Rilo Kiley - "The Moneymaker" 7"

Rilo Kiley – “The Moneymaker” 7”

Warner Bros, 2007

Acquired: KJHK Music Staff, New, 2007

Price: $0

 

Rilo Kiley’s final studio album—Under the Blacklight—is a disaster. Gone were the days of sweet, heartfelt and earnest indie pop, as they were trumped by…whatever this was. Lead single “The Moneymaker” is a flat, empty, and trying desperately to be edgy. It’s a boring, by the numbers tune barely fit for a late album filler track and yet, it’s the track they thought best represented Under the Blacklight. It sort of embodies everything I hate about modern pop music, which is the tendency to repeat repeat repeat without offering anything substantial. Considering that Jenny Lewis’s solo records and Blake Sennett’s work with the Elected are so much better than this, it’s an acceptable failure. This sound of a band going through the motions and falling apart. The b-side “Draggin’ Around” is more soulful than anything on the record proper. You know, it’s been so long since I dismissed Under the Blacklight maybe there were some good tracks there and I let “The Moneymaker” ruin my experience. Alas, there are worse things than making a forgettable album.

"The Moneymaker"

"Draggin' Around