Customer Reviews

Slick Dogs and Ponies

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the things I like most about 'The Best Little Secrets are Kept', Louis XIV's first record, was that it is immediately fun to listen to and it doesn't get boring. It has a lot of killer hooks. This new record is a bit different. This record is much more produced and subdued. The overall tone of the record is darker (a lot of the songs are based on minor keys), there is a string arrangement on nearly all of the tracks (which lends itself naturally to a more stylish legatto-type phrasing) and there are lots of effects on all the else. The Beatles influence irrevocably continues to show itself. There were smacks of it on the first record but it has become even more apparent on this effort. From what I gathered from a recent interview, being on tour with The Killers last year afforded them the opportunity to travel in an actual tour bus. Jason Hill equiped that bus with recording gear and sitting on a bus for hours on end can allow an artist to indulge any sort of musical whim. Over the course of the tour they came up with seventy or so songs and apparently had a difficult time narrowing it down to the thirteen presented here. Is that a valid explanation for the change in attitude of this record? I can't say for sure but if you are expecting to come to this record and find immediately gratifying, raucous, adolecent, orgiastic, groovy, fleeting, hooky, glam-rock, think again...this record is a bit more telling. There's a figurative 'cover charge' for every good party and this album shows that. Every muse must learn from the luxury of comfort and show their motivations accordingly. It's almost as if the attention to the band has prompted them to be serious. The dictinct difference in records shows that Louis XIV could potentially fall into the pitfall of achieving a pulpit through inoculated means and begin to take themselves too seriously. Where that mutation leads is yet to be seen. However, that being said, this is not a bad record (it has it's moments and it sounds great); it's just not what I was expecting. It continues to grow on me with multiple listenings. See for yourself...but don't say I didn't warn you.

I would say this album resembles more closely Louis XIV's indy album done in that span of time between Convoy reforming and Secrets being released. It is different and in some ways a move back... not it a bad way simply in a stylistic way. For long time fans of the group it shoudl not be a surprise.. for fans who picked up starting at Secrets... they may be confused.

Slick Dogs and Ponies delivers, but it is different than what many people may have expected.

I'm going to take a different perspective by saying that Louis XIV's second album "Slick Dogs And Ponies" is a more mature work than their debut. To be honest, I wasn't sure the band was going to have a second album since their first failed to make an impression with popular music listeners.

After many listens this week I am able to say that I like "Slick Dogs And Ponies" about equally as much as I liked their debut. The completely adolescent songs about girls from the debut has matured into a more sobering and menacing reflective album that's no less rock and roll than their first.

I was hooked when I heard "Guilt By Association" on my local radio station a few weeks before the album was released. I agree that the Beatles are ever present influences, and I agree that T. Rex and now Radiohead are also present. For some reason I also think of the Black Crows as well--and even the Velvet Underground to an extent.

"Air Traffic Control" is one of the slower tracks, but it sticks to the brain like candy to a baby's hands. I really liked "Misguided Sheep", "Tina" and "Slick Dogs And Ponies" with "There's A Traitor In This Room", "Sometimes You Just Want To" and "Stalker" following close behind.

I don't believe Louis XIV have achieved perfection on either of their first two albums, but they continue to hint at something great. If Jason Miller and company can figure it out, they could have a run away smash on their hands.

For now, four stars because the album holds together well and has memorable songs. It might be darker, more subdued, well produced, but I find it still equal to their debut.

I felt compelled to write this review because this band deserves more credit! I fail to see how Pitchfork can write such a scathing review of "Slick Dogs and Ponies," because as far as I'm concerned, Louis XIV quite simply rock. I did love "The Best Little Secrets are Kept," and this album is equally inventive. Don't listen to all the unjust, hate mongering critics, Jason Hill & company are amazingly talented. I saw them live at the Metro and they blew me away...they are a great rock band, with a little blues thrown in. In a sea of mediocre/manufactured rock bands (Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance), Louis XIV is truly exceptional. I will leave it at that, and if you're not a pretentious music critic and can enjoy raw, unbridled rock, then this album will not disappoint.

Album highlights: Guilt by Association, Air Traffic Control, Misguided Sheep, There's a Traitor in the Room, Stalker, Sometimes You Just Want To, Slick Dogs and Ponies.

The only song I skip every time I listen to the CD is probably "Tina."

I highly recommend seeing this band live, it really makes me appreciate how talented they really are.

This second release from Louis XIV, although having it's moments, didn't stand up to their debut of Best Little Secrets Kept. It definitely has a more mature sound but on a deep, dark-ier, moody vibe. The duo of Brian Karscig and Jason Hill lacks the more positive, up-beat silliness and humor on this album, the craft that made their first album such a success. Perhaps it has to do with life gone wasted with success, drug use and everything a new band experiences with new fame.

