Weezer in quest for their new self

The American band Weezer have spent enough time on the stage to feel their more than just confident. Releasing about one album per two years, they have reached the shores of stardom and granted crowds at any concert they would play in any spot of the globe. A situation like this allows the musicians, and first of all, the group’s leader, Rivers Cuomo, to feel free experimenting with their sounding and providing their fans with completely unexpected material. And this is all because Weezer followers will any way purchase what they’re offered knowing that it is done by the same talented guys and at the same quality level. Apparently, considering all this, Cuomo and Co. are heading for a radical change of their musical self and presenting now a very arguable record called Raditude. Intended to enlarge their audience through adjusting their music to pop-standards, these musicians may simply lose their old supporters. What would they think after seeing a flying dog on the new album’s folder? What would they suggest after finding there such track titles as The Girl Got Hot, or I’m Your Daddy? Still, we should not make conclusions too fast. Many things are not what they might seem after the first glance. We are talking about music and music needs to be listened to.

Weezer’s most youth-oriented album

As a matter of fact, Raditude is a Weezer album, yet with a large portion of humor and fun. We could easily expect this from a guy like Rivers Cuomo, who always preferred to oppose himself to the majority. A Harvard graduate, he knows perfectly how to maintain the required atmosphere and is an English language expert. This time, again, Cuomo decided to show that Weezer in a never withering team whose seventh studio record with be the most teenager-like, funny and even rebellious. The album meets us with the audacious (If You’re Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You Too catching with its nice melody. It is still a sample of rock-n-roll that once brought Weezer the world-wide recognition. However, the hip-hop touches to the Eastern tunes on Love Is The Answer is not yet something we lied Weezer for. By the way, before you reach this composition, you will hear Can’t Stop Partying, and The Girls Got Hot with pop-music elements much stronger that those of rock-n-roll as if getting us prepared for a radical change like this. In the meantime, the lyrics of these songs are much more profound than you could think in the beginning judging by their titles. After all, Cuomo has always been known for concealing a consistent idea among simplistic lines and rhymes. Nevertheless, the general impression produced by Raditude is similar to the one of a young punk-rock band revealing the secrets of their partying and dissipation. Well, it’s OK if that’s what Weezer wanted.

Where do they go now?

Semi-dance record Raditude with rock-n-roll leaving much space to electronic beats and RnB statements will certainly raise a lot of questions among those who appreciated Weezer’s albums from the nineties. However, a closer look and a better listening will help you find many interesting nuances and new details that Weezer, probably, were not confident enough to offer earlier. The new album’s stylistic nature will also remain a subject of hot debate, yet the genre is not the main thing to characterize Raditude. Those listeners who value good quality music with good sense of humor will be glad for Weezer who decided to open up another side of their art. Quite possible, that feeling through with the experimental work, the musicians will return to their roots and make a following album in the vein of their most significant records. There is also a possibility that Raditude is just the first chapter of Weezer’s new life. Unexpectedness is certainly an advantage of this band.

Alex Bartholomew

05.11.2009

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