A review of NV, the new album by Jealous Radio

http://www.myspace.com/jealousradioJealous Radio, a garage band from Kalamazoo, recently put out their first EP, NV. The band consists of vocals/rhythm by Ben Bojanich, with Jon Root playing lead, and Paul Isaacs on the drums. Also, special to NV, Scott W. joined on the bass for tracks one through four. Their sound is something like Matt and Kim going grungy with their riffs, Reznor and Cobain having a love child with a slightly conflicted sounding voice, and Kalamazoo suddenly ending up in California with surf rock in abundance. As should be expected from a teen band recording their first EP, Jealous Radio was eager to show their versatility by straying into several genres within only six songs. Unfortunately, all they’ve managed to do is show their inexperience and confuse their listeners.

While the album is a solid first attempt at recording, there are still some pitfalls that cannot be overlooked. For starters, the vocalist, Bojanich, really could spend more time training his voice. Also, cliché lyrics don’t help the situation, nor does the fact that you can barely understand the vocalist most of the time. Moans and groans may have passed as singing in the ‘90s grunge rock scene, now they’re just seen as laziness considering the majority of teens today can sing, somewhat, simply because we’re the American Idol generation. It seems that the best parts of the album come when Bojanich is focusing more on his playing rhythm guitar than singing.

Secondly, with as good of a drummer as Isaacs is, you would think the guitars should be able to keep in time with each other. Sadly this isn’t the case. The guitarists seem to have trouble keeping in synch with the drums and themselves, falling in and out of time creating odd confusing accidental melodies.

But there is hope for Jealous Radio. The good in this album does seem to at least equal the bad. The good is the guitar during the sections where Bojanich isn’t singing along with Isaacs’ impeccable skill.

The highlights of this album are “Front Page,” “American Dream,” and “Broken Glass”. “Front Page” starts the album off with an upbeat pop-like guitar riff reminiscent of California surf rock. “American Dream” continues the good in the album with a great guitar riff intro, solid drums throughout, and a chorus that seems sarcastically patriotic. Finally, the most mature track, “Broken Glass” slows down the mood with a nice melody riff, great rhythm section, and simple drum patters. Even when the track does pick up with distortion, it maintains the easy melody and rhythm without slips.

Overall, the album is an OK entrance into the music world at best, and bearable at least. NV should serve as a spring board for any bands wanting to record an album. It shows that preparation is key. NV is an example of why bands should give themselves enough time to work out the kinks on their first few songs before jumping at the first chance to record. Jealous Radio could have avoided a few careless things like not tightening up their synchronicity if they had taken this into account. Good job guys, just wish you could have tightened a few of the nuts and bolts.

Kalamazoo, MI– Home to one of the most diverse music scenes in Michigan, Kalamazoo now has
another band to add to the mix: The Parts of Speech.  Made up of Tim
Tapper belting vocals and guitar, Joe Veld switching between keyboard
and guitar, James Duke specializing in percussion, and bassist Jonathan
Takish, they have found their place amongst the eclectic local bands in this old industrial town brimming with new surprises.

The P.O.S. actually started out as a solo act of
Tapper’s that needed a backup band. He had formulated Tim Tapper and
the Terribles after recruiting Duke at a show at
Rocketstar, a local coffee shop/music venue. “After I saw [Duke] play
he had booked my solo show at Rocketstar,” Tapper said. Later Tapper,
knowing that he played bass, recruited Takish. The final member, Veld,
joined after a fated meeting between him and Tapper. “Tim heard that I
played a little and asked if I wanted to be in the band. He gave me
some samples to listen to and I just came up with some stuff I thought
sounded good with it. I just gave the whole thing a try,” Veld said.

Only
days before their first show in October of 2008, The Terribles had
decided to change their name to make the band sound more collaborative
rather than just a solo act with a backup band. “We were talking about
the songs. We listed off a few names and eventually Jonathan said
something about how our song names follow a pattern of ‘a noun and a
noun’ and Joe said ‘The Parts of Speech.’ It just fit,” said Tapper.

The POS have no particular musical syntax.
After discussing how much they hate labeling their style, they finally
agreed upon the delightfully ambiguous decision of not selecting a genre. Tapper said, “I
don’t want to pick a genre,” followed by Veld saying, “It’s too
limiting.”

Then again, with influences such as Yo la Tengo,
Pedro the Lion, Sigur Ròs, and Mineral it would be hard to narrow down
their sound to one specific genre.

While the band is enjoying
playing local venues for the time being, they have no real intention of
touring. “We’re going to record an EP pretty soon but we don’t plan on
forcing ourselves to stay together. We’re just doing this for the sake
of writing music and performing,” Tapper said. Veld followed with, “We
are doing this because we enjoy it and we like it when other people
enjoy it.

Catch them January 10th at Kalamazoo’s corner record shop.

Photo Credit David Doss