album reviewed:caesars smoke strawberry weed. make songs for future beer commercials.

ARTIST: Caesars
ALBUM: Strawberry Weed
RATING: OOO
hazim and the new asymptotes
hey. hazim here...again. Remember "Jerk It Out"? The song that was featured on the Ipod commercial? The one a while back before Feist with "1,2,3,4" and around the time The Vines scored with "Ride". Well, the band's name is Caesars and its been a while since their last album Paper Tigers. But here they are with new release Strawberry Weed.
WHAT'S GOOD: The album is another rehash of retro from these less suave than The Hives Swedes. It's 60s garage fuzz and scuffle sound with snarly vocal overtones. The drumming is exceptional, like drummer Nino Keller skipped one too many therapy lessons, outbursts of percussion suddenly taking front and center on "Fools Parade". Led by charismatic singer Cesar Vidal, Caesars make music that you don't have to necessarily think about. They make this point through violently jammed hooks sung half-wisecracked, half-gruff. It's like thye're all at home on the couch, drunk but insightful. You can smell the beer on their breath.
WHAT'S NOT SO GOOD: Too much trying to be like The Who, to the point where it's like listening to one of those amateur MySpace bands that keep posting spam in your comment section. They don't get the message. They can't top The Who, and when they try, there's not a song that comes to the accidentally brilliant "Jerk It Out". Trying too hard to sound like a lazy genius makes for a dull grime in a blender of an album.
SOOOO0....: The album's not bad as a whole. And the lyrics are, while not as sharp as Alex Turner's, are still to be noticed. And it does warrant a second spin. But because Caesars sound too desperate to have another hit song (a la "Jerk It Out"). Or another commercial endorsement. Too bad, they don't know the difference.
THERE'S THIS SONG I LIKE: "Fools Parade" "Turn It Off"
ARTIST WEBSITE: Caesars