CD Review - Two by Carmen & Camille

“C&C is a totally refreshing, welcome addition to the world of radio friendly pop/rock music. These girls are legit singers, songwriters and musicians who have yet to cross the line between widely appealing catchy music and overly manufactured bubble gum pop. Major props to the fact that they play instruments and write music themselves, as well as have a full rock band backing them …and the fact that they are two adorable blondes I’m sure won’t hurt either.”
–Leslie Rhein, Billboard Magazine



Release Date: 17 October 2006

Genre: Pop/Rock

Publisher: (C) 2006 TwinSpin Music

Label: TwinSpin Music

Time: 46m 58s

Review Date:14-November-2008

Format: MP3

JivePK™: Not currently a Jivewired member


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Track Listing:

01. Lose My Voice 3:46
02. Another Lie 3:47
03. Without Reason 2:54
04. I Will Never 4:03
05. Call Display 3:05
06. Breaking Down 3:36
07. How Deep Is The Water 4:08
08. What's Left 3:37
09. Let Me Be Me 3:04
10. Understand 4:00
11. This Again 3:03
12. Fantasy 3:39
13. To Believe 4:16

Review:

Twin sisters Carmen & Camille form a duo that, on the surface, has the feel of fine silk and lace. But, there is a burning passion and emotion with an attitude of true rock & roll mettle at their core. This creates an amazing amalgam of various styles on their debut CD "Two": There's a plush dexterity to the heavier songs, and a stinging edge to the ballads. The twins have created a sound that captures the ornamental harmonies and acoustic intimacies of folk music and melds that into passionate balladry and scorching rock music.

The harmonies will hook the listener, indeed Carmen and Camille have great range and brilliance, but it is the explosive arrangements and tantalizing syncopation that is equally addictive. To be sure, there is a polished intensity to this release that is seldom seen in debut efforts. Camille's guitar sets elegant counterpoint impressions against the duo's harmonies, and Carmen's flute playing creates a rarefied grace as fresh and welcome as a soothing summer breeze.

Of the ballads, the wonderful "To Believe" is an exercise of agony enraptured, building in intensity as almost a gateway to the soul. "How Deep Is The Water" is an emphatic, uncompromising number that is their strongest vocally. Of the rockers, "Lose My Voice" has unrelenting passion, and my new favorite, "Another Lie", is a bellicose excursion that is damningly raging and defiant. Other standouts include "I Will Never" which has an intoxicating flute solo and pristine harmonies, and "Fantasy", which has a cozy 80's feel, a pleasant reminder of Pat Benatar, The Motels and Missing Persons.

Overall, "Two" is a wonderful effort. Music from this release has been featured in a number of television shows including MTV's The Hills, My Super Sweet 16, and Next. Additionally, Carmen & Camille have been featured in Stuff Magazine, Elle Girl, and Billboard.com., undoubtedly giving a tremendous boost to their careers. The songs are genuinely great, full of memorable hooks without being incessantly overbearing. The arrangements are tight, the instrumentation is top-notch and the production is wonderful. But, it is the duo's amazing harmonies that makes "Two" a five-star release.

~Brooke Horrocks Jivewired.com

About Carmen & Camille:



Carmen and Camille have been making indie-music magic happen. With major press from Billboard, Stuff Mag, Elle, a television series in development, and several songs from their first album featured on MTV's The Hills, the twin sister duo have been compounding success since the release of their debut album, “Two”.

The pop/rock duo's latest single, Shine 4U, was released simultaneously with a remix contest on the world's largest remix site, Indaba Music, and resulted in hundreds of submissions from around the globe.

As sisters, Carmen and Camille's career began as kids with their own 'rec-room band' and has led to such key performances as MTV's Total Request Live. The girls were reared on Pink Floyd, Hendrix, Joplin, Zeppelin and since then their love of all music developed influences as varied as Sheryl Crow, No Doubt, Depeche Mode and Fleetwood Mac.

Carm and Cam have performed in cities all over the world including Vancouver, Toronto, Cairo, Boston, Budapest, New York, Dubai, Austin, Crete, Los Angeles, Greenland and Transylvania.

C&C split their time between Vancouver and LA, are currently working on new songs and touring in support of Shine 4U.

CD Review - The Cusack-Loggins EP by Dr. Pants

“Dr. Pants gained my love by introducing their drummer as Disco Pony. Their power-pop did even more to gain my love once they started singing about young men who love John Cusack (guilty), bearded hipsters (guilty), Firefly references (guilty), donuts (guilty) and ironic rapping (guilty). This band seems as if it were scientifically engineered for me to like it. Their power-pop tunes split the difference between Fountains of Wayne and Weezer, albeit with ironic rapping every now and then.”
–Stephen Carradini, OKGazette.com, 05/05/2011



Release Date: 21 October 2008

Genre: Nerd Power Groove Rock; Weezer & Beck made a baby with Phish and that baby is Dr. Pants.

Publisher: (C) 2008 Little Weasel Records

Label: Little Weasel Records

Time: 23m 44s

Review Date:03-November-2008

Format: MP3

JivePK™: http://jivepk.jivewired.com/drpants


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Track Listing:

01. It All Depends 4:04
02. Bootyfest 5:39
03. Cusack Prelude 0:43
04. If I Weer John Cusack 3:38
05. Kenny Loggins 4:12
06. Sweet Natasha 5:28

Review:

The world of facetious wit has always numbered musicians among its residents, and one band has gentrified the neighborhood with its latest release. Combining superb pop craftsmanship with a hyperactive sense of caprice, Dr. Pants' new release The Cusack-Loggins EP is a trajectory of surreal ideas and a catchy cataract of fun. If you have seen anything by John Cusack or heard anything by Kenny Loggins you will catch the subtle innuendo to culture and identity that is immersed with dulcet intelligence and a clever phrase or two.

