Big Haunts Sleep Past the Few

Welcome!  Bienvenidos a mi blog!  How do you say blog in Spanish?  I'm going to have to check Google translator.  Be right back!  Cool.  In Spanish it is blog!  Like you didn't know that was coming.  Today on Fiercely Me (the blog sent from Heaven):

I review 3 new records and then tell you why they suck.  No that's too negative.  I might have good things to say too.  Nope.  I don't.

Don't forget that I listen one time through the whole record, I give the record an unfair rating from a random and arbitrary rating scale, and then I try to express my feelings about the record with written words.

Okay this has gone on way too long!  On to the random and arbitrary rating scale!

1 hour nap.  Not even worth the time it took to try to fall asleep.
2 hour nap.  Not bad but really it could be better.
3 hour nap.  Good.  This should be the standard that others are measured by.
4 hour nap.  Now this is getting ridiculous!  This is so good that you might as well just sleep till the next morning.
5 hour nap.  The best!  Worth every minute!  Good morning Sunshine!

The Big Sleep "Nature Experiments" 1.5 hour nap.  Not bad but not very exciting either.

This Brooklyn based band was formed 9 years ago and garners comparisons to Sonic Youth with a lean towards classic rock.  Okay let's get the obvious out of the way.  Sleep.  Naps.  Snoozing.  I could use this all in my review and it would all kinda work.  Let's get away from the obvious stuff and talk about the record.  It's rock with a touch of electro.  If it was a story it does not "jump off the page".  It feels like a decent band just going through the motions.  Maybe the problem is this band used to be strictly instrumental and this record has vocals on every song.  Lyrically it doesn't grab me.  Vocals are bland and understated.  The song "Ladders" sounds like Metric on a weak and depressing day.  There are no catchy "hits".  Give it a listen and then pass on it.  Highlights: None.

The Few "Headstock" 1 hour nap.  Not for me.

If Jet and Blues Traveler had a baby it would grow to 18 and then immediately marry The Few on a weird hippie commune and then drive an old school bus across the country playing at Harley dealerships and dirty corner bars until it got too old to wear a jean jacket with patches.  This record is a little odd.  The first song has a lot of harmonica and a male singer.  The second song has no harmonica and a female singer.  The third song is kind of funky but with no real groove.  You get the picture.  I don't know where this band comes from but I get the feeling that this is nothing more than a good local band that has received a little more attention then it deserves.  Highlights: The keyboard part of the song "Should of Known Better".  Not the rest of the song.  Just the keys.

TS & the Past Haunts "Gone & Goner" 2 hour nap.  Meh.

Travis Shettel used to be the lead singer of the band Piebald.  One day he met the band the Duke Spirit.  They wrote and recorded a bunch of songs.  Travis or TS wanted to play these songs live but unfortunately the Duke Spirit was busy.  So TS & the Past Haunts was born.  It's garage+psych rock+reverb+weird lyrics+a dash of rock and roll.  I can really hear how this would translate live because the record itself has a very live room feel.  Unfortunately the songs are not really doing much for me.  They are story-ish but not the kind of stories that grab you.  More like the kind of story you stop for a moment to check out on the Internet but then quickly forget.  It is the most creative of the 3 records I'm reviewing today but that is not enough to make this worth buying.  Highlights: "The 33" is okay.  Hell the whole record is okay.  Maybe it's your thing?  Probably not.