This cover of Kelly Clarkson’s hit opens with flashbacks to The Cars, Local H, and Fountains of Wayne. When Vaden Lewis’ vox appears, you know it’s the Toadies.
There are a lot of raunchy guitars on Generation Irrelevant, lots of guitars, period. The record is busy, mixing riffs, solos, and sing-along choruses.
“Atomic City” is a leisurely pop thing, and it does bounce like post-2000 indie rock. The Edge’s guitar lines sound a bit different than what we’re used to.
It’s a familial venture, pop Jason Martin and son Charlie. For the former, it’s an orchestral reworking of previous songs, for the latter, its new ones.
The processed guitars are crunchy, there’s a riff in there (plus danceable beats mixed low in the industrial din), and Patrick’s distinct, fragile tenor yearns.
Tony Esposito went to the Kurt Cobain School of Unintelligible Lyrics, but he does it in a pop punk sense. There are real guitars here, like shredding guitars.