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Fake Problems - It’s Great To Be Alive
Alternative Press - Editorial Intern on 7/2/09 @ 2:38 PM - altpress.com

[4/5]
On their first release for SideOneDummy, Naples, Florida's Fake Problems continue to grow their carnival of Southern-fried indie rock. Or is it Gypsy-styled alt-country? Chamber music with disco parts? Whatever the classification, It's Great To Be Alive is a textured, wistful amalgam of influences that reveals a seasoned band carving out a unique identity. Wasting no time, opening track "1234" is immediately cathartic, cascading with brass and tonal percussion, with hints of Born To Run-era Bruce Springsteen. But before anything gets too familiar, Fake Problems skillfully bob and weave through a ton of ideas: the vulnerability of Ryan Adams; the quirkiness of Modest Mouse and World/Inferno Friendship Society; the angularity of Franz Ferdinand and "Suffragette City"-era David Bowie. Though ambition like this usually results in a hot mess, Fake Problems mash it all into a seamless and truly unified release. More than that, Great is fun, full of sentiment and incredibly warm. There's not one throwaway song-to the contrary, the album gets better with each spin. (SIDEONEDUMMY; sideonedummy.com) Ronen Kauffman

ROCKS LIKE:
Modest Mouse's Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Against Me!'s Reinventing Axl Rose
Murder By Death's Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them?

Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/fakeproblems



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