Jonathan Hill

A Soapbox for Uninformed Opinions

Apr
2

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Andrew WK Close Calls With Brick Walls Review

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Artist: Andrew WK
Album: Close Calls With Brick Walls
Genre(s): Rock
Subgenres(s): Art Rock, Noise Rock
Released: 2006 (Japan), 2010 (international release)
Length: 48 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Universal Music

Track List:

01. I Came for You
02. Close Calls With Bal Harbour
03. Not Going to Bed
04. You Will Remember Tonight
05. Pushing Drugs
06. Hand on the Place
07. One Brother
08. Las Vegas, Nevada
09. Dr. Dumont
10. I Want to See You Go Wild
11. When I’m High
12. Golden Eyed Dog
13. Into the Clear
14. Mark My Grace
15. Don’t Call Me Andy
16. The Background
17. Slam John Against a Brick Wall
18. The Moving Room

Close Calls With Brick Walls Cover

Andrew WK Close Calls With Brick Walls Review

Close Calls With Brick Walls shows Andrew WK stepping down from the wall of sound approach of I Get Wet and The Wolf entirely. Instead, he allows for his creative spirit to run wild and takes his sound in a direction that no one could have predicted.

The throaty shouts are just a memory at this point as more conventional singing techniques have taken the helm, but perhaps the biggest change of all is the lack of adrenaline pumping guitars that were a staple of his sound up to this point. While the guitars still have an important role on Close Calls With Brick Walls, equal focus has also been put on writing more memorable moments for the bass, piano and drums that let them share the spotlight.

Calls With Brick Walls should solidify the artistic integrity of Andrew WK and dispel any notions of him as a gimmick act. The new direction will also probably alienate some hardcore fans who were expecting him to follow up in a similar fashion as before, but Close Calls With Brick Walls will reach out to new listeners and long-time fans alike. Andrew WK’s new sound is unique and just as engaging as his previous efforts but in an entirely different way.

External Links:

Andrew WK Homepage
Andrew WK on Wikipedia | Close Calls With Brick Walls on Wikipedia
Andrew WK on Discogs | Close Calls With Brick Walls on Discogs

Mar
23

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Andrew WK The Wolf Review

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Artist: Andrew WK
Album: The Wolf
Genre(s): Rock
Subgenres(s): Hard Rock
Released: 2003
Length: 43 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Island

Track List:

01. Victory Strikes Again
02. Long Live the Party
03. Tear it Up
04. Free Jumps
05. Never Let Down
06. Your Rules
07. The Song
08. Make Sex
09. Totally Stupid
10. Really in Love
11. The End of Our Lives
12. I Love Music

Andrew WK The Wolf Cover

Andrew WK The Wolf Cover

Andrew WK The Wolf Review

The Wolf has some noticeable changes when compared to Andrew WK’s debut effort, I Get Wet. The most striking of which is that the overly sleek, everything-must-be-as-loud-as-possible approach that left all of the instruments in uniform before has been abandoned in favour of creating a more varied and dynamic album. This can be seen through the introduction of flashy guitar leads, louder and improved drum work as well as keyboard/piano playing that comes to the forefront on occasion.

He no longer relies on the simple mantras to be the focal point of each song and has instead opted to replace them with longer verses with marginally less repetition. The lyrics tend to deal with motivation, life and positivity in addition to the love and party themes that Andrew WK has become known for. While sometimes singing clearly, he also falls into a throaty singing voice that isn’t always easy to understand and can feel out of place at times now that the tempo has been cut back across some of the songs.

The expansion on his established style prevents him from becoming a self-parody and won’t alienate his core audience anytime soon with this album as he has managed to put enough new material forward to keep the listener engaged without thinking that it is just a reworking of his last effort.

External Links:

Andrew WK Homepage
Andrew WK on Wikipedia | The Wolf on Wikipedia
Andrew WK on Discogs | The Wolf on Discogs

Feb
24

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Andrew WK I Get Wet Review

Category: Music Tags: , , , , Leave a Comment

Artist: Andrew WK
Album: I Get Wet
Genre(s): Rock
Subgenres(s): Hard Rock
Released: 2001
Length: 35 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Island

Track List:

01. It’s Time to Party
02. Party Hard
03. Girls Own Love
04. Ready to Die
05. Take it Off
06. I Love NYC
07. She is Beautiful
08. Party Til You Puke
09. Fun Night
10. Got to Do It
11. I Get Wet
12. Don’t Stop Living in the Red

Andrew WK I Get Wet Cover

Andrew WK I Get Wet Review

I Get Wet is a short collection of non-stop, hyperactive party anthems by an extreme extrovert named Andrew WK, who draws stylistically from 80’s hard rock and the glam rock scene while fusing it with the speed and simplicity of punk rock. The average length of each song isn’t much over 3 minutes and most of them barely take a moment to slow down.

The music is dominated by the guitar and has keyboard and piano lines playing alongside it with thumping hard rock drums not far behind, whereas the bass is pushed underneath all of this and you’ll have to listen intensely if you want even a small chance of hearing it. The album is accompanied by an overly sleek production style where everything is loud, fast and repetitive, leaving little space for variation. This might sound negative but when put into practice it has a surprisingly positive outcome, although it’s worth noting that this could have just as easily been the downfall of the album.

Most of the lyrics are straight forward and are presented largely in the form of mantras and shout along anthems, all of which will get firmly lodged in your head for weeks after listening to them. Themes strongly revolve around partying to your last breath, women (Girls Own Love and She is Beautiful), motivation (Got to Do It and Don’t Stop Living in the Red) and more partying.

There are two oddities that break away from the established formula for the lyrics. The first is about killing people in Ready to Die and the other is I Get Wet, which seems to have been written from a woman’s perspective but is barked non-stop almost entirely by Andrew WK for the duration of the song and you can’t possibly keep count of many times the title line is repeated. It does feature female vocals for the last part of the song, which are probably there to break up the snarling and yelling voices momentarily.

At the end of the day I Get Wet is a big, loud, straight forward, over the top party album that lacks any form of subtlety where you don’t need to engage your brain but you will get hours of fun out of it so long as your tongue is planted firmly in your cheek.

External Links:

Andrew WK Homepage
Andrew WK on Wikipedia | I Get Wet on Wikipedia
Andrew WK on Discogs | I Get Wet on Discogs