The challenge is trying to label this album as it is so many things at once. Dog Problems is a delightful pastiche of sounds and colors that evoke Queen, Joe Jackson, The Beatles, Tahiti 80, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, even a touch of Black Twig Pickers, and waves of Power Pop crunch. Listening is like having a crate of some of the best vinyl dumped on your head, it pulls from every direction but manages to weave together a series of songs that reflect a knack for tight compositions and even tighter playing.
The album opens quietly but quickly slips into “I’m Actual”, a breezy orchestral pop number replete with string flourishes and a swollen brass section where Nate Ruess slyly implores that “We take the next hour and talk about me”; fleshing out the track a lazy accordion riff playing off a clarinet lick that never fails to make me think of the The Quadratics. The track is a good example of the band’s compositional prowess as it is a dense arrangement that features shifting dynamics and voicings every couple of bars creating great swells of sound that roll and crash around the lead vocals.
“Time Bomb” is by far the most dynamic track on the album and my personal favorite. Opening with a blast of Freddie Mercury it soars into a sing-a-long (or shout-a-long, whichever works best for you) chorus that instantly has me acting a complete fool drawn in by the wiggling piano line and foot stomping hand clapping rhythm section. Many of the songs here do just that being driven by The Format’s blend of Chamber Pop and Power Pop with equal doses of tongue-in-cheek winks to the past–look for one to Counting Crows 1993 Mr. Jones, one of my least favorite songs ever but damn funny in this context. When they dip into more Pop territory such as “Oceans” or the anthemic ending to “If Work Permits” the band proves that they can strip things back and just layout hooks thus proving that the Atlantic is incredibly shortsighted.
Dog Problems is a captivating album and one that is easily vying for the top of my Best of 2006 list. You can listen to two tracks off the album over at MySpace or grab “Compromise” at their website. Whatever you do, sit up and take notice as this album shouldn’t be missed. You can snag it over at eMusic.
I’ve read some very nice things about 
I caught the tail end of 
Cheap Trick have soldiered on for more than thirty years now but their output has been pretty spotty since 1979’s Dream Police. I had heard a lot of good things about 
I was holding out on this one but curiosity ultimately conquered my reticence. In case you’ve been in a coma or rely solely on Candied Pop for your music news, The Raconteurs are a so-called super group made up of The White Stripes’ Jack White, power-pop savant Brendan Benson, and The Greenhornes’ drummer and bass player, Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence. I’m not much of a White Stripes fan but I did want to check out how Jack White fared playing with a decent rhythm section. And I do really like Brendan Benson so I was interested to see how he meshed with a more bluesy-by-way-of-garage based crowd.
Okay, so there’s nothing new here. It’s your basic verse/chorus/verse solo-in-the-bridge type rock. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a strong, memorable album. Coxon knows how to write hooks that stay with you long after the songs have ended. At fifteen songs and about an hour long, my only complaint is that it’s a bit too long. Sure, there are a handful of gems and nothing smacks of filler, but it’d probably have been even better just a few songs lighter. Then again that just may be a reflection of my forty minute max attention span.
Quick, name a musical artist from South Dakota! Uh-huh. I couldn’t either, at least not until I started checking into The Weather Machines. This Rapid City four piece plays catchy Ted Leo-esque power-pop songs with friendly power chords, fat bass lines, and understated drums. Jason Ward’s voice especially reminds me of ol’ Ted, but overall they’re a more straightforward rock band. Highlights include the chiding “Northern Lights” (”Stop showing your scars / because it’s never been clear who got the worst of what you say”), the stutter stop of “The Latest In Company Brides,” and the riffed out “32,000′ Above Suck City.” Clocking in at just over a half hour, the dozen solid songs of The Sounds of Pseudoscience are catchy, concise, and definitely worth a listen.