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Matthew ShawConvenienceContributor: Joel EdelmanMy girlfriend thinks this is the bee's knees. They have six of them, you know. Matthew Shaw only has five tracks, however, on Convenience. There's nothing particularly wrong with this EP, but it gets monotonous and bland quickly. There is definitely potential for mainstream commerical appeal because no one listens to albums more than four or five times. This stuff works fine under those guidelines. I listened 10 times and am now insane. Shaw pretends to be Dinosaur Jr on "The Drunk." On "Deadlines & Days Off," he employs a keyboard to sit in the background and look cool. That worked. This EP has more hooks than a tacklebox. As I am being dragged ashore with an insecure man's rod, I can't help but wonder whether this is the best choice, but the music makes me so complacent that this must be the best way to go. And I think that is the problem with this EP: It sucks the life right out of you. No matter how good it is, it makes me feel that I am giving up when I listen to it. Is this the best I can listen to? "Quicksand" also has keyboards. All the tracks do, really. He must own stock in Roland. You aren't Keane! This album would be perfect for driving down the coast. There is plenty of scenery to look at, and this music knows its place in the grand scheme of things and will settle in the background nonthreateningly. "These Lists Are Tombstones" is the best track on the EP. If you listen closely, you can almost hear passion. Almost. But you have to take what you can get. If there were ever an artist that needed coffee instead of a drink before he went on stage, it's Shaw. Guaranteed. The songs all sound the same. I like this sound. But nothing is original about the work. "Late Nights" is another Counting Crows impostor, digging around the frozen food aisle at Safeway at 9 p.m., seeing what's left after the bachelors have purchased the frozen dinners and Dreyer's ice cream. This isn't a knock on people that like this kind of music, but how do you decide which artist to support when there are so many like this? Oh yeah. The radio. Shaw is screwed. You can contact the author at: jughead@agouti.com 941 |
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