monitorTHIS! - December 2008/January 2009 - (Page 39)

Flobots Fight With Tools Universal/repUblic The Hold Steady Stay Positive vagrant The Game LAX geffen Shwayze Shwayze sUretone We have no idea if this Denver collective’s name is a nod to ’80s toy line Go-Bots (a.k.a., according to Kevin Smith, “the K-Mart Transformers”), but can attest that they’re an exciting addition to the alternative hip-hop pantheon. Single “Handlebars” offered MC Jonny 5’s laconic flow over horn backing not unlike ’90s alt-radio staples Cake. The difference is that “Handlebars” is actually about something: social and civic consciousness. The Minneapolis quintet is as ubiquitous as they are prolific these days, whether busting on Radiohead in blogs, rocking up the National Anthem or winning accolades for their fourth LP in five years. Frontman Craig Finn has usurped Robert Pollard as indie rock’s favorite “drunken poet,” but that oversimplification does a massive disservice to both Guided by Voices and the Hold Steady. Finn’s storytelling prowess continues to blossom, as does his band’s unpretentious riffage. You can’t get through a Game album without him making umpteen references to a) other rappers, or b) Air Force Ones. You also can’t get through a Game album without him slipping in weirdly poignant diary-style details that betray intriguing self-doubt behind the braggadocio. The best tracks on his third album do both: “Game’s Pain” is a flashback shout-out to hip-hop’s greats, whereas “Dope Boys” nods to Jay-Z while still pining for Dr. Dre’s approval. We don’t think enough people made Ghost/Roadhouse/Dirty Dancing jokes when this record came out, but maybe that was due to Patrick Swayze’s struggle with pancreatic cancer. Since he appears to be doing well, we can happily (and annoyingly) say that it’s Shwayze’s way and the highway on the rapper’s sun-dappled debut. His inoffensive stoner-hop is augmented by the Sublimestyle guitar licks of collaborator Cisco Adler, most effectively on breakthrough single “Buzzin.” Tween terrors Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers play it safe o t h i n g w i l l ev er compare to Hanson and the Spice Girls activating their wonder-twin powers to stamp grunge six feet under. Really, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers are just cruising their Hummers down that 10-year-old superhighway until the next Nirvana somehow fights through the granite. Some things never change, though, chief among them the public’s interest in these tween titans’ sexuality. Cyrus got assailed for displaying her bare back (gasp!) on Vanity Fair, while comic Russell Brand belittled the Jonas chastity rings so brutally on the VMAs that he apologized later in the broadcast (willing or un-, we’ll never know). The important thing is that there are zillions of kids listening to both, and both offer different approaches—Cyrus a dizzying, frantic take on Kelly Clarkson and the Brothers basically supplying the bridge from Hanson to Maroon 5. It’s all good, clean family fun. For now. Youth Gone Mild N MileyCy rus Breakout H o l ly w o o d The Jonas Brothers A Little Bit Longer H o l ly w o o d [ dec 08 / jan 09 + monitorthis! + 39 ]

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