Rozwell Kid
Precious Art
Release Date: Jun 23, 2017
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: SideOneDummy
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Album Review: Precious Art by Rozwell Kid
Great, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 8.0/10
Rozwell Kid sounds like Weezer. Literally every piece of press this band has ever gotten and likely ever get will make the same comparison. Hipper journalists will write things like, "They sound like Weezer, but, like, good Weezer," which is a way to keep one's cred intact (and not admit that you still listen to Weezer post-2001/2002/2005/2008/whenever your alleged drop-off point was).
Based on rating 8/10
West Virginia quartet Rozwell Kid make their SideOneDummy debut with Precious Art, a tuneful slab of fuzz-pop with its heart rooted firmly in the late '90s. The band is fronted by singer/guitarist Jordan Hudkins, who began Rozwell Kid in 2011 as a solo side project of the Demon Beat, another West Virginia outfit for whom he was the drummer. Since then, Hudkins and his bandmates, guitarist Adam L.
Based on rating 7.4/10
The West Virginia quartet Rozwell Kid play power pop that recalls Weezer--their most frequently cited influence by far--as much as the sitcom humor of early Fountains of Wayne or Teenage Fanclub's fuzzed-out jangle. But as with any band who has earned a Weezer comparison, its persistence owes to a collective desire to see someone fill a dwindling role: lovable and nerdy, melodic but not pop, fluent in hair metal tropes without coming off as ironic. Based on those specs, Rozwell Kid fit the profile more than just about any other band in existence.
Based on rating 7/10
Fans of Weezer, listen up. A kind of weirdo, Pavement-style nerdiness put through a shoegaze filter or, alternatively, early Weezer-like guitar fuzz? Suddenly there's a lot of that going around, 20-something years after the blueprints were laid down. This West Virginian four-piece carry the baton better than most though. Lyrics largely consist of nostalgic references, in-jokes and arch observations, but with a bummed-out charm that invites rather than excludes.
Based on rating 7/10
Rozwell Kid's comparisons to Weezer have been endless. They have also been fully justified: Founder Jordan Hudkins channels a young Rivers Cuomo with ease, cranking out big, crunchy power-pop tunes with a charmingly geeky quality and an air of everydayness. The West Virginia band have taken nostalgia for '90s indie-rock and jolted it with a few hundred volts, enough to reanimate the spirit of The Blue Album and give it a new, joyous energy. The band's SideOneDummy debut ought to be a hit with fans of the band's new labelmates Jeff Rosenstock and the Smith Street Band.
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