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Album: For Everyone Artist: Sunbears! Label: None Release Date: Febrauary 15, 2008 This haunting, spacious rock music may be as theatrical as Jonathan Berlin’s last major project, St. Augustine’s Bernard, when performed live with former Bernard drummer Jared Bowser, but the music on this six-song EP plays perfectly, even without the cinematic display. Somewhere between Postal Service and Radiohead, this album easily transcends any expectation you might have for local music. In fact, this is the sort of album that could get you into a serious relationship. Go pick up a girl at the Pearl (preferably one that likes Coldplay and Radiohead, but just adores Snow Patrol and Interpol) and play this EP on the way to the afterparty. She won’t believe her ears and she won’t believe you when you say they are local. She’ll be yours until you show her a band that sucks (or that is just totally dude rock). Having said that, let me clear a few things up about this album. Although I wouldn’t categorize it as dude rock (that would be something more Queens of the Stone Age or Tomahawk), it is far more engaging than the boring balladeers of the Coldplay and Snow Patrol set. I’ve been referring to Sunbears! as a “they,” which is true during 8 MAY 2008 | eu jacksonville monthly | music albums Album: The Explicits Artist: The Explicits Label: Explicit Records Release Date: April 8, 2008 The Explicits’ first album has now become my album of choice for kicking virtual ass. I took the album on its first test run while playing City of Villains. It would make a great soundtrack for any MMORPG from Warcraft to EVE online. Something about their angry gutter punk music just seems to fit. When I read the press release (something I try not to do before I listen to the album), I found that lead singer Renee Phoenix defined her favorite track (the metal-thrashesque album ender ‘Hollywood’) in video game terms. Turns out she’s a WOW fan. I’ve seen the band live, and found the album to be slightly less edgy, but it in a positive way. Any fan of the local Jacksonville band will recognize songs like ‘Indestructible,’ which they’ve been playing at least since last year. The band members are all under 21 and the lead goes to UNF, where she’ll be earning an English degree in between rocking out in various Florida venues. It’s old school punk, a little screamo with raspy, tuff vocals. The lead, who sounds like a guy, is actually the petite Renee Phoenix, who I’m convinced gargles gravel between sets. Metal tinges all the songs, particularly the guitar work, but it’s all about punk with a slight hook. While metal guitar solos tend to go on and on and on, the dominant punk side of the band curbs these, keeping it short and sweet, with brief metal goodness slapped between layers of punk. While I enjoyed most of the tracks, one particular song irked me with lines such as “I’m so over it/ I’m sick of your sh*t,” set to the most pop-like hooky melody of the album. Luckily the songs come back to their home ground, and ‘Over It’ was the only miss on the album. The rest of it hits hard. ‘Suffocate’ opens the album with the sort of hooky angst and raw edge that makes punk so much damn fun. Since they’ve hit the magic MySpace number, with over 30,000 friends, they’ve taken the next step by putting out this album. In true punk tradition, they’ve started their own label, Explicit Records, and cut their first self-titled record. I can only hope that their next album will be as good. Check them out on MySpace, so you can say you knew them before they made it big. - Erin Thursby their live performaces, but this EP was recorded by Jonathan alone. And his talent reverberates through the catchy lyrical hooks on songs such as ‘Stars’ and in intoxicating instrumental hooks as on ‘It’s Too Late.’ The drums alone will pull you into ‘We Are Blind.’ ‘Lovely Little Anecdotes’ is so expertly crafted and recorded, it is hard to imagine what else Sunbears! could possibly do to grab the attention of a formidable label. All of the songs are also rich with a rhythmic and electronic sort of creativity that is a little baffl ing. Every time this EP teeters on the edge of seeming grossly trite, the song shifts to something so surprising that it wins you back again and makes you believe that perhaps the part before wasn’t even as trite as you thought. It hypnotizes you after-the-fact. Somewhere in this shoegazer pop rockscape, there is a hint of avant-garde. If you can’t stand croony two-piece rock bands that only feature keyboards, drums, and electronics, then you should avoid Sunbears! in spite of how brilliant they are. But if you love to have that exciting new album that few people have heard, buy For Everyone and put ‘We Are Blind’ or ‘Stars’ on a couple of those mix CDs you make for girls. It’ll work. For a while. Let’s hope that Jonathan and Jared don’t take too long recording a full length so that you can keep her around for a while. Six songs can get tired pretty fast, no matter how good they are. - Jon Bosworth Album: Worldwide Artist: The Death Set Label: Counter Records (Ninja Tune Rock Imprint) Release Date: April 22, 2008 If I called The Death Set’s music “Girl Scout anthem punk”, that could describe it accurately without giving you any better of an idea of what to expect from their performance at TSI Discotheque this month. But the truth is, I imagine that this band was started by some Girl Scouts that decided to stop scouting, bought a guitar and a Casio and took their high-energy cheer-like anthems to the next level by loading them with angst and playing for college kids all over the country. Of course this isn’t true. Actually, band founders Beau Velasco and Johnny Siera began playing their reckless pop music in Sydney, Australia in 2005 and then relocated to Baltimore after an experimental stint in Brooklyn. The current lineup, according to their MySpace page, also includes Peter O’ Connell, Jahphet Landis, and Joey Sulkowski. None of whom, I suspect, have ever been Girl Scouts. In some of the album’s tracks, such as ‘Negative Thinking’ as well as ‘Selective Memories,’ this male presence is discernable, but songs like ‘Peak Oil,’ ‘Intermission,’ ‘Listen to this Collision’ and ‘Impossible’ blast this cheerleader punk nuanced by electronic sounds and a driving-but-simplistic drum rhythm. While their publicist compares them fi rst and foremost to infl uences such as the Buzzcocks and Minor Threat, the songs that really stand out as belonging uniquely to The Death Set are something a bit more pop. The album could be defi ned by the punk numbers; songs such as ‘A Day in the Wife’ and ‘Heard It All Before’ are certainly old-school punk infl uenced. But punky electro-pop songs such as ‘Around the World,’ ‘Superzero,’ and, my personal favorite, ‘Moving Forward’ show a fanciful and ruthlessly danceable Death Set that works just as well on a mix playlist for a friend as they do within the context of this album. It is songs like these that stitch the disparate genres together in a fashion that makes the album feel like an intentionally crafted whole. They tie the room together. If you are showing Worldwide to someone that has never heard the band, I recommend starting it on ‘Moving Forward’ (track 12) and then just let it play. By the time the song ‘MFDS’ (track 13) comes on, they are sure to ask who this band is, and you get to answer, so appropriately, ‘Mother F**king Death Set.’ The Death Set are playing TSI on Wednesday, May 7th with Bonde du Role. - Jon Bosworth
music | eujacksonville.com | MAY 2008 9
Page 1 and 2: JACKSONVILLE INSIDE: A complete gui
Page 3 and 4: contents 15 jacksonville film festi
Page 5 and 6: may music events featured music eve
Page 7: Tenth Avenue North CD Release Show
Page 11 and 12: At that time, Kenny had already tou
Page 13 and 14: was nice; defi nitely got us a lot
Page 15 and 16: free outdoor entertainment summer m
Page 17 and 18: kirei board Kirei Board is a strong
Page 19 and 20: EU’s pull-out guide to the 2008 J
Page 21 and 22: programs THE WORLD OF DOCS Screenin
Page 23 and 24: CRACKER: THE LAST COWBOYS OF FLORID
Page 25 and 26: jacksonville fi lm festival Books A
Page 27 and 28: NORTH STARR (USA, 2007, 120 min., c
Page 29 and 30: getting to know waylon payne interv
Page 31 and 32: Those that love archetypical French
Page 33 and 34: where everybody knows your name by
Page 35 and 36: honoring the arts in a changing lan
Page 37 and 38: { theatre & } culture Richard Thoma
Page 39 and 40: JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR The Alhambra
Page 41 and 42: fi t to be square a saga of shaping
Page 43 and 44: netscapades bridging the racial div
Page 45 and 46: NOT JUST FOR BABY BOOMERS FILM SERI
Page 47: movies | eujacksonville.com | MAY 2

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