Judging by the overproduced songs on their Cry to the Beat EP, New York's The Ropes play the kind of polished, electronica-tinged pop rock that 10 years ago would have had them written off as a Garbage clone. But Sharon Shy's strong songwriting may help them avoid becoming the next Republica. A song that starts with "You can all go fuck yourselves/You can all go burn in hell" ("I Don't Like to Get Dirty") certainly grabs my attention, at least, and gets even better as she claims "The only reason I haven't put myself in the ground already/Is I don't like to get dirty." It's the catchiest song about helpless depression I've heard in quite some time. They're scheduled to go on at 9 p.m. and are probably the only act worth catching in this schizophrenic lineup.
I have no idea, though, what they are imagined to have in common with local act Big Red Rooster, which has tried to buy street-cred for its generic rap-rock by hiring Slim Thug to spit a few bars on "How You Like That," then doing everything possible to obscure the fact that he's not in the band.
