Illinois

What the Hell Do I Know? (Ace Fu)

By Jonathan Shipley
Published: April 2nd, 2007 | 12:07pm

<To avoid confusion straight off, or perhaps to add to it, Illinois is from Pennsylvania. Illinois makes some good indie-rock noise with some White Stripes/Stephen Malkmus/Beta Band influences, all of it a little tinged with the rock stylings from across the pond.

Illinois is Andrew Lee, Martin Hoeger, John-Paul Kuyper, and Chris Archibald. <I>What the Hell Do I Know?</I> is their first EP. They ask us listeners “What the hell do I know?” and, honestly, they know quite a hell of a lot about making quality music. Each song is distinctly their own but each song is distinctively different. The albums starts with the slow pop-friendly “Alone Again,” similar to a Duran Duran cut from one of their most recent albums. “Nosebleed” cranks out banjo and then descends into a groovy danceable Beck-like number. “What Can I Do For You” is a thoughtful ballad with piano that crescendos into a warm toe-tapping song before it ends, a little too quickly.

And that's where the album falters. A) There's only seven songs on the album. Yes, it's an EP but they're all good and you're wanting more. B) The seven songs are mostly all short. Just when you're wanting more from a particular song, it ends abruptly, a new one starting up before you know it. “Oh,” you say, “this song is great! Yeah...oh, it's over already? It's so...A new song! Yeah! This one is great and...oh, over.”

That said, Illinois is a great band but only in small doses because that, unfortunately, is all they give you.