It's Great To Be Alive - Fake Problems (Review)

Earlier this summer, I wrote a review of their latest album, Real Ghosts Caught On Tape. I refered to their creativity and how expiremental they are. Out of all their albums, this contains the most of that. Every song sounds nothing like the last one. That is what I want. That is exactly why Real Ghosts Caught On Tape was a tad dissapointing. If I were to put a label on this album, I think I would call it expiremental folk-punk. It just has so many different elements in it, it is hard to call it anything but fantastic. It is easily my favorite Fake Problems album to date.

The first song is a nice little song called "1234". It is short, sweet, and overall a very nice listen. For a minute long song, it manages to get quite epic at many times. To show everyone that they are not just an average folk-punk band anymore, they decided to add a whole brass section to the first track. Very cool. This song leads straight into the next flawlessly.

"Dream Team" was released as a single and had a video made for it. Good choice making this a single out of any of the rest of these songs. It is the most radio-friendly and catchy song on the album. It is the easiest to digest. To put it in more simple terms, It is the least weird on the album. It is still good, but not as unique as the rest of the album. The video consists of them playing at a house party, and the fun the band is having really reflects on the song.

After that comes "You're a Serpent, You're a She-Snake". This song really contains the expiremental aspect I was talking about. The fuzzy bass is charmingly overwealming, and the synth is the base of the song. It sounds like Pop music, New Wave, and Punk all had one amazing baby. The guitars are distorted to all hell, to the point where you can barely hear what they are playing (which is awesome in my honest opinion). The last segment of the song is EXTREMELY epic, it is ashame that part is so short though. Still, another refreshing song.

"Don't Worry Baby" is contains more folk elements, while maintaining the expiremental feel. It is a very dark song. This song also has the brass section in it, except it feels MUCH different from "1234". It is used in a much darker way. Although the electric guitars are still present, you can also hear the acoustic, which adds to its folky-ness. In the bridge it almost seems like a chant consisting of  "La La La"s and a lot of gang vocals. Towards the end, there is a little 30 second segment that really isn't part of the actual song. It is a total mood change from sinister to happy. It is very cool though.

"The Heaven & Hell Cotillion" is probably the song I have the most plays on on this record. It is a very fun folk song. It is under two minutes long, but in that time, it will surely make you smile. From the entrance of the banjo, to the yodeling breakdown, this is a really happy song about religious confusion. Chris Farren's witty lyrics add to the upbeat feel to this song.

The next song is "Level With The Devil". This song has a lot of cool tempo changes and mood changes. It is good, but doesn't really stand out. Their is some cool mandolin riffs involved and some weird little melodies, but it just feels a tad to long. In my opinion, the song could end half way through and be much better. It begins to drag towards the end. My advice to the band would have been to somehow split it into two parts, so you could still includ the second half. Either way, this isn't an awful song, it is actually pretty neat.

After that is "Diamond Rings". This is another really dark song. The inclusion of the flute was genius in my opinion. I also really dig the falsetto back up vocals in the chorus. The video for this song captures the mood of the song brilliantly. The third verse and third chorus are where my love for this song truely stands. It just feels so full when you get to that point.

"Tabernacle Song" is a slow song. The base of the song is an acoustic guitar. It is another song with the flute. It also has some piano which really sounds nice. Farren's lyrics really stand out on this song. And the short breakdown feels ten times more emotional than the rest of the song. All around a good poppy folk song.

That song leads straight into "Alligator Assassinator". I can't exactly get behind the meaning of this song. The music is cool though. It sounds like rockabilly music kind of. Or maybe just straight-up rock and roll. The song doesn't stand out though. It almost feels like filler.

"There are Times" is a lead guitar driven song. It is really good. It kind of loses the folk genre and kind of replaces it with Indie music. This song sounds like an indie song. The lead guitar is really catchy. I remember reading somewhere that this is lead singer, Chris Farren's, favorite song he has ever written. I wouldn't blame him. This song get really epic at times. The brass section is back and that adds to the song a lot.

"Cold On The Soul" is the slowest and softest song on the album. It is a really nice track. It shows that Chris Farren doesn't just write witty humerous songs, but also serious poetry. There is no percussion in the song at all. It is all based around an acoustic guitar, a banjo, and a quiet synth in the back. It is about lonliness and has a certain vibe that you really don't hear much anymore.

The closure of the album is "Heart BPM". This is one of Fake Problems best song. It reaches triumphant heights. The lyrics are outstanding. It has a very nostalgic atmosphere. It is one of those songs that make you think about everything from past to future. The inclusion of so many instruments I will not bother to even list adds to this. The song ends with the same drum beat that started the album, which I found really cool. Everything about this song is perfection in my honest opinion. You can't put my love for this song into words, so I will not try!

It seems that this album is just one big party. There is so much gang vocals everywhere, and there are different people playing all different kinds of instruments. I really think this album deserves to be known more than it is. Chris Farren's ability to go from comical to emotional is fantastic, and his ability to blend the two is even more impressive. Unlike Real Ghost Caught On Tape, which relied on lead guitar, this album relies on EVERYTHING. By everything, I mean it literally. It is really nice to hear them blend so many different genres together. You may have noticed I have used the word "epic" over a dozen times. But in my opinion, there is no other adjective that describes this album. That is personally what I like in music.

