Today's Music of the Day is Stairs and Elevators, by the Heartless Bastards. This I picked up from eMusic at the recommendation of a friend. I don't know a great deal about the band, except that it has gone through a few lineups in its short history, and now maybe features one original member.
Initially, Stairs and Elevators really grabbed my attention. The sound here is very garage-blues; it's hard not to think of the Black Keys or the White Stripes, albeit here with a frontwoman who has a voice that absolutely growls. So far, so good, right? Sure. But with each subsequent listen, the blinding howl of the singer became less dominating, and the composition and instrumentation of the songs themselves became more apparent.
While I appreciate the filthy blues sound here, its simplicity is both its greatest strength and weakness. The songs here are good, but there isn't enough diversity from track to track. I might be able to forgive this if the lyrics were more profound, or if Jack White showed up to melt somebody's face with a scathing guitar solo every three tracks or so.
I am avoiding the obvious strength of this album, that the singer (I think her name is Karen Ellingston or something like that) is amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if this album has already taken the virginity of a few teenage boys. Seriously, this woman's voice is some combination of butter, whiskey, and fire. Still, I wish it was enough to make up for what is a relatively uniform and dull album otherwise.
In Other News:
Where is the sleep hiding