Piper's Single Reviews: Issue 6

This is the sixth installment of Piper's Single Reviews. Each post, I will review six songs by various indie and/or alternative bands (or artists that you might chance upon when listening to an American college or modern rock station) and rate them on a scale from 1 to 10.


Company of Thieves - Oscar Wilde
Company of Thieves seem really out of place on Wind Up Records, the home of active rock radio stalwarts Creed and Evanescense and emo bands like Tickle Me Pink. In fact, the closest sounding band on the label is Welsh alternative rock act People in Planes. Which is saying alot because Company of Thieves sound nothing like People in Planes. CoT is an indie rock band from Chicago led by singer Genevieve Schatz, whose singing voices sounds like Regina Spektor without the Russian accent. Their single "Oscar Wilde" is filled with hooks (notably second half of the chorus and first verse). The video for the song - like ones by The Decemberists and Shout Out Louds before it - is a Wes Anderson homage. It's a really good song and if we lived in a perfect world, it would be a big alternative radio hit.
9/10

Regina Spektor - Laughing With
Speaking of Regina Spektor, "Laughing With" is the antifolk singer/songwriter/pianist's new single. I really enjoyed Spektor's last two records, 2003's Soviet Kitsch and 2006's Begin to Hope and "Laughing With" gives me high hopes for her new release Far. Its not as good as "Us" or "Better" and it sounds like it was made specifically to soundtrack a somber scene on Grey's Anatomy with its lines about all the misery that God brings the human race, but its a nice little teaser for what i'm hoping is one of the highlight albums of 2009.
7/10

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Wind Phoenix
Cymbals Eat Guitars are Pitchfork-endorsed indie band from Staten Island, New York. "Wind Phoenix" is the clear standout on their debut album Why There Are Mountains. CEG's singer - who goes by the whimsically goofy name of Joseph Ferocious - sounds just barely like Jeremy Egnik of Sunny Day Real Estate and the band's sound itself is vaguely psychedelic and I can hear an influence of Olivia Tremor Control and other Elephant 6 bands in their sound as well. A great song and I have high hopes for them in the future.
9.5/10


Wilco - Wilco (The Song)
This seems to be the first single from Wilco's upcoming Wilco (The Album). It was premiered last October when the band performed it on The Colbert Report. The song is very piano heavy and reminds me alot of the Sky Blue Sky highlight "Walken". Its also probably one of the strongest songs in the Wilco catalog, up there with "War on War" and "Heavy Metal Drummer". This has to be one of my favorite songs of the year so far.
10/10

311 - Hey You
Oh, they still exist? Everyone stopped liking this band (who produced a handful of rock radio classics, notably the always popular "Down" and "All Mixed Up") after they recorded the pop crossover smash "Amber" (which is a really wretched song) and a terrible cover of "Love Song" by The Cure. This song tries to capture the sound they had in their heyday but wind up sounding really flat and really bored. These guys clearly aren't having any fun anymore
3.5/10

Kings of Leon - Revelry
This is not as good as their other singles. It doesn't make me want to listen to it again the way that "Molly's Chambers", "The Bucket", "On Call" or "Use Somebody" do. "Notion" would've been a better choice for single #3 from Only By the Night. It's not a bad song, but its forgettable and not up to the same standards as Kings of Leon's other singles.
5.5/10