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Track Listings
| 1. Matches |
| 2. I'm Actual |
| 3. Time Bomb |
| 4. She Doesn't Get It |
| 5. Pick Me Up |
| 6. Dog Problems |
| 7. Oceans |
| 8. Dead End |
| 9. Snails |
| 10. The Compromise |
| 11. Inches And Falling |
| 12. If Work Permits |
Product Description
Amazon.ca
Every great power pop band is all about two things: meaty melodies and oo-la-la choruses, and there's no disbelieving that this Phoenix band have the formula nailed on their sophomore album. Produced by a master of the genre (Steve McDonald, founding member of Redd Kross), the 12-tracker advances the Format's debut album by sandblasting pocketfuls of hooks and poetic prose into the consciousness. Band leaders Nate Ruess and Sam Means progress like a modern day Colin Blunstone/Rod Argent, zigzagging Zombies-like through a piano-led, choral-like pool of tuneful experimentation and falsetto intonation. The band make it almost too easy to pick out potential radio gems, which include up-tempo numbers like "Time Bomb" and "She Doesn't Get It," and especially "Oceans," with its glee club chorus that's downright impossible to shake. But Dog Problems must be heard as a whole to appreciate the dexterous brilliance of Means and Ruess, who apply a '20s dancehall vibe to the title track, turn the narcissistic "I'm Actual" into an Abbey Road waltz, and even flirt with country music in the discreet "Snails." Like the Zombies, the Raspberries, Dwight Twilley, or the Shins? This record may be for you. --Scott Holter
Product Description
You'll get no apologies from The Format when it comes to dissecting their brand of rousing, straight ahead pop music. Sam Means and Nate Ruess, the bright, prolific duo who make up the new Elektra group, both barely scraping their early 20's, have crafted a sparkling, spirited 12 song hook-laden epic that defies you not to hum along. The debut is a cocktail of diverse flavors, with emphasis on the singer/songwriting nucleus that mixes a knack for Beatlesque melodies with `80's styled layerings, including big fat drum machines, idyllic synths and maybe even a handclap or two.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By john
Format:Audio CD
Cool artwork, even cooler album. Get it for so many different reasons. Every song hits a personal chord. I'm lucky to have stumbled across this!
By Steveriffic
Format:Audio CD
On first listen, fans of Interventions and Lullabies might feel unimpressed; I was. This album is not as upbeat or catchy as Interventions, but it's arguably a better album. I bought it two years ago and I'm still hooked on it. The musical arrangements and musicianship leave me constantly finding new ways to love the songs.
First time listeners or fans of Interventions will probably find Oceans, The Compromise and Time Bomb the most accessible and best introductory songs. Keep listening though, and this one will grow on you. It's a brilliant album by a criminally unknown band.
First time listeners or fans of Interventions will probably find Oceans, The Compromise and Time Bomb the most accessible and best introductory songs. Keep listening though, and this one will grow on you. It's a brilliant album by a criminally unknown band.
By Snowfallen
Format:Audio CD
I admit, it took a while for this album to really grow on me. Because my musical tastes typically take me elsewhere, I wasn't used to the bouncy, jaunty sound of this band... But when given a chance to germinate in the brain, every track on this disc becomes irresistible.
The Format felt some pressure from their label to duplicate their 2003 debut, INTERVENTIONS AND LULLABIES -- but when Nate Ruess and company decided to stick to their own vision, the label lost interest. What came of their trials is the 2006 follow-up DOG PROBLEMS (released on their own imprint label), a collection of catchy indie pop that, with its boisterous bevy of guitars, keyboards, and horns, sparkles with whimsy and humour. The tracks breathe with variety, spanning different moods and tempos -- often within the same song -- while employing quick, witty lyrics.
Listeners can easily enjoy these tracks for the melodies alone, but mining the lyrics reveals something else altogether. Catchy and jaunty these tunes may be, but superficial and vapid they are not. Multiple listens are a must, because grasping both the sheer cleverness and the wide scope within the lyrics can hardly be done at one go.
Wordplay and interesting metaphors are abound. The listener can be moved to laugh in one moment (from "She Doesn't Get It": 'I've read every word you've said/From the poster of a cat/Four books look across your sofa/I thought your coffee table/Was more clever than that') and take pause the next (from "If Work Permits": 'It's a shame what your father did to your brother's head/When he smashed it with a telephone/...You were only four/But lord, you remember it'). Some messages are more oblique than others ("Snails" was apparently inspired by a runaway dog), but the cheeky jabs in "The Compromise" seem clear enough ('I wouldn't call it a sophomore slump/I'd say I'm one step closer to being just/Where I want/To be').
Despite the mostly upbeat sound in this album, love gone awry does come up as a running theme. DOG PROBLEMS seems to suggest that we often have a love-hate relationship with Love itself; just as we're on the verge of giving it up altogether, love's possibility traps us once again.
I give this album a play whenever I need some music to pick me up and charm me. Most played: "Snails", "Oceans", "Time Bomb".
The Format felt some pressure from their label to duplicate their 2003 debut, INTERVENTIONS AND LULLABIES -- but when Nate Ruess and company decided to stick to their own vision, the label lost interest. What came of their trials is the 2006 follow-up DOG PROBLEMS (released on their own imprint label), a collection of catchy indie pop that, with its boisterous bevy of guitars, keyboards, and horns, sparkles with whimsy and humour. The tracks breathe with variety, spanning different moods and tempos -- often within the same song -- while employing quick, witty lyrics.
Listeners can easily enjoy these tracks for the melodies alone, but mining the lyrics reveals something else altogether. Catchy and jaunty these tunes may be, but superficial and vapid they are not. Multiple listens are a must, because grasping both the sheer cleverness and the wide scope within the lyrics can hardly be done at one go.
Wordplay and interesting metaphors are abound. The listener can be moved to laugh in one moment (from "She Doesn't Get It": 'I've read every word you've said/From the poster of a cat/Four books look across your sofa/I thought your coffee table/Was more clever than that') and take pause the next (from "If Work Permits": 'It's a shame what your father did to your brother's head/When he smashed it with a telephone/...You were only four/But lord, you remember it'). Some messages are more oblique than others ("Snails" was apparently inspired by a runaway dog), but the cheeky jabs in "The Compromise" seem clear enough ('I wouldn't call it a sophomore slump/I'd say I'm one step closer to being just/Where I want/To be').
Despite the mostly upbeat sound in this album, love gone awry does come up as a running theme. DOG PROBLEMS seems to suggest that we often have a love-hate relationship with Love itself; just as we're on the verge of giving it up altogether, love's possibility traps us once again.
I give this album a play whenever I need some music to pick me up and charm me. Most played: "Snails", "Oceans", "Time Bomb".
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