Chango Malo – This is a band you’ll really want to like. Flashes of musical brilliance are strewn throughout The Whiskey Years, and there is a solid cross-section of ear-friendly catchiness and clean outbursts of emotional energy. The better parts of the album sound like hints of Lagwagon mixed with early-era Red Hot Chili Peppers, but the band seems intent on being stylish instead of substantial in their lyrics and vocal presentation.
Press Play – Album Reviews
Chango MaloThe Whiskey Years**1/2
This is a band you’ll really want to like. Flashes of musical brilliance are strewn throughout The Whiskey Years, and there is a solid cross-section of ear-friendly catchiness and clean outbursts of emotional energy. The better parts of the album sound like hints of Lagwagon mixed with early-era Red Hot Chili Peppers, but the band seems intent on being stylish instead of substantial in their lyrics and vocal presentation.
It actually favors the band that the guitars and cymbal-heavy drums drown out the singer’s grating voice and an occasional attempt at a Dave Matthews-esque trumpet.
There are some spoken word moments of the album that distract and frustrate the musical ear, much like the blunt transitions from crunchy-riff-driven tracks to a sudden Sufjan Stevens softness. This sounds like a debut album, but it isn’t. Chango Malo released that four years ago. Maybe four more years will coax out the quality of music they only hint at on The Whiskey Years.
-Robert Seitzinger
Idiot PilotWolves**1/2
It’s synth-rock with a streak of post-hardcore and a trim of ambient–it’s the guts of Set Fire to Flames clutching the spine of Thrice, with the skin of Radiohead. That doesn’t sound interesting? Then don’t bother with Wolves.
If you know and enjoy such bands, however, you’ll like what Idiot Pilot does. Sure, the band tries too hard to inject swaying, “this is meaningful” moments into their sound, which costs them points despite the otherwise solid instrumentation, and they drop a peg for tacking on screamo moments, but nothing completely turns me off the Idiot Pilot’s music.
The band earned a spot on this year’s Taste of Chaos tour, and I get the feeling they’ll be better after touring with Atreyu and Bullet for my Valentine, bands that openly admit their heaviness. After shows with those dudes, Idiot Pilot should be smart enough to decide between shrieking and shredding, or pianos and falsettos.
–Robert Seitzinger
Lo FineNot For Us Two**1/2
Judging from the tumbleweeds I hear rustling in the background, I guess I must’ve stepped into cowboy country. Mellow-rock cowboy country, that is. Minus the obnoxious crooning that’s often associated with the genre, Lo Fine sounds more or less like generic radio singles from heartbroken boys in cowboy hats (rather than tattoos and bangs in their face). To the band’s credit, it’s perfectly tolerable, and some times even not too bad. Not For Us Two just isn’t very interesting or notable.
-Steve Haske
