Jimmy Eat World - Futures
There are basically two ways to handle sudden success: Take it as a
mandate to chase your muse, doin' it for art and adventure, or
spend the rest of your days obliging folks who want to hear you
play your first hit single all night long. Two years after the
massive pop hit "The Middle" and its young-people-in-their-BVDs
video catapulted them from best-kept-secrecy to MTV ubiquity, Jimmy
Eat World are at that crossroads. Rumor had it they were working on
a less accessible album, one that would separate the true believers
from the kids who just came for the underwear party. Instead,
they've given those true believers what they probably wanted all
along: an album roughly divided into songs that have their cake
(like 2001's breakthrough Bleed American) and eat it too
(like 1999's more staunchly emo Clarity).
By Spin Staff 11.16.04 4:00 AM
There are basically two ways to handle sudden success: Take it as a
mandate to chase your muse, doin' it for art and adventure, or
spend the rest of your days obliging folks who want to hear you
play your first hit single all night long. Two years after the
massive pop hit "The Middle" and its young-people-in-their-BVDs
R.E.M., 'Around the Sun' (Warner Bros.)
Grand old men do thoughtful things.
By Will Hermes 11.15.04 4:00 AM
R.E.M.'s 13th record opens with an echo of the Aerosmith powerballad "Dream On," a song I doubt the Georgians ever covered, though they once did a hectic "Toys in the Attic." Still, it's appropriate, as these ex-indie heroes became arena gurus on the wings of their own power-sharing brand of power ballads ("Everybody Hurts," "Losing My Religion").
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The Mendoza Line, 'Fortune' (Bar/None)
Folk rockers use words like "empirical".
By Mikael Wood 11.15.04 4:00 AM
The Mendoza Line are six brainy Brooklynites subletting a tiny one-bedroom on the fine line between sophisticated art-pop and insular indie rock.
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