Review Summary: A jazz instrumental, an R. Kelly cover, sharks, and... daddy issues? This band needs to follow their own mantra. This thing is kind of a mess, but it's honest if nothing else.
Newspaper Taxi is a small band from an even smaller town in Indiana. This close-knit group of friends decided to use all of their Christmas money to buy some recording equipment and put out an album earlier this year. And the product of four years of high school heartbreak, abandonment, and late nights at Taco Bell have yielded this: Focus Up, their debut album. And it’s easy to tell. It’s kind of a mess. But through that mess, it’s easy to see a lot of personality.
It’s hard to tell if this band wanted a really dirty sound on this album or if it was just a byproduct of their obvious low budget, if there was any. I can hear the walls of their basement/garage studio vibrate with every pluck of the muddy guitars, every hit of the drums, and i can hear the keys of the cheap keyboard clicking through the mix. The vocals are rough, with some occasional voice cracks here and there. Some instruments don’t line up from time to time, and it doesn’t sound mastered. They did their best to clean up the record, but, luckily, all of these factors add up to a very intimate and close record, like they are performing a concert just for you.
The most striking thing instrumentally this album has going for it is how colorful and varied every song is. Every single song is its own separate scene with its own distinct personality, and the instruments always link up thematically to the lyrics, strengthening them. Take the second track “”No Alibi” for example. The lyrics are nothing too extraordinary, using Bonnie-and-Clyde-criminal-outlaw metaphors and imagery to personify how the protagonist feels after having his heart stolen from him. Backing this up is a bluesy/western lick played by the guitars and bass, which brings pictures of outlaws robbing a train in the Wild West, and a big acoustic guitar interlude. Very nice, a definite contender for best song on the album. Very simple, very catchy. Mid-album ballad "Walk Away" is also a bit of a show stealer, with its dreamy keyboards and lyrics of young but everlasting love, it simply needs to be heard.
Other album themes include abandonment, exemplified by “Choke: It’s a Song About Daddy Issues.” While the instrumental is weak AND its vocals are a tad sloppy AND a little boring AND it outstays its welcome too, the song is nevertheless saved by its lyrics, which are incredibly personal and witty, just like “Sins,” but also just as sad. If this kid’s dad ever hears this song, he might consider paying all of the back child support he may owe.
For every dark moment on the album, there is always a bright side to counteract it. Take album closer “I Wanna Be a Shark,” a nonsense track about kids wanting to be sharks when they grow up. Did this need to be included? No. But the guitar solos near the end are very nice (not complicated, mind you, but pleasant.) Another laugh out loud moment comes in the cover of R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix),” with some off-key backing vocals and sloppy instrumental performances. It shows the band having fun, and there comes a nice surprise at the end of this song and into the probably the darkest song on the album, and one of the best.
And that moment comes immediately after in the form of “Sins” is a deliciously evil waltz complete with hellish guitar divebombs, ethereal backing vocals, thunderous drumming and an organ solo taking the back half of the song. The lyrics are an introspective look at the narrator’s worst flaws, his lust, his greed, his weak faith, that are not only heartbreaking, but also quick-witted and funny.
Sadly, not every song can stay as good. “Millennials” is by far the weakest song just for being so slapdash, so uninspired, and kind of boring. A uninventive power pop instrumental with THAT four chord structure plays under an indictment of Gen Y, with such witty lines as “We’re the millennials, hashtag swag.” It’s a little cringe worthy, but that final breakdown near the last thirty seconds is one of the most powerful moments of the album, but is not nearly enough to save such a sloppy song.
Like all debut albums by young bands, there is room for improvement, and Newspaper Taxi is now different. They need to follow their own mantra and find their niche, improve their song quality, and tighten up their performances. That being said, this album is catchy, intimate, depressing, fun and remarkably cohesive. I can’t wait to see what these kids have in store next.
Best Songs: No Alibi, Sins, Walk Away
Worst Song: Millennials
