Alive & Amplified

Twentysomethings of the world, look at current pop trends and consider yourselves lucky. The early 90s saw a sudden resurgence of good music in the mainstream. Nirvana was a household name. Soundgarden T-shirts were everywhere. Even The Pixies were getting some serious endcap time at music stores. Flannel will make a comeback. 

While both hip-hop and pop music have their place in culture, current trends have sacrificed creativity and quality for marketability. Post a “danger” sign. Kids are listening to “I’m into havin’ sex / aint into makin’ love” daily on their radios (IPods, whatever), and you, you twenty-somethings, are grinding too it every weekend. You know who you are. Music plays a different role for each generation. While it might not be as powerful as it was in the 60s and 70s, it still is a very large representation of youth and culture.

In the past few years the garage genre has shown a glimmer of hope in pop culture. The Strokes, no matter how popular or obvious they may be/seem, have put out two excellent, successful albums. The White Stripes, no matter how overrated they may be, are at least as good as Nirvana was. (Disclaimer: both are severely overrated.) Garage is not the answer, but until today’s youth make it to college and realize that they can choose what’s good, it’s the best chance we’ve got - and it’s dying quicker thank Kurdt. Sorry.

That brings us to The Mooney Suzuki, a band with all the blues of Jack White and all the slime, style and pop of the Strokes. The problem is, The Mooney Suzuki have never been able to click. Add it up and it should all makes sense. The backstory, the song titles, their look, their talent - why isn’t this band selling albums? Certainly they haven’t been marketed much in the past, but that’s all about to change on their first official major-label album. For their third release, Alive & Amplified, Mooney Suzuki have tapped into producers The Matrix to make their sound on Alive pop, hit, and, hopefully, for the first time, sell.

Alive & Amplified is a covertly variant album. Rooted in garage swagger, The Mooney mix elements of funk, pop, R&B and stadium rock into their sound, often all at once. Don’t fret; this aint no Moron 5 (I apologize for the bad joke, it was irresistible). While Maroon 5 find a gimmick to run with, Mooney Suzuki hide their genre fixations in their sound, in turn proving that they aren’t totally in it for the bang. Baby steps such as working with Avril’s production team (The Matrix) feel like a step towards their Money Suzuki era (that’s twice), but, for now, we’re safe. Alive is out to do whatever it takes to get you moving.

A New York band writing songs about city life, sex and rockin’ out used to be really fresh. Alive almost feels like a joke. Check the song titles; “New York Girls,” “Messin’ in the Dressin’ Room,” “Naked Lady,” “Alive and Amplified,” “Love Bus” (hidden track), “Loose N Juicy” and my favorite, “Shake that Bush Again.” For once I wish a song had political overtones. Alive’s real strength, luckily, is in its explosive playing and production. Nearly every song rides catchy guitar licks and pulsing rhythms made for dancing. The vocals are strong, the lyrics dumb.

Garage rock isn’t going to save anyone. Flannel isn’t back yet, and over-sexualized rap is still No. 1, but Mooney Suzuki should be there for a few kids. Hopefully they help them find their way to The Electric Prunes or at least The Kinks. Surely they’ll at least get them moving. Sorry for all the bad jokes.  5.5/10

Written by G. William Locke