The BurgerBlog

Cash Cash

Forget Hellogoodbye: manufactured pop has reached a new level. Cash Cash’s debut album Take It To The Floor is synth-filled, voice altered, syrupy, sugary goodness. It recycles 80’s synth pop and mixes it with would-be-punk (think punk for Clay Aiken). And, as much fun it is to criticize, Take It To The Floor is actually a fun, upbeat album. If the Backstreet Boys and N*Sync can be popular ten years ago, Cash Cash is the boy band of the future.

Take It To The Floor’s first song, “Breakout,” has a catchy chorus, quick beat, and voice-altered harmonies. It’s made-for radio candy, a guilty pleasure that can only be rivaled by the third track on the album, “Party In Your Bedroom.” The sing-along lyrics, jump and move funk, and light guitar is, dare I say it, perfect for dance parties and teenage girls to clap and shake down to. The heartthrob and lead singer of Cash Cash, Jean Paul Makhlouf, has a voice that’s perfect for the effect that Cash Cash is going for, when you can distinguish it from the distortion.

He leads the “Cash Cash” chorus, He’s got cash cash cash/He’s made of money but /He’s straight out the trash trash/He’ll rip your heart out in a flash flash flash/Oh no you’re not for sale. Belonging on N*Sync’s Celebrity, the faux-Spanish guitar flashes around the stanzas as Makhlouf preaches to girls about yuppie boys. “Cash Cash” is catchy and coherent, but will get old after the third or fourth listen.

Harmonies and hooks litter the album, but unfortunately a lot of too sweet to swallow pop. “Radio” and “Dynamite” sound like the 80’s pop never died (and songs like “Love Shack” did die for a good reason), and “Sugar Rush’s” innuendo infused lyrics (So I can taste you on my tongue/With your lips to kiss like the red hot sun/You’re one big sugar rush/Suck me in, suck me in, hold me down till the very end) are so corny that it’s hard not to groan as it comes on.

Originality and seriousness of subject matter are two things that Cash Cash needs to improve upon. Take It To The Floor is great for thoughtless summer music, but will fade out very quickly after the listener gets sick of the album. Fortunately, behind the computerized effects and sugar sweet pop, Cash Cash as a band has potential to rise above their own expectations.

Rating: B-

Recommended Songs: Party In Your Bedroom, Concerta

Toss These Songs: Sugar Rush, Radio’, ‘Cash Cash: Take It To The Floor

Jupiter Rising

Remember the Black Eyed Peas before Fergie went on her ego trip and returned as a half-assed shadow of Amy Ferguson? The E.N.D. was a blow to old BEP fans; it lacked originality, playful rock riffs, and Phunk. Fortunately, there is hope for the devastated Black Eyed Peas fan. Jupiter Rising just released their sophomore album, The Quiet Hype. It’s playful, danceable, and a little mindnumbing, but what more could you ask from a band that is heading to a spot on the Top 40?

Their similarity to the Black Eyed Peas comes through most strongly on their opening track, “Falling Away.” Now, Nezey is no will.i.am, and Payo is no Fergie, but behind the unimpressive vocals is a poppy beat that belongs in a dance club. The lyrics are not noteworthy (I’m feeling like I’m falling away/I’m feeling like I’m falling away/People stop and stare but I don’t really care/Cuz I’m not really here and you’re not really there, there), but the groove, I promise, makes up for it.

The following track, “Tres Cool,” opens with porno bass line and percussion groove that Jupiter Rising expertly allows to sit before Nezey begins to rap nonsense. Singing about “flashing lights” and making the listener “hotter than a kettle pot” and “sticky,” this song is the epitome of what current dance clubs are looking for. Though this song is fun and flamboyant, I suspect that after a few listens it will be a bit of a flash in the pan.

After “Falling Away” and “Tres Cool,” Jupiter Rising flexes its musical talents and explores several musical genres. Payo asserts in a recent interview, “Our goal is to make music people can relate to, yet that is also new, fresh, and different… Something that is going to last, that has a little more depth.” Okay, well Jupiter Rising isn’t quite matured enough to make something different than what every Clear Channel Radio, Inc station offers, but they do offer R&B, hip hop, pop, alternative, electronica, and dance. “Flip My Switch” is surprisingly similar to P!nk, whereas “LA Girls” mirrors a mix between Daft Punk and Loose-aged Nelly Furtado (in this case, it unfortunately isn’t a good thing).

