Alex Chilton and the Box Tops at the Hoboken Arts and Music Festival

This show was amazing! The Box Tops played for a little over an hour and had a lot of people shaking their hips even on a rainy day... With hearing rumors of Alex Chilton being strung out, I thought this show wasn't going to be too great, but he totally washed those rumors away. He sounded great!

They played favorites like "Neon Rainbow" and "The Letter", but they also played other songs like "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry like a Baby."

I was by the speakers for these videos, so the sound is pretty bad on them. Also the show was under a tent, so the image isn't so great either... Sorry!

photos and videos by me: Stina Jimenez

Camera Obscura... My Maudlin Career

Camera Obscura is a band that hasn’t changed much since 1996 and for once, that’s a good thing. From their echoing guitar riffs to their whimsical string arrangements, they’ve managed to keep their chipper soda pop shop melodies bound tightly to singer Tracyanne Campbell’s lyrics, which are full of calamitous heartbreak. After all these years and with the release of their fourth album on 4AD, their ironic tunes have yet to get monotonous.

The music on this album was a little predictable, but still is very haunting. The jangly guitar of Kenny McKeeve and the consistency of Lee Thomson’s drums keep the energy up through out the album. Carey Lander adds her piano, organ, and backup vocals on most tracks, which gives the album a ‘60s vibe. Sadly, Gavin Dunbar’s bass gets lost within some tracks due to things like Nigel Baillie’s trumpet and extra percussion.

It’s obvious that most of Campbell’s songs are about heartache, but she comes up with clever ways to express this without being cliché. Her voice executes her wispy feelings of love in “My Maudlin Career,” when she sings how a past kiss on the forehead is now giving her a concussion. In the upbeat single “French Navy,” Campbell takes listeners on a journey from seeing someone in a dusty library to being with them on a silvery lake only within the first verse of the song, showing how quickly she falls in love.

The rest of the 10 tracks have an early Sunday morning feel to them, but it’s hard to see the individuality between certain songs. The tracks that have a country vibe to them, like the song “Swans,” allow Campbell to become more like a modern day Patsy Cline with the sliding guitar in the background.

While hopeless romantic fans probably play Camera Obscura alone in their bedrooms, they depend on Campbell never to find her true love so the band won’t lose their morose charm they are known for.

My Maudlin Career is an album that couldn’t have come out at a better time than now. While spring pushes up life from dirt, Camera Obscura does the same thing; they make simple pop music, put some life into it, and make rich catchy songs.

Depeche Mode: Sounds of the Universe

original article in the montclarion

When it comes to bands from the '80s, it's almost impossible to forget to mention Depeche Mode.
After forming in 1980 in Basildon, Essex, England, they have become one of the most triumphant and influential bands from that era.

After close to 30 years, David Gahan, Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher are still making their unique mark in music with the release of their 12th album, Sounds of the Universe.

Though Depeche Mode has always had a futuristic tone with their synthesizers and industrial clangs, Sounds of the Universe takes their darkwave roots and mixes it with outer-space-like music.

The album begins with "In Chains." The song starts with long, droned out tones that get louder and resemble a futuristic car revving up its engine. One would think this album would start out with a big bang after the climax of these notes, but it's quickly lowered to minimal drum beats when Gahan begins to sing. His echoing, reverberative voice entices ears to listen to each word he sings, making one's mind hang on to them. With Fletcher's synth chords holding the song together and Gore's melodies, they both keep with the intergalactic theme of the album. Though this song is one of the best on the album, it wasn't the right choice for an opening track.

"Wrong" is definitely the one track that stands out in this album. Having a sensual slapping beat accompanied by Gore's composition of heavy old school synthesizers, the music screams out "sexy." Gahan's voice sounds like it did in their song "I Feel You" from their 1993 album, Songs of Faith and Devotion, with his powerful shouting yet soothing voice. Though the lyrics talk about being repetitively wrong, Depeche Mode couldn't be more right with this track. No wonder this is the first single to come out; it takes elements of each album and puts them into one song perfectly.

"Come Back" has a shoegaze feel when it comes to the guitar sound in this track, which resembles legendary band My Bloody Valentine. The high reverb and distortion in the guitar creates a dream like symphony of music that is perfectly accompanied by Gahan's voice, which is higher then his usual baritone voice.

"Jezebel" is the only total disappointment when it comes to this album. Gore sings on this track, and it sounds like music one would hear in an elevator or lounge. This track doesn't fit in with the others. Sorry Martin! I usually like the songs you sing!

The deluxe box set of this album includes never-heard tracks, photo books and films, showing that Depeche Mode is all about pleasing their fans.

Though this album doesn't have the classic and catchy synth-pop sound that Depeche Mode is infamous for, it still manages to get people up to dance. It adds to their eclectic variety of music on their albums, and shows how far Depeche Mode has come. From band members leaving to Gahan's long-gone drug problem which left him dead for two minutes, it looks like nothing can stop this band from creating new innovations in music as they did years ago.

Depeche Mode's Sounds of the Universe tour already has sold out shows across Europe and the United States, showing that fans can't get enough of them even after all these years.

photo by U2005.com