ShockHound

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  3 of 5

  
  

  What happens when five hipster kids kick their Pavement habit and fall under the spell of Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy and Fleetwood Mac? You get Free Energy, a Philadelphia band that — on their debut album, STUCK ON NOTHING — somehow manages to combine laconic indie-rock attitude with well-crafted classic rock power. Produced by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, STUCK ON NOTHING works best when Free Energy click into Corvette Summer mode: "Free Energy," "Dream City" "Bang Pop" and "Psychic Lighting" are twin-guitar feel-good anthems for 21st century stoner beach parties, with frontman Paul Sprangers's dryly sarcastic delivery and lyrics adding just the right touch of post-modern self-awareness. But when the band stretches out into darker, dirgier territory, as on "Dark Trance" or "Wild Winds," the record gets a little dull; it's like they haven't quite figured out how to navigate the realms beyond the snappy verse-chorus-verse mode of their punchier material. Hopefully, they'll stick around long enough to further develop their melodic gifts. In the meantime, STUCK ON NOTHING is highly recommended to anyone who liked last year's debut from Tinted Windows, but thought it lacked a certain something in the testicular department. — Dan Epstein

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  Evilstreak 5 of 5

  
  

  OMG... I love this cd! It reminds me of all the music that made me fall in love with music in the 70's! It brings back carefree memories playing outside with my speakers to my 8-track stereo in my open bedroom window, so I could hear the music outside! It's hard to believe that these guys are not from the time of Thin Lizzy & Cheap Trick!

4 months ago

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