Gym Class Heroes "the Quilt" review

I've been a fan of Gym Class Heroes since around the time The Papercut Chronicles came out. Maybe even a little bit before that. Either way, I've always loved how catchy they were and I just loved telling my dad, 'yo, this is a full band!' As Cruel As School Children didn't disappoint either. Then there was the wait for The Quilt. Front dude Travis McCoy posted little teasers from the new album on this blog (www.traviesblog.com) and it made me that much more excited. It came out two days ago, so here's my little track by track rundown.

This is a long ass album, here I go.

1. Guilty As Charged - Talk about starting off an album strong. With a full blast of horns, and a catchy little hook sung by UK songstress Estelle (not going to lie, LOVE her.) I don't really have much to say about this track, but the horns are really sweet. And Estelle takes over most of the track with, "I guess I'm guilty, till proven innocent" about a million times.

2. Drnk Txt Rmeo - This is the first song where I've ever heard Travis sing. (I could be wrong though, guitarist Disashi Lamumba-Kasongo sings on some tracks, too, so it's hard to say) But if it is Travis, my vote is that he sings more often. The chorus kind of reminds me of Sean Kingston? With a reggae sound to it that goes throughout the whole song.

3. Peace Sign/Index Down - One of the first songs I heard off this album. I'm not the hugest Busta Rhymes fan, but I guess I can deal with it. It's a bit of a dangerous song to drive listening to though, because you really can't resist 'putting up your peace sign, put the index down.' Travis also gets a little cocky near the end with 'I Was Brooklyn broke but now I'm upstate rich/Gettin brains from two dames with French accents/Now I mess with local chicks I get em upstate shit.'

4. Like Father, Like Son (Papa's Song) - This is probably the most..boring song on the album. The 'chorus' is kind of awkward, too. Papa was a rolling stone, but I wanna be the cover of a Rolling Stone. Trav also tests out his vocal skills in this one, and it's not half bad.

5. Blinded By The Sun - Definitely one of the poppier songs (the most poppy one is coming up), and again Travis is singing. Ska-influenced, and calling out a cheating girlfriend (The way you lead me on, knowing I was one of four guys) The band also plays tribute to Corey Hart's 'Sunglasses At Night,' in which Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump joins in on.

6. Catch Me If You Can - A song that's pretty damn easy to dance to. Not really a song that jumps out at me, but the chorus is catchy?

7. Cookie Jar - One of the singles from the album so far, and I L-O-V-E this song. Featuring Tha Dream on the chorus, the song illustrates Trav's 'cookie addiction,' clearly a euphemism for something more than 'not being able to keep his hands out of the cookie jar.' And he does it in a very clever way, too. I got a thing for Milano, Biscotti Italianos/ And I never turn down some Oreos if you got those/ Butter Pecan Puerto Rican/ Or them Oatmeal Raisin Asians/ Hazelnut Brazilians/ Macadamia Caucasians/ Double stuffed or thin mint/ It don't matter you getting it cause I got a sweet tooth that'll never come loose. In my opinion, one of the best tracks on the album.

8. Live A Little - Okay, this is the poppiest song on the album. But they bring out guitarist Disashi Lamumba-Kasongo on this track like Panic at the Disco did with guitarist Ryan Ross on Pretty. Odd. The guitarist wrote and sang this song, and uhm, it's amazing? Doesn't really sound like the rest of the album at all, but it's on my favorite list for this album.

9. Don't Tell Me It's Over - Gym Class brought out the big guns on this song, and by 'big guns,' I mean Lil Wayne. Travis attacks shit talking bloggers and writing in this track, also calling out those who are too weak to try to be a musician. 'Admit it you wanted to be an artist/ But your parents and that tiny voice inside you said it wasn’t worth the hardships/ What better way to compensate then to hate on everything you wish you were/ But didn’t have the balls to harness'. Intense snare. Good base. A definite 'hip hop' track. Lil Wayne's part though fails so hard it's almost sad. Never been fake and they are clayer than Aiken/And I don’t play though, and they love to hate it/ And I love it, and I would hate to not be hated

10. Live Forever (Fly With Me) - This song is a ballad, featuring one of Travis's greatest inspirations, Daryl Hall (from soul group Hall & Oates). Lyrics give the story of a leaving Travis and the girl he's leaving behind? The sweet part of this song though, is the guitar rips in the middle made by Disashi. Dude kills it on this album.

11. Kissin' Ears - Another song featuring Tha Dream. Another song that serves as a euphemism. Somewhat reminiscent of the Sloppy Love Jingle trilogy on As Cruel Children. I can see this song being a single, catchy chorus, pretty 'dirty,' fast beat. And in the background, there are even more guitar licks from Disashi.

12. Home - Disashi again kills it by beginning off the song with a guitar riff that could probably take you right back to the '70's/'80's rock era. The song itself reminds me of Kanye West's 'Homecoming.' Not the same sound or anything, but same idea.

13. No Place To Run - More singing from the Hidden Weapon (my new name for him, I suppose). Starts out with a strong and poppy drum beat. Another poppy song. No rapping from Travis, and again entirely different from the rest of the album. But it's pretty...cute.

14. Coming Clean - Shit, am I finally at the end of the album? So long. Anyways, the song pretty much serves as an apology letter to 'girl' about his cheating habits and how he's working on his issue. Another catchy one.

OVERALL, it's a pretty good album. Some songs disappointed on the lyric content, and it's pretty crazy hearing the Heroes with big rap game players like Weezy and Busta (and did I mention the whole thing is produced by Dre?) I'm not sure I'd spend the $20 bucks or however much CD's cost these days, but download and check it out.

-Courtney Kaz.

**We reached our goal of 10,000 hits. It feels awesome, and my one year 'birthday' on here is coming up. Pretty exciting. Please feel free to comment on posts, speak up!