Eat Sugar blends the intensity and retro essence of the Hives with the uber-cool electro-pop of LCD Soundsystem. Rather than using guitars as their weapon of choice, this Cincinnati outfit uses synths and (real) bass and drums to create their raucous, winking garage rock. On ¡Levántense!, the band buffs the sharp edges of their previous two EPs down to a slightly softer sheen, with a few tunes - like "Run the Company" and "Troubled Dreams" - feeling more radio-friendly than past efforts. But plenty of songs follow the garage-rock template of no-holds-barred bark and bite ("Clap You Hands" and "Dry" are rabidly feral stompers, and "Outsider Art" is all delirious, staccato bursts of energy), and a few tunes stray from either formula: "Shadowside" is slinky and goth-hued, vocalist Aidan Begosian delivering a smoky croon rather than his more pervasive, sharp-toothed yelp, and "The Revivalist" is a bare-bones, swaggering delight with disco rhythms and laser beam synths. Eat Sugar are at their best when they light the sweaty, funk-punk fuse, as on the percussion heavy (more cowbell!) "Standing Still." Not Gonna Happen. - iTunes |