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Cage The Elephant - Cage The Elephant
| Allmusic |
| The more things change in rock, the more they inevitably stay the same -- and in the case of Cage the Elephant, that's a good thing. Actually, it's a very good thing. Cage the Elephant didn't exist until 2005, but as this self-titled album demonstrates, their ability to be influenced by alternative rock and classic rock simultaneously is a definite plus. Drawing on influences from different eras, this Kentucky-based band has an appealing sound that combines a strong appreciation of the Rolling Stones with elements of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, hip-hop, and punk. This isn't full-fledged R&B, but it is certainly funky by rock standards -- and that funkiness serves Cage the Elephant well on bluesy, gritty, infectious offerings like "Free Love," "Back Stabbin' Betty," and the single "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked." When one analyzes the band's sound, it makes perfect sense that classic rock-loving alterna-rockers who are into the Stones would also be into the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, and the Beastie Boys; after all, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were absolutely obsessed with both Northern and Southern soul in their 1960s/1970s heyday. The Stones were more than happy to cover gems that had been previously recorded by the Temptations ("Ain't Too Proud to Beg," "Just My Imagination"), Marvin Gaye ("Hitch Hike"), Rufus Thomas ("Walking the Dog"), and Irma Thomas ("Time Is on My Side"). Similarly, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have always been heavily into Parliament/Funkadelic and Sly Stone and covered the Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster" in 1996. So there are major parallels between Cage the Elephant's influences even though their influences come from different eras. But instead of trying to sound exactly like those influences, Cage the Elephant have developed their own sound -- a sound that is hardly groundbreaking by 2000s standards, but is nonetheless their own sound. And they show considerable promise on this excellent CD....full text |
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| Rollingstone. |
| Matt and Brad Shultz, the brothers behind this Kentucky-bred garage-punk quintet, grew up in cramped confines with a pious dad who didn't like secular music — a good recipe for acting out later. Despite callow lyrics and what sounds like an unfortunate Nineties rock-rap influence — "In One Ear" sports G. Love and Special Sauce-style rhyming — Cage the Elephant make a fine mess on their debut: Singer Matt Shultz, a vocal dead ringer for the Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner, conjures white-blues forebears and barks with abandon on songs like "Free Love," a skronk-y cut about a lady who "like(s) it rough" that rocks so enthusiastically you wonder if the band thinks it's breaking new ground....full text |
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| Guardian |
| We probably wouldn't be hearing Cage the Elephant were it not for the arena-filling success of Kings of Leon over the past year. Like Kings of Leon, Cage the Elephant hail from the American south, feature brothers in the band, and play a bluesy take on alternarock. Someone somewhere doubtless saw the opportunity to make large sums of money from them. But there are more quirks here than on the Kings' ruthlessly efficient last album. For a start, one senses that Cage the Elephant spent a lot of time in their youths listening to rap metal: the tempos and especially the semi-rapped phrasing of Matt Shultz summon an age when white men in baggy shorts and baseball caps bestrode the planet. Don't let that put you off, though, for there's a Red Bull-powered Stooges lurking in here somewhere, and when Cage the Elephant can transfer their live power to record, they'll be unstoppable....full text |
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