Up All Night

I found Aly and AJ's new album on the side of the road! Got a little dinged up so the sound quality's not great.

TRACK BY TRACK [Warning: all thoughts put down instantly upon one listen. Views subject to change and do not reflect the opinions of all site owners]!

"Potential Break Up Song" -- OK, I skipped this one. I've heard it about twenty times in the past forty-eight hours because I put it on a mix for Emily.

"Bullseye" -- Can't imagine this won't be my favorite on the album. Amazing pop-punk tune with great (if light) BULLSEYE = MY HEART metaphor. Xhuxk compared to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the teenpop thread, and yeah the progression is exact. Though I'd probably compare it back to whatever Pixies song Nirvana were copying, or whatever c. '93 grunge band was like the sixty-fourth one to rip the progression. [EDIT: Maybe it's more like Aly and AJ doing Orgy doing New Order.]

"Closure" -- Uh-oh, they haven't given up the snotty scorned chick trip yet. Also used the phrase "you're trippin'," which is no longer a trip (I get it, you guys "get" funny). A couple of good lines and a great chorus, more spite-pop. But, um, I hope this starts making my stomach churn soon.

"Division" WHOA, howler alert: "the sum will be different/ when you use division." This is what you get for being HOMESCHOOLED -- the QUOTIENT will be different when you use division. Jeeeeeeez.

"Like It or Leave It" -- "what was that line in that one movie when he looked at her and said, 'are you a velociraptor?'" Either it was Jurassic Park 3 or I misheard that lyric. Sooooo Aly and AJ's hooks are sharp as hell and so far they've given me no stomach issues whatsoever. I'm conflicted, it's like they've got a buncha razor blades and they won't even CUT ME with 'em. C'MON, CUT ME! I'm ready for it!!!!

"Like Whoa" -- "Life is good I can't complain/ I mean I could but no one's listening"...OK, gettin' somewhere..."your image overwhelms my brain and it feels good good-good..." (I like-like this because it's good-good?) Hm, "you're like a tattoo I can't remove," then it goes into more bombastic Spicey type chorus. There's some conflict but they keep winking at me. Again, Aly, AJ, I understand that you are funny. You've ably demonstrated this. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'VE PUT ME THROUGH FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS OF MY LIFE? And now you're just gonna FLIRT with me all night when I've already decided to actually accept your terms -- which SCARE THE SHIT OUTTA ME -- and struggle with whatever angst you're trying to struggle with? It's like I finally decide to settle down despite all the problems and now they wanna go out for GELATO. I like gelato, but like, we have some issues to discuss here. Shit, it is good gelato. BUT STILL!

"Insomniatic" -- Hm, a bit on the nose. Like, they're thinkin' about this guy a lot and it keeps them up at night. The problem here is that they've got the edge and the tunes and they've backed down from the huge embarrassing conflicts they set themselves up with back on the debut. So, yeah, these songs are about a hundred times better, but they got CLEVER about the whole thing. There's nothing here so far that could would or should embarrass the HELL out of them, but really just reveal new things about ME. That's what this is all about!

"Silence" -- "I'll bet two years, I'll bet one year, I'll bet those years, you won't be here." Hm, nice...some swooning synths and a lite electrobeat. "I'll bet my tears, I'll bet your tears, over time could disappear"...wait a minute, she has more to say. No idea what she actually said though cuz they go mush-mouthed occasionally. Need a minute just to get to you, feel like I might be gettin' through. Say nothing, silence is everything. YUCK. I'll take "Lose You," at least there's some HOT SWEAT in it. My first borderline nontick on here! Oh shit, they went into TITANIC fiddlin' at the end, and I think they're kinda serious. YEEEESH. [EDIT: I'm totally wrong about this one in the sober light of morning. It's great.]

"If I Could Have You Back" -- "On the subject of you being gone forever, I still can't believe it." GAH, very clever. I'd love it if it were on Brie Larson's first album. "On the topic of the time we spent together I can't say I never wondered if you ever think about those days." Some OK wordplay, sort of a conceptual improvement on "Chemicals React"...hm, they say it's game over and there's a cheesy little videogame sound. All clever, no ABYSS. ...Can you feel it? Can you feel it? (Um, no.)

"Flattery" -- This track goes where I thought "Blush" was supposed to be..."I'll admit it if you admit it, it's harder than we both thought..." Hm, I keep getting false starts to the occasional blast of emotional insight and I get cliches. I mean, they had plenty of cliches before, but after they "taste tears my dear" they mighta blindsided you with "the lights are cool but they burn out," just that one line. And I'm not getting that line at all -- maybe I need to listen more closely. C'mon "it's not in the cards/ it's not in the stars"...I don't even think there was anything this hokey on their first album! Oh hey what does it sound like...um...interesting percussion. Kind of a Phil Collins-soundin' Diddleybeat type thing happening and some U2 guitars and decorative piano tinkling. I dunno.

"I'm Here" -- piano balladry, more interesting percussion, like "There There" reduced to, like, one drum. Seem to have forgotten to write a hook for this one. I might be missing lyrics at this point. I'm not paying attention. I need to stop.

WELL FUCK. I don't know what I was expecting. There are five or six keepers, pretty good average. But the reason they're keepers is that the tunes are kinda catchy. Not good enough from these two. They need to embarrass themselves. They need to remember that life is scary and threatening and terrifying and all those things I disagreed with so violently the first time around, and then they need to write the hooks around THAT! I mean c'mon, this is just not enough. I'd say yer A students who got like a C- on their first paper, which was inconsistent and awkward but showed some real feeling and depth in parts (and their subsequent one-off assignments showed real improvement) and have now coasted on their natural abilities without having really challenged themselves yet to get the easy B+. (For "Bullseye" +[potentialbreakupsong].) This could be a bad sign -- once they figure out that they'll get a B+/A- the easy way, they might not go back to the hard way, which is a potential break-up (C-) or a potential make-up (A) and more likely it'll be the break-up because that's life and you took a chance, you went into the rush and the rush KICKED YOUR ASS. But hell, I'd even rather watch that.

Whatever, I'll listen again once I've gotten some sleep.