From Bubblegum To Sky - A Soft Kill

Twee pop with garage rock stylings.

A Soft Kill, the third album by Oakland’s Mario Hernandez, aka, From Bubblegum To Sky, starts with a generic rock riff and a hooky melody that runs out after a couple of short minutes, setting the album’s theme. The first time I took this album around the track for a spin was a disappointment. A rough guitar mixed too high and melodies that never have enough room to breathe. The songs end as they really get going and the production and sparse instrumentation don’t do the music any justice. But the album does deserve and warrant multiple listens and the songs do grow on you. And clocking in at nearly 30 minutes, the album is short enough that repeated listens are not difficult. Much like their previous record, 2004’s Nothing Sadder Than Lonely Queen, A Soft Kill is a much darker turn than the band’s debut album – denser melodies and a morose depression that shines through the twee vocals. Unfortunately, after waiting three years, this album doesn’t live up to the promise of the band’s previous outings, but it’s still pretty alright.

There are a lot of really good tracks on this record, including “Even The Sunbeams” (available as a free mp3 from Eenie Meenie Records), “Captain Tennille” and the closer, “Downtown Or Up,” but too many songs are too short, cutting out when they need to kick it up a notch. Even the album’s best song, “I Always Fall Apart,” pulls up short. In the end, there’s not a bad song on the album and certainly nothing you’ll want to skip, but it just never hits that sweet spot of captivation I wanted it to. This was a great album to have on while I worked on a puzzle, but fell a little short on the headphones.

Anyone who likes indie-pop should really be a fan of this band. It’s just that when you wait years between releases, it’s hard to live up to the expectations. Their first record, Me And Amy And The Two French Boys was power pop brilliance and both Nothing Sadder Than Lonely Queen and the new album are worth picking up and giving at least a few spins. Advanced listeners should track down 1, by Hernandez’s first band, Ciao Bella, which stands as one of my all-time favorite pop albums, with an apocalyptic sound I’ve never heard any other band touch, even though I cross my fingers with every new FBTS release. I guess I have to keep waiting.

This record is only available as vinyl and digital download.

For fans of Kindercore style upbeat pop. Heavenly, Cub, and The Lucksmiths (if Kepi from the Groovy Ghoulies was singing).

Say Hi - The Wishes and The Glitch

Immaculately produced bedroom synth pop.

Pretty much anyone who plays video games, guitar, or uses the internet for anything besides pornography should own at least a couple of albums by this band, and their new one, The Wishes and the Glitch, is as good a place to start as any. The erstwhile Say Hi To Your Mom, now simply called Say Hi (I’ll address the nomenclature later) are one of those bands that I love without them having actually ever put out a great album. Their new record is the fifth in this tradition. The band is basically one guy, Eric, with a multi-track recorder and they share the same strengths and weaknesses of most other single-person bands. The strength is a cohesion within the music and a singularity of passion and vision, but the weakness lay in not having anyone there to censor the lesser songs and help craft the better tracks past good to great. The band has over the years managed to maintain a solid style and sound within their canon without it ever growing stale, no small feat.

The songs on The Wishes And The Glitch are up-tempo synth-pop consisting of earnest vocals and guitar over a variety of well-programmed digital instruments. A couple of tracks, “Bluetime” and “Spiders” especially, are fantastic. The subject matter eschews most of his previous work’s focus on robots, vampires, video games and the people obsessed with robots, vampires, and video games for a slightly more serious tone, but with his geek cred firmly established for several records now, this is more of an observation than a fault. The band’s real Achilles heel is, as it always has been, their inability to write songs that feel finished. Virtually every song by Say Hi starts out well, gets good, but then cuts out halfway through the hook, never quite fulfilling their promise. The songs are still good, and perhaps this is nitpicking, but I can’t help but be disappointed every time I hear a song by them only to find it half a chorus short of being perfect. There are a few tracks here that should have been left in the studio, “Apples For The Innocent” and “Back Before We Were Brittle” are especially useless to my mind, but overall this is a very enjoyable album and we should be grateful that Say Hi continues to put out good quality releases year after year.

My biggest complaint about this album and one I’m duty bound to report is the name change. For this album, the band changed their name from Say Hi To Your Mom, a brilliant name so good I used to bring up the band in conversation just to say it, to simply being Say Hi, which is a band name that sucks. I suppose it is a band’s prerogative to make this sort of executive decision, but in the eyes of the band’s fans, at least all the ones I know, this was a mistake. But I suppose if that’s the worst thing you can say about an album, that ain’t too bad.

Good for fans of The Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, the internet, and Kleenex Girl Wonder.