Saturday, July 14, 2007

Review: Landonband - Defying the Stereotype

Label: self-released (available at CD Baby

Released: 2006

Defying the Stereotype is a bit of a misnomer for this album. Perhaps Confused About the Stereotype or Lost in the Stereotype would be more appropriate. It's certainly not "stereotype" that I object to, but "defying," because this record defies nothing.

From the opening track, Landonband spends their time genre-hopping. True, there has been some great albums that have done the same, but every one of those albums found its own voice as it explored a broad musical palette. Landonband's voice is smothered to the point that it's questionable if they even have one.

"Only 20" sounds like a hard rock Spice Girls. They try to capture the funk rock of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on "Hush," but its groove is derailed by the stiff performance. "Angry" is an average alt rock song, except it's about 10 or so years too late. "Coming Out in the Wash" tries to mix in a bit of punk edge, but the result is stifled rather than wild. "Amazon" might have come off alright had it not devolved into a generic ballad. "Dirty Virgin" tries to break out and sound loose, but the problem is that it tries too hard. After the cliched intro to "Free at Last," none of its references to cloves, burned CDs or Sonic Youth should be a surprise. (I do have to wonder if they've actually listened to Sonic Youth though. If they did, they certainly didn't get it.) Speaking of cliches, was that actually a J Lo reference in "Wind-Up Monkey?" That was as painfully unoriginal as anything on the album.

A couple songs aren't total disasters: "The First to Come in Last" let's the facade of over-production down just enough to get a glimpse of Landon Dunning's potential as a vocalist. Likewise, "Ms. Jones" is loose enough to have a genuine edge, even if it isn't a particularly interesting song.

This album has a few fatal flaws. First, the production is overwrought. Rather than enhancing the band's sound and helping them find themselves, it buries them in digital effects. Twenty years ago, there was an excuse to get caught up in this kind of production, but now it just sounds cheap.

Second, the band has no synergy. Landon's a pretty good rock singer, but she almost never cuts loose. She has a good voice and she should trust it. The band itself is as entirely competent as it is soulless. They sound like they're playing everything from sheet music. If they want to be a good band rather than just a collection of good players, they need to drop all of the electronics and learn to feed off of each other. If they strip away all of the nonsense, they may be able to play together rather than simply playing at the same time. A looser band would likely allow Landon more latitude to really use her voice. As it stands, the band is entirely competent to play and entirely incompetent to rock.

Last, the songs are mediocre at best. With this repertoire, they'll be relegated to being a very good bar band at best. Part of the problem is that Landon wrote the songs with the producer rather than the band. The other part is that these songs were designed to fit the stereotype rather than defy it.

All in all, Defying the Stereotype is a waste of time, but Landonband, or actually Landon Dunning herself, has some potential. The band as it is sounds like a group of studio musicians. Either they have to become more cohesive or Landon needs to find a band that can help her unleash her voice. She definitely needs some songwriting help, but next time it should come from someone who will push her creatively rather than trying to pigeonhole her songs for target audiences. The key to Landonband is Landon herself, but she won't really go anywhere under these circumstances. The album title is either a lie or a misconception. If it's the former, than the band needs to come clean. If it's the latter, there's little hope.

Rating: 3/10

Labels: , , ,

2 Comments:

Blogger taotechuck said...

I know exactly the kind of sound you're describing. Her dreams are big, but her heart is either misguided or not truly a heart of a rock musician. (Sorry for how clichéd that sounds, but it's true.)

We're taught to believe we can all be stars, but we're never taught how many different kinds of stars there are. It's far more noble to acknowledge that your individual stardom may seem mundane from the outside -- being a good friend, a good spouse, a good parent, a good worker for a company that's doing something you view as important -- than it is to chase dreams that you don't have the ability to achieve.

Sounds like Landon needs to figure out what kind of star she is. If she truly has the heart of a rock star, than she needs to ditch the half-assed band and the half-assed producer, find her true voice, and take some real fucking chances.

And if her heart is a little less glamorous, she needs to have the courage to accept that and move on.

11:28 AM  
Blogger bob_vinyl said...

Chuck - Wow. Thanks to you, this CD was no longer a waste of time, because you make some great points that go way beyond music.

11:45 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home