Highlights : The Heaven & Hell Cotillion, Cold On The Soul, Heart BPM

Music : 9 (Every song sounds unique and fresh)
Lyrics : 7 (Witty and humerous, yet serious)
Artwork : 6 (Front cover is the only artwork in it)

Overall : 8.5


Support The Band
Homepage
Myspace
Amazon

Tweet

Real Ghosts Caught On Tape - Fake Problems (Review)

Fake Problems have created quite the name for themselves. They are respected for there creativity in the majority of their songs. Their new album, "Real Ghosts Caught On Tape", is a step away from their other more expiremental music. This album lives up to most of the anticipation, but in a way that wasn't expected from me. This album marks a tremendous step forward in maturity. Most of all the humor that was on previous albums is gone.This creates a whole new vibe in Fake Problem's music.

The first song is "ADT". The chorus in this song is very catchy. It's lyrics are quite memorable, so this makes for a good sing along song. The main guitar riff is also one of the most memorable riffs on the entire album. This was probably an obvious choice for an opener because it sets up the album quite perfectly.

After that comes "5678" You would think this would have something to do with It's Great To Be Alive's "1234", but it has nothing to do with it lyrically or musicly. This is the one song that seems to drift from the constant sound of the rest of the album. That is neither a bad thing or a good thing It just doesn't sound like the rest of the album, which makes it stand out a bit. This is another very catchy tune. I had this song stuck in my head for a while.

Next is "Songs For Teenagers". This is a slightly softer track than the rest of the album. It has some pretty cool percussion in parts of it. This song focuses less on the on the catchy aspect of the past two songs, and it focuses more on the songwriting aspect. It succeeds as a great song. This song enforces my thought on maturity. Although you can still hear some aspects of the band's previous albums, this song has moved so much further than that.

"RSVP" starts a run of six or seven songs of the same feel. They are all fun songs with many hooks. This song consists of a simple Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus structure. The bridge is very nice. It is a bit short but  adds a the best twenty seconds of the song. And that leads back into the chorus. This is a simple, but very nice song.

"Soulless" is the most well known track on the album, and is most likely the most known song by the band. This was an excellent choice for a single. Down the road, this is what Fake Problems will probably be remembered by. It almost sounds like motown meets punk rock. It is not often you hear girl back-up vocals in a punk band. I thought this was very cool.

The song "Complain Dept." carries the same theme and overall sound as the rest of the album. It is a great track, which all of them are, but there really is nothing to say different about it than all the rest of the songs on the album. I will say it again, and probably many more times. It is a catchy, straight-forward indie/punk song.

The next song is "Done With Fun". This one stands out from the rest of them. Although it is the same style of music as the rest of the album, it seems that the verses put a lot more emphasis on a sound that almost seems like it is aimed at being a somewhat tropical theme. It has sort of a vacation style vibe. The lead guitar is what makes it seems "tropical". They are driving throughout the whole song and really seem to stand out in the song.

"The Magazines" seems to have a slightly slower and more sad feel to it. From what I get out of it, it is about the narrator (Chris Farren) becoming slightly well-known and rising to become a small "rockstar". He seems a tad dissapointed with it. It seems he is discontent and unsure about how people seem to know so much about him, yet he doesn't know a thing about them. I always seem to listen to "Magazines" whenever I listen to "Done With Fun" and vise versa for some reason. I always picture these two together as one song.

The song after that is "White Lies". "White Lies" has a very unfamiliar sound. It seems to slightly drift from the rest of the album, while maintaining the happy up-beat feel. The main lead guitar riff in this song is fantastic. It always manages to get stuck in my head. Casey Lee always manages to break out some cool lead guitar parts.

"Grand Finale" is one of the greatest songs Fake Problems have ever released. It is epic from start to finish. I can easily say this is the best on the record, and most likely their best overall. The first half of the song is a driving rock song. About half way through the song, it falls into a breakdown. The breakdown is a build that leads to tremendous heights. The build takes up about the whole second half of this five minute song, until it rips back into the rockin' chorus. The lyrics are extremely well writen, as well as the music itself.

"Ghost To Coast" takes it down a notch for the closure. Very soft and slow song. It is almost depressing, in a good way though (if that makes any sense). The is the biggest piece of evidence showing maturity yet. It seems wierd that the same band that wrote "Born and Raised" (which I love), wrote this (which I also love). This is such a massive step forward for them. I am not so sure as this song's inclusion, though. Although this song is great, I strongly believe "Grand Finale" would have worked a lot better as the closing track. I understand where they are coming from chosing this, I just think "Grand Finale" is a better choice.

Although this album is fantastic, it is not what I hoped for Fake Problems. I understand maturity is good, but I also understand that half of Fake Problems' charm was their humor. I am really in between whether I feel the maturity is what I wanted, or if the humor is what I wanted. I guess I am on both sides. I can see both arguements. One thing I noticed about this album is that the drum's seem soulless (Pun intended). It seems as if the drummer is just drumming as a job. I cannot feel the heart in the drums on this record at all. Another thing I must note is that the lead guitar is what keeps this album alive for the most part. Although this album may seem a tad repetitive, I see it as they are repeating something fantastic. All issues aside, I believe this is a very strong album front to back.

Highlights : Soulless, Done With Fun, Grand Finale

Music : 7.5 (Good enough!)
Lyrics : 6 (Meh, not the highlight for the most part, but not bad)
Artwork : 8.5 (Fits the "tropical" or "summer" theme PERFECTLY)

Overall : 7.5

Support The Band
Homepage
Myspace
Amazon

Tweet