Rating:

(Atlantic, 2006) Big City Rock is a somewhat apt moniker, both for the band and its debut full-length. Just like a big city (say…LA or NY), Big City Rock is shiny and trendy. But that’s about about where the analogy breaks down. Unlike the Big Apple, Big City Rock isn’t full of fun diversions and indie rock and art. In reality, it’s a rather plain album with a few highlights. It might be more appropriately titled Average City Rock, because it has more in common with Wichita or Cincinnati than the never ending fun of a great big city. The band very much wants to sound like “big city rock,” though, and are clearly trying their hardest to fit in. Though it might not actually be the case, it certainly sounds like they just jumped on the new-wave/art rock bandwagon recently. Big City Rock plays alternative pop/rock with a new wave twist, but while even the lesser revivalists like The Bravery or Hot Hot Heat sound like they have studied the original masters (Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, the Cure, etc.), Big City Rock never really sound like they’ve assimilated their influences into a cohesive whole. They have some of the trappings of new wave revivalists, like the four on the floor bass beat, sixteenth notes on the high-hat, and incorporated synthesizers (albeit superficially), but at its essence this is a conventional alternative rock record for the new millenium. That said, Big City Rock isn’t a really bad record. The band prides itself on having a positive spin to the lyrics and music, and though it can be a little cheesey, some times it is nice to be affirmed. And hidden among the generic rock numbers are a few pretty good pop tunes. They do have to overcome Nate Mott’s silly lyrics and utterly pedestrian voice, but fans of similarly styled artists should enjoy the party anthem “All Of The Above” and “Shelter,” the tried and true song about taking refuge in a song, which is really the song itself (huh?). And as bad as Mott’s lyrics can be, he really hit on a great line for the chorus of “Human,” a song about feeling small in the world, when he wrote “We think, therefore we are / A bit confused.” Beyond those three songs, though, Big City Rock struggles to break through its own pomposity, Mott’s lack of charisma, and the cobbled-together nature of its style. Fans of the new wave of new wave may enjoy the album, but it won’t mean much to most other people.

  1. Sink

* 2. All Of The Above

  3. As Soon As I Find OUt

  4. I Believe In You

* 5. Human

  6. Kind

  7. Better Place

* 8. Shelter

  9. They Won’t Mind

 10. Touch the Horizon

* = recommended tracks

Buy album

– Kevin

This 2-beetsreview was posted on May 13th, 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.