★★★★★
Yep, they're back. And by now you should have figured out that they're doing more than swing shtick. All original songs, this new album is full of energy and will make you dance around. Don't let the "Bedbugs" bite ya, they sing in this Latin inspired song. It could easily replace "Hell" as the song people will demand at shows. "Do What?" and "Bedlam Ballroom" inspires immediate cool person dancing as well as the desire to take swing dancing lessons immediately...
- www.plume-noire.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
Cool music died with the collapse of grunge. So it makes sensethat musicians and audiences would get desperate enough to startreviving antique notions of hip. That's one explanation for theneo-swing movement, which keeps sending jump bands jitterbuggingup the charts, from the Cherry Poppin' Daddies to Big Bad VoodooDaddy. But does that render the movement a novelty blip, or an ingeniousway to expand the sources of modern pop...
- ew.com
2010-08-27
★★★★★
Although demonstrative Squirrel Nut Zippers co-leader and playfully peculiar frontman Tom Maxwell bolted for solo pastures last summer, the remaining Chapel Hill, N.C., swingers don't sound too sad about his absence on new album Bedlam Ballroom. In fact, while the band's first three records were certified party platters-and crucial in kick-starting the swing revival-this less-hyped fourth album, recorded in Crescent City's Kingsway Studios, is the most raucous bash of 'em all...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
★★★★★
Without a release in nine years, the Squirrel Nut Zippers needed to come back with a bang. And in the most literal sense they do, with less than two measures of a snare beat leading to horn and saxophone blares. This, and the rest of the live album, is a no-nonsense recalling of that lost big band era. But with just bits of soulfulness ("Do What") and tango flair ("My Drag") scattered throughout, Lost at Sea is no discerning reminder of the band itself...
- www.pastemagazine.com
2009-10-30
★★★★★
For some time now, the Squirrel Nut Zippers have been unjustly lumped in with the flashy neo-swing movement that's got every hepcat and his brother making appointments at their local Arthur Murray dance school. True, the band helped bring swing into the limelight with its last album, Hot, which made a surprise calypso hit out of "Hell" and put the sultry "Put A Lid On It" on the radio...
- www.nudeasthenews.com
2009-07-28
★★★★★
No text for this review; see http://robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg90/grades-90s.php.
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
It's ironic that much of the wrongly named swing boom follows "Hell," 1996's MTV-approved hit by North Carolina's Squirrel Nut Zippers. To their credit, they're an eccentric band that doesn't aspire to the sunny wisecracks of Swing This, Baby!; if anything, they crave the high-stepping freedom of Louis Armstrong's hot jazz. On Perennial Favorites, the Zippers' third album, they make the jump-blues rhythm only one component of a bunch of disparate stuff they love...
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
When I got this groups first album about 4 years ago, I had a hunch that it would only be a
matter of time before they caught on. Not only did they create some wickedly catchy tunes,
but they had a nice sense of nostalgia that, coupled with their songwriting, made them fairly
unique. With their second album, Hot!, they got a hit with the song "Hell," and have
now unfortunately been lumped in with the current swing revival...
- www.almostcool.org
2009-06-05
★★★★★
The inevitable neo-swing backlash is underway, as critics and fans alike are tiring of the genre's smug scenesterism, its fadlike nature, and the rash of cash-in compilations. For the most part, the backlash is deserved. Just don't blame North Carolina's Squirrel Nut Zippers: The band's third album, Perennial Favorites, may occasionally stoop to camp, but it's all wrapped up in deliriously bouncy, legitimate-sounding hot jazz...
- www.avclub.com
2009-03-22
Loading...
