Send "Wakey!Wakey! " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Absolutepunk |
 Who? Wakey! Wakey! is the creative project of 20-something singer-songwriter Mike Grubbs, a Brooklyn resident who had performed in various bar bands and musical theater projects before forming this piano-based pop/rock collective. Almost Everything I Wish I'd Said The Last Time I Saw You is the band's first full-length album, following on the heels of the War Sweater EP. Aside from music, Grubbs also makes a living as an actor on the hit show "One Tree Hill." How is it? Phenomenal. No doubt about it, this may arguably be one of the year's best releases. As the piano-pop genre continues to deflate, Grubbs and company just might be the ones to save it. Bristling with surging rockers ("Almost Everything," and "1876") and sprite see-saw singalongs ("Square Peg Round Hole" and "Twenty Two"} Almost Everything possesses a passion and a panache that is rarely found these days. When he tackles the more serious stuff, there's a tenderness and a sensitivity in his songcraft that's far too hard to emulate. An admitted romantic at heart, Grubbs is most captivating on the sweetly affecting "Dance So Good," a McCartney-esque composition that's placid, pristine and damn near flawless. Other standouts include the shimmering closer "Take it Like a Man," and the chilling "Car Crash." Backed by a palette of strings and horns, Almost Everything is a triumphant, forward-thinking and near perfect effort. With a disc this good, the piano-pop genre just might have its new hero....full text |
| Slantmagazine |
| Maybe it's just because its main demographic skews about a decade too young for me, but as far as I can tell, the only thing that One Tree Hill has really contributed to the world beyond the CW is its theme song. A ubiquitous and frankly terrible single, Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Want to Be" has polluted airwaves and American Idol stages for the better part of a decade. After hearing that song's refrain in every coffeehouse, mall, and rom-com trailer for years, it's just a matter of basic conditioning that one would assume that any music associated with Tree would be awful. As it turns out, that isn't the case. Mike Grubbs, who co-stars in the long-running drama, is the frontman for indie-pop outfit Wakey!Wakey!, whose full-length debut, Almost Everything I Wish I'd Said the Last Time I Saw You…, displays an inventive, freewheeling approach to pop songcraft. While Grubbs and his cohorts share certain influences with DeGraw (the piano-driven songs of vintage Elton John and Billy Joel figure heavily into the mix), they ultimately put them to more interesting use. On the title track, the percussion line and string section build a real sense of momentum as Grubbs launches into the outsized chorus. Instead of going for bombast, the arrangements are more restrained and focused on the structure of individual songs. That choice plays to the band's strengths. Grubb has acquired an ear for an indelible melody from his years in musical theater, and standouts "War Sweater" and "Take It Like a Man" showcase his facility with dramatic crescendos and tempo shifts. That he incorporates a tuba and a full backing choir alongside more expected flourishes like the handclap break on "Got It All Wrong" gives the record an interesting sonic palette. Perhaps what impresses most about Everything is its low-key production: The sound here is dense, but it doesn't draw attention to itself in the way of, say, a Grizzly Bear album. Instead, the production choices are in service to the songs. Lead single "22" bounces along a strutting, deceptively deep bassline that gives a sense of levity to its lyrical hook, "You should go home before your money's all gone," which Grubb stretches into an exuberant wordless chorus. With his occasionally wiseass turns of phrase and pop classicist instincts, Grubb recalls Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds in their better moments. When he calls on his rotating cast of collaborators and follows his creative impulses, Grubb makes Wakey!Wakey! a far more rewarding project than one might expect from someone associated with a show that once cast Kevin Federline in a multi-episode arc....full text |
| Allmusic |
| The influences on Wakey!Wakey!’s first album are widespread, encompassing everything from U2 (whose ringing guitars are evoked by the lead-off track, “Almost Everything”) to Maroon 5 (the likely source of the pop-funk anchoring “The Oh Song”) to the band's true bread and butter: classic singer/songwriter pop. It’s a broad range of genres, held together by the album's quirky arrangements -- a tuba here, a female choir there -- and Michael Grubbs’ affable vocals. He’s a musical theater veteran, one who traveled with touring productions of Camelot and Brigadoon before shifting his focus to pop music, and his baritone sounds pleasant and surprisingly understated on record. Grubbs’ biggest strength, though, is the foresight to surround himself with talented musicians, and the few songs that truly miss the mark here are those that feature little more than his own vocals and piano. When he’s enlisting help from a rotating cast of players -- everyone from Richmond-bred singer/songwriter Emily Easterly to Lowry’s Heidi Sidelinker -- Grubbs comes one step closer to turning Almost Everything I Wish I’d Said into the underground equivalent of Parachute’s Losing Sleep or the Fray’s How to Save a Life. He doesn't quite get there, perhaps, but the attempt still has some tuneful moments....full text |
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