The Automatik

House of Blues
September 27, 2003

Last time I saw the Super Furry Animals, they were so loud that my ears rang for two days. This time, I wisely remembered to pack earplugs. Sadly, they did not block out Grandaddy, who thankfully performed last and spared me from having to endure their entire set. It seems unbelievable to me that anyone would want to follow the phantom power of the Super Furry Animals, particularly Grandaddy, who I saw open for Elliott Smith three years ago and who didn’t impress me then.
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Self-Released, 2003

This is the first CD I’ve reviewed in a while which I didn’t actually purchase. Long gone are the zanier, zinier times, of trudging through crappy “punk” 7 inches and weird, under-produced cassette tapes. Hopefully my comments won’t cause it to be the last CD I am sent to review.
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Geffen, 2003

At their best, Rooney sound like Jellyfish, Jason Falkner, and vintage Weezer. At their worst, they’re sugary enough to give you a toothache; too much bubblegum and not enough bittersweet.
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Watch this at: http://www.vikrecordings.com/sloan/actionpact/multimedia.html

Relief flooded over me when I realized that this song was the first single from Sloan’s new album, since I was certain it would be the album opener, “Gimme That.” Not that “Gimme That” doesn’t provide a thorough sonic ass-kicking; it’s just that we went down that route with Pretty Together‘s “If It Feels Good, Do It” and I was hoping for something different this time around. (Someone should serve me with a “Comparing Everything to Pretty Together” gag order, I swear to God.)
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Outside Records, 2003

Reddish hair and pale, luminous skin
She stuck it in with an Ultravox pin
They say the Germans make the best ones
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“We were trying to not be as precious about our previous conception of what Sloan was all about. It used to be about four guys equally represented, but this time, it wasn’t so much about expressing yourself as trying to put together a fun rock record.”
- Singer/guitarist Patrick Pentland on Sloan’s latest album

Let’s get the Pretty Together conversation out of the way first.

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