Produced by band members David Broyles and Dustin Ragland, the six-song EP is a fiery mix of all the elements that make Dr. Pants a blast to see live; power poppy, Weezer-esque guitar rock, funky, jammy suite-like compositions that would make Phish jealous, and the quirky sense of humor that recalls the best work of Ween and They Might Be Giants.

Careful not to burden the listener with stuffy instrumentation or ponderous lyrics, this release is, simply stated, a stone groove. The best example may be the song "Bootyfest", a funky bass-infused jam that interpolates eclectic whimsy without taking itself seriously. Following the rocking fan-favorite "It All Depends", which kicks off the album with a wisp of subtle seriousness, "Bootyfest" launches beyond its suggestive title to carve a realistic life mask from the conceptual clay of : "You gotta spend some to get some." It is indeed an inspiring ode to the fine art of simply finding a platonic yet sexual relationship, or for lack of better nomenclature - chasing tail.

The memorable "Cusack Prelude > If I Were John Cusack" duo couches its elation in lyrics like "If I were John Cusack I would make High Fidelity 2 and I'd make it totally awesome - it would be the greatest movie ever made", and it's chorus "Lane Meyer and Lloyd Dobler, Martin Blank and Rob Gordon" which is a kaleidoscope of some of Cusack's most loved movie characters and feels amazingly like a song Jack Black would improvise on the set of "High Fidelity".

Note To The Band: I'd close every show with "If I Were John Cusack" and let the crowd continue the refrain in a crescendo of a Capella love as the band leaves the stage to a sea of Bic lighters and encore extravagance.

Note To The Band, II: (From the "I never saw THAT coming" constituency) Surprisingly stunning guitar about 40-seconds into "Kenny Loggins", surprising only because it is completely unexpected and so damn good.

"Cusack-Loggins" is a convivial and wry lesson in perceptions and particularity. Its unpretentious and well-crafted, artsy grooves work because they avoid the bombastic approach that worked against some of the latter works by They Might Be Giants or some of the forced efforts of The Barenaked Ladies or The Conchords, songs that actually try too hard to be a little too artsy.

Which begs the question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?

Likely, the performances of these songs in a live setting is far better. But even with the limitations of studio reproduction, the songs are quite good. As I said, "Bootyfest" is such an amazing song that were it released by a successfully mainstream artist (like Beck for example), it would probably be an instant hit. Grab the CD for eight bucks and if you still need convincing, you can hear plenty of Dr. Pants on Jivewired Radio as well.

About Dr. Pants:



Dr. Pants is David Broyles, Dustin Ragland, Kenneth Murray and Aaron Vasquez. They are the purveyors of a style known as NERD POWER GROOVE ROCK; Weezer and Beck made a baby with Phish, and that baby is Dr. Pants. These four musicians currently find themselves in the midst of THE TRIP; a double album that they are releasing as four separate EPs. In other words, Dr. Pants are giving the world a double album, one side at a time. THE TRIP, SIDE 1: ILLUSION & TRUTH is set for release on June 7.

Dr. Pants is the brainchild of guitarist/vocalist/composer David Broyles. With a songwriting style that borrowed initially from the Beatles, R.E.M. and They Might Be Giants, David’s first musical ventures took shape in OKC in the early 90′s, when he started releasing self-produced cassettes and playing acoustic shows in local coffeehouses. After moving to Santa Fe, NM for college in 1993, David established himself in the Santa Fe coffeehouse scene.

After releasing three more self-produced cassettes in college, and returning to OKC in the fall of 1999, David became much more focused on working with a band and thus, Dr. Pants was born. FEEZLE DAY, the debut Dr. Pants CD, was unleashed in 2000. Towards the end of 2001, David put Dr. Pants on hiatus, since all the other original members had departed, but resurrected it in 2004. Recording of the album GARDENING IN A TORNADO commenced immediately, as well as a return to the stage with new members Kenneth Murray (guitar), Aaron Vasquez (bass) and Dustin Ragland (drums). Containing 13 songs that (mostly) found Broyles returning to his songwriting roots, the album was finally released in 2006. At the end of 2007, GARDENING was named one of Music Connection’s top 25 “demo” recordings of the year. Numerous tracks from the album were also licensed by MTV and featured during broadcasts of “Next” and “Sex…With Mom & Dad.” Most recently, however, many of the songs from GARDENING have been heard on the pop culture phenomenon known as “Jersey Shore.” The song “Donuts” was also heard on “CBS Sunday Morning.” In 2008, Dr. Pants released THE CUSACK-LOGGINS EP. Then, in 2010, the band became one of the first acts to have their music video shot entirely on the iPhone 4. Directed by Kyle Roberts, the resulting clip for “Sarsaparilla Girl” has garnered over 58,000 views on YouTube.

And now, in 2011, Dr. Pants has given us THE TRIP. THE TRIP is just that: a musical journey through two complete albums worth of music. “I set out to write music that told a story, or many stories, and truly reflected all the aspects of a life,” says Broyles. “Whether real or imaginary, fantastic or mundane, these are stories, emotions and songs that continue to fascinate, entertain and move me.”