Search - Goner :: How Good We Had It

Pushing Up the Ante, I Know You've Got To See Me...

11/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Holy smokes! As a fan of Goner's debut, "Dollar Movie," I was excited to find that the band stuck around to issue a second record. I wondered what those indie-rock geniuses from Raleigh would issue forth for their Sophmore Slump (heh, heh...anything but!!!!)Well, this record definitley ROCKS a lot HARDER than the debut...Jesus! At least half this record contains all-out anthemic rockers along the lines of "Acts of God + Fireworks" from the first album. "Whatever Day," "Are We There Yet," "Me and Billy," etc. just kick your ass with anthemic riffs, choruses and introspective lyrics."Lazy Star" rocks along at a faster clip than ANYTHING on the debut and displays some awesome math-like rythyms to boot.This record also contains, "Letters To Cal" which might be the greatest indie-rock ballad of the 21st century. I seriously cannot pile enough praise on this epic.The final cut, "Townies," changes the atmosphere from the rest of the record and closes out proceedings with the melancoly and the rustic and features duet vocals from Caitlin Carey (the better half of Whiskeytown's creative core).Awesome. Of course in this day and age of a failing music industry, I suspect that this release will go unnoticed by most fans of indie/alternative/post-punk/emo/whatever as did there debut.Recomended for fans of Broken Social Scene, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Strokes, Death Cab For Cutie and The Shins.There is no justice in this world...."