Dig These Discs: JoJo, Green Day, Balance & Composure, Regina Spektor, Set It Off

Green Day gets back to basics in "Revolution Radio," their first album in four years. Singer/songwriter Regina Spektor releases her seventh studio album, cementing her status as a mainstream star after years as an indie anti-folk artist. Pop singer/songwriter JoJo releases her first full-length collection in 10 years -- quite a feat, considering she's only 25 years old. The talented singer was signed by a major label by the time she was 12. Pennsylvania band Balance & Composure releases their third studio album, following their truly excellent lead single, "Postcard," released earlier this fall. Tampa-based rock quartet Set It Off ditch the dramatics and focus on achieving a more diverse, mature sound.

"Revolution Radio" (Green Day)

Before Green Day was a hit show franchise, they were that kick-ass '90s Bay Area punk band that gave a generation of disaffected youth a voice. Twenty-six years later, that rocking Green Day lives again, with the release of their 12th studio album, "Revolution Radio." Through 12 tracks, the Green Day crew tackles heavy themes of gun violence, suicide, and youth angst, but you may never even realize it. They start with "Somewhere Now," a quiet guitar cut that opens up into a fast strummer as Billie Joe Armstrong asks, "How did a life on the wild side ever get so dull?" The lead single, "Bang Bang" has killer riffs, as Armstrong sings from the point of view of a mass shooter, with lyrics like "Bang bang, give me fame, shoot me up to entertain/ I am a semi-automatic lonely boy." Armstrong said the song is about "the culture of mass shooting that happens in America, mixed with narcissistic social media." The fast beat of the title track "Revolution Radio" makes it a classic Green Day tune. Rumor has it that lyrics like "give me cherry bombs and gasoline" were inspired by the Black Lives Matter rally that Armstrong abandoned his vehicle to join. Some of the tunes feel a bit forced, like "Say Goodbye," and the oddball "Bouncing Off The Wall," which sounds more like a cut by The Ramones. The rock ballad "Outlaws" starts out painting the scene of "a criminal in bloom" and ends with him finding a knife by the railroad track, as the train leaves. "I'm like a child looking off into the horizon... oh I'm still alive," sings Armstrong in "Still Breathing," one of the best cuts on the entire album. Their punk rock love song "Youngblood" matches a "loner, not a stoner, supernova, cherry cola" girl with a "rough boy round the edges" and asks, "Are you stranded like I'm stranded? Do you want to watch the world fall to pieces?" Armstrong keeps speaking to his teenage fan base in songs like "Too Dumb To Die," with lyrics, "I was a teenage atom bomb, blowing up on the weekends." In the heavy-handed "Troubled Times," he's asking, "What good is love and peace on earth, when it's exclusive?" The epic, seven-minute "Forever Now," seeks to "Start a revolution/ I wanna hear it on my radio." It calls back to the first song, "Somewhere Now." They close an excellent album with the 1997 hit, "Ordinary World," an upbeat guitar tune with a folksy twang.
(Reprise Records)

"Remember Us To Life" (Regina Spektor)

Singer/songwriter Regina Spektor has moved from Russian childhood piano prodigy, to NYC indie anti-folk star, to an internationally recognized artist. She releases her seventh major label studio album this month, "Remember Us to Life," an 11-track album with the excellent lead single, the high and fine "Bleeding Heart," which she's now performed on just about every late-night program on the air. It's her first album in four years, during which time she's had a child. Her piano-driven pop sound still allows for plenty of innovation in every niche, which she revels in. She bounces through "Older and Taller," looking back on the past, singing, "every time you decide to stay then the world will make you go," with bass drums punctuating her refrain, "enjoy your youth sounds like a threat/ but I will anyway." She sings about a tunnel to hell beneath the "Grand Hotel," with directions down the dumbwaiter and through the courtyard where the bellhops smoke. Can you make it there to see the devils dance and kiss? No matter, they come to the surface eventually. The catchy "Small Bill$" has Spektor singing fast, almost like rapping, about the poor poets choking up blood, surviving on Diet Coke and candy bars. Her ballad "Black and White" has the pacing and patter of a '70s slow rock tune, and the slow tune "The Light" finds her wishing she could share the many things she'd seen with her child. Her a capella "The Trapper and the Furrier" is like a ghoulish Russian fairy tale, with sinister implications. The skillful "Tornadoland" showcases Spektor's fine voice. She's an unread manuscript in the soft piano tune, "Obsolete," and becomes a flower peddler selling secondhand roses in the whimsical "Sellers of Flowers." The album ends on an upbeat note, with "The Visit." Spektor's music is quirky, loveable, and ideal for soundtracks. Think you recognize her voice? It might be from her tune "You've Got Time," the theme song to "Orange Is the New Black."
(Sire Records)

"Mad Love" (JoJo)

