, transporting all in attendance back to the nineties — an era Barrett never fully left, with his impressive sideburns and Hawaiian floral button-up.

When the night seemed like it couldn’t get any more epic, the band announced that it was master of all musical styles and subsequently delivered multiple renditions of their song “You Don’t Know” in various styles: punk-rock, bluegrass, disco, country western and screamo.

As the night drew to a close, Reel Big Fish consoled the audience with the following words of wisdom: “The bad news is we only have one song left. The good news is you can’t get herpes twice.”

It was an undeniably entertaining evening.  There were flashy dance moves, an epic guitar battle, back-in-the-day tunes, and trumpeter Scott Klopfenstein’s adorable thigh-high blue sailor shorts and nerdy glasses.

Oh, and the cowbell.

Sept. 16 @ The Catalyst Club, Downtown Santa Cruz

Arriving before the main event at a live gig is always a gamble.  Apparently everyone decided to play it safe and wait to show up until Sugar Ray was on stage, because opening act Aimee Allen sang to a crowd you could count on two hands.

Allen’s lonely soulful voice was as sad as her numerous pleas for bar patrons to stand up and move closer. But, try as she might, she could not guilt us all into scooting forward.  Decked out in a plaid shirt and studded belt, her slightly ska sound inspired one viewer to draw a comparison to Gwen Stefani.  Her voice carried over accompanying acoustic guitar, and the reggae and dubstep influences would probably have been well-received had more than a handful of people showed up.  Perhaps her single in the recently released slasher film “Sorority Row” will bring her into the spotlight and deliver bigger crowds next time.

While the Huntington Beach-hailing quartet The Dirty Heads played after Allen, members of the crowd bobbed and swayed to an infusion of reggae, hip-hop and Sublime-inspired ska punk.  For a while, I was convinced that the band’s lead vocalist, Jared Watson, was actually “Jay” of “Jay and Silent Bob”, thanks to his serious stoner vibe.  Alas, there was no mangina display — only organically rhythmic beats with a familiar, laid-back, So Cal surfer ambiance.

By the time headliners Sugar Ray took the stage everybody was ready to dance, and leading man Mark McGrath blasted onto the scene in classic black wayfarers, with a swagger that seemed to warn patrons they were in for a real spectacle.  “It feels like its time for a No. 1 song from 1999!” McGrath shouted at the crowd just before busting out the catchy pop tune “Every Morning.”

At 41, McGrath is arguably still as sexy as ever, despite exclaiming that he had his hair freshly highlighted and frosted for the current comeback tour – one which he seems well-aware isn’t going to be on the cover of Rolling Stone any time soon.

It’s been 21 years since Sugar Ray’s initial formation, and the band doesn’t seem any closer to taking itself seriously. McGrath recently joked in an interview that, “We’re certainly not the most talented guys, and I can barely sing, but how about two thumbs up for just having fun?” — an attitude that that is conspicuously infused into songs on their newly released album, amusingly named Music for Cougars.

The recent show adhered to the same ideal; indeed, the night was less about high-quality tunes and more about entertainment, something McGrath became well-acquainted with during his four-year stint hosting the entertainment television show “Extra.”

Highlights of the show included seeing the band’s softer side during a tender performance of “When Its Over,” which McGrath wrote after his first broken heart at age 21.  McGrath’s crotch grabs, inspired by the late, great King of Pop and a freestyle karaoke battle between fans on Kid Cudi’s song “Day and Night” also stood out.   An all-out homage to the nineties, the band finished up the night with an extended version of the hit “Fly” — and  the only thing better than that was glancing over and seeing UCSC student Bryan Strauss’s belly, which read: “Do Me Mark!”