Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: Rogue Wave
By Chase on Nov 6, 2005 in Pop Culture
In “Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down,†world-renowned expert Chase Martyn blogs important facts about things that are good or bad. In this (the first) installment, he takes on the newly hyped Rogue Wave album, Descended Like Vultures.
I get the feeling that Zach Schwartz of Rogue Wave took the main moral of Garden State’s story to heart: the Shins really did change his life. Riding on the success of Mercer & Co., he decided to try to be the Shins. He didn’t make it all the way there, but he did a good enough job to get picked up by the label Sub Pop, famous for its ability to give any soundtrack the cred it needs.
Then he/the band (see, “Rogue Wave†works kind of like “Dashboard Confessionalâ€: it can work as a name for the one guy, but it can also work as the name for the whole band – LAME) made another album, and it sounded bad. Somebody said, “Hey, how about we throw a sanitized version of the new Arcade Fire/Wolf Parade carnival aesthetic to the mix! And then we can write shitty songs that will still sound indie!â€
And that’s what they did. And that’s why they get thumbs down.
Chase Martyn observes and analyzes politics from Des Moines, IA, capital of 2008's first caucus state. He is also Managing Editor of the 
I can respect this project, but I think you need a better title for it.
Oh, and also, my LJ doesn’t tell me to buy things. It doesn’t tell me that I’m going to “get payed hip service.” AND IT DOESN’T RELY ON EMBARRASSING ME FOR NOT BEING A PHILANTHROPIST BY ASKING ME TO DONATE MONEY TO VARIOUS VICTIMS.
niina | Nov 7, 2005 | Reply