|
Release date: February 2003
1. Here To Stay
2. Brand New Day
3. Almost Summer
(2.4 MB) / also available as streaming
video (7 MB)
4. Lillian
5. I Can Not Live My Life Without You
6. Won't Be The One
7. Please Don't Change
8. Love Me Touch
Me Feel Me (2.6 MB)
9. Play The Leading Part
10. Too Many Backpacks At The Show
11. You're a Star (You Will Shine Again Some Day)
12. No One Is Getting Out Here Alive
The Buzz Electric, the 2nd album by the uncrowned kings of European poppunk,
contains 12 pop-drenched rock 'n' roll smash hits from this Dutch four-piece.
It's steamy, it's fresh and it's loaded with energy. Whoever said poppunk
is for pussies? Well, this is some hardrocking stuff!
The
Buzz Electric is the result of hard work, amazing songwriting skills and
a love for rock 'n' roll in all it's forms. Recorded over many cold dark
dates in December 2002 and January 2003 at the Excess Studio in Rotterdam,
the Netherlands, where they also laid down the tracks for their self titled
debut full length album.
For the single Almost Summer, the band made a nicy nice video clip which
got airplay on various music channels including the Dutch MTV and the
Box. But that kind of stuff is not that important, that The Buzz Electric
is filled to the brim with puckrock anthems is!
File under: High Quality Pop Punk Songs
More info about The Apers:
Presspage
Homepage
Reviews:
Review taken from Angelfire:
Alright!!! The APERS from the Netherlands are back with their 2nd full
length CD/LP The Buzz Electric. These guys have been tearin' up the European
punk scene for the past few years on several 45's, compilations, EP's
and split releases. They even toured the ol' US of A this spring supporting
our heroes the GROOVIE GHOULIES. Now, I've previously dubbed these guys
the QUEERS of Europe over on the links page of this site, but it looks
like I'll have to update that nonsense... on this new record they really
step out and totally make a name for themselves apart from any easy comparisons
to more well known acts. This is definitely the best APERS record yet!!
The production alone on this slab is several notches above their other
releases... But you're punks, you don't give a shit about what I think
about the production of the record.. get to the songs!!! Ok ok ok, the
songs on this record are top notch as well. There's definitely a more
rock n roll feel to this album than their previous material. They still
have the classic pop-punk APERS feel, but a lot of it is sped up rockin'
tunes that will blow you away... You can even tell from the artwork on
the cover that this is like no other APERS you've heard in the past. A
couple of standouts on this one are "Here to Stay," "Lillian,"
"Please Don't Change," and "Love Me Touch Me Feel Me"
which is a great pop-punk rock n roll tune. Another one of my faves on
this one is the tribute to all the little emo boys & girls called
"Too Many Backpacks At The Show." This is definitely not your
typical APERS tune. This one sounds more like something out of the books
of ZEKE or THE NERDS. The music is super fast and a bit furious with lyrics
to match. You cannot deny the genius of Kevin Aper with lyrics such as:
"But it's one big monster they've created, that's for sure/This monster
they call emo, I can't take it anymore."---my sentiments exactly!!!
God Bless Kevin Aper! A few other lines of brilliance: "If Jimmy
really ate the world/Man I would crack his fuckin' skull" and the
soon-to-be classic: "Take off those fuckin' glasses, listen up now
emo-friends/If Buddy Holly saw you he would take that plane again."
Amen, brother! The world needed a good anti-emo anthem, and THE APERS
delivered.... So do yourself a favor and march down to your favorite punk
rock record store and pick up the new APERS album on your desired format
and blare it until the cops are called!!!!!! -- Ronnie
Review taken from Vinyl
A Go Go:
The Apers knocked me on my ass with their last album. A blastatious hit
of summertime pop-punk tunes to shake your feet and shimmy your shit.
I once asked a songwriter if he thought his songs would continue to change
and progress as they had in the past. “Well, I hope they don’t
digress” he replied.
Duh. Of course bands, songs, people progress as they grow. I reminded
myself to never ask that question again.
My point? The Apers have progressed. Their songs are not as directly hit-happy.
Perhaps this at first seems unsettling and disappointing to us hook junkies.
If I knew much about heroin I’d make some sort of metaphoric comparison
between directly injecting in the veins and letting it soak into your
tongue. I would imagine that the direct hit would feel really fucking
good really fucking fast but would probably fade just as quickly. Pop
songs can be the same way. The ones that slay your aural receptors from
hello tend not to do so over continued listens. The ones that sneak up
on you, they stay for awhile. And that’s what these Apers songs
do. They stay for awhile.
When I couldn’t upon first listen discern the hits, I was quite
worried about The Buzz Electric. Upon the tenth listen I have no worries.
There’s plenty of memorable, buzzed-up, saccharine pop-punk tunes
to fuel a summer night.
The Apers sing about the scene and girls, and life, and summer. It’s
good stuff to let flood out of your cranked down summertime windows, scattering
and haphazardly spilling the hooks and chords and nasally vocals all about
the highways of your respective country.
Every pop-punk review I’ve written in the past six months has contained
some sort of explanation about how pop-punk is supposed to be simple,
derivative, catchy, and fun. I seem unwilling to just fucking accept that
pop-punk rules and that I still fucking love it. I’m neurotically
obsessive about somehow justifying my glowing reviews of pop-punk. Always
wary some hipster is lurking over my shoulder. Well, fuck you Mr. and
Mrs. Hipster, The Apers rule, and they play zeros pop-punk, and they don’t
care much about how their hair looks, or how many White Stripes imports
they own (and then pretend not to when in company of other hipsters like
you do). Pop-punk is the new garage.
PS: So I guess I still can’t write a pop-punk review without justifying
it to myself eh?
