Daily Staff Writer

“Caramel”

Caramel

Usually the only things that we get from Canada are arctic winds and migrating moose.

But lately an influx of awesome bands have been heading south with their sounds, giving the shelves of American music stores something worthy to support.

The latest to fall into this trend is the Toronto band, Caramel.

This three piece band may have few members, but it produces a large and solid sound that could fill a stadium.

The opening song, “Halo,” on its self-titled album begins with a dark and groovy riff line before it punches you in the face with muscular guitars while lead singer and bassist, Andy Curran, pelts out the words, “I want you to know I love your head.”

The second song, “Lucy,” retains the dark and haunting sound, but gets a little boring because it doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

It’s almost as if there is a leash around it, tugging it back and keeping it from getting out of control.

“Sex Is A 4 Letter Word” starts with some answering machine-like vocals with questions like “What if God was your mother, what if God was a mistake?”

Then it jumps into anarchy. Everytime Curran punctuates a word, the guitars hit it hard as well and then blast off on their own flight toward the sky.

Next comes “Mr. Sunshine,” a mesmerizing tune, and the kind of song you might find lurking in a black hole.

It is an indescribable journey of music so unique that it is almost impossible to believe it came from Earth, let alone Canada.

Along this ride of imaginative music comes “Feels Like Sunday” with its dreary, crying guitars and unheeding emotional vocals from Curran.

The album picks up the pace with “Summertime.”

Here, the band drives into a sultry sonnet, taking a surreal look at a raw sexual encounter from the past.

Caramel get downright angered on the song “Don’t Cut My Hair,” a strange outcry of hatred with lyrics saying, “I got demons painted on my skin, I don’t even think I like me.”

Caramel also preach conformity and identity loss in the hard-hitting

“Like Everybody Else,” while Curran hammers out the line, “I never wanna be myself!”

The only thing that can be said about this band is, “It’s about time!”

3 1/2 stars out of five

-Kevin Hosbond

“Accidentally?”

Clever

Omaha is bubbling over with 311 wannabe’s, and yet another cloned band has escaped the confines of the city of reggae-hiphop band outlets.

This time the escapees are hiding behind the alias “Clever.”

Clever is a band that combines and reflects the influences of its counterparts, 311 and the St. Louis band the Urge.

While being direct take-offs of these two bands, Clever still retains some originality on its debut album, “Accidentally?”

The first track off the album is a heavy-hitting hip-hop kind of tune called “Golden An.”

The lyrics, “played the game by their rules, early rising robot got to church and school. So you better live your life by the golden an, cuz if you don’t we will have to eat you alive,” are especially riveting besides the influx of distorted guitars.

“Perfectly,” the follow-up tune, is a driving, pulsing and distorted tune with an awesomely perfect screaming guitar zipping around underneath it all.

Next comes the thought-provoking song, “Blasphemy.”

In this song, lead singer Bruce Coddington asks, “What if you found out that your Savior was an alien? Would you try to help him or would you let them kill him again?”

He later goes on to call the Bible a work of fiction.

(You probably won’t be able to purchase this CD at Wal-Mart because of that.)

At times Coddington’s vocals are comparable to those of Offspring, while the crescendoing screams on “Flush” might pass the group off as Tool, or maybe even some of its Urge-like guitaring might fool you.

Clever even resembles Rage Against The Machine on the song “Shine,” with its punching vocals as the band pumps out a song about rising above negativity.

But don’t fear conformity with this band — embrace it. If you like some of these bands, you may like Clever.

Sometimes Coddington gets a little weak in the lyrics department. While not every song needs to tell a story or have a special meaning, each song should at least have a purpose, or its existence is a waste.

Just like their 311 brothers, Clever’s songs all start to mesh into one long meaningless disaster by about the middle of the album.

However, the last song, “It,” redeems the band. The bass starts it out, dropping down a melody, while the rest of the band soon joins in to crank out a monster of a song, ending the album on a good note.

2 1/2 stars out of five

-Kevin Hosbond

“Let It Come Down”

James Iha

James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins has used his time in between making records with the Pumpkins and touring around the globe, to record a solo effort.

His debut album, “Let It Come Down” isn’t like anything you’d expect from the co-pilot of the Smashing Pumpkins though.

You’ll find no kidney-ripping screams or searing, boiling, barn-burning outright rock anthems.

But what you will find are some quiet, happy love songs conjured up in the mind of the romantic Iha.

The album starts out strong with the opener “Be Strong Now.”

Violins and cellos weave through the background as Iha pulses away on his guitar and croons out a song of strength and faith.

The following song, “Sound of Love,” is a story of struggle. It deals with a love that takes time, and if the two lovers persevere, they can make it work out.

The music supporting the strong lyrics has a lifting effect and parallels the struggle in the song.

Nina Gordon, formerly of Veruca Salt, joins Iha to add harmony vocals on the third track, “Beauty.”

Iha and Gordon have sung together before. They joined forces for a track on the “Aeroplane Flies High” box set.

The two blend together like no other duo before them, bringing yet another dimension to the album.

The middle of the album is held together with a couple of catchy tunes. The first is “Country Girl.”

This is a down-home, heartland of America kind of song with vivid lyrics like, “Hallelujah, I’m in love with a girl from the country. She’s got no money, just a smile.”

The other catchy tune is “Jealousy,” a salsa of rhythm and upbeat hooks that carry the song along in a way resembling that of Cake.

A couple more love songs move the album to the song “One and Two,” which Iha sings with D’arcy, bassist for the Smashing Pumpkins.

D’arcy is mostly just vocalizing supporting harmonies throughout this song, but does it in her own usual dark and mysterious way.

Also helping out Iha with his debut album was drummer Matt Walker, of Filter, who also toured with the Pumpkins and laid down some tracks for their new album, after the canning of Jimmy Chamberlain.

“Let It Come Down” is a celebration of love and life. Don’t let that scare you away from it. If you are a true Smashing Pumpkins fan, you’ll check this one out.

James Iha is a remarkable song composer and prides himself in using a bundle of eerie, lovable chord formations.

His debut album is a lyrical outlet for his romantic side. “Let It Come Down” shows that Iha can hold his own as a solo musician, besides being in the greatest band of the decade.

3 1/2 stars out of five

-Kevin Hosbond