The Young Professionals – 9AM to 5PM – 5PM to Whenever album review

First, some (potentially) interesting points about this band and album:

It was their first.

It released in Israel in 2011.

It was then released internationally on June 18 through Polydor records.

There are two Young Professionals.

The Young Professionals are from Israel.

All of the songs on this album are either club-banger anthems with suave young professional style- leather loafers with a suit I’m thinking-like the first two tracks, or songs built on emotion like some of the later tracks, like “With Me” or “Deserve.”

The club songs are, for the most part, pretty awesome. There is definitely, or there should be, a sweaty dancefloor somewhere with a whole bunch of people under a strobe light not drinking enough water, grooving to these songs. “20 Seconds,” the second track, is as its name might suggest, pretty urgent. The song moves quickly and doesn’t stop much except for a breakdown toward the end of the song.

Although one of the coolest names for a track I have ever heard, “Fuck Off Berlin” is not as good as it could be. It is definitely made for the club, but it borders on the too-emotional: I imagine a 7 year old saying the hardest-hitting (emotionally) line of the chorus “you don’t even make me dream!” I am on the outside of the name’s joke, which I am pretty sad about…maybe it’s a club rivalry that I should know about? Regardless, I’m intrigued.

The fourth track is the track with the second coolest name ever. “Gucci Gun.” I want one. The lyrics aren’t perfect: the grasp on rhyme is strangely fuzzy, but the redemption factor of the chorus more than makes up for it because it is just that catchy. The scale is still tottering though, it mentions Facebook, which I don’t love, but the rhyme of “black dress” and how the dress is “easy on the access” is pretty damn cool. The breakdown tips the scale toward awesome, it’s dubby and delicious. When I get my Gucci Gun, I’m bringing it to the club.

The final track (we fast-forwarded) is “Video Games.” This is the cover of the blog-squashed lana del rey song It features an intermittent clap and they picked it up a little bit and made it quick and poppy. Everyone will hear this song. Some will love it.

A friend of mine heard the song “Wake Up” and his comment was, “That is what a robot wakes up to.” He’s right.

Those too-emotional tracks I was talking about are “With Me” and “Deserve.” The former features a Postal Service-esque vocal quality, almost like if James Blake was really into 80s dance music and not as cool. Some sonic elements fall out at the end of the track, such as the dial-up internet tone that bounces through the background. It’s nice to have variety, I suppose. “Deserve” is too whiny. Plain and simple.

About half of this album is great, but there are some obvious detractors. For a first release, it’s definitely solid, and I expect to be sweating to at least a couple of these tracks in the near future. Good Luck to the Young Professionals, and hey, you guys have some awesome track names.