I think everybody had a certain reflexive rush to O_o and WTF at last week’s news that supergroup Tinted Windows, comprising Fountain of Wayne Adam Schlesinger, ex-Pumpkin James Iha, Cheap Trickster Bun E. Carlos, and the Hanson brother you remember, had been secretly out there existing and recording in NYC. Cramazing. But Schlesinger and Iha are well documented mates who aren’t afraid to take on pet projects that maybe don’t have the most indie cred (see: America), so, that they have a new cred-rehabilitation pet project who once played in Hanson shouldn’t be such a shock. Besides, he’s the handsome Hanson, and he can sing, so let’s just mmmm bop a little, you guys. Tinted Windows have an album out in April, a show at SXSW, and right here, a quick glimpse of the outfit/Taylor’s outfit in action. This faux-’80s rock show promo piece is either ironically awkward or intentionally awkward and so interesting viewing, with a rundown, C-grade Jerry Seinfeld ringer named Godwin Alexander introducing us to Tinted Windows for the first time. We get some quick snippets of the songs “Kind Of A Girl” and “Messin’ With My Head.” Try before you buy:
And here’s “Kind Of A Girl” in full:
Hmmmm Bop. Taylor’s dapper, boy-band bred mugging strapped to Adam’s unapologetically snappy power-pop strips any prospect of engaging with this stuff ironically, so you really have to go all in. On the bright side, at best, it sounds like it might be a (somewhat predictably) Hanson on Fountains record. At worst, it’s feeling like the Jonas Brothers if they could sing and featured a Smashing Pumpkin. Think on that while you absorb this fierceness:
Tinted Windows is out 4/21 via S-Curve. The band’s making their live not-on-a-fake-talk-show debut at SXSW, 3/20 at the Billboard Showcase @ Pangea in Austin. Have fun getting in.
You Might Also Like
 Fountains Of Wayne – “Richie & Ruben” (Stereogum Premiere) |  The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania Details |  The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania Details |  Progress Report: Billy Corgan |
 |
 |
Ultimate powerpop masturbation time!
Totally! Some power pop goodness going on there. Man, I thought this was going to be complete shit. Color me surprised.
Actually it not very power pop in my eyes. Has a Jesus and Mary Chain sound to it. But then when I think of power pop I think of emo and when I think of emo I think of 15 – 20 year old Pop Punk convert to pointless silly lyrics to whining about their non exsistant girlsfriends with a following that cant decide what they are because they call themselves goth or scene but if you ask me their clothing style looks like a clash of Goth meets Raver Club kid. The most UNORIGINAL trend in the history of rock n roll, but then again dressing styles are for posers if you ask me.
I strangely can’t help but like what I’m hearing here. It is what it is I guess, and it could be the biggest surprise, or a beautiful bust. Either way, I’m paying attention and may peep in Austin.
This is the most fabulously bizarre thing I’ve encountered in a long time.
gross.
FUCKIN’ THING SUCKS
DON’T DO IT LIVE!
About 80% better than I thought it would be.
jesus, this contributes nothing, just nausea, there’s something american idol-y about all of this, douched out pop dreck that goes in one ear and out the other, sad
If I close my eyes I could’ve sworn it was the Jonas Bros.
Variety of vastly different musicians+free time=uninteresting music
a true equation
Rolling Stone is streaming “Kind of Girl”.
http://www.rollingstone.com/blogs/smokingsection/2009/02/tinted-windows.php
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Now they need to tour with Josie and the Pussycats. And involve Matthew Sweet in some capacity. Producer?
Ha! Not that far-fetched. Matthew Sweet is friends with the Hansons and has co-written a song with them. He called their collaberation “the most successful songwriting session I’ve ever had.”
Taylor, The Romantics called, they want their skinny ties back.
fred, hilarious punchlines called, they said you suck
love the song
iha, iha… i hoped so much more from you.
Oops, I still have a HUGE crush on Taylor Hanson, what?
He is pretty.
Fucking righteous.
This is pretty clearly going to be a concept album…right? That was some serious Hannah Montana shit. That 4 second guitar solo was decent.
1000 times better than the “Smashing Pumpkins” 20th anniversary tour.
also more depressing
Wow.
This is absolutely horrible.
godwin alexander is going to haunt my nightmares
Didn’t Taylor Hanson have something to do with L.E.O.’s “Alpacas Orgling”? And that was all kinds of power-pop-good. And there really isn’t anything wrong with Miley/Jonas power pop other than Miley and the Jonae are really insipid and often infuriating. In someone else’s hands, this might be a very good thing. Could those hands be Tinted Windows?
Wow, I think there are some Hanson and Iha fans coming on here solely to lower the scores on all the true statements about this horrible band.
