*Contains 14 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.Genre: Punk Rock
Style: Pop Punk
Label Number: 1712627
© 2006 Interscope Records
AllMusic Review by Corey Apar
Of the two groups that appeared from the ashes of blink-182's 2005 implosion -- the Tom DeLonge-headed Angels and Airwaves and Mark Hoppus/Travis Barker-helmed +44 -- it's refreshing to see that at least one of them (i.e., the latter) realized that moving on from the past didn't necessarily mean turning your back on it. On their debut, When Your Heart Stops Beating, +44 has managed to balance out upbeat rockers and somber introspections to create a record that is thoughtful and composed, yet fun, and almost like the album blink could have made had they stuck together. This is alternative rock derived from guys with pop-punk pasts, but it's much more reserved than expected, meaty hooks and cheeky exuberance not oozing out of every corner. Its sober and meditative qualities aren't completely surprising -- after all, the blink breakup didn't leave ex-members unscathed -- but +44's infectious and stomping first single, "When Your Heart Stops Beating," is a bit misleading since nothing here is quite as immediate as that song. Toned down doesn't mean tedious, however, and the album gets better with each listen. +44's initial focus was on electronics, and though that ultimately took a backseat to guitar-driven rock, it's still present as an undercurrent throughout. This coupled with the clean and tight playing of guitarists Craig Fairbaugh and Shane Gallagher, whose contributions are key to the band's effectiveness, gives +44 a distinct sound away from both blink-182's punk recklessness and Angels and Airwaves' forced grandeur. Bitterness creeps into many songs -- this is definitely a post-band-breakup album -- and tracks like "No, It Isn't" are blatant stabs at Hoppus and Barker's now-strained relationship with DeLonge ("Please understand, this isn't just goodbye, this is I can't stand you"). But not every song is overtly focused on that drama, evidenced in cuts like the summery "Cliffdiving" and the especially lovely electro-piano-based "Make You Smile," which features Carol Heller (briefly a member of +44 in its initial phase). Somber tracks like "Weatherman" and "Little Death" are some of the moodiest songs Hoppus has ever sung, but nothing here feels forced, so it's easy to forgive him when things don't always hit the mark. Plus, he does a much more convincing job fronting a new project than DeLonge; his vocals meld nicely with the sonic structure of +44 to allow the band its own identity instead of just conjuring images of skateboards and Hurley shirts at every turn. Even with its flaws, When Your Heart Stops Beating possesses a surprising vulnerability, which gives the album an understated strength and makes it such an enjoyable listen. This is light-years away from the pretension of Angels and Airwaves, and an unexpected treat from a band that really sounds like it has a future together.
© 2006 Interscope Records
AllMusic Review by Corey Apar
Of the two groups that appeared from the ashes of blink-182's 2005 implosion -- the Tom DeLonge-headed Angels and Airwaves and Mark Hoppus/Travis Barker-helmed +44 -- it's refreshing to see that at least one of them (i.e., the latter) realized that moving on from the past didn't necessarily mean turning your back on it. On their debut, When Your Heart Stops Beating, +44 has managed to balance out upbeat rockers and somber introspections to create a record that is thoughtful and composed, yet fun, and almost like the album blink could have made had they stuck together. This is alternative rock derived from guys with pop-punk pasts, but it's much more reserved than expected, meaty hooks and cheeky exuberance not oozing out of every corner. Its sober and meditative qualities aren't completely surprising -- after all, the blink breakup didn't leave ex-members unscathed -- but +44's infectious and stomping first single, "When Your Heart Stops Beating," is a bit misleading since nothing here is quite as immediate as that song. Toned down doesn't mean tedious, however, and the album gets better with each listen. +44's initial focus was on electronics, and though that ultimately took a backseat to guitar-driven rock, it's still present as an undercurrent throughout. This coupled with the clean and tight playing of guitarists Craig Fairbaugh and Shane Gallagher, whose contributions are key to the band's effectiveness, gives +44 a distinct sound away from both blink-182's punk recklessness and Angels and Airwaves' forced grandeur. Bitterness creeps into many songs -- this is definitely a post-band-breakup album -- and tracks like "No, It Isn't" are blatant stabs at Hoppus and Barker's now-strained relationship with DeLonge ("Please understand, this isn't just goodbye, this is I can't stand you"). But not every song is overtly focused on that drama, evidenced in cuts like the summery "Cliffdiving" and the especially lovely electro-piano-based "Make You Smile," which features Carol Heller (briefly a member of +44 in its initial phase). Somber tracks like "Weatherman" and "Little Death" are some of the moodiest songs Hoppus has ever sung, but nothing here feels forced, so it's easy to forgive him when things don't always hit the mark. Plus, he does a much more convincing job fronting a new project than DeLonge; his vocals meld nicely with the sonic structure of +44 to allow the band its own identity instead of just conjuring images of skateboards and Hurley shirts at every turn. Even with its flaws, When Your Heart Stops Beating possesses a surprising vulnerability, which gives the album an understated strength and makes it such an enjoyable listen. This is light-years away from the pretension of Angels and Airwaves, and an unexpected treat from a band that really sounds like it has a future together.
tags: +44, when your heart stops beating, 2006, flac,
Hello, can I make a suggestion?
ReplyDeleteIn the current format of the site, the only way to get to the last page of the site is to endlessly click "older posts" until you reached the end. It is very inefficient.
I dabbled in blogging before, and I believe you can make a change to the permalink.
From this - https://www.mediasurf.org/search?updated-max=2018-12-25T23:08:00-05:00&max-results=20
To this - https://www.mediasurf.org/page/2
So I can simply reached the last page by simply tweaking the permalink to https://www.mediasurf.org/page/999
Or something along those lines. My blogging days ended years ago so maybe this is very outdated. I'm not using the search buttons because I want to discover stuff I haven't listened to before, and I want to start with the older links before they expired. I hope you take this into consideration. Happy new year to all and thanks for your effort.
Hey babe, you can access the oldest entries of the site by using the "archive" tab on the side of the home page 😉. It's made so that you can view the entries by year, which follows up by the number of entries per month. The oldest entries are from 2016 and you can view the titles of the entries without ever leaving the homepage 😉 just right click on an entry and select "open in a new tab" to view it. Try it out love.
DeleteHi, the FLAC link is down. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThe FLAC link has been updated.
Delete