Search - Louis Xiv :: Slick Dogs and Ponies

Very Good, but doesn't Quite Measure Up

Danielle Lane | Horseshoe, North Carolina | 03/29/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This second release from Louis XIV, although having it's moments, didn't stand up to their debut of Best Little Secrets Kept. It definitely has a more mature sound but on a deep, dark-ier, moody vibe. The duo of Brian Karscig and Jason Hill lacks the more positive, up-beat silliness and humor on this album, the craft that made their first album such a success. Perhaps it has to do with life gone wasted with success, drug use and everything a new band experiences with new fame.



"Hopesick" was the most disappointing song on the album, because it sounds like a desperate and bleak ballad of what you'd expect from a big commercial rock band and not a hip indie/alternative band. It does have a few good songs like "Guilt by Association" and "Swarming of the Bees""

Another Album, but nothing great.

Roger Worsham | Albuquerque, New Mexico United States | 05/01/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"LouisXIV was originally a band called Convoy. Why after an indie Convoy album and then a major release called Black Licorice they decided to take on British accents and try to sound like some European band from San Diego kill their Convoy Band and become this Louis XIV was beyond me. Slick Dogs and Ponies has several songs that would have been on Convoys second major release, and that album was to be called "hopesick", and yes air traffic control was recorded for that record over 4 years ago. So when I listen to this newest album, I still see a band that plays incredible live shows, but seems to be all over the map with who they want to be as a band. They built a following with Convoy, but bailed on it to do this Louis XIV thing, and honestly the sound of Louis XIV to me just seems miss-guided unfocused and lost. Neither album from track to track keeps full interest they seem to get lost in what they are doing. Not sure what happened when they wrote their indie Convoy in the desert outside of San Diego, but seems they are still searching for a way out of their castle that Louis XIV once walked. I think they still have it in them to write a brilliant album, but releasing some songs 4 years after they should have been published, and then some filler songs really to me doesn't show this band has much focus on any great place in rock. This album is dark, with really only two good tracks on it, ATC, and the lead track."

Disapointing

Mark Basham | Raleigh, NC United States | 09/12/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is most definitely not "the best little secrets part 2"... and that's a shame. Honestly the style of this album is so far removed from that of the previous that I might not recognize the band. Evolution is to be praised in bands and while I encourage this I think that you still need good material to present. I'm generous with 2 stars."