It’s like Third Eye Blind fans only creepily quiet….
hm…
Oooooooooom[ph
i lust for anything Schlesinger
I want to like this, but I just can’t. It’s just not doing it for me.
I dig
i use this product on my eyes and ears and now i have very bad time inside
this is amazing, i love it!!
Now James can rawk the fuzz riffs without Billy cramping his style. The guitar tones and the guitar solo in “Kind of a Girl” were straight outta Pisces Iscariot. None of that high gain amp sludge that Billy does now.
What about the whole creepy “Rock After Dark” theme music?
thanks
you gotta give it to adam schlesinger. dude knows how to write a pop song.
If I admit that I liked this song better than anything on Merriweather Post Pavillion what are the chances that the comment would be hated on and scored down to hell? Because… ehm… you know… I… ehm… well… I kinda did…
i’m screaming now like a girl.
I bet Siamese Dream is turning over in it’s grave.
Wow, that was some of the most generic power-pop I’ve heard in a long time. There’s nothing to not like about it other than there’s nothing to like…similar to eating white bread. I swear I’ve heard the song 20 times before but I can’t pinpoint which other bands have played it. Well, at least my wife will like it.
I am digging it. Kind of, Rick Springfield circa Jessie’s Girl. It is guilty pleasure pop. Kudos! you really can’t go wrong with Bun E.
Well whoever organized this band knew what they were doing. Power-pop and all other forms of pop are huge right now. The question, is this too shiny or just right? It’s very Jonas bros, obviously, but I’m pretty sure the Jonas brothers wouldn’t of existed without the retarded Hanson brothers. At least this Hanson guy can sing. I don’t know I think it’s kind of refreshing to see all these musicians resurrected and pull something off that sounds polished as fuck.
you know, i am a TRUE hanson fan and i can’t help but to laugh at this. its a good idea, but i feel like it’s some giant joke they’re playing on the music industry.
I know I should feign indifference towards this, but it’s just so awful. I can’t believe that anyone thinks it’s a good idea. I would love to be able to travel back to 1993 and show Iha and Billy Corgan their future selves.
I feel like someone just pushed me into the year 1998 and don’t like it…well at least it was an innocent time, back when I didn’t know what Britney’s vadge looked like.
i’m going to resume my taylor hanson crush that began when i thought he was a girl
James Iha once again plays second fiddle to an obnoxiously voiced white guy.
I’ll take the plunge and admit I’m a Hanson fan — their last two albums in particular are excellent power pop records — but I did find this song a bit generic. I’ll agree, I was hoping for more from these guys. Just sorta sounds like Fountains of Wayne.
I wouldn’t classify Hanson’s new records as power pop, but whatever. This is a great song for this type of music. For my personal tastes it is mediocre, but I will most likely support it soley for the purpose of supporting Hanson. I was also expecting something different and unique when I heard of the collaboration. In the end I would rather hear Hanson over this?
What? A stereogum reader is a Hanson fan?
Their last two albums were good…but they weren’t power pop. There were a few pop songs on their, but lots of gospel influence and acoustic guitars don’t scream power pop to me.
Come on, guys. There is no reason to ever put this on over an Exploding Hearts record.
It’s like a one night stand. Enjoyable in the moment and quickly forgotten the next day. Thanks for reminding me I need to listen to Exploding Hearts…right now.
Love it!
Sounds crazy similar to “You Really Wake Up the Love in Me” by the Duke Spirit.
Haha, I don’t know why I expected anything different before I watched that.
Makes me think anyone can start a band. Those SOB’s will be laughing all the way to the bank.
Catchy, I guess, but Hanson is much better than this.
Not groundbreaking, not bad. Sounds a lot more like Cheap Trick than anything else. Just substitute the Hanson kid for someone who can’t sing, substitute the rest of the band for people who can’t play, make a low-fi recording, release it as vinyl only, and this song would be instantly legendary, it’s just that easy.
Huh…I was really ready to hate this song….but I have a feeling that it will work it’s way into the brain (and subsequent episode of Goosip Girl or Grey’s) and then I won’t be able to stop singing it!
Why does James Iha look like Dame Edna?
POOP
Seriously, I love Schlesinger but that was pants.
FYI – pants = bad! (bad as in bad, not bad meaning good).
I’m a HUGE hanson fan and a fan of Iha and Bun E. but, seriously this sounds like the krank got molested by jonas brothers….it’s just not that great.
If you’re really knee deep in Pumpkins knowledge and discography, “Kind Of A Girl”‘s opening two-chord progression (Gb-B) should instantly remind you of one of the Smashing Pumpkins’ clips in the 20-minute-something “Pastichio Medley” from the “Zero” single, the one at the 5:30 mark.
SP was such a creative force then that they had a lot of great leftover jams that never amounted to a full song but still sound kickass, and after listening to that “Medley” again can only wonder if Billy Corgan will ever go back to some of them and make full songs out of at least some of those jams (aside from the few like “Jackboot” that did turn into rare full songs on bootlegs).
