REVIEW: Made, Bedazzler (MCA)

- Jon Steltenpohl

Canadian newcomers Made leap from the tundra to major label with their new album Bedazzler. It's a collection of bouncy, guitar driven pop songs that sound like typical 90's alternative fare with a little 80's pop thrown in to boot. Dinosaur Jr. comes to mind on the first few tracks. Jason Taylor's vocals crackle and warble, and fuzzy guitars layout like a curtain of slacker destruction behind the melody. Most everything is upbeat though, so the effect is more like Dinosaur Jr. on happy pills.

Bedazzler takes a few mainstream cues from the Cars, and even Bryan Adams, but they put an alternative spin on it. Maybe writing plain pop songs scares them a bit, but by trying to make conventional tunes sound alternative, Made loses something in the process. "Fun of You" starts out like a great alternative ballad, but they can't leave well enough alone. Made compounds it with an overly whiny voice and overbearing guitar, and by the end of the song, you're left with a decent ballad twisted into a distorted mess. Part of this problem seems to come from poor production and mixing, but that can't account for all of the problems.

Unfortunately, most of the album suffers from the tension between pop and alternative. Still, a few tracks really shine. "Hippies" and "Stella" recall another Canadian band, Twenty Four Gone. They are swirling, blurred songs with a monotone bass that drives the rhythm. Both songs starts slow and quiet and entice you to close your eyes until they build momentum and wake you up stirred and moving. On the pop side, "Half an Hour" does have the slacker chic down perfect with it's little chorus "We went to the high school dance / put my hand in-side your... nevermind". A catchy guitar riff keeps pumping "Half an Hour" along, and it's probably this album's best chance for a hit.

All told, Bedazzler is a promising debut. Even when the execution is off a bit, Made writes decent alterna-pop. Drummer Alison Maclean adds soaring vocals that are reminiscent of Kim Deal when she was a Pixie, and with better production and mixing, you might have a classic on your hands. Luckily, Made is a young band, and this album foreshadows a bright future. Either way, if you just can't get enough slacker music in your life, take the 5 best songs on the album and have a ball.