Album Review: Sidewalks by Matt & Kim

I recently wrote an email to someone talking about how one of the big trends right now are these guy, girl duos.  Obviously this all started with the White Stripes, but it has really grown the last few years to the point where we are a bit overwhelmed with such bands.  These two are out of Brooklyn.  Their angle is that she lays down the beats while he plays keyboards and sings. 

She pulls in a lot of dance beats to live behind his layered vocals and keyboards all creating a classic indie pop sound.  Well classic for 2010. 

This is their third album and to me they are carrying on with what they've been doing.  So if you liked their earlier stuff I think you'll like this.  It does have a cleaner sound and a more polished production, but it's still the same basic sound. 

Personally I think Kim is the only good part of this band as I like her beats, not so crazy about his vocals or his layered sound.  The one problem with the more polished sound is that his layered music does seem to overwhelm her drum work and that's a big loss. 

I know they are creating pop songs, but there isn't a song on this album that has a real hook.  To my mind if you want to produce great pop music, you need to be able to write hooks, and with so many other bands out there exploring very similar ground I think this album can easily be forgotten.

I could see playing this while taking a walk around a city during a quite Saturday afternoon or while playing cards with friends. 

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.