Cute is What We Aim For - Rotation

Apparently, Hacikyan hasn't heard his own record

Album Review by Jason Morton | 22 Jul 2008
Album title: Rotation
Artist: Cute is What We Aim For
Label: Fueled by Ramen
Release date: 7 Jul

The most troublesome thing about this album is that we've heard other, not-quite-good but tolerable bands do this sound better: See Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco for examples. Learn a few chords, get a snotty sounding singer and try to channel the inner 14-year-old when writing lyrics. While the album has some false starts of innovation or variation (Doctor, Do What You Do) Cute is What We Aim For take no drastic turns from the set formula on Rotation, their second album for mall-punk proprietors Fueled by Ramen. Ironically, on what might be the album's best track, Hollywood, singer Shaant Hacikyan yearns for a time "when singers wrote songs instead of hooks". Apparently, Hacikyan hasn't heard his own record, as the power pop hooks employed seem calculated to the point you can already see the camera zoom as the guitar hits and he belts out lyrics like "Are my eyes deceiving? Are you believing?" If aiming for 'cute', this band has struck cutesy, which leaves them quite a way along the road from 'any credibility'. [Jason Morton]

http://www.cuteiswhatweaimfor.com