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The Von Bondies - Love Hate And Then There's You
| Avclub |
| Five years ago, The Von Bondies made a big mainstream push with Pawn Shoppe Heart, a booming record that abandoned the dark, fuzzy garage-rock of the band's debut album, Lack Of Communication, in favor of cocky chartbusters like "C'mon C'mon." The shift was jarring, and not helped by the way so much of Pawn Shoppe Heart sounded pointlessly pissy. The Von Bondies' long-in-coming follow-up Love, Hate And Then There's You continues in that arena-ready modern-rock mode, but it's considerably brighter—even campier. Opening with the Killers-esque "This Is Our Perfect Crime," Love, Hate storms through a set of high-energy, danceable songs driven by stinging guitar and the utter conviction that lead singer Jason Stollsteimer lends to even the brattiest, shallowest chorus. The new Von Bondies still carry an air of menace, but the snarl seems more blatantly like a put-on. Cooing background vocals and peppy melodies give Love, Hate a distanced, theatrical feel—like a Broadway version of gutter-punk. Still, the bouncy odes to self-nullification "I Don't Wanna" and "21st Birthday" are awfully persuasive, and when Stollsteimer leads his troops through surging anthems like "Pale Bride" or "Chancer," he turns Love, Hate into the kind of ingratiatingly frivolous record that can make February feel like June...full text |
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| Allmusic |
| The Von Bondies returned with Love Hate and Then There's You several lineup changes and nearly five years after the release of Pawn Shoppe Heart -- virtually a lifetime later in terms of musical trends. Interest in the garage rock revival of the early 2000s had already peaked when Pawn Shoppe Heart arrived in 2004, but the Von Bondies scored a genuine hit (and future theme song for the TV show Rescue Me) with "C'mon C'mon," the album's most inspired and urgent moment. Although nothing on Love Hate and Then There's You quite lives up to "C'mon C'mon," that song's passion and driving riffs provide the template for most of this album. "This Is Our Perfect Crime" picks up right where "C'mon C'mon" left off, envisioning the band as a gang uniting the kids and protecting the underground. It's an almost quaint viewpoint in the late 2000s, when a true underground is harder than ever to come by, dissolved by how hard it can be to find something vital in a music scene full of overwhelming options and instant gratification. This kind of darkly romantic earnestness dominates Love Hate and Then There's You's first half, sometimes connecting ("This Is Our Perfect Crime," "Pale Bride"), sometimes not ("Shut Your Mouth," "Only to Haunt You"). However, as the album unfolds, the Von Bondies' more playful, energetic side surfaces with the Pixies-ish "21st Birthday" -- which sounds as reckless and carefree as a song called "21st Birthday" should -- and "I Don't Wanna," another slice of revved-up guitar pop that keeps garage rock's fun and fire without slavishly rehashing its past glories. With production by Peter Katis, Butch Walker, and Rick Parker, Love Hate and Then There's You sounds even slicker than Pawn Shoppe Heart, but in a way that reflects and enhances the changes in the band's music. "Earthquake"'s unabashedly hooky melody was made for polished surroundings, and Leann Banks and Christy Hunt's backing vocals on "Blame Game" bring more than a little pop to the song's paranoia. Love Hate and Then There's You is the Von Bondies' most consistent album yet, and as they sing on "Chancer," "You don't look so cool/But you look so alive." Sometimes surviving is the best revenge....full text |
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| Spin |
| In the five-plus years since the recording of their second album, Pawn Shoppe Heart, the Von Bondies have replaced two key members, lost their deal with Warner Bros., and seen frontman Jason Stollsteimer beaten to a pulp publicly by scene rival Jack White. By all rights, they should be packing it in, so their third album's vitality is a welcome shock. Over punchy, driving riffs and crackling drum work, Stollsteimer howls like a guy with much to be pissed about, while the sharp production and dark pop hooks offer a vision of garage rock that's more grand than grimy....full text |
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