Grab Bag for 8/21

Yes, it's very late

Grab Bag 8/21

So this is the Grab Bag. I do full reviews of 2 albums a week, the ones I'm most excited for, but there's always a couple more that interest me. So there'll be little mini-reviews of two more albums each week here in the grab bag. 

Carly Rae Jepsen- Emotion [synthpop]

This is pretty far outside of my usual territory, but the good people over at /r/recordreviews voted it highly and it's been getting positive reviews, so I felt I should take a listen. I was underwhelmed. It's certainly not bad, but it absolutely suffers from every song sounding the same, and it gets very tiring about 4 songs in. Some songs suffer a little from lyrics ("I really really really really really like you"), but there's a often nice catchy melody to counteract it. The saxophone that opens the opener, "Run Away With Me", is the best moment on the album, and it's part of the best song by far.  "All That" and "Making the Most of the Night" are also highlights, while "I Really Like You" stands out for catchiness, but it feels like too much of a hollow attempt at another "Call Me Maybe" to be great. The album is a lot of decent repetitive pop music with occasional flashes of something more, but it's a tiring listen due to lack of variety. 

Best song: "Run Away With Me"

Overall Score: 68/100

The Royal Concept- Smile (EP) [indie pop]

The new EP from the second Swedish band of the week is an EP. Which means it's short, which means I don't have much time to get sick of what I'm hearing. Since it doesn't offer me the time, I'm not sure if I would like this as an album, but as an EP, it's very enjoyable. I swear I've heard "Smile" (the song) somewhere. I can't tell if I actually have, or if it's just that kind of song. It's very catchy, and as the title promises, it puts a smile on your face. Some of the lyrics are lovably terrible, such as "I'll step on a grenade so you can see I'm the bomb". I don't know how you come up with that, but I like it a lot. "Fashion" is incredibly catchy, and again the wordplay creeps in. "Higher Than Love" is engaging, but it also gives me the feeling of having heard it before, and this time I know where it came from: the opening tag is straight out of LCD Soundsystem's "Dance Yrself Clean". The chorus is catchy, and that tag barely shows up, so the song still gets a passing score, especially once the guitar line comes into the bridge. The remaining two tracks are both incredibly catchy, and also reasonably fresh sounding, especially "Hurricane", which will never leave your head. Ever. Royal Concept have created an engaging EP that's gained them a new semi-fan, and I'm excited to hear more. 

Best song: "Hurricane"

Overall Score: 78/100