Young Veins, The - Take A Vacation
Jun. 12th, 2010 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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youngveinsReviewed by: lalaKR@dr1cx (06/10/10)
The Young Veins - Take a Vacation
Record Label: One Haven
Release Date: June 8, 2010
Let's give it up. Some of us need to understand that the time period of the 60's will forever be foreign ground to us and our fucked up little generation. It doesn't matter how many records you blast through that stereo/vinyl player/bar jukebox because you're never going to be able to know the feeling of rushing out of school to pick up your new favorite records at the shacks downtown. Your heroes are dead (probably) and God rest their souls because they are the milestones of many people's beloved collections. Our generation is a cheating one, a cheap hooker of a generation. We get our concert fix through streaming online videos. We all download our albums illegally instead of buying them. We succumb to the torture of the music industry and it's evil propaganda, etc. We could use our hormones as instruments to triumph on and write the most insipid, incendiary battle statements to match our forefathers and their poetics but frankly as of late I could care less about the 60's and you know what? I could care even less about Ryan Ross.
Summer most recently gave me a good sucker punch on the back of my head. In heralding it's arrival (abruptly I might add), I've been blasting old pop punk records that I've been neglecting for quite sometime. Ryan Ross is going to celebrate his summer touring behind this limping hipster of an album: it's packed to the brim with bright melodies, vocal harmonies galore, and the whole nine yards from about everything even remotely resembling the pop music of yesteryear from bands who know their place in history. The band in this case is The Young Veins and the album is tentatively called Take A Vacation which isn't too off putting considering the sunshine contained within.
Here's the back story: Panic at the Disco! (now reaffirmed with exclamation point!) lost two of it's vital members in Ross and bassist Jon Walker. The outbreak that followed in the months since were alot of cries of selling out, lost hope and some mean words about people's mommies and daddies. Ignoring the death threats, Ross and the other one pioneered The Young Veins, a tribute/mockery/_____ to 1960's pop music. You see the people who appreciate this album will call it an honest tribute to that much beloved generation, those who dislike it will say it is a mockery of it, and that blank space is for people who will just take it at face value.
Now, Ross and his collection of suave soldiers have been on my shitlist for quite some time. Bands these days have this awkward fascination with creating new outlets that they most certainly are not suited for and failing in the process. In the case of whether or not these veins can hold up is a mystery in itself. The culture shock of the entire album is not hard to overlook or even analyze. It has been openly admitted by the band members that the influences have been worn on their sleeves throughout the rough recording process. The Beatles, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Zombies and The Kinks. To ignore the gaping influence of the listed artists here whether borrowed or brutally savaged is to lose credibility somewhat.
There isn't a song here that could be distinguished from another. I really do hope that The Young Veins are being satirical because it most certainly seems to be. From the start with "Change" to "Heart Of Mine", there's nothing hear to distinguish songs from another. Not to say that the track list is your only hint, it's just that......oh fuck. Yeah that's exactly what I'm saying. See the thing about the listed artists above are that they are able to use their strengths to craft songs that remain in the same corral while still retaining a sense of individuality. Take A Vacation is mostly a bandwagon for Ross and Walker to craft the one song they can make and in doing so they somehow expose the irrelevance of the whole damn shebang.
The tracks themselves bleed seamlessly to the next each sounding like a funhouse mirror version of the last. The only tracks that remotely tries to escape from the confines of the album's linearity is "Young Veins (Die Tonight)" and" Change", the latter being one of the prime tracks here for being the only one with a slightly alerting melody. That being said the melodies here are no party either; more of a carousel really. Some tracks don't even reveal their hooks until the fifth listen in such as "The Other Girl" and "Cape Town" which while repetitive and a tad uninspired will make you butter by the umpteenth spin.
So naturally if the beach pop gaping atmosphere is the album's biggest selling point and weakness, then the lyrics and the rest of it must be garbage. To some extent, Ross stops trying in my mind after a few of the gems on this album. Say what you want about his Panic! days (he probably won't) but the man could use a slight lyrical edge back then. Sure they were pretty dull edges if you had a driver's permit by then and most of it was a lot of overly damaged metaphors about sex and the having thereof but you get the point. Here lines like, "Someone should've told her pretty ain't a job", "Who knew love was such a dangerous drug?" and "It's our job to lose our minds" are the zenith. Production's handled carefully to make the whole album one big sunbath and Ross and Walker have pretty competent voices on them and they anchor this beach party with just the right tenors.
I can safely say that this new outfit will most definitely not change presumptions against Ryan Ross because it most certainly hasn't for me. Hell, the deluxe edition which includes a fucking beach towel, beach ball and sunglasses only adds to the pretentiousness in my opinion. However, maybe then this is really an artist that is destined to walk his own path to a musical identity that he seems to still be deciphering which is quite fine. It's hard to fall out of one band to get into another and just have people stone you with put downs either way. As for me, The Young Veins is an attempt by an artist in trying to distinguish himself apart from his past has exposed his own weaknesses and flaws.
http://www.myspace.com/theyoungveins
Recommended If You Like: The Beatles, The Byrds, The Kinks, etc. Panic At the Disco (Probably and if that shows just how much I give a shit about differentiating between this Panic vs. Young Veins battle then that's exactly what is intended.)
