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Rookie of the Year

Sweet Attention (2008)
One Eleven Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Jelone
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on September 5th 2008

I finally found my guilty pleasure (other than kind of still liking Dashboard Confessional…), and its name is Rookie of the Year. Started as a side project for some guy named Ryan Dunson in 2002, Rookie of the Year is now a full-fledged band, with bass and drums and stuff. The band dropped Sweet Attention, its third full-length, last month, and its fusion of Joy Electric-like pop-techno and Daphne Loves Derby-esque emo is way catchier than I care to admit.

I’ll admit I listen to some fairly loathed bands (check the DC reference above). I spin Third Eye Blind a bit. The first two System of a Down records are OK. But Rookie of the Year marks a new, strange realm for me and my music fandom, because they ostensibly recall something I swore to destroy: nü-emo.

Sweet Attention kicks off with “Feel Like New,” and the comparison between Dunson’s vocals and those of Moog-advocate Ronnie Martin are strong. Smooth, kind of slithery, and just shy of hitting a nasally whine. The instruments aren’t too heavily important (the vox are key), although there is way more tambourine on this track than there needs to be. What sets Martin apart from the Secondhand Serenades and the Crash Romeos of the world, though, is that he actually knows how to write hooks. Rookie of the Year understands the meaning of a pop song.

While the second half of the album devolves into an indistinct electro-pop hodgepodge, I can find merit in the opening tracks. “Asleep with You” is as adequate a pop-rock song as anything else on VH1, and the same goes for numbers like “Falling from the Sky” and “What Is Love,” which boasts cowbell. That’s noteworthy, right? I’ll give credit where it’s due, and say that Rookie of the Year ain’t that bad. Hell, maybe they’ll open for Maroon 5 some time.

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theDrivingSnow (September 8, 2008)

Quite possibly the worst cover art I have ever seen.

nocigar (September 7, 2008)

this guy looks like a transvestite or a flamer, either one, he sucks...and so does this shit.

polaris (September 7, 2008)

Yeah, this dude stayed with my friend (who ran/owned the local venue) when he was playing here.

Dude straight up sucked. Not just his music, but his personality. He tried to hit on one of our friends and told her he was going to write songs about her, so lame.

pinkpenguin (September 7, 2008)

i like 3oh!3

AlmostPunkEnough (September 6, 2008)

Kevin, did you say Funky Buttlovin???? GARDENHOSER!!!

and jesus fuckin christ, can we PLEASE stop with all this, oh man, i like this band but i'm ashamed of it, or, it's my guilty pleasure bulshit. who the fuck are you trying to impress? no one actually cares, everyone has shit they don't have the balls to admit they like, franly, it's pathetic.

anyway, that beign said, this is crap.

Adlai_E_Stevenson (September 5, 2008)

Did a Bedazzler vomit on their album cover?

niveK82 (September 5, 2008)

funky buttlovin!

jumpkid_638 (September 5, 2008)

Of all the shitty bands I have had the misfortune of seeing live, this band is the shittiest.

Plus, they were total dicks.

My friend who was into them at the time: You guys were good.
One of the chuds from the band: Did you buy anything at our merch table?
Friend: No...?
Chud: (walks off in an angry 14 year old girl-esque huff.)

SilentStorms (September 5, 2008)

Yikes, that was kinda harsh. Just sayin' you should change your review style, because in my opinion it's not working.

SilentStorms (September 5, 2008)

" finally found my guilty pleasure (other than kind of still liking Dashboard Confessional…), and its name is Rookie of the Year. Started as a side project for some guy named Ryan Dunson in 2002, Rookie of the Year is now a full-fledged band, with bass and drums and stuff. The band dropped Sweet Attention, its third full-length, last month, and its fusion of Joy Electric-like pop-techno and Daphne Loves Derby-esque emo is way catchier than I care to admit.

I’ll admit I listen to some fairly loathed bands (check the DC reference above). I spin Third Eye Blind a bit. The first two System of a Down records are OK. But Rookie of the Year marks a new, strange realm for me and my music fandom, because they ostensibly recall something I swore to destroy: nü-emo. "

Dammit Jelone, I'm not trying to bust your nut - but I stopped reading after these opening paragraphs. Talk about the music, not the 'assumed' crappy bands that you listen to. I like some of those bands so I won't judge you on that. But damn, that is a shitty review.

Signed,

Jelone Hater

aka.

Prick