It appears that there's another LA band in town that aspires to be the best LA band that every graced the fair city of LA. The Airborne Toxics made a fairly big splash a few years back, then sort of briefly simmered (probably to attempt to stay indie), then played the Disney Concert Hall (which is the LA band gateway to stardom), and then decided that they wanted to make a really, really big sounding 2nd album just to ensure that people know that they mean business. So does All At Once achieve the overall grandioseness that it seemed they were going for? Yeah, it's 'big'. Not like, 'BIG', but big enough. It's jam packed with a pile of anthems, a whole bunch of catchy hooks, and a lot of BIG Mike Jollett vocals.
And if there were going to be a face-off of 1st album vs. this one, I think the latter slightly wins that battle. I mean, it's really catchy. Plus it contains all of the elements that we liked from the 1st album (and more). The "Sometime Around Midnight" (overemotional song about the death of a relationship) of this album is "The Graveyard Near the House" (an overemotional acoustic song about the death of a relationship...and death). "Changing" is totally the radio friendly "Papillon". And then there's "Strange Girl", which has a post-modern John Hughes quality about it. Could it be that The Airborne Toxic Event be the new poster child for Classic Modern (alt but wishes for stadium) Rock? Or will they just fade into obscurity, but then end up headlining the Hollywood Bowl and then Dodger Stadium?
-thomas j.
Half of Something Else - The Airborne Toxic Event
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