Cage the Elephant

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to apologize for the continued screwup with my files and server. Things are up and down there, and I'm beginning to look into using new guys, but that would involve the tedium of moving all my files, and would also cost me money. And so, unless the donations start pouring in, we're probably going to have to sit this one out, and you'll have to be satisfied with my writing during the time being. And on to the album review.

A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine (Julez) sent me a track by a band then unknown to me. The song was called No Rest for the Wicked, but a band that went by Cage the Elephant. I listened to it a few times, and quite enjoyed it. The vocalist reminded me of a cross between Dylan and Jason Mraz, in a very strange sort of way (as he sounds like neither of them), using Dylan's unique half-speaking/half-singing approach to vocals, coupled with Mraz's lyrical ADD- throwing as many words into as few beats as possible, making him sound pretty much like a five year old who can't decide whether the need to urinate outweighs the story he wants to tell you, and ends up trying to relate as much information as quickly as possible before he urinates all over his self... in a good way. (He also looks like Beck.) The music is likewise enjoyable, sounding a bit like The White Stripes album, White Blood Cells, with it's garage rock guitars and stocattoed rhythms.

A few days later, I was watching a live webcast of Bonnaroo while eating my Sunday breakfast, and realized that the band I was watching was Cage the Elephant. I was quite entertained by the eccentric frontman's stage antics, and I spent a while just watching him flounder all over the stage in a red spandex bodysuit (the top half of which, due to the Bonnaroo sun, he was forced to remove, leaving the audience with a hilarious picture of a man still trying to run around the stage, while also holding the bottom part of his jumpsuit up at the same time), as his band crunched and grinded through the songs along with him.

So of course, I procured for myself a copy of the album, and gave it a few listens to. For a band's first offering, this one is pretty good. Mind you, they do need to expand their sound a bit. Some of the songs sound drastically similar, and a few are patently boring. But when they're on, they're on. Songs like No Rest for the Wicked, and In One Ear are both musically invigorating, as well as lyrically though provoking. On Free Love, the guys channel the passion of Hendrix and the intensity of the Chili Peppers, on this drum heavy and funk-a-licious (sic) track.

The album is thankfully free of any ballads (the closest being the Strokes influenced Lotus, and the fact that the song sounds Strokes-ish is proof enought that it is definitely not a ballad), as this is a band that knows what they do well, and didn't try to throw in any cheesy "I miss my girlfriend" slow songs for fans to stick up their lighters to. These guys seem content for their fans to go nuts, mosh, and bob their heads while the band themselves go nuts onstage.

So check the album out; I freaking love it, and so should you. And I'm sorry for not being able to post any mp3s at this time, but here are a few videos for you to check out. Peace.