And this isn’t to say (unlike a lot of you) that I don’t like what Billy & Jimmy & co. are doing now; I like a lot of their recent material, “F.O.L.” “Owata” and “As Rome Burns” especially but don’t care for their recent live covers, the way too long Pink Floyd “Set The Controls” cover in particular. SP used to choose good cover songs and do them well but not recently. They need to stick to originals cuz that’s what they are best at.
I love Smashing Pumpkins, I love Cheap Trick and I LOVE Hanson, but… ugh, I wish they would cut the “woah woah” bits out of the opening, it really annoys me. Other than that it is a catchy song with a good chorus, if a little clean and over-produced. I can see it being a pretty big radio hit, although I can’t see it doing anything for poor old Taylor’s rep with the mean nasty bloggers. He’s lumped with that ‘boy band’ stigma well and truly – which is pretty unfair and inaccurate, as anybody who has bothered to listen to anything Hanson have produced in the last decade will know. I’m glad I’m not haunted for life by the things I did when I was 14 years old.
I am looking forward to hearing the album though because I think there is some potential though. Hope they do some European dates… I’m nosy and Youtube won’t suffice.
This band must exist solely as elaborate “Fuck you” from Iha to Billy Corgan.
If the dB’s and the Replacements did it, and they had children whom they hated, this would be the music they’d make.
I think that weird interviewer is kinda cute
Music died and left this rotting corpse. My mind is blown. God help us all, the ones that used to listen to rock.
James… A Perfect Circle to this?? There’s no explanation in the world that will save you now (except that one poster’s theory that it’s to piss off Billy Corgan, another Rock Messiah lost in his own anus).
Woah! Woah! It’s so bad. The most generic lyrics in the world and overly predictable tune. But play it a couple of times if you can bear it at your own risk (disclaimer) and by the end of the week you’ll be taking tranquilizers just to dull down the song repeating over and over in your head. (Could be huge).
people seriously think that was good?
I loved it.
80′s cheesy hair metal meets n’sync meets..whoever sang that “I’m afraid of Britney Spears” song…that chick band…chicks who all had more balls than Taylor Hanson I might add. James Iha…usually flowers grow from shit…but this is bass ackwards…how can he come from something so good to become something so… dreadful. I am so sad about this…
It’s one of those songs that’s catchy while you listen to it, but once it ends, it disappears from your mind. It could have been a lot worse.
hahaha this is so bad
Any band Adam Schlesinger is involved with will have a pile of songs with gigantic-huge hooks because Adam doesn’t know how to write a mediocre pop song. I’ll buy anything he puts his name on.
Adam’s song “That Thing You Do” from the Tom Hanks movie didn’t burn out (after hearing it 20 times in two hours) because his songs are so solid. His Fountains of Wayne and Ivy songs are pop art, so Tinted Windows’ quality control is in good hands.
I can’t wait to buy the CD.
This reminds me of pop rock that I used to listen to when I turned on the radio, back when I actually listened to the radio, and back when I actually listened to pop rock. Definitely the pinkest of bubblegum pop, this is.
this fucking sucks.
Whoa, I had forgotten how good looking Taylor Hanson is! Definitely material for the year-end crush list! *hint*
Now to the song, it’s a nice power guitar pop song. Catchy and easygoing, not trying to be much else. The world could use something more appealing than The Jonas Brothers… bring it on Tinted Windows!
Come one everyone admit it, Mmmm Pop was the ultimate pop song!
Also, I’m sure Iha is doing this to spite Billy Corgan. Remember that he stole Paz Lenchantin from A Perfect Circle to that awful band he had: Zwan. So, Iha joined APC and now Tinted Windows. They are going to be a top selling act, make a kaboozle of money and be featured in every magazine, newspaper and tv show in America until Billy Corgan kills himself or moves to Antartica.
seriously?…. i can’t decide whether or not to die laughing or to drown in my tears about the fact that people like this. with such a lineup i (unfortunately) expected something other than the jonas brothers!
WTF is that Rock After Dark thing? That guy is scary as hell. Why are we not talking about the scary announcer instead of this bland pop?
“If you’re really knee deep in Pumpkins knowledge and discography, “Kind Of A Girl”‘s opening two-chord progression (Gb-B) should instantly remind you of one of the Smashing Pumpkins’ clips in the 20-minute-something “Pastichio Medley” from the “Zero” single, the one at the 5:30 mark.” – chuck
The unreleased Pumpkins riff you’re referring to is from a track called “Blast”. Full version of the song can be heard here:
http://tinyurl.com/bvcpg3
It does indeed bear some resemblance to this number.
“is this real life?”
