Please make it stop.
Mister Charlie | Los Angeles, CA | 06/03/2008
(2 out of 5 stars)
"You kids today. Pop. Power-pop. Punk. Emo. Rock. Alternative.
Corporate culture has sold you a bill of goods and you've swallowed it wholesale. So much of today's above-referenced music sounds so much the same, when you step away from it a few feet. Arguing over needless categories merely disguises that fact.
I'm not going to say that "back in my day" music was better. There IS good music now, has always been good music, and there will always be interesting music. But there is a whole slew of "kids" today (which is intentionally vague) that feel it's important to know just what category to label the Ataris, or a million other similar bands.... people that say they like alternative but not emo, that they love "punk" but not "hardcore", or who ONLY like indie rock. Let's face it, you're arguing over nothing, and maybe when you're in your 30s will hopefully start developing your own interesting opinions that aren't related to what others in your high school (or whatever) like or don't like.
I've been listening to a lot of this stuff lately, and "So Long Astoria" is another in a long line of today's cookie-cutter rock. Yes there are melodies, yes there are big guitars, yes there are many opportunities for fist-pumping good times. If I was Kurt Cobain, I would be rolling over in my grave at how the truly awesome excitement of what "Nevermind" helped create some 17 years ago has devolved into a formulaic template that keeps selling and selling and selling.
Another "Boys of Summer" cover? These guys should cover, oh, how about Journey's entire "Escape" album, and we can all call THAT brilliant too. If there's a spark of uniqueness in the Ataris, I hope they follow it on future records!
"
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1
Emily B. from MEDFORD, NJ