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History Will Never Hold Me,
The Hourly Radio (Kirtland)
CD Review 17.October.2006  The Hourly Radio's press releases that tout "a solid rock sound [without] any kind of current chart trend or blogger buzz" should be tried and convicted of perjury. The Dallas quartet's debut full-length, History Will Never Hold Me, dives right into the SoundTEAM/Franz/Tapes pool of up-tempo, new-wave love, and by golly, why be ashamed of the truth? But unlike those other bands, The Hourly Radio is shameless about its target market--teenage girls and Best Buy junkies--and admittedly, it doesn't do a bad job of rehashing the old into something new. Unfortunately, blog buzz and crowds at national gigs won't add any more memorable hooks to a CD that desperately needs 'em. After a clunker of an instrumental intro, "He Said/She Said" kicks off with its fair share of cool sounding moments, including xylophone plunks on the opening riff and a slick-sounding blast of overdriven bass on the chorus. Sadly, the song washes by with a bazillion different guitar lines...too many attempts at a hook, meaning the hook never actually materializes. Pick a lead guitar riff and stick with it, because lyrics like these--"I won't beg your permission, I won't be held to blame/for all those worthless sentiments you saved"--won't be what people remember the song for. Really, it's a slick disc all around, but so much so that you can't grab hold. The album is processed beyond belief, from the over-reverbed vocals to mega-compressed guitars and multi-tracked synths that muddle the mix rather than accentuate it. The last point is clearest on the acoustic "Means To An End," which might've been a fine, harmless take on Filter's acoustic hit "Take A Picture" if it hadn't been drowned in the "we can be hip, too" synthesizer pool for no good reason. The disc isn't a total mess; "Please Forget" is one of the few memorable songs (ironic, huh?), a bitter love letter with a true TRL-ready hook, and a trio of older songs (all seemingly taken from their 2005 EP Lure of the Underground) stowed away at the end of History remind me why I praised the band in its earliest days. Unlike much of the record, "Stealing Off" has a well-composed, memorable pop melody balanced between two separate guitar lines atop a driving, semi-military drum beat, and singer Aaron Closson has a chance to stretch his vocal range, rather than stick to his usual, chipper, Maynard Keenan-style falsetto from beginning to end. Sure, its hook is buried near the end of the song, but at least the track actually has one. For those last three songs, The Hourly Radio pumps Boy-era U2 into the post-new-wave of Interpol, which means their trendy sound benefits from an extra emphasis on melody. But for the rest of the disc, the reliance on U2's framework becomes much more pronounced, especially on "Crime Does Pay," whose central guitar line is a swipe of The Edge's signature "Where The Streets Have No Name" intro without a discernable melody. And because of a lack of strong songs, anthemic lyrics and impressive fretwork, The Hourly Radio fails to set itself apart from its idols, let alone the rest of the new-wave-loving blog wave. The disc is packed with loud, catchy moments (not to mention Closson's androgynous, high-pitched love cries), and those may be enough for a mainstream breakout, but the fact that The Hourly Radio's best songs are their oldest and hidden at the tail end of the disc doesn't bode well for the quartet's future. In more ways than one, history may hold this band after all. 2.75 stars out of 5. Much better than AFI, at least. -SM Make up your own mind: The Hourly Radio on MySpace. Purchase History Will Never Hold Me |