"Hopesick" was the most disappointing song on the album, because it sounds like a desperate and bleak ballad of what you'd expect from a big commercial rock band and not a hip indie/alternative band. It does have a few good songs like "Guilt by Association" and "Swarming of the Bees"

Ok... I am actually a new fan of Louis XIV.. and I hate writing reviews but it just galls me to no end, when people give a negative critique when an artist changes their style, evolves from what they originally where... These are the same people who will complain the artist is stagnant and is afraid to try something new or innovative..
So here is my review, no they don't sound the same as their first CD.. but guess what?? they are still f@#$ing good if not better... Slick Dogs and Ponies is a keeper... Music that I will be listening to for years to come... Sure there are some songs you'll like more than others... H@#$ that's normal... It will just depend on the mood your in... but Louis XIV is one of those rare finds... a band with great music that keeps you coming back for more...
So for all you naysayers out there that are suppose to be such big fans of the band... Maybe you should do a little more quiet listening and maybe you'll get more enjoyment from the music so eloquently created for all our pleasure...

This is most definitely not "the best little secrets part 2"... and that's a shame. Honestly the style of this album is so far removed from that of the previous that I might not recognize the band. Evolution is to be praised in bands and while I encourage this I think that you still need good material to present. I'm generous with 2 stars.

LouisXIV was originally a band called Convoy. Why after an indie Convoy album and then a major release called Black Licorice they decided to take on British accents and try to sound like some European band from San Diego kill their Convoy Band and become this Louis XIV was beyond me. Slick Dogs and Ponies has several songs that would have been on Convoys second major release, and that album was to be called "hopesick", and yes air traffic control was recorded for that record over 4 years ago. So when I listen to this newest album, I still see a band that plays incredible live shows, but seems to be all over the map with who they want to be as a band. They built a following with Convoy, but bailed on it to do this Louis XIV thing, and honestly the sound of Louis XIV to me just seems miss-guided unfocused and lost. Neither album from track to track keeps full interest they seem to get lost in what they are doing. Not sure what happened when they wrote their indie Convoy in the desert outside of San Diego, but seems they are still searching for a way out of their castle that Louis XIV once walked. I think they still have it in them to write a brilliant album, but releasing some songs 4 years after they should have been published, and then some filler songs really to me doesn't show this band has much focus on any great place in rock. This album is dark, with really only two good tracks on it, ATC, and the lead track.

Taking a major step back from the raging hormones of their debut The Best Little Secrets Are Kept, Louis XIV shift gears and attempt to get serious. The Bowie/T Rex blueprint is still there, but suddenly in creeps Radiohead and ELO. The songs are still all about girls, but this time, there's a morning after. And it isn't always pretty.

It's almost as if the night-vision goggles cover photo is an attempt to clue you in. What you do in Vegas, so to speak, doesn't always stay in Vegas. (Is there a Louis XIV sex video lurking around? Frontman Jason Hill has a notorious libido.) The sometimes silly sexuality of the first album is toned down and when the Bowie meets "Karma Police" of "Air Traffic Control" kicks in, it's almost a whole new band. "Stalker" mashes trip-hop with glam guitars. There's even a nod to politics when "Free Won't Be What it Used to Be" does an ELO/Beatles turn in protest of - well, not too sure, but - greedy Government? Drug Abuse? Stupid War Policies? "Will you die in the sand? Corruption kills the young!" It's a far cry from "I want the stupid girl who gives me all those dirty looks." The song "Hopesick" even makes Hill sounds like all those crazy nights have taken a toll on his psyche.

However, the libido will still conquer all. Lead track "Guilt By Association" states the Louis XIV are so bad that you could be in trouble just by finding yourself in close proximity. "There's a Traitor in The Room" teases with the come on about making one want to cheat. There's the nasty "Tina," with its T Rex roll and lyrics that put down the lady while begging her to "turn me on." (Probably while setting up that night vision cam for later...)

"Slick Dogs and Ponies" is a mostly minor key, string saturated affair, and as such, it lacks the zingy fun of Louis XIV's debut. But musically, it's a step up. They remain a band with promise, and their second album dodges the sophomore slump...just barely.

I think of this album the same way I think of Panic At The Disco's new album: it's an album, not a bunch of catchy songs. Louis XIV have changed their instrumental style a bit and I like the change. It does seem to drop in energy a little but not to any detriment. The lead's voice reminds me so much of ACDC, I don't know why (I want them to play "Big Balls" at a show..it would be perfect).