WHY CARE: Silversun Pickups tries to trump its alt-rock hit “Lazy Eye” on its new album “Swoon,” out now.
TRIVIA: The Los Angeles four piece gets its name from Silversun Liquors, an L.A. stop.
STANDOUT: The album starts with “There’s No Secrets This Year,” a track that pairs a steady fuzz of guitar with Brian Aubert’s delicate vocals.
FANS DIG: Billy Corgan
ANDY SAYS: Silversun Pickups are an alt-rock cliche, right down to the group’s sole woman playing bass. Its 2006 album, “Carnavas,” produced the slow-boiling hit, “Lazy Eye.” While that track may secure the band a spot on a “Best of the Naughts” compilation, this follow-up, both over-long and over-produced, does little to advance the band.
GRADE: C
Tinted Windows, “Tinted Windows”
WHY CARE: The supergroup Tinted Windows releases its self-titled debut on Tuesday.
TRIVIA: The group includes Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger and Hanson singer Taylor Hanson.
STANDOUT: “Messing With My Head” finds Hanson jumping into a falsetto range for the chorus, as the group builds a reliable power-pop sound beneath him.
FANS DIG: Jonas Brothers
ANDY SAYS: Collectively, the members of Tinted Windows have enough gold and platinum records to use the suckers as skeet. This album, however, won’t thrill fans of Cheap Trick or the Smashing Pumpkins. The middling pop rock skews toward Fountains of Wayne on an off day, while the lyrics are all “Mmmbop.”
GRADE: C
Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com
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