The title track, “The Quiet Hype,” is a slow ballad saluting individuality, even in the music business. Payo belts, Here I am, all I can do is wait/Here I stand, all on my own two feet/On my own, nothing comes easily/Nothing new to me all the same to me. As the simple piano provides a gorgeous backbeat, Payo exhibits the range and class of her singing abilities. The soulful track is beautiful.

Overall, The Quiet Hype is a fun album that should be in every Top 40 listener’s library. Jupiter Rising is lacking some originality and needs a better lyrics writer, but for an 11-track album filled with would-be hit singles, such frivolous things can be forgiven.

Rating: B-

Recommended Songs: Falling Away, Tres Cool, Flip My Switch, The Quiet Hype

Toss These Songs: LA Girls, When the Bass Drops

Dave Barnes

Brother, Bring the Sun and Chasing Mississippi were done right. Sadly, Dave Barnes’ latest album, Me and You and the World doesn’t have the same quality as its predecessors. Perhaps the new record label Razor and Tie is to blame, or maybe Barnes has lost his touch.

It is difficult to listen to this album all the way through partly because of the way the tracks are organized. The first half of the album is solid work. “Brothers & Sisters” jumpstarts Me and You and the World with a humanitarian plea. The upbeat track has the same funk that made Brother, Bring the Sun and Chasing Mississippi special, but it adds a chorus that repeats “I believe that we can change the world” over and over again, to the point that it’s hokey (unless in concert due to audience participation. Then it sounds really, really good). The next track, “Since You Said I Do” has a grungy feel that is similar to “Crazyboutya” in Brother, Bring the Sun and “All That Noise” in the sophomore album. He reverts to his original feel, and it works.

Barnes takes up two tracks in the first half of the CD with what he calls “oldies but goodies.”  He rerecords “Until You” and “On a Night Like This.” Admittedly, the new sound is awesome, though far more Top 40 compared to the rest of his work. Likely, Razor and Tie is to blame, but this is something they got right.

After “Believe,” a ballad that Barnes is so adept at bringing to life, the album goes downhill. Part of the problem is that all of the quicker charts are found on the top of Me and You and the World, so the slow songs stacked on each other grows difficult to handle. The final two tracks (“Annie” and “Adeline”), which should end in a bang, sound frustratingly similar, and “Nothing Else” seems old school and misplaced. He should liven up this half of the album, or cut two or three songs.

Me and You and the World loses the soul and country that the preceding albums carried through. The lyrics are wholly predictable and everyone in the music industry has heard Dave Barnes’ “new” hooks. Despite these fallbacks, Barnes still brings some fun music to the plate. Ultimately, however, he should revert to his original sound.

Rating: B-

Recommended Songs: Until You, Brothers & Sisters, When A Heart Breaks

Toss These Songs: Nothing Else, Adeline

Get ready for a band that sounds like the Killers, Keane, and U2 put into a blender. Coming to Terms is the debut record of up and coming artist Carolina Liar, a band with a Swedish, Los Angeles, and South Carolinian background.

The selling point of this Coming to Terms is the crisp vocals of Chad Wolf. Though the band’s synths and guitars create a barricade of hooks and chemistry behind many songs, such as “Beautiful World” and “Coming to Terms,” Wolf’s voice is the punch that makes Coming to Terms worth listening to. His vocals are clear, and give the album’s second-rate songs (“Last Night”) enough support to hold its own.

Carolina Liar’s upbeat songs are the selling points on this album; gospelly “Show Me What I’m Looking For” and their opener, “I’m Not Over” are two of the better songs on Coming to Terms. Unfortunately, the band needs to work on their ballads. “Done Stealin’” sounds whiney at best, and “Hit Bottom” needs more structure for its stoneresque beat.

Overall, Coming to Terms is not a disappointing debut album. There is plenty of room for improvement for Carolina Liar, but I am looking forward to their sophomore album.

Recommended Songs: Beautiful World, Show Me What I’m Looking For, I’m Not Over

Toss These Songs: Last Night, Hit Bottom

Rating: B-

Beautiful World

Welcome to the BurgerBlog, a music review site for music lovers. This blog is apt to review anything, from U2 to Dave Barnes to Fergie, and will throw fastballs at the artists as they fight for the coveted A-grade Burger. The grading system is similar to that of high school; the bands who don’t try fail, those who are average get C’s, etc etc. Enjoy!