Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

If after spending a few hours watching VH1’s “I Love the 90’s” you feel a sudden urge to re-experience the tender 90’s ballad, look no further then Cloning Einstein. Not only does their self-titled album embody this character of music, it was also recorded in 1999 only to be re-released this past year. With a mysterious and whisper like quality to his voice, Jeff Beck and the other talented fellows of this Philadelphia band convince you to follow their romantic groove from the very beginning of their single I Believe with a lightly syncopated drumbeat followed by glittering synthesizers.

Overall the group’s sound is very much guitar and vocal driven, and these two voices often alter in importance within every song. It is obvious that the members of this band are very talented, and know the craft of songwriting. Their chord progressions and harmony are very well designed and sometimes pleasantly complex. However it seems that most of their good ideas are overdone. During the cover of the U2 song I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, ideas such as echoing vocals in the verse an added “Kiss me I’m waiting” line are interesting the first and second time you hear them, but it seems that after that it just becomes too much icing on the cake.

It seems that the production of the record is also a bit overdone. Everything sounds incredibly clean: the vocals, the guitars, the drums and especially backing vocal harmonies. While some may enjoy this picture-perfect sound, I feel that this takes away from the passion and emotion of the song, and destroys its energy. This is of course not true of every song in the album; When You Lose Someone contains a great chord progression and melody that is sung in a much more realistic tone, and therefore reaches the listener more efficiently. Personally I feel that some of the songs on the records feel a bit lifeless, however with some incredibly catchy melodies and great vocal performances, this could quickly catch on at smooth radio stations around the country.