Hits and Misses

The Baldwin Brothers

4/5 Stars

These Baldwins have nothing to do with acting, and all jokes their moniker inspires are probably not funny. Neither is the Chicago quartet's astonishing major label debut.

The Baldwin Brothers shine a bright light on the future of live electronic music, blending organic bass, drums, and Fender Rhoades with occasional samples and guest vocals. "That's Right" gets things started modestly with a few quirky vocal samples. Soon, the band is churning out funkily simplistic basslines, clashing keyboards, and techno beats. The Brothers always lay down an incredible groove, and their songwriting talent is perfectly complimented by several guest vocalists. Cibo Matto frontwman Miho Hatori lends her hauntingly ethereal voice to "Dream Girl," while Barron Hicks lays down slick rhymes on "Urban Tumbleweed." "Bionic Jam" is exactly what it sounds like, a duel of the Rhoades - and better than any of the crap you'll hear playing at Urban Outfitters.

These Baldwins truly have something for everyone. Check 'em out.

-Rob Bellinger

Ed Hale and Transcendence

2/5 stars

Rise and Shine provides the perfect soundtrack for a trip to the supermarket or the mall -it's mindless, reasonably pleasant, and not particularly memorable. There are no standout performances, but, then again, there aren't any awful tracks either - only awfully simplistic lyrics like "Maybe I won't let you down/I know I was a loser/I know I am a clown."

The songs seem to tell the same story over and over again. Like the band's name implies, the music on Rise and Shine is about discoveries connected to existentialism and self-identity. But the nice thing is that the group manages to dismiss the stereotypes associated with "motivational" music, providing an upbeat modern rock rhythm. The lyrics tend to get lost under repetitive chord progressions that don't make use of appropriate blending techniques. It seems that Ed Hale and Transcendence are trying so hard to make a statement that they forget the basics of making meaningful music.

-Lauren Phillips

Portable

1.5/5 Stars

Tunes from this typical modern rock foursome fit the mold. Obviously careful and studious listeners to all of that bland cookie-cutter, allegedly alternative, actually super-ordinary rock that has filled the airwaves since the mid '90s, band members have done their best to follow such teachers' steps. But what if those teachers aren't going anywhere interesting?

Portable offers clean music with formulaic almost predictable variation: well-produced, logically presented, and inoffensive. The guitar riffs reverberate appropriately while fortuitously named vocalist Chance presents equal parts angst, irreverence, and confidence. It's not gonna make you run screaming with your hands over your ears. In fact, if you stumble upon a tune while turning the dial on your car radio while driving back home to New Jersey, you may even hear the song out in its entirety. But I doubt you'll remember it. And that's the clincher: there's nothing especially bad about Only If You Look Up, its just especially easy to forget.

- Rob Lott