(source)
The Young Veins - Take a Vacation
Record Label: One Haven
Release Date: June 8, 2010
Let's give it up. Some of us need to understand that the time period of the 60's will forever be foreign ground to us and our fucked up little generation. It doesn't matter how many records you blast through that stereo/vinyl player/bar jukebox because you're never going to be able to know the feeling of rushing out of school to pick up your new favorite records at the shacks downtown. Your heroes are dead (probably) and God rest their souls because they are the milestones of many people's beloved collections. Our generation is a cheating one, a cheap hooker of a generation. We get our concert fix through streaming online videos. We all download our albums illegally instead of buying them. We succumb to the torture of the music industry and it's evil propaganda, etc. We could use our hormones as instruments to triumph on and write the most insipid, incendiary battle statements to match our forefathers and their poetics but frankly as of late I could care less about the 60's and you know what? I could care even less about Ryan Ross.
Summer most recently gave me a good sucker punch on the back of my head. In heralding it's arrival (abruptly I might add), I've been blasting old pop punk records that I've been neglecting for quite sometime. Ryan Ross is going to celebrate his summer touring behind this limping hipster of an album: it's packed to the brim with bright melodies, vocal harmonies galore, and the whole nine yards from about everything even remotely resembling the pop music of yesteryear from bands who know their place in history. The band in this case is The Young Veins and the album is tentatively called Take A Vacation which isn't too off putting considering the sunshine contained within.
Here's the back story: Panic at the Disco! (now reaffirmed with exclamation point!) lost two of it's vital members in Ross and bassist Jon Walker. The outbreak that followed in the months since were alot of cries of selling out, lost hope and some mean words about people's mommies and daddies. Ignoring the death threats, Ross and the other one pioneered The Young Veins, a tribute/mockery/_____ to 1960's pop music. You see the people who appreciate this album will call it an honest tribute to that much beloved generation, those who dislike it will say it is a mockery of it, and that blank space is for people who will just take it at face value.
Now, Ross and his collection of suave soldiers have been on my shitlist for quite some time. Bands these days have this awkward fascination with creating new outlets that they most certainly are not suited for and failing in the process. In the case of whether or not these veins can hold up is a mystery in itself. The culture shock of the entire album is not hard to overlook or even analyze. It has been openly admitted by the band members that the influences have been worn on their sleeves throughout the rough recording process. The Beatles, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Zombies and The Kinks. To ignore the gaping influence of the listed artists here whether borrowed or brutally savaged is to lose credibility somewhat.
There isn't a song here that could be distinguished from another. I really do hope that The Young Veins are being satirical because it most certainly seems to be. From the start with "Change" to "Heart Of Mine", there's nothing hear to distinguish songs from another. Not to say that the track list is your only hint, it's just that......oh fuck. Yeah that's exactly what I'm saying. See the thing about the listed artists above are that they are able to use their strengths to craft songs that remain in the same corral while still retaining a sense of individuality. Take A Vacation is mostly a bandwagon for Ross and Walker to craft the one song they can make and in doing so they somehow expose the irrelevance of the whole damn shebang.
The tracks themselves bleed seamlessly to the next each sounding like a funhouse mirror version of the last. The only tracks that remotely tries to escape from the confines of the album's linearity is "Young Veins (Die Tonight)" and" Change", the latter being one of the prime tracks here for being the only one with a slightly alerting melody. That being said the melodies here are no party either; more of a carousel really. Some tracks don't even reveal their hooks until the fifth listen in such as "The Other Girl" and "Cape Town" which while repetitive and a tad uninspired will make you butter by the umpteenth spin.
So naturally if the beach pop gaping atmosphere is the album's biggest selling point and weakness, then the lyrics and the rest of it must be garbage. To some extent, Ross stops trying in my mind after a few of the gems on this album. Say what you want about his Panic! days (he probably won't) but the man could use a slight lyrical edge back then. Sure they were pretty dull edges if you had a driver's permit by then and most of it was a lot of overly damaged metaphors about sex and the having thereof but you get the point. Here lines like, "Someone should've told her pretty ain't a job", "Who knew love was such a dangerous drug?" and "It's our job to lose our minds" are the zenith. Production's handled carefully to make the whole album one big sunbath and Ross and Walker have pretty competent voices on them and they anchor this beach party with just the right tenors.
I can safely say that this new outfit will most definitely not change presumptions against Ryan Ross because it most certainly hasn't for me. Hell, the deluxe edition which includes a fucking beach towel, beach ball and sunglasses only adds to the pretentiousness in my opinion. However, maybe then this is really an artist that is destined to walk his own path to a musical identity that he seems to still be deciphering which is quite fine. It's hard to fall out of one band to get into another and just have people stone you with put downs either way. As for me, The Young Veins is an attempt by an artist in trying to distinguish himself apart from his past has exposed his own weaknesses and flaws.
http://www.myspace.com/theyoungveins
Recommended If You Like: The Beatles, The Byrds, The Kinks, etc. Panic At the Disco (Probably and if that shows just how much I give a shit about differentiating between this Panic vs. Young Veins battle then that's exactly what is intended.)
(source)
