Week of Dropkick Murphies and Ra Ra Riot

I'm going to do a review of two albums I listened to this week.

So I'll start with an old favorite Dropkick Murphies. They recently released their 8th studio album.
17 Irish mosh pit years later Dropkick Murphies are still highly successful and more well known then ever. Back in 1996 they were a much different band then they are today. They formed in Quincy Massachusetts, and were originally a local band that performed in the basement of a friends barbershop. People loved their hardcore in your face brand of punk music so they started touring and recording. Before they were even Celtic at all original lead singer Mike McColgan left to become a firefighter but eventually ended up back on the punk scene as the singer for the Street Dogs. He was later replaced by The Bruisers lead singer Al Barr. The band finally struck gold with Tessie their reworked version of a Boston Red Sox song that was filmed on Fenway Park and featured in Fever Pitch.

That was eventually followed by The huge hit that was I'm Shipping off to Boston, a song so famous that everyone has heard this song. It's used in about every sporting event and the movie The Departed.
Three albums and a ton of mainstream success later we arrive at Signed and Sealed in Blood. They have changed from hardcore punk band to an Irish band so famous that when the average person thinks of Irish bands only them and Flogging Molly come to mind. They have become almost the culmination of Irish punk rock. With that in mind this album does slow down the angst of the golden years, but they do so in a way that makes us still love them. They make super catchy songs like "The Seasons Upon Us", the lead single off the album. How great is that song. The opener "The Boys are Back" is a perfect get drunk with you friends and get in a fight kind of song, not literally of course. It's a classic jump in a mosh pit punk song. Good but still way lighter they the days in Boston where only the most hardcore punks knew them. "Prisoners Song", sounds like they may have been trying to recreate I"m shipping off to Boston, but that's not a bad thing. On "Burn" , they show you they still have some of that old school heavy punk out there. "The Seasons Upon Us", is the best kind of drinking song the kind that's clever fun and just makes you want to hold up a beer and sing a long. Then we get to "Rose Tattoo", it's a super catchy sing along, to describe it doesn't do it justice. Just listen to it and picture yourself in a bar singalong with some Friends.
      The last bit of the album can be divided into three parts: The typical punk songs, the lighter singalongs, and the mixes where it's there classic of punk, folk, and Irish music together. The lighter songs are "Jimmy Collins Wake", "Don't Tear Us Apart", "My Hero",  and the super light almost uncharacteristic ballad, "End of the Night", that is the last call at the bar when the fun has to stop and we toast one more time and go back home to our beds. The other more punkish song is "The Battle Rages On". Then we have the norm, or what we expect to hear when Dropkick comes on: "Out of Our Heads" and the oddly Elvis sounding "Out on the Town". Dropkick Murphies have been one of the most dependable rock bands out there for years. They are a train always moving at a good pace before it slows down and enters the city. They make great music every time and they never disappoint. Recommended songs: The Seasons Upon Us, Burn, The Boys are Back, Rose Tattoo.

4/5 Stars

     Now a Band newer into the fray but with more then a few releases 3 full albums and 4 eps, they have quite a lot to show for themselves. Ra Ra Riot formed in January 2006, playing at houses and venues around the Syracuse University campus.  Before they took off on headlining tours they opened for Tokyo Police Club, The Editors, and Bow Wow Wow. After a show in Providence, Rhode Island, the band's original drummer, John Ryan Pike, went missing under suspicious circumstances in the early morning of June 2, 2007 at Wilbur's Point in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. His body was discovered the following day in nearby Buzzards Bay; Pike was believed to have drowned. This later inspired their song "Dying is Fine". They continued on as a band after Pike's funeral in his honor.  In 2008 They signed on to Barsuk records and released there debut album The Rumb Line.  In 2010 they put out their second full album The Orchard,  on Barsuk Records. When their cellist Alexandra Lawn decided to leave the band in 2012 they knew they had some large shoes to fill. Especially when they were told by their Producer Dennis Herring too loosen up and make some major changes on their third full album Beta Love. So change they did, if fact you might even go so far as to say they completely reinvented themselves. The first time I listened to the new album I had to do a double take just to make sure it was the same band. They have changed so much if you don't know what they used to sound like this might help.

     That track is from their first album The Rumb line.What made the Rumb Line special was that it was an amazing indie album with strings and a Vampire Weekend vibe to it. Then they make The Orchard which personally I thought was very disappointing and boring compared to The Rumb Line. Critics were not to found of the that album either. Now we are at Beta Love which for lack of description could be most closely compared to Hot Chip with strings. Personally I really did enjoy Beta Love but it is a bit of a trip to get used to. They had to really embrace the change add some instruments and even ditch band mate E E Cummings. No more swaying around now its strait to the dance floor. The lead singer Wes Miles actually has a good voice for the style, making the huge jump or leap of faith for fans a little easier to take. They seem comfortable and are enjoying the added use of synthesizers. They added a fourth member to the group to replace their departed cello player. The truth is that the strings is this bands bread and butter, its what makes them interesting. That makes new strings player Rebecca Zeller's job a lot more important. I could actually give my critique for this album in two words MORE STRINGS! Seriously the synthesizers and new sound on the album wouldn't work without the strings. We don't need another 80s synthesizer album by itself, we have tons of 80s bands can and do fill that void. We need unique and interesting.

     The album opener "Dance With Me", open with synthesizers and a cachy vocals, and proceeds to hit you with hook after hook, and you can't help having fun listening to it. "Binary Mind",
opens and it's giving me 80s flashbacks and I'm not even from the 80s. They make good use of drum machine, making you feel like you should be in an 80s workout video and you like it. This whole album actually works like an experimental 80s workout put to real life those two are your fast paced cario warm up and from there it slows down. "Beta Love" doesn't push you too hard it just works you slowly with its hooks cathy tune and interesting vocals. Also the slight violin licks of violin in your ear works wonders. The Violin mostly stays in the backgound during "Is It To Much", and "For Once" but it comes out much more on "Angel, Please" and the balled "When I Dream". "When I Dream", slows down and gives you some balled time, or stretch time if you liked the workout metaphor. The violin really shines on these two. "That Much", is another simple but catchy dance number, "What I do for You", feels like a transition, or the part of a work out where you sit adn drink water while the music still plays in the back ground. "Wilderness", falls short because of the lack of violin being used. "I Shut Off", speeds back up and goes mostly without violin until it slows down. Then the violin returns with avengence. This is the only song that reminds me of old Ra Ra Riot, while still bringing out the dance side on the first half. I think it is  the best song on the album. This concept was interesting and fun, but it's still a work in progress. I NEED MORE STRINGS!
Reccomended songs: Dance With Me, Binary Mind, When I Dream, and I Shut Off.

3.5/5 Stars