3OH!3 Streets of Gold [Review]

Note: The entire album is available for everyone to listen to on youtube pre-release.
The boys from Ballerado are back with their sophmore album due out next week on the 29th; Streets of Gold. After months of waiting its almost here and I hope you wear a helmet when you listen to it cause its gonna blow your mind....


Anyway.

Once in a rare time does an album come out that could potentially produce a hit single from every song. I believe that this is one of those rare albums. Want, was a great cd but a lot of the tracks on it werent exactly mainstream enough for that type of exposure. Streets of Gold is however. Almost every song is great; the only one that sort of falls flat of having that type of deal is "House Party" while at the same time being an awesome song itself, I just couldn't see the mainstream music media latching onto it. With that being said, there are some very good songs on this disc; while at the same time they devert from their style that makes them notable in my opinion. Tracks like "Dont Trust Me" and "Starrstrukk" from Want were well produced and main stream enough to draw in people; including me. But what did I find when I listened to that whole album? A foundry of awesome and different songs the likes of which I had never herd before. They're satirical style made me fall in love with their music instantly. While Streets of Gold does have some that style they have swapped their singing and musical style with something more main stream. But that's not really a bad thing now.

Beaumont and I can do anything lead the album off, Beaumont being an instrumental track while I Can Do Anything being the proper first song. ICDA(I can do anything) is a good opening track; it introduces you to their new musical style while keeping their same satirical nature from Want. With lines like "We can do an album; we can do a viral; Spread it like an STD you got back in highschool." And also introduces us to what probably is their attitude to people who would say "Why dont you go back to the "Want" style." with their lyrics of the chorus "I aint gonna take no shit no one." serving as a great shout out to people who might be thinking that way.

The lead off single from the album; My First Kiss; is next, and serves as a real introduction to their new style with ICDA being kind of like a "fuck you we'll do whatever we want." Ke$ha makes a cameo in the song; likely returning the favor to the group for appearing on "Blah Blah Blah". If you were like me, you were a bit dissapointed that the boys didnt have too many lines in that song; but Ke$ha dosen't pull a Katy Perry here and take over a part of the song. Outside of singing the lines "My first kiss went a little like this....and twist." She also harmonizes with Sean Foremen in the Chorus. The song itself is good, and catchy. A perfect lead off single for the group. Likely it'll do the same that "Dont Trust Me" did for Want; but just like "Dont Trust Me" got the group a lot of attention, and Starrstrukk blew them up the next song will eclipse all three in terms of popularity....

(Note: check the post below for the official My First Kiss video)


"I think I've been here before; I think I've run into you; I know the things that you do; cause this is Deja Vu!" Deja Vu, the third single from the album. It has the structure; rythem and catchy chorus; memorable lines like "And the girl in the back you'll stick your tounge down my mouth" make this one of their best songs I believe. It defenantly has the potential to not only go to the top of the charts but also put their other songs out of peoples minds. In the song itself it describes a night that the character in it feels like hes living over and over; Asking a police officer when hes finally got get arrested for doing 'bad things' despite the fact that said officer has had run-ins with the character a lot; Getting into a fight with a greaser in the bar, and getting kicked out of said bar, everynight it seems. It's a great narrative about how the bands life probably seems to have been blurred together in their travels as a constant re-living experience or ...Deja Vu.

We Are Young; the next track, and the first track that completely deviates from their style in a musical sense. Opening with a nice drum beat and a bass line thats reminenct of "eye of the tiger" through out the song. It's different from what their other songs are from Want, and the first three tracks provide a nice safety net that ease you into the new style of the album. The song itself is about the young people taking on the world; you get a nice feel as to this is how they both felt when they started making music together and signed to a deal.

Touching on My is a song done somewhat in their original noted style from Want. It was the second single released, and I believe the weakest of those released thus far. The song itself is catchy and the beat is good; but it just feels like its missing something; dunno what tho. The song itself is somewhat 'censord'; with electronic 'beeps' replacing where the curse words would be but the beeps themselves are also intagreated into the beat so even when they arent suppose to be 'cursing' it appears. This censoring somewhat surprises me considering how the language was in Want. But then again it could be because of their appearance on the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack with their song "Follow Me Down", which In my opinion is their worst song; was quite requested on radio disney; peaking at number 2; and overall with the exception of "house party" generally the album is pretty clean of profanity. Overall I feel it is one of the weakest songs on the album but its still pretty good.

"Gonna have a house party in my house..." opens the next track; house party. It's pretty basic really and kicks back to their style of songs from Want. Really theres not much to comment on cause its a fun song but repetitive; would be good though for a house party....

R.I.P. seems like a reflective song from the bands point of view about a women who they left behind in Colorado to pursue their dreams of music. But also criticizing the women at the same time for not feeling the same way about the singer. It's a pretty good song and could be a chartable love song.


I know how to say is the next song. This one is a fun, fun song. Its got a lot of different styles mixed in. Some kick backs to the doors with the keyboarding, An jingle of bells that reminds me of Rollin' Stones "Symphony for the Devil"; speaking of the stones, the lyrics "Never gonna stop; I'm a rolling stone" is catchy itself. The narrative in this one lets you into the band's lives about how they are always traveling, telling stories of how they love many women in different parts of the world. Only one word really describes this song; Fun.