Review taken from http://new-sounds.net:
This Dutch band gives us a dozen power pop tunes of amped up confection.
The sophomore release is recalls some later-period work from The Adolescents
as it is overflowing with guitar and sung in a slightly snotty way. This
is one of those bands known for constant gigging and it shows in the music.
Each song is electric with a joyous emotion. The Buzz Electric is meant
to get the crowd jumping with each and every song.
Review taken from http://www.exoduster.com:
This is the latest from this pop-punk four piece from the Netherlands.
Fine tuning their sound since their self-titled release in 2001, The Buzz
Electric is one of the best pop-punk albums of 2003. Taking the best in
the pop-punk sound, squeezing the goodness out of all that Lookout Records
has to offer, the twelve songs all excel in their own right. Most noticeably
compared with the poppy Queers material, The Apers perform a lesson on
harmony, melody and speed on the record. What is great is that they add
harmonic soloing and muting to a plethora of the songs, for example on
?Lillian.? Though the Apers rock out on poppiness, they are not weak clones
of regenerated Beach Boys? melodies. Lead singer Kevin Aper adds a heavy
dose of punk vocals that resemble those of Brandon from Slapstick, the
Broadways and the Lawrence Arms. Together this creates some good stuff.
The record kicks off with the fast-tempo, drunkenness of ?Here To Stay?
and the beat does not stop until the end of the record. Though the Apers
have a video for their first ?single? from the record ?Almost Summer,?
I don?t think that it is the best song of the record. For one, ?Lillian?
excels in so many manners that maybe it will be a future single. Other
standout tracks include ?I Cannot Live My Life Without You,? ?Play the
Leading Part? and ?Won?t Be the One.? Again, this is one of the best pop-punk
albums of the year. If you never heard of the Apers, but dig the Queers,
than you should do yourself a favor and pick up The Buzz Electric. The
Apers will be touring the U.S. with the omniprescient Groovie Ghoulies
in support of this record.
Review taken from Crypt-o-Rama #7 2003
The kings of Neder-Ramones punk are back with another album full of hits.
Kicking off with "Here To Stay" this one has 12 tracks of supreme
and catchy pop-punk, guaranteed for non stop fun. Nilz Nonchalant (Backwood
Creatures) is guest on guitar.
Review taken
from Europunk:
Often described as the hardest working band in punk rock, Rotterdam’s
the Apers are here to show you what you can achieve with just three chords.
I’m going to keep this one really short, as there’s absolutely
no point in discussing music that’s been around for a while and
has been played by so many bands before.
In case you don’t know the Apers, you should know by now that they
are a pop punk band in the vain of Screeching Weasel and the Queers. A
damn good one too that is. Basically, they don’t offer anything
new, don’t particularly put the rock back in punk rock or are special
in any other way. Fact is that they’re just good at what they do:
writing super catchy punk rock tunes at warped speed. Include some na-na-na
backings and a snotty vocalist that sounds like some cartoon character:
Apers complete.
The Buzz Electric is an excellent album in its own genre, even though
it offers nothing new or special. When high paced the Apers are at their
best and therefore my only advice is to in fact keep it fast all album
long. Favourite tracks include “Here to stay”, “Brand
new day” and “Almost summer”. -- Roel
Dutch:
Review taken from Algemeen Dagblad - 22 mrt 2003
Punk is een muzieksoort waar tot in lengte van dagen het wiel opnieuw
uitgevonden zal worden. Zoals de band zelf al verklaart in het cd-boekje:
'the punkrock don't stop'. Het enige wat telt in deze uithoek van de pop
zijn goede songs en daar bevat The Buzz Electric er genoeg van. De tweede
plaat van het Rotterdamse punkkwartet (Marien Nicotine, Ivo Backbreaker,
Kevin Aper, Jerry Hormone) telt twaalf korte en explosieve liedjes met
een kop en een staart, die vaak zijn voorzien van opvallende en gevoelige
teksten. Vergelijkingen met Ramones, Buzzcocks en The Undertones zijn
bijna onvermijdelijk. Niets nieuws onder de zon dus, maar dat neemt niet
weg dat The Buzz Electric een heel lekkere zomarplaat is.
Review taken from Platomania:
Heb je de Rotterdamse en Nederlandse punktrots The Apers nog niet eerder
live zien spelen? Dat zou jammer zijn. En knap ook, want zeker de laatste
jaren stonden ze op elk denkbaar festival en in elke concertzaal van Nederland.
Sinds 1996 spelen ze het soort heftige rock ‘n roll waar menige
internationale punkband jaloers op zou zijn. Daarmee is de band geliefd
geworden, getuige de pre-listening party's voor het gloednieuwe The Buzz
Electric, die in elke (!) provincie werden georganiseerd. En men kon er
nog een prive-optreden van de band winnen ook. En dat is toch vrij uniek.
Het nieuwe album, The Buzz Electric is niet de eerste, maar tot nu toe
wel de beste plaat van de band. Met twaalf songs wordt krap een half uur
volgespeeld. Normaal gesproken is dat zelfs voor een punkplaat te kort,
maar dat is juist een voordeel van The Buzz Electric. Kan die tenminste
nog eens gedraaid worden. En dat zal je zeker willen doen. Want wat we
tot nu toe met de New Rock-trend in Engeland en Amerika zochten, kan ook
veel dichterbij huis gevonden worden. Gewoon in de Maasstad, bijvoorbeeld.
Songs, houding, energie: op The Buzz Electric komt alles samen, en het
klopt. De rock n roll-punk a la the Ramones en Riverdales is daarmee mooi
gegroeid tot de topplaat die we stiekem al langer van The Apers verwachtten.
Laat je overdonderen door The Buzz Electric, en ga ze live zien: het is
meer dan de moeite waard. -- Anton Slotboom
|
