October 20th, 2009 was the date of Cycle’s release, the third album by the six-man Georgian pop-rock outfit Cartel. Forty minutes of unsophisticated love songs are contained in the eleven track span of the work. Let’s get down to business.
When I say this is pop-rock, I mean that in the most straightforward sense. This is as poppy and rocky as we’re going to find for a while. The first three tracks, Let’s Go, The Perfect Mistake, and Faster Ride are a trio of dangerously catchy tunes that I’m sure have slain the hearts of teenage girls in numbers too great to count with the ‘Me and you baby, true love’ lyrical style that each and every track boasts. Melodic, and strongly sung vocals from Will Pugh, who is arguably one of the more competent vocalists in this genre usually filled with waifishly-voiced effete men in tight jeans who can’t quite get to their notes without belting out, or throwing their voices toward the correct pitch and hope they don’t miss by too much.
It’s tough to say a whole lot about Cycles. It’s a (very nicely done) pop-rock album from a band that’s very good at this sort of thing after eight years of making this music. Every song is catchy, with good harmonies and just enough variation each time through the verses and choruses that there’s a definite evolution of the music over the brief length of each piece, as slightly more complex layers are added to the mix.
All in all though, the recording is tight, the songs are written well enough to stand apart from one another while still conforming to the very tight genre restrictions that Cartel has been married to for their whole career. In the end it’s not going to stand too far apart, or above any of the other artists in this field, like Boys Like Girls, All Time Low, or Tokio Hotel, because it really, truly is just too samey-sounding to say that any one group is really superior to another at this style of music. That said, however, Cycles is still an enjoyable listen, even if it won’t rock your world, at least it can rock your socks for forty minutes.
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ReplyDeleteI am utterly lost when I visit your blogs. I have no idea who these artists are and I must admit, I have no interest to know either. I am a very close minded person when it comes to music, sticking to hip-hop, reggae, rap, r&b, latin, oldies and other stuff. however, one thing I can say, is that you have an absolutely awesome writing style. As you probably already know, you are extremely witty and smooth in your writing. I can read your blogs and often crack a smile, not at the content itself, but how you write. Which is great.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat as Hannah.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm reading an article from Spin Magazine when I read your blog. Very well written reviews Denny. Also, I am proud of knowing many bands most people haven't heard of, but Cartel is a group I've not heard before. I'll be checking them out for sure!
ReplyDeleteI am clenching my fist.
ReplyDeleteYeah I really dig your writing. Unfortunately listening to bands like Cartel and Boys Like Girls make me want to bore a hole through my eardrums to make the music stop
ReplyDeleteDan - I will agree with you on that. Most of these reviews are requests, because if I had it my way, I'd just rave about the music I like and that wouldn't be very interesting at all.
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