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  • Legendarily Ornery STL Bartender Mark Pollman ICU Update
    05:11PM 03/10/08
  • Van Halen's March 30 St. Louis Concert Postponed
    05:19PM 03/10/08
  • Iron Chef America -- The Game!
    04:52PM 03/10/08
  • This Is Hawkwind -- Do Not Panic
    06:08PM 11/09/07
Recent Articles

Recent Articles By Annie Zaleski

  • Sleep State
    8 p.m. Saturday, February 9. Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, 3301 Lemp Avenue.
  • Soft
    9 p.m. Tuesday, February 12. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Lloyd Dobler Effect
    9 p.m. Monday, January 14. Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Career (Remix)
    The trials and tribulations of R. Kelly.
  • The Aviation Club
    9 p.m. Friday, January 4. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

National Features

  • Houston Press
    "It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"

    For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.

    By Chris Vogel
  • SF Weekly
    The Candidate

    Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.

    By Matt Smith
  • The Pitch
    How Not To Be a Rap Star

    First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.

    By Nadia Pflaum
  • Village Voice
    Project Runaway

    What becomes a gossip columnist most?

    By Michael Musto

Fall Out Boy is both its own best friend and its very worst enemy. But neither subpar live shows, photos of bassist Pete Wentz's penis nor Internet fights with ex-friends can stop the pop-punk juggernaut. Any criticism lobbed at the Chicago quartet is addressed head-on or slyly incorporated into lyrics and videos, meaning that the band is practically immune to haters — which becomes even more infuriating when one realizes that Fall Out Boy also continues to write better songs than the majority of its peers. That's eminently clear on Infinity on High, the band's second major-label album and its first since 2005's From Under the Cork Tree made them heroes to the hoodie set. Despite even thicker coats of studio gloss painted over songs (a move that at times gives several tunes — specifically "The Carpal Tunnel of Love" — a generic edge), High contains catchier hooks, bigger choruses and more vocal histrionics than a MySpace flame war. It's also more diverse (the pensive piano ballad "Golden," a brief spoken-word intro by Jay-Z) and shockingly danceable, with handclaps, disco-flecked backbeats and a generally dynamic discotheque pulse snaking throughout. But High's best track is, hands-down, "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs," a predictably zing-laden song that's just monstrous. Spanish guitars, scissor-kicking harmonies, cinematic strings and minor chords crash together to form an arena-ready masterpiece.

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