I’m still can’t shake the fact that, as an 11 year old boy, I thought that Hanson’s drummer was a girl… a sort of cute girl. :/
GODWIN ALEXANDER IS A SEX MAGNET!
i was mildly excited when i heard the lineup of the band… but this sucked… hanson’s newer/african shit is even so much better than this.
taylor, i love you, but you’re still such a fag. sorry…
…however, i’ll probably still go see them… still can’t deny my hanson days
and if i’m lucky, maybe i’ll get to get it on with GODWIN!
I’m a fan of all of these guys’ respective bands (especially Hanson!) but to be honest I was expecting something that rocked at least a little harder than this. I’m not saying it’s bad, because of course I’ll be buying it in April, but hopefully the rest of the album isn’t more of the same.
Just letting you know the other song “Messing With My Head” is available in full here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1OV5YbM3k8&feature=channel
and the full Music video for “Kind of A Girl” is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-7y1UxNkHM&feature=channel
Sounds like The Jesus and Mary Chain so its far from Powerpop, speaking to the moron who called it that. Then again its apparent you are not familiar with Jesus and Mary Chain
*there
I rather cut my wrists and throat at the same time then imagine these guys making anymore music. I thought this kind of music died with Hanson.
“at best, it sounds like it might be a (somewhat predictably) Hanson on Fountains record. At worst, it’s feeling like the Jonas Brothers if they could sing and featured a Smashing Pumpkin.”
I’m pretty sure both of those are worst case scenarios.
I was looking around for news on Tinted Windows and came across this awesome performance video. They performed their hit ?Kind of a Girl.? It?s a great personal performance and I wish I was there to see it played live! I wanted to share the link with you guys. Enjoy! http://tinyurl.com/tintedwindowsstripped
I really wish people that only like ROCK music would stop commenting on POP music. If you don’t like POP music (any kind of pop), then PLEASE stfu and go back to your fucking ROCK radio stations and rock magazines and websites and leave us POP music lovers alone.
Seriously, it’s just as ridiculous as finding out about a new banana flavored pastry and going to comment on it when you know you don’t like bananas. *rolls eyes*
Oh, and before you go assuming things, my favorite genres of music are ROCK (all kinds, including metal) and R&B (all kinds, especially 90s and the classic Motown sound of the 60s and 70s). -_-
their music is amazingggg! i downloaded all of their songs and fell in love in no time. my favorite song has to be dead serious (check it out). AND the jonas brothers can sing ***hole. ever been to one of their concerts? they have real talent. both bands are incredible.
Tyalor Hanson talking about their music on Rolling Stone-
“The whole project is really about writing songs that are totally straightforward, and are not trying to prove something or have some extremely deep meaning. It’s about girls, the back and forth. We’re trying to be as unpretentious about it as possible. We even had a few songs that kind of had some more irony in them. They were a little more tongue in cheek quality to the lyrics. As much as possible, we just kept going, “We don?t want it to sound like we’re trying to be too clever.” I think, honestly when you hear everybody play in the same room, the performance?it just feels very organic. But it doesn?t feel overthought.”
it explains why their music sounds the way it does… and i love it. they just want their to get across, no fancy stuff and that’s cool. everyone has different tastes in music. you don’t have to like it, but don’t be horrible about it.
Listening to this band (on imeem there is a bunch) hints at the feeling i had during the happiest times of teenager-hood. It reminds me of how I felt when I heard “Right Here Right Now” by Jesus Jones when I was about 13 and realized how huge everything is. Since then, you know, things have gotten a lot smaller, but occasionally it is nice to be brought back to that time.
I love Tinted Windows.
At first, when I found out Taylor has a new band and checked out that first Kind of a Girl video, I found it so strange.Yes, bizarre is the word.
When I read more about Tinted Windows and their concept and why they are doing what they are doing, I found out it was some power pop/’80s inspired something. I got it. That was what they were trying to sound. And the interviews with this band -most of them- are really hilarious and fun to watch ‘coz you can really see how absolutely casual they are. I actually thought to myself that Taylor is doing this in his sleep.They are just so cool and not too serious about the whole thing. They said what they love about doing this band is this is not a “pressure situation.” Each member is still fully committed to their own respective bands and are just doing this when they can all because they happen to be friends enjoying the same genre-power pop-and want to have fun performing that style. Iha even said something like their music is “not deep.” They just want the lyrics to be simple.
Here are some cool and fun interviews that can give you an idea about the band and also how it started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm_j5yPnkcM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm_j5yPnkcM
I love Tinted WIndows songs Back With You, Kind of a Girl, Dead Serious and Can’t Get a Read on You.
I actually like and enjoy the small, simple live acoustic performances of this band more.
Check these live acoustic performances. Simple set-up, yet Taylor’s voice shines through:
Back with You – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwlGZAfE0h0
Kind of a Girl – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W-f4pH1Lig&feature=related