Album Review: Switchfoot ‘Vice Re-Verses’

Vice Re-Verses

Now I have to admit I was in two minds when I heard that Switchfoot was going to be bringing out an album of remixes from their latest full album ‘Vice Verses’. For some reason I was picturing an album that somewhere between U2′s Actung Baby and Discotheque… to be honest I was glad I was wrong.

Vice Verse was easily one of the best albums lyrically and musically that has been produced by any Christian artist in the past couple of years… it was an album that was honest without being cheesy and spiritual without being all ‘mumbo jumbo… plus it just sounded good.

So a remix album?

How will that add to what already was a great album?

The answer is it doesn’t… it seems like it was a great way for the band play with some different sounds and let some of their friends have fun with their sounds at the same time… the plus side of it all was that the fans get to listen to a new side of a group that feels like it’s just finding it’s own sound now, with Hello Hurricane and Vice Verses having what seems to have settled as the ‘Switchfoot sound’.

The remixes are actually REALLY well done… and they really should have been as they were already good songs but the people who remixed them are really good to… Adam Young (Owl City), Darren King (MuteMath), JT Daly (Paper Route)… not to mention the very reliable and often unsung sounds of Drew Shirley and Jerome Fontamillas from Switchfoot themselves.

I really like how the remixes add a new dimension to the songs rather than detracting from them… and there were times I think “wow I hadn’t noticed that in the song before”… and so for me the remixes have been very much a compliment, I don’t think the songs themselves are as good as the original however there are a few that get pretty close.

I really like the honesty that is kept in the songs like ‘Blinding Lights’ and ‘Vice Verses’ as it would have been really easy to take them and add a ‘oonce oonce’… and turn it into a club thrasher that looses the soul and heart of what the song intended to be from the very beginning.

The more banging tracks like ‘Afterlife’ and the ‘Original’ are great bookends to this album and really bring out the fun side of the album.

The track that surprised me the most was ‘War inside’ – this song already had a great groove to it and was really interesting to see how it was going to be worked… and it surprised me and I love it. I would have been easy to lay a phat beat over the top and crunch out a winner… however what Drew and Jerome did was make a song that was a stand out track… and it was the most remixed of the albums… the others were versions of the original… this was a remix…

This album is worth having a listen to… and it works in all settings… It’s a sophisticated remix album, it’s not your usual and that’s good.

 

Album Review: Family Force 5 ‘III’

Family Force 5 - III

The album starts off with all the guts and glory that you would expect from Crunk Rock pioneers Family Force 5… straight in with a funky distorted guitar riff, and the words “Make a Big deal of it” shouted in the usual one part crunk, one part rock and a big dose of attitude… and as is shown from the off-roader on the cover it’s all in the aid to get you ready for a WILD ride.

Paycheck the second track on the album is less about the noise and more about finding a great groove… but that doesn’t mean that the depth of the writing is going to be any weaker, and as often is the case on albums like this the soul of the album comes in bite sized heart focused phrases like “I used to live my life for the discount, now I thank God for the hand out”

My favourite part of this album is the party cruncher “Wobble” this is a great party starter… and is FF5 at their funky dance floor rocking best… and is a great sample of how Crunk-Rock is taking the world by storm… but’s not all yelling and rocking, ‘You got it’ is like a Sugar Ray, Inner Circle and Jason Mraz collaboration… a Island reggae infused poolside band number… it’s the stuff that summer is made of.

One of the really high moments of III is the diversity the album shows, there is NOTHING that FF5 are afraid to touch… it’s like the ultimate mash up of their own sounds… it really is a trip through the best of pop/rock/rap/R&B music…

But in the middle of the rock and the summer swagger there is this amazing rock number called ‘Not Alone’ and it’s the ultimate rock number, the type that wouldn’t look out of place on a Bon Jovi or even Switchfoot album, and a real testament of the FF5 song writing ability, and a real heart searching track with the lead singer crying “I need you now, I want you now…To tell me that you’re not alone.”..  at this point you may be thinking have FF5 got all serious on me? And just to prove they’re the kings of the bait and switch they hit you with the track ‘Dang Girl’ – a real club stompin’ party poppin’ southern gritty rap style track to keep the momentum on the album dialed up to 10.

People have often asked me what is Crunk-Rock and here is the easiest way to explain it…

The attitude of Punk.

The swagger of Rap.

The fun of Dance/electronica.

The groove of Funk.

The guitar licks of 80′s Metal

And all of that is laced with a taste of the South…

Family Force 5 discribe it like this ”Ghetto redneck music.”

This is a great album… a summer rocker… a dancefloor filler… a foot tapper and it may even be the remedy for all things that ail you.

If you’re looking for a fun album look no further… there are enough style and flavour on this album to save you money on the next 8 albums you’re gonna buy…

 

Album Review: Switchfoot ‘Vice Verses’

Switchfoot 'Vice Verses'

The album starts off with the screaming of a wall of sound… Jon yells “I’ve tasted fire I’m ready to come alive’… it’s clear Switchfoot are back and they’ve got something to say… and they’re gonna leave a piece of themselves on this album.

Switchfoots latest album starts of with all the bravado in the world… the attitude of a punk band, the cool of a 80′s rock band with all the riffs in the world to burn, buckle up this album isn’t about comfort and being nice… this album is about the tensions we live in, and the best way to do this it seems is AT HIGH VOLUME… and the boys are not holding back punches with lyrics like

Eyes open open wide
I can feel it like a crack in my spine
I can feel it like the back of my mind
I am the war inside

After a big start to the album Switchfoot give you a chance to rest musically with the song ‘Restless’, but they’re not about to let you rest on what they are wanting to say…  this album deals with what we all deal with, the battle of our soul, the battle of our minds and ‘Restless’ tells us about the search that goes on…

Switchfoot are sounding like a band that have finally found a sound that ‘fits’ them and songs like ‘Blinding Lights’ show they’re not afraid to pull from their sound treasure trove with tonal colours in their music reminiscent of albums like 2003′s ‘Beautiful letdown’

And to add to the tension of the album they boys through in ‘Selling the news’ – when i first heard this on the album  though someone changed the album, vocally it sounds like Jon is somewhere between some kind of circus ringmaster, and a newsboy on the corner

‘I wanna believe you, I wanna believe
But everything is in-between
The fact is fiction
Suspicion is the new religion’

Lyrically this album is so powerful, and the music only adds to the power of the words which just goes to show the strength of Switchfoots songwriting, and the fact that they are at the peak of their powers… and yet they are brave enough to look into themselves and sing ‘I know i’m not right’…

As the album prepares for a landing the band lays it down on the line with the track ‘Rise above it’ a glimpse that we are born for more than this, and yet we’re living in this world that is not perfect and we’re living everyday with the fact that we’re not perfect either, still dealing with our own vices.

This is the first album in a very very long time that i think hits the mark not only lyrically, but muscially and not only that… but being real and truthful and not willing to pull any punches… there is a sense that blood was left on the mat for this one… and it’s powerful in it’s humbleness…

the album end with this;

And when I reach the other side
I want to look You in the eye
And know that I’ve arrived
In a world where I belong

Where I belong

10/10

Switchfoot – Dark Horses

The album I’m waiting for most this year is the album from Multi Platinum band Switchfoot.

The album ‘ Vice Verses’ is due 27 September 2011 but you can get their new single ‘Dark Horses’ now…

Here’s the track… if you like it go buy it!