MUSIC REVIEW
Comeback Kid evokes emotion BY SHANNON HEWKIN Daily Titan Staff
Comeback Kid will save hardcore music. The Canadian bandʼs March 2003 release of Turn It Around proved that the latest incarnation of the hardcore scene has the potential to inspire, evoke emotion and be more than simply runway music for guys sporting tight jeans, cadet hats and too much eyeliner. The bandʼs sophomore effort, Wake the Dead, walks the same line as Turn It Around, but opts to turn down the guitar feedback a notch in favor of a slightly more restrained sound.
For Comeback Kid fans, warming up to Wake the Dead will be an easy transition. The new album relies on the same hard, fast, rhythm-driven sound as the last, and continues to use group vocals and repetition to emphasize lyrics. Much like Turn It Around, Wake the Dead is packed with anthems and sing-alongs. The title track is a call to action. With lyrics like, “Iʼll kick and scream-letʼs break this hold,” Comeback Kid embodies the “us against them” sentiment used by many bands in the hardcore scene, but somehow makes it heartfelt and believable. Taking cues from the straightahead punk-rooted hardcore of the '80s and early '90s, the sound on Wake the Dead separates the band from the more heavy metal-influenced hardcore lumped into the same genre. The simplicity in the sound and the earnestness of the lyrics make this album stand out from other bands in the scene. In fact, the album doesnʼt stray
Rebels songs similar in style BY JASON KEHLER Daily Titan Staff
from the sound that gained them fans the first time around, making the album even more likeable. With hardcore music being touted for the past two years as the “next big scene,” many bands in this genre struggle to find a niche and change their sound to separate themselves from other similar bands. Comeback Kid proves that you donʼt have to reinvent the wheel or your band in order to stay interesting, talented or popular. The 11-song album ends much the same as Turn It Around did fading away, the faint and haunting squeals of guitar feedback leaving those who enjoyed this CD as much as I did marveling at how much energy and emotion is expended listening to a truly powerful album.
The River City Rebels offer throwback-punk rock with a horns section and emotional lyrics on the bandʼs latest disc Hate to Be Loved. The 12-song album is a quick journey through sex, alcohol and rock ʻnʼ roll. The band stays relatively consistent with their sound, keeping it upbeat with punk-rock-rhythms, highlighted with a trombone and tenor sax. A couple of songs take on a ʻ50s rock ʻnʼ roll sound complete with fast-paced piano. The lyrics in general tell their own story, but the songs, which range from just over two minutes to about four minutes in length, are not very in-depth. Many lines are repeated several times which gets a little annoying and takes away from the song. Despite the majority of the
songs sounding very similar to each other, some songs on the CD jump out. The song that stands out the most is “I Wilt,” where the singer describes not being able to live without his love and opens with “Slit my wrist, watch the blood run down.” The album is book-marked with two love ballads about an ex-girlfriend, who seems to be the major inspiration for all of the songs. The first is a slow-paced song with spoken lyrics, and the last an acoustic song with violins. However, it is not all sad-emo-lyrics. “Her New Man” is a very humorous revenge song about an ex-girlfriend, where the girlfriend confesses that her new man just canʼt please her like he can. The CD is hard to like but also hard to hate. River City Rebels do, however, have a fairly unique sound in a genre where everyone sounds the same.
Chingy, Warren G rap to their own beat BY MAHSA KHALILIFAR Daily Titan Staff
Drinking, smoking, good music, half-naked girls shaking their behinds and a posse of men in the background…no not another MTV video, it's a Chingy concert. With no set list and no elaborate stage show, a drink in one hand and a microphone in the other, Chingy and Warren G lit up the Anaheim House of Blues Stage last Friday night for a crowd of restless yet excited hip-hop fans. When the doors opened at 7 p.m., the restless crowd started to make their presence known and chanted in unison "Chingy, Chingy," (as others said they just
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Daily Titan February 24, 2005
wanted to see their future baby's daddy, referring to the St. Louis rapper), while others of us wondered why we had showed up so early for what was said to be an 8 p.m. appearance. When the show finally started a little past 9 p.m., the audience screamed and hands flew. For unsuspected newbies to the venue, no assigned seating and general admission meant once the curtain opened, you would have to fight your way to the front, deal with the lack of air and plant your feet for dear life. As Warren G came out, screams, waving hands and utter respect for the seasoned rapper roared through the place. With nothing more than what
looked like a gym outfit, a cup filled with what he said was Hennessy and an entourage of men who were smoking in the background, Warren G sang all his famous hits and opened the show up. Giving the crowd tracks they wanted to hear like "I Want it All" and his '94 hit "Regulate," he excited many of his fans who waved their hands up in unison. Singing the most recent hit from his group 213 (which includes Nate Dogg and Snoop Dog), Groupie Luv, almost everyone in the venue were singing and dancing along with him. As he ended his short set of around six or seven songs, the crowd clapped and everyone looked at each other smiling and pumped up. As the curtains on the stage suddenly closed up again though, the crowd booed and the happiness from Warren G's performance seemed to quickly fade away like the smoke that had filled the stage moments earlier. Minutes later, the crowd went wild again as the lights dimmed and Mr. Powerballin himself came out to really start the festivities. Chingy looked like he had just stepped out of his CD cover - donning a yellow bandana, baseball hat, and his signature sparkling Chingy necklace along with other blinding bling. Singing songs, like "Fall-N," and 26 's with his signature country twang, the rapper has made famous, the audience went back into
hyper mode and forgot about their exhaustion. His show looked more like a street performance with a DJ rather than a multi-million dollar production with real dancers as you would see at other rap shows. As some ladies raised their hands in hopes of being picked up to go on stage and "Make That Ass Talk," as Chingy would put it, many were questioning the point of it all. At times the show looked more like a raunchy, cheap rap video rather than a concert people had paid to see. His performances of "Leave Wit Me" (which features R. Kelly on the album) and the Janet Jackson duet "Don't Worry" brought the crowd back into it though and pleased his fans that were there for the music. Trying to score a touch with the famous rapper or attempting to grab one of his few towels thrown off stage, girls continued to sing to the words of his hits from his first album such as "Holidae Inn" and "One Call Away" and the 2003 debut single that made Chingy a household name: "Right Thurr." The show was short and many were surprised by the amount of time Chingy actually performed. The hour and a half show kept people waiting around after it was over and wanting more. Although the show set-up was mediocre, the music was decent and to see the rapper up-close and personal was almost worth the price of admission.
