Considering the Exploding Hearts' tragic end-- not to mention guitarist Terry Six's incredibly fortuitous, Fearless-style survival-- you might expect a dour album of infinite sadness from Six's post-Hearts project. But the Nice Boys have found a better way to eulogize the Hearts' career, by flipping up their leather jacket collars and waxing Guitar Romantic, exploring and expanding upon 1970s power-pop while using the genre as a coping mechanism.  Full text...

Surviving member of Exploding Hearts rocks again.  Full text...

Most of the songs on The Nice Boys could easily fit into the soundtrack for Cameron Crowe's 1982 film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, lying somewhere between the new wave sounds of the Go-Go's and the Cars and the guitar churning muscle of Billy Squier.   Full text...

But the Nice Boys, the "from-the-ashes" buzz band featuring sole surviving Exploding Heart Terry Six, on the other hand, are gonna need some help somewhere. I'm not hoping for a tragedy, because that wouldn't solve this music's problem: it's all affectation, kitsch, and cheek. Really, the contrast in names is review enough: the urgency and passion of the Exploding Hearts is wholly lacking from The Nice Boys.   Full text...