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All My Friends Who Play Guitar : always stay sweet review

by Jason 05 April 2009

Rochester’s The Gifted Children have supposedly recorded over 1,000 songs in the past 12 years. They’ve recently released a backlog of several full-lengths and EPs in an effort to share these songs (and new ones) with the world, Always Stay Sweet being one of the first new long players. "The Straw Brigade" starts off the album with a biting guitar strum, a great vocal melody, and an interesting bass line. The full band kicks in for a big chorus, and the song is over in 60 seconds. Short but definitely sweet. Many of the tracks on this album are just as brief, and the longest is still under three minutes. Short pop songs are nothing new, and while there’s an obvious Guided By Voices, mid-fi, 90’s style indie pop-rock influence to the album, Always Stay Sweet is full of creativity and inspiration. The album has a very full and warm production quality, and a well-crafted variety of tones and instrumentation. No two tracks really sound alike, but the album is surprisingly cohesive. "How Important the Local Creek" is a grungier, darker, farily straight-forward rock song. "The Dancehall Atlantic" is all major-key with acoustic guitars, piano, and a cool drum beat. "Ankle Socks" is a distorted, drum-machine and keyboard-driven track that’s a lot of fun, and barely long enough to be an iTunes sample. "The Genius Of Me" reminds me of Beta Band. "Meeting The Great Bliss Queen" has weird organ sounds and more digital drums that could have been lifted from Music Has The Right To Children. The real gem of the batch is the title track "Always Stay Sweet", a perfect noise-pop song, with walls of guitar fuzz, reverb, and a sing-along melody.

However, the album is a tough sell as a full-length at only 20 minutes and 12 songs. Some of the tracks feel like bits and parts of songs that never got written, and seem to kind of wander before puttering out. And being such a prolific band, I’m wondering why they didn’t include more tracks to fill things out a bit. Still, this is a very impressive release - it would have been a shame for The Gifted Children to keep it to themselves, becuase it deserves to be heard.

Link to original review


All My Friends Who Play Guitar : always stay sweet review
by Jason 05 April 2009

Rochester’s The Gifted Children have supposedly recorded over 1,000 songs in the past 12 years. They’ve recently released a backlog of several full-lengths and EPs in an effort to share these songs (and new ones) with the world, Always Stay Sweet being one of the first new long players. "The Straw Brigade" starts off the album with a biting guitar strum, a great vocal melody, and an interesting bass line. The full band kicks in for a big chorus, and the song is over in 60 seconds. Short but definitely sweet. Many of the tracks on this album are just as brief, and the longest is still under three minutes. Short pop songs are nothing new, and while there’s an obvious Guided By Voices, mid-fi, 90’s style indie pop-rock influence to the album, Always Stay Sweet is full of creativity and inspiration. The album has a very full and warm production quality, and a well-crafted variety of tones and instrumentation. No two tracks really sound alike, but the album is surprisingly cohesive. "How Important the Local Creek" is a grungier, darker, farily straight-forward rock song. "The Dancehall Atlantic" is all major-key with acoustic guitars, piano, and a cool drum beat. "Ankle Socks" is a distorted, drum-machine and keyboard-driven track that’s a lot of fun, and barely long enough to be an iTunes sample. "The Genius Of Me" reminds me of Beta Band. "Meeting The Great Bliss Queen" has weird organ sounds and more digital drums that could have been lifted from Music Has The Right To Children. The real gem of the batch is the title track "Always Stay Sweet", a perfect noise-pop song, with walls of guitar fuzz, reverb, and a sing-along melody. However, the album is a tough sell as a full-length at only 20 minutes and 12 songs. Some of the tracks feel like bits and parts of songs that never got written, and seem to kind of wander before puttering out. And being such a prolific band, I’m wondering why they didn’t include more tracks to fill things out a bit. Still, this is a very impressive release - it would have been a shame for The Gifted Children to keep it to themselves, becuase it deserves to be heard.

Link to original review