Featured Posts | American Noise

Why I Love Rebecca Black’s “Friday”

Jim Malec April 4, 2011 3

I first learned of 13-year-old Rebecca Black via a Facebook post that appeared on my news feed about two weeks ago, and my initial reaction to the now ubiquitous “Friday” was a mixture of disbelief and amusement—I couldn’t help but chuckle at the atrocious song as I thought about how something so bad could accrue so many views in such a short period of time. Still, I thought of it as something of a novelty—just an internet meme that, like so any others, would sputter and stall once its fuel was burned up. As it turns out, “Friday” had a lot more gas in the tank than anyone expected.

Album Review: Avril Lavigne – <em>Goodbye Lullaby</em>

Jim Malec March 14, 2011 4

On “What The Hell”—the bouncy lead single from Avril Lavigne’s fourth studio album Goodbye Lullabye—the 26-year-old Canadian famous for her skaterpunk-meets-pop style struts with a defiant swagger as she scorches an old flame. “All I really want is to mess around,” she sings. “And I don’t really care about if you love me or hate me.”

Later, on “Smile,” she proclaims that she’s “a crazy bitch” who “does what [she] wants when [she] feels like it,” and who wants to “lose control.” But the gusto of those songs can’t hide the obvious emotional turmoil at the core of the bulk of the songs on Goodbye Lullaby, an album which showcases a thoroughly dejected young woman who seems—with only a couple of exceptions—to have lost all faith in love.

Album Review: The JaneDear Girls – <em>The JaneDear Girls</em>

Jim Malec February 2, 2011 17

Young men are repeatedly painted as deceitful, hormone-driven sex fiends willing to do or say anything to get into a girl’s pants, and they bear the full burden of failed relationships.Young men are repeatedly painted as deceitful, hormone-driven sex fiends willing to do or say anything to get into a girl’s pants, and they bear the full burden of failed relationships

Album Review: The Grascals – <em>The Grascals and Friends – Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin</em>

Jim Malec January 21, 2011 1

With Songs of the Statler Brothers, Cracker Barrel demonstrated that it was not only capable of landing a marquee act, but also that it was interested in producing valuable original content for its customers. Following that initial release comes The Grascals & Friends: Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, a robust release that could have found a worthy home with any label that deals in bluegrass or roots music. The disc features the renowned sextet—perhaps one of the greatest bluegrass outfits ever assembled—performing hits from country music’s past, accompanied by some of modern country music’s biggest stars

Jim Malec January 3, 2011 13

Avril Lavigne hasn’t had a Top 10 single anywhere in the world since 2007’s “Hot,” and her latest single, titled “What The Hell,” isn’t likely to change that. Co-written by mega producer and songwriter Max Martin, this warmed-over slice of pop is peppy, but it sounds dated and it lacks the bite that made the best of the singer’s earlier work compelling.

And it takes a lot more to compete in today’s pop landscape than simple peppiness. When Lavigne emerged in 2002, she was something of a pop counterculture figure. She wasn’t just a singer, but a symbol for people—primarily girls and young women—who were beginning to reject the gloss of overexposed female icons like Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Lavigne’s skater-punk style made her seem earthy in contrast, and her self-penned songs—full of attitude and spunk—sounded like nothing else on the radio at that time.

She wasn’t just alternative, she was an alternative.

Jamey Johnson’s Double Disc <em>The Guitar Song</em> is a Flawed Country Masterpiece

Jim Malec September 17, 2010 3

As a demonstration of talent, The Guitar Song sits in rarefied company. But it’s almost modernist in its self-indulgence, so heavily peppered with recitations and dirges that it can feel like a chore to try to listen to the whole thing