Pop singer/songwriter JoJo releases her first full-length collection in 10 years -- quite a feat, considering she's only 25 years old. The talented singer was signed by a major label by the time she was 12. She's teamed up with top producers including Max Martin, Whiskey Water and songwriter Justin Tranter to produce it. She starts this 11-song album with the piano ballad "Music," painting the picture of her as a young girl, going along with her mother as she cleaned people's houses, working to make her daddy proud, "my only hope is that he's looking down," with the chorus, "Tell me who, who would I be without you?" Alessia Cara helps her out in "I Can Only," a no-haters song. And Wiz Khalifa lends his saucy demeanor to JoJo's hit single, "F___ Apologies." The accompanying video, directed by A$AP Rocky and Francesco Carrozzini, is getting fans worked up. The fast-moving, beats-heavy tune is prime for radio play, despite the four-letter words. She's got "no time for these fake-ass bitches" in "FAB," featuring a dope rap break by Remy Ma. JoJo really shows her fine voice in the impassioned track "Mad Love," and jams over deep bass beats in "Vibe." Echo effects give an otherworldly effect to "Honest," as JoJo says, "All you ever wanted was a free ride/ All I ever wanted was your love." One of the best cuts on the album is the rat-a-tat beat of "Like This," with flirty lyrics, "You want some of me? Baby come get some." She sings about her "full time lover" in "Edibles," and gets a sexy vibe in the slow cut, "High Heels," singing about the man who did her wrong, putting on her black dress and high heels, and walking right out his door. The piano ballad, "I Am," a song of self-empowerment, features the lyrics, "I am worthy of love, am I strong enough? Because it feels like I'm not anything at all. But I am beautiful." The album includes four bonus tracks, including the fast-moving "Clovers," and the song "Reckless" about getting so drunk on Saturday, they missed church on Sunday. "I don't need no pill with what you do to me... see it from your face that we're in ecstasy," she sings in the club hit "Good Thing." She's getting higher in "Rise Up," running her vocals up and down the scale, backed by a catchy beat. JoJo just finished up a world tour with the hit girl group Fifth Harmony, so you'll have to settle for her TV appearances promoting this new album.
(Atlantic Records)

"Light We Made" (Balance & Composure)

Pennsylvania band Balance & Composure releases their third studio album, following their truly excellent lead single, "Postcard," released earlier this fall, and the psychedelic video that accompanies it. Their first track, the trip-hop cut "Midnight Zone" synth loops and clipped background vocals for a buzzing, lo-fi grunge effect. Critics have compared the synth-bass fuzz of the band's cuts to songs by The Cure; you'll pick up that vibe in tracks like the dour "Spinning," as well as the later track, "Loam." The album title is taken from a line in "Spinning," about how color and light impacts mood and memory. "Let your feelings show, it's easier than you would ever know," sings Jon Simmons in "Afterparty," a tune that allows drummer Bailey Van Ellis to shine. Simmons was known for his yelling style of singing, and that's mostly gone from this album. In its place are electronics and programmed beats. Some critics don't like the band's new sound, but the end result seems a lot more holistic. The hypnotic rhythms and backbeat of "Mediocre Love" and "Is It So Much to Adore?" lull you into the songs. Their cut "Fame," is about gaining notoriety and the expectations that go with that. While Balance & Composure appears to still be a few steps away from cementing a trademark sound, "Light We Made" goes far toward helping them figure it all out.
(Vagrant Records)

"Upside Down" (Set It Off)

No, it's not the bank heist movie featuring Queen Latifah. The Tampa-based rock quartet Set It Off features singer Cody Carson, his high school marching band buddy guitarist Dan Clermont, plus rhythm and bass guitarist Zach Dewall and drummer Maxx Danziger. The band's pop/rock sound is as bright as the Florida sun, starting with their first track, "Something New," a bouncy track that lays out their wish to show you all the changes that have come over them. And they have changed, sometimes for the better, with a more diverse, mature sound than their outlandish sophomore effort, "Duality." They incorporate the theatrics for which they're known in the anthem "Uncontainable," setting it up like a prize fight, singing, "Hey! We're taking our crown, we're takin' it now." "I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired," they sing in "Life Afraid," and work out the ups and downs of fame in the horn-tinged title track, "Upside Down." They're driving fast with the headlights out in "Want." The first half of the album, which swings to a pop/punk sensibility, becomes a bit of a hodge-podge after "Diamond Girl," with elements of R&B and rap blending with their rock sound in the second half of the album. Some of the songs lean toward the cheesy, like their heavy-handed "Tug of War" and "Hypnotized." They spit out the rhymes in "Admit It," and muddle through the pop cut "Never Know." The pop/rock ballad "Crutch" depicts a one-sided love affair, but "Me w/o Us" ends the album on a decent balance, showcasing their guitar sound overlaid with percussion. Overall, "Upside Down" is a decent third album that finds the band trying out some new sounds. Hopefully, by the fourth album, they'll settle on a few that really work for them. After spending the summer playing the main stage of the 2016 Vans Warped Tour, Set It Off hits the road this October with their Something New Tour, going through venues in the Northeast before heading to Japan in November.
(Equal Vision Records)