CD Reviews

Head Automatica

Popaganda | Warner Bros.

By SAM MACLAUGHLIN | June 20, 2006

3.0 Stars

ROT YOUR TEETH: Head Automatica's latest is sugary

Lead singer Daryl Palumbo has referred to Head Automatica’s debut CD, Decadence, as “electronic cock-rock”; the album suffered for it. Popaganda, true to its title, is straightforward power pop, fueled by guitars and organ and owing much to Elvis Costello’s early Attractions. The ideal summer album, it also has the ideal summer single, “Graduation Day,” with Palumbo repeating on the chorus, “I’m not gonna/I’m not gonna/I’m not going to school.” Gone is the neon sleaze of Decadence and the visceral hardcore of Glassjaw (another Palumbo-fronted band). Instead, with the exception of two brooders, it’s rot-your-teeth sugary.

HEAD AUTOMATICA + SUBWAYS + ANGELS & AIRWAVES + TAKING BACK SUNDAY | Tweeter Center, Mansfield | June 24 | 617.931.2000

On the Web
Head Automatica: http://www.headautomatica.com/