Taxi Doll - Here and Now Review

Posted by Michael Adler on 03.01.2009

A band for those who found Garbage to be too intellectually challenging.

Straight from L.A., Dhana (Vocals), Gregg Allen a.k.a g-dub (Keyboards /Producer), Jason Graham (Drums), Brian Hendrix (Bass), and Matt Emmer -- (Guitar) are Taxi Doll. They're debut album, Here and Now bridges rock and electronica into rocktronica.

---

Track List:
1. Come to Me
2. Follow Lead
3. A Little More Love
4. Give You More
5. Look at What you Get
6. Winter
7. Here and Now
8. Notice Me
9. Strange Rush
10. Be with You
11. Soft Kill

---

For those wondering, the band's named after those little bobble head dolls that members of the band happened to see plastered to the dashboard of an L.A. taxi. And much like said bobble-head dolls, the band proves to ultimately be repetitive, unnecessary, boring, but ultimately inoffensive.

Taxi Doll aren't doing anything new here. If you've heard a Garbage song, you don't really need to listen to anything Taxi Doll has to offer. Unless of course, when listening to Garbage you had a perverse thought along the lines of, "Damn! I could enjoy this if only it were slightly less good! Damn!"

The band is self proclaimed Rocktronica, but the album proves to be a little heavier on the electronica than on
the rock, but the rock element is there, and it keeps the album from completely descending into dance pop crap. Still, it's hardly remarkable. Perhaps the band's biggest problem is that they lack any discernible identity to set themselves apart from being inferior versions of many other bands that mix pop with rock such as Blondie, Pink, or their biggest inspiration Garbage.

For example the opening, "Come to Me" sounds like a slightly more intelligent Pussy Cat Dolls track. "Notice Me" sounds like a Pink B-side. While "Here and Now" is a clear No Doubt rip off. Much like No Doubt, the Taxi Dolls share their remarkable knack for making reggae boring.

And in a really odd occurrence, "Winter" manages to steal the opening riffs from, of all sources, Tom Petty. Go ahead, listen to "Winter" and then listen to Petty's "It's Good to be King." The difference is "Winter" is truly a winter of a song. Dreary, boring, gray, and cold.

Basically, what we have here is a dance/rock album that's above average for dance music, but unfortunately below average for rock music. If you're really itching to listen to "rocktronica" pick up some Garbage, Blonde, or some true masters: Depeche Mode

The 411: A few words to describe this album: restless, unnecessary, and ultimately boring. This is a band in desperate need of a clearer identity if they want to stick around. As it stands it's an even split between slightly more intelligent pop music and really dumbed down rock.

Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]