Pop Culture Corner

Rubblebucket, Save Charlie - EP{independent}“15 missed calls / Can you blame me? / Charlie, be real / Do you love me?” pleads Rubblebucket’s leading lady, Kalmia Traver, in the simple but dancy title track. It turns out, however, this Charlie, as the band described in an interview, “could be you, could be me.” It does not matter if he/she is a real person or not, the idea is that Charlie needs to be saved. The record debuts four new songs from the colorful Brooklyn group, another bold step away from their “jam-band” roots and into the blossoming indie pop genre. With songs ranging from cannibals to missed calls, it is a wild, fun record injected with high energy. However, behind the scenes of the EP was a difficult chapter for the band. The lead singer recently underwent surgery to prevent the early stages of ovarian cancer, but the band’s best medicine is optimism, shown in the bouncy, piano-laden “Patriotic,” where Kal sings “I don’t wanna be a downer / I just wanna be a lover.” The band’s daring re-imagination of the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes” echoes their previous cover of The Beatles “Michelle:” pulsing with whistles, fat synth, and tight rhythms. The chorus in “What a Fool Believes” may just be the point of the high point of the EP, a slow crescendo beginning with a descending keyboard line into a hectic cacophony of trumpets and saxophones. “Six Hands,” the last track of the album, is like a sketch of a song. It never really gets a central groove, but it explores different ideas, ending with an anticlimactic chant: “You’re the one I’m waiting for.” The band has resolved to expand their territories, especially in writing, and I look forward to seeing what the full-length album brings. However, this further departure from their roots makes me miss the rogue, messy, powerful horn section that defined them before. Kalmia herself sounds frailer in the lead vocal, a far cry from the days of “Came Out of a Lady.” In their evolution, they risk losing their “hallmark.” This EP, however, feels like a gift to the fans, an attempt to make up for lost time. Perhaps as they re-embark on tour (featuring inflatable Charlies and glitter everywhere), they will find the time to save themselves.Grade: B Lucius, Wildewoman{Mom+Pop}Lucius has been on a fast track, sometimes too fast. “These buttons are in the wrong holes again / Let’s straighten them out / Let’s straighten this whole damn mess we’ve gotten ourselves in,” sing lead singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, the Berklee-trained girl power at the front of Lucius’ sonic pop romp Wildewoman (will-d-woman). In the past year, the band has exploded from the Brooklyn indie music circuit into the good graces of NPR and The New York Times, all while in the process of planning another tour, this time to Europe in addition to the States. The album takes 3 out of the 4 songs from last year’s self-titled EP, and adds 9 new tracks, the standouts being “Tempest” and “Until We Get There.” The former, within the first three seconds, displays the perfection of how Wolfe and Laessig’s voices blend, one soprano like a canary, the other lower and smokier. The second begins simply on acoustic guitar and bass drum, asking “What do ya say? / Is this the time? / For one more try / At a happy life,” before opening into a soundscape of “ooos” and echoing rhythm guitars. “Two of Us on the Run” is a gorgeous ballad with the best harmonies on the record, and contains the line “We made something, we made something of ourselves.” Their tone is spot-on here, and we feel as if we know their entire story through that one line. Props to the four guys backing the other two up instrumentally. Synth, drums, and a barrage of guitar color the landscape the voices create. Each song lives in a beautiful world: colorful, dream-like, and unmistakably retro, recalling everything from 1960s girl groups to 1980s dance (recently rejuvenated by California duo Beach House). My only qualm is with the three songs I already know, that have been re-done for this album. The song “Turn It Around” loses the punch it had on the EP, while “Don’t Just Sit There” gets left somewhere near the end, muddled by new harmonies and guitar lines. It lacks the magic it once had: its clarity and innocent sound. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. But this is just the beginning for the wilde-women of Lucius, a beginning full of sharp voice and vision. Indeed, they have a great deal of breaking to do.Grade: A-