Party Ends

   Everyone's favorite DIY lovy-dubbies Mates of State are back once again to bring you more infectious pop tunes in the form of Re-Arrange Us, but something's a little different this time, and I don't know how I feel about it. Leaning toward thier latter releases, the new album comes across more like a girl group, relying heavily on Kori's high end, with Jason bringing mostly well meshed, tight backup vocals to the table. Their songs of late continue veering away from their ADD tempo / melody mash-ups and more toward cohesive, albeit less intriguing fair, though they do spice things up this go around with more varied instraments including guitar, acoustic piano and glockenspeil, as well as a wholly bigger sound. When it comes to Mates of State, though, I think I'll always be a purist, wanting every track to sound like they recorded it in one take in their spare room, just drums, keys, and a lot of love. Or I'd just like to hear every new record as an 18 year old.