Buckcherry (Los Angeles, CA)
All Night Long (Eleven Seven Music)
You know when you gulp that $.99 cup of sludgy, gas station coffee? You know it isn't exactly a high-end product for refined palettes, but it wasn't supposed to be, really. And it sure as hell knocked the cobwebs out. How about that secret can of Milwaukee's Best you lustily downed? It didn't remind you of a well-crafted barley wine, but it got the job done regardless. Such a level of appropriate expectation is helpful when listening to the latest album from Cali butt-rockers, Buckcherry. Few will confuse All Night Long with OK Computer, and it's safe to assume that the band is pretty cool with that. While the greasy licks and stripper-iffic bombast of the tunes bleed into one another quickly, the first few tracks indeed provide a few guilty, windows-rolled-down-and-I-don't-care-who hears-it moments.
I made it: 1:52 into track No. 7, "I Want You."
Kyle Park (Austin, TX)
Fall 2010 EP (Self-released)
How Park has become an established, rising star in the Texas Country
scene is beyond comprehension. Well, maybe not. Given that
most of the tunes that inhabit the top spots in various regional
charts possess the character of a frat-boy ball cap, it's not terribly
shocking, actually. Mundane lyrics, monotone, dull vocals and paint-by-numbers arrangements make this an easy EP to skip out early on.
I made
it: 1:19 into track No. 2, "The Heart of You."
DJ Khaled (Miami, FL)
Victory (E1 Music)
After opening his album with an intro track that features Diddy and Busta
helping him tell everyone how insanely bad-ass he is, DJ Khaled follows that auto tune-enhanced dittie with a track entitled "All I Do is Win."
One must take him at his word, since the evidence of any triumph isn't
contained on the record. When Ludacris jumps in to bolster Khaled's
victorious bad-assedness, the track feels more Bieber remix radio-single
than it does Gucci Mane. With all of the macho posturing, DJ Khaled
isn't concerning himself with actually being the man, just telling us
that he is.
I made it: to track No. 3, "Put Your Hands Up."
