Matthew Tsai
08/19/09, 04:50 PM
Eleventyseven – Adventures in Eville
Record Label: Independent
Release Date: June 9th, 2009
We were all pre-pubescent teens once, and some of us still are. For the population that has passed the stage, a portion of us still haven't mentally. We still re-visit daily Blink-182 CD's that talk about high school, and we furtively enjoy the Jonas Brothers, or what some of us consider Miley Cyrus' surprisingly capable songwriting. Some of us even bought that one Disney girl who doubles as a real life Forever the Sickest Kids billboard's new CD these past few weeks... what's her name again? Selena something, I think? We love feeling young and awkward, we just don't want you to know we do.
Eleventyseven sidestepped all this rambling nonsense when they wrote their third album, Adventures in Eville. The work is a speedy, spunky encouragement for all ages to embrace their inner pre-pubescent and somehow, by means beyond rational comprehension, succeeds. Let's face it; it's uninventive electronica-stuffed pop-punk, so the record is absolutely humble on the notion of novelty. There are literally zero original melodies the entire disc - in fact, Eleventyseven dons the role of a scientist here and simply mixes and matches chord progressions used by every pop-punk band in existence to create their sound. Yet somehow they manage to cultivate the energy to blast their music to acceptance, and it's not hard to imagine that everybody will be dancing to it. Some elitists will admit to slipping up and enjoying All Time Low; even more elitists will no doubt admit to rocking Eleventyseven.
It's not like everybody can connect to the lyrics, of course. A quick glance at song titles like "Back When We Were Kids" and "Like You Rock" reveals that the album is still targeting the average 14-year old in an un-creepy sort of way. The lyrics really need the music to bring them to life though, but with loud electronics going on, their backs are covered. "Kelly doesn't know I'm an evil genius / With a sidekick dog named Grover Cleveland / And she'll never know that we can take over the world / With cyborg robot squirrels," brags the chorus to "Evil Genius" amidst a Hellogoodbye-on-steroids sound. Summer jams are here! "Redeem the Scene" also borrows from the cheese factor, opening with hip-hop flair before hurling itself into an ironic anthem about fans, bad music and the music industry. And "Prom Song" has one of the most ecstatic verse-and-chorus combos the genre has ever heard in a wild high school tribute: "Hey DJ would you spin something we can dance to / drop that needle like you mean it / this could be the last dance we ever have in high school." To top it all off, the track features a shout out to the crunk of Family Force 5 in its bridge.
Adventures In Eville is good, too good for many who would rather not be caught listening to such music. But Eleventyseven's catchy song-writing prowess is just too strong for most to resist, and their talent has finally paid off after two albums of sound-searching. The record has the potential to become the upcoming generation's Ocean Avenue if given proper promotion; meanwhile, all you party-ers out there, heads up. This is not to be passed on.
Blink182, All Time Low, Jonas Brothers, Disney pop
Record Label: Independent
Release Date: June 9th, 2009
We were all pre-pubescent teens once, and some of us still are. For the population that has passed the stage, a portion of us still haven't mentally. We still re-visit daily Blink-182 CD's that talk about high school, and we furtively enjoy the Jonas Brothers, or what some of us consider Miley Cyrus' surprisingly capable songwriting. Some of us even bought that one Disney girl who doubles as a real life Forever the Sickest Kids billboard's new CD these past few weeks... what's her name again? Selena something, I think? We love feeling young and awkward, we just don't want you to know we do.
Eleventyseven sidestepped all this rambling nonsense when they wrote their third album, Adventures in Eville. The work is a speedy, spunky encouragement for all ages to embrace their inner pre-pubescent and somehow, by means beyond rational comprehension, succeeds. Let's face it; it's uninventive electronica-stuffed pop-punk, so the record is absolutely humble on the notion of novelty. There are literally zero original melodies the entire disc - in fact, Eleventyseven dons the role of a scientist here and simply mixes and matches chord progressions used by every pop-punk band in existence to create their sound. Yet somehow they manage to cultivate the energy to blast their music to acceptance, and it's not hard to imagine that everybody will be dancing to it. Some elitists will admit to slipping up and enjoying All Time Low; even more elitists will no doubt admit to rocking Eleventyseven.
It's not like everybody can connect to the lyrics, of course. A quick glance at song titles like "Back When We Were Kids" and "Like You Rock" reveals that the album is still targeting the average 14-year old in an un-creepy sort of way. The lyrics really need the music to bring them to life though, but with loud electronics going on, their backs are covered. "Kelly doesn't know I'm an evil genius / With a sidekick dog named Grover Cleveland / And she'll never know that we can take over the world / With cyborg robot squirrels," brags the chorus to "Evil Genius" amidst a Hellogoodbye-on-steroids sound. Summer jams are here! "Redeem the Scene" also borrows from the cheese factor, opening with hip-hop flair before hurling itself into an ironic anthem about fans, bad music and the music industry. And "Prom Song" has one of the most ecstatic verse-and-chorus combos the genre has ever heard in a wild high school tribute: "Hey DJ would you spin something we can dance to / drop that needle like you mean it / this could be the last dance we ever have in high school." To top it all off, the track features a shout out to the crunk of Family Force 5 in its bridge.
Adventures In Eville is good, too good for many who would rather not be caught listening to such music. But Eleventyseven's catchy song-writing prowess is just too strong for most to resist, and their talent has finally paid off after two albums of sound-searching. The record has the potential to become the upcoming generation's Ocean Avenue if given proper promotion; meanwhile, all you party-ers out there, heads up. This is not to be passed on.
Blink182, All Time Low, Jonas Brothers, Disney pop