CD Reviews

Dressy Bessy Dressy Bessy (Kindercore) The second your ear lands upon the upbeat guitar intro to “Just One More,” the first song on Dressy Bessy’s new self-titled effort, it is clear the album that follows

Dressy Bessy
Dressy Bessy
(Kindercore)

The second your ear lands upon the upbeat guitar intro to “Just One More,” the first song on Dressy Bessy’s new self-titled effort, it is clear the album that follows will be a rather frill-less affair.

But truly, who needs frills when you have guitars that ring, melodies that lift the corners of your mouth and beats that just make you want to jump?

At times, they might sound a bit too cute for their own good.
This doesn’t matter for long though, because Dressy Bessy knows how to do what they do, and what they want to do is craft pop as sweet as candy.

Simple and direct, Dressy Bessy is a collection of straight shooters, and more often than not, they hit the mark spot on.

There are a few missteps, usually involving a slowing of the tempo, but like all bands that know how to play their strengths,
Dressy Bessy do well to never keep the listener a song away from something great.

Dressy Bessy will be playing at the Khyber, 56 South 2nd Street, on Fri., Sept. 12, at 9 p.m., with Dame Fate, Breaker Breaker, and Kitty Kat Dirt Nap. $10, 21+

-Robert James Algeo

Cevin Key and Ken Hiwatt Marshall
The Dragon Experience
(Metropolis)

The Dragon Experience is a flawless exercise in ambiance.

The sounds slide seamlessly into one another, creating captivating tones and mood. However, being so focused on the genre at hand, The Dragon Experience exposes its faults while utilizing its strengths.

Too often on the album, certain patterns wear out their welcome. The songs on the album rely too heavily on the tried and true ambient method of repetition.

The sounds are so immersive they become very easy to ignore.

While the songs on The Dragon Experience are wonderfully produced and executed, very little improves upon the promise of the first few bars of the albums introductory song, “Shortwave Connector.”

If perhaps more attention was paid to dynamics and melody, and less on creating disturbing sampled voiceovers, (now the great cliché of electronic music), The Dragon Experience would be a more memorable one.

-Robert James Algeo

Kill Hannah
For Never And Ever
(Atlantic)

The most troubling aspect of Kill Hannah’s new album For Never And Ever is that it sounds like there is a message the listener should receive, but what exactly that message is remains rather elusive.

Part of the problem is that so many facets of the band seem to be pulling in different directions.

For Never And Ever feels like a very honest attempt at eclecticism, but it ends up sounding indecisive.

The song, “Kennedy,” swings into an almost dancey chorus, but before the beat gets a chance to turn into a full-fledged body rocker, the band falls back into derivative rock posturing.

Kill Hannah has a handle on crafting hooks and their experiments with drum machines and production are promising, but For Never And Ever never seems to get them to where they are going.

Kill Hannah will be playing at the Balcony Ballroom, 1003 Arch Street, on Fri., Sept. 12, at 8 p.m., with Hilliard and God Fights Dirty. $7, 21+

-Robert James Algeo

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