Album Review: Cute Is What We Aim For - 'Rotation'

8 August 2008 | 4:41 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Some more of the same…

More Cute Is What We Aim For More Cute Is What We Aim For

Firstly, when your band is called Cute

Is What We Aim For, there’s no real room for imagination. I know you

shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, but at least if they were

called Puppy Slaughterhouse, or something along those lines,

Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter

I would have been hit somewhat with an element of surprise when I put

the CD on. But alas, cute really is what they’re aiming for. 


Opener Practice Makes Perfect

is a by-the-numbers emo/rock diddy, which to be honest, really offers

nothing that The Starting Line didn’t already offer a good five years

ago. Everyone knows that girls always go for the bad-boy image, and

Cute Is What We Aim For give it their best shot. ‘I’ve become

what a mother wouldn’t want in a son / I have done a few things I

regret / But practice makes perfect.’ I don’t get how you can

be the son a mother never wanted, and produce such listener friendly

music. My mum would be proud if I wrote shit this safe. 


Doctor is next to come, and

again, there’s nothing here that really stands out from the over saturated

emo/rock market, and ultimately, that is where Rotation suffers. Each track sounds as if it were crafted to be a single, and

with an average track time of nearly three and a half minutes, the lack

of dynamic becomes frustrating. 


It’s not until sixth track, Hollywood,

that the band throw slight caution to the wind, by experimenting with

different instrumentation. The use of horns in the chorus, whilst not

creating anything new, does give the track a trademark that separates

it from the rest. The bridge even features some flamenco-styled guitar

work, and for this sense of adventure alone, Hollywood would

have to be my favourite track. 


From there, the album falls back into

it’s bland and stagnant state again, and ends with the ballad Time,

followed by secret track Untitled, comprising of 40 seconds of robotic sounding a-cappella vocals. 


Produced by John Feldmann, the overall

sound of the disk is smooth and polished, and I suppose in a technical

sense, faultless. But in my opinion, when music like this is as safe

as it is, faultless production becomes the fault. There is no character,

and it almost sounds as though you are listening to songs created by

a pop/rock machine. The Early November’s The Room’s Too Cold

is a prime example of where the emo/rock market can have character,

by showcasing emotional music as it should be. Full of emotion.


Rotation

is 40 minutes of unchallenging and uninspiring emo/rock that has been

done 10 times better by 100 bands before. Just remember, if you buy

this CD, you’re probably paying for Ashlee Simpson’s next nose job.


1. Practice Makes Perfect

2. Doctor

3. Navigate Me

4. Loser

5. Do What You Do

6. Hollywood

7. Safe Ride

8. The Lock Down Denial

9. Marriage To Millions

10. Miss Sobriety