Double Vision; original I thought it was gonna be a Foreigner cover, but it wasn't. Instead this song opens with a bright ray of sunshine. It reminds me of one of those feel good songs for somereason and it should be since the singer is surrounded by so "Many fine women". But it does have a message about relationships, in that he loves the girl in the song yet he dosent think he can have a relationship because hes surrounded by so many fine women that hes seeing "Double Vision"

I'm Not the One; is pretty good, musically its kind of a slow and methodical love song about telling someone they're not the one to 'hurt you'. Nothing realy notable about the song but it is good and continues the same style established earlier in the album. Streets of Gold, the next song finally sees "Nat" step up as the singer as he mostly stays in background for most of album only backing up Sean. I put these two together in one part of the review because while they're good songs and defeantly can be a single in their own right theres just nothing about either one that sticks out as in the other songs.

See You Go; the penultimate song; Brings you back to the 3Oh!3 style in the begining while later blending with their newer style. It's a good song and catchy; but kinda falls into the same category as "I'm not the one" and "Streets of Gold" with a similar narative from "RIP" Only from their prospective completely telling a lover that they got everything they need, so dont go.

Love 2012 is about as close to an "epic" song you'll get from 3Oh!3; the beat is great and the lyrics are good; and just like those predictions of the 2012 apocalypse its just that. A love apocalypse, a song about love ending and the singer finding that in the end he needs himself more than someone else right now. A great closing song to a great album and really ties together the narratives set up in My First Kiss; that continue through the entire cd.


Overall the Album is great; And it's actually a great concept album; something that if Want had it, well you really had to dig to connect the story. Begining with start of a love with My First Kiss and ending with it all falling apart in Love 2012. Every song really connects with each other. While in Want I was drawn into that album with "Dont Trust me" and "Starrstrukk" and found a great unexpected album, Streets of Gold really illustrates how the band has matured over the past two years since Want's release. Every song has a narrative; something that Want kind of lacked, but at the same time I loved that album for that reason, and love this one for having one. The only complaint I have is that Nathan, "Nat" takes a back seat to Sean Foreman. Granted Foreman is in my opinion a better singer, and overall a better pick for a frontman of the group, I loved Nat's vocal style in Want and it is missed in this Album but at the same time hes made some great beats so it's not like hes not there. Overall this Album is great, Want allowed 3Oh!3 to get noticed by mainstream but Streets of Gold will totally blow them up even bigger. I dont want to sound too over-confident in the album but I believe 3Oh!3 could own 2010 just as much as Lady Gaga owned 2009 in their genre but that'll be a hard climb to make and it's only up to the fans to decide if they do. Streets of Gold drops next week; Tuesday, June 29th 2010. You can pick up the deluxe edition exclusively from www.3oh3music.com. And Target is running an incredible deal on it for 7.99 next week. Streets Of Gold gets a 5/5

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Nathan Drake returns in the blockbuster sequel to the first PS3 classic, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It's the game that's got everyone's buzzing about. Some say it is THE reason to get a PS3, next to Heavy Rain. For me it was Heavy Rain, and this game. I used to own a PS3 about a year ago, but decided to trade it in for a 360. Now a year later, I've gotten one again, and decided the first game I'd try out was the one that everyones talking about Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Now, I played a little of the first game but never got into it enough to beat it. This one how ever, does suck you in with it's cinematic presentation. Sometimes it gets too cinematic, but its not like the camera's flying everywhere like in a Michael Bay movie. The story goes that Drake and his buddies have found a treasure that someone's willing to pay them big bucks to steal, well as you'd expect one of his friends is really just using Drake to get the treasure for himself, and screws him over right at the begining, trust me this is no spoiler you see this coming a mile away, well you would if you've ever seen EVERY ADVENTURE MOVIE EVER MADE. And now Drake's on a quest to get back at his friend and the guy's boss but gets sucked into something waay deeper than what it appears to be. With a few friends returning from Drake's Fortune and new allies a long the way, Drake has the group he needs to take down this meanace.

Now I said before the begining of the plot is cliched, for an adventure story. Yet I haven't figured out if its suppose to be a serious take on the adventure movies, or a parody of them by introducing some cliches. Because the game takes itself seriously, but not too seriously that some comedy isnt thrown into the story. The action in the game, to me is about like that of any other 3rd person action game. Enemies out number you, and all you've got is one or two guns to take them out, and of course Drake's quick thinking and wit. The Shooting mechanics are great, but its not really like anything you havent seen before. Enemy AI's will try to flank you when your in a tight spot with no where to run, so most likely you'll have think outside of the box to get out of it, and boy does this game force you to do that. IF you get stuck however, there is a button to press that'll give you a hint on what to do.

After playing through part of the game, you start to wonder if it wasn't for bad luck then Drake wouldn't have any at all. Buildings fall apart around you. Helicopters pop up outta nowhere. And just when you think you're safe, your friends turn on you. But all this just adds more to the visuals. Which are STUNNING. The in game graphics are great and detailed. At one point I started to wonder why Drake's clothes got darker, then i realized I had just been swimming in water. But this game really shines with its cinematics. The characters are funny, deliver their lines just right so its not too cheesy. The actors here really did a fantastic Job. because it dosen't feel like your watching a game cinematic, it feels like a real movie. And the cut scenes. Wow. I was surprised that the graphics didnt look realistic, but then I remembered the first one didn't either. It just slipped my mind. But the cinematics look as if someone painted them with beautiful water colors, and comes very close to looking like a Pixar movie, closer than any other game available now.

This game is a reason to get a PS3. Dont let anyone talk you out of it. If you have a PS3, then why dont you have this game? Its well worth the 60 dollar price tag. The game has multiplayer, featuring your standard game type. But more than likely youll be too busy playing the story to want to tackle multiplayer, I've only played one match thus far. Either way this game is awesome. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the Playstation 3, gets a 5/5.