Before I get down to business, there are a few other things to report. Namely, the newest Steve article is up. If you don’t know where to find it by now, you’re a lost cause. Next up, working 6 to 2 is great, but causes much sleepiness. Third, Zoidberg rules! And lastly, I can’t actually play the game, but the intro video of Silent Hill 4 inspires a true fear deep in my heart. It’s freaky as hell, and I just wish the nerds at GameFAQs would tell me how to make my computer do pixel shading. I’d ask somewhere else, but then I’d have to sign up, and it’s just not worth the hassle.
But back to what’s truly important, my Band of the Month feature! this month, it’s Jimmy Eat World! You might have heard of their big singles “Sweetness” and “The Middle”. They was pretty everywhere at the time. And those are the ones that really put them on the map, as far as I can tell. I’d never heard of ’em before, and that’s as far as I care to investigate. Apparently, they had like three CDs out before those. It may have been two. I’m not doing any more reasearch than doing a search on Amazon.com. In any case, those songs are pretty much their claim to fame, even though they’re not exactly their best songs.
So this month is gonna be different. I really haven’t listened to much of their stuff, but I have obtained their newest disc, Futures, and I’m pretty much going to be doing the entire review on that CD alone. It’s not like it’s all they have, but I haven’t listened to a single song off any other album (aside from “Sweetness” and “the Middle”), so I’d be making even more grand assumptions than usual. And even I have my limits when it comes to making stuff up.
So this Futures, it must kick quite a bit of ass if I’m going to be basing a whole BotM on it alone. Well, it certainly does. I bought it pretty much blindly, having no idea whether I would like it or not (I never liked “Sweetness” quite as much as everyone else. “The Middle” is pretty good). But it was an excellent buy in the end. Jimmy Eat World is easily one of the best bands of today. Their sound constantly shifts between hard and soft, but is always very powerful. While I generally don’t care too much for emotion in music, it just pours out of these guys. The strong music and vocals work perfectly together (as you might expect) and create some very enjoyable tunes.
The title track, “Futures”, is an excellent starting point, and the following songs “Just Tonight” and “Work” are almost as good. “Kill” is great, as it’s an almost prefect blend of hard and slow rock. “The World You Love” is my favorite song on the disc. It starts peaceful and soft, and kind of inspires a feeling of hope. The kind of song you’d hear during the end montage of a movie. The chorus is a little faster and harder, but doesn’t totally change the pace of the song. If this were the only song I’d heard from the CD, I never would have second-guessed buying it. The next song, “Pain”, is harder, more tense and does a good job of contrasting with “The World You Love”.
“Drugs or Me” is a really slow ballad, and brings about a mood of despair. A good song, but it would be more suited near the end of the album, rather than smack in the middle. “Polaris” is another slower one, but gets a little harder once the chorus comes into play. An great love song, if that’s what you’re in the market for. After the last two songs, the hardcore “Nothingwrong” comes stright out of left field, and features some kick ass guitar work. “Night Drive” is again, a slow song, but this time with the rarely seem theme (since the 80’s or so) of making out in a car. The final and longest song, “23”, is proably also the deepest. It’s another ballad, and kind of gives the message that you can’t hold onto the past forever, and you can’t just expect everything to happen for you. It’s a great song to go out on, for sure.
Like I said, stellar album. You should buy it. I think I urge you to do that every time, but this time I suggest it to everyone, and not just those who like yon specific genre. Maybe even look into their older stuff. It may be top-notch as well. No regrets here, just feelin’ satisfied. Oops, wrong band. Maybe I’ll review Boston next month. In any case, go read Steve’s article if you haven’t and tune in this weekend for my final impressions on Resident Evil 4.