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Comprised of a diverse bunch of tracks easily found on other CDs,
Clockstoppers never pushes very far into the sonic future. In fact, these songs seem eager to re-create bygone areas. Whether these memories are of breezy summer days (
Smash Mouth,
Fenix*TX), the 1980s (
Sugar Ray's synth-sational cover of Steve Miller's "Abracadabra,"
Uncle Kracker's heartfelt acoustic rendition of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time"), or love's emotional roller coaster (
Blink 182,
Third Eye Blind),
Clockstoppers sounds like an upbeat, alt-rock-heavy trip down memory lane. Nevertheless, new tracks from emo-faves
A New Found Glory and rapper Lil' J, along with cuts from garage-rock hipsters the
Dandy Warhols and rock-hip-hopper
Scapegoat Wax, do have a fresh vibe that breaks from the otherwise too-familiar atmosphere. Though these musical jumps from rock to punk to pop and rap don't always mesh well together either,
Clockstoppers is a pleasant, if not overwhelmingly essential, snapshot of the current state of music.
--Annie Zaleski