Danger Radio

Nothing’s Gonna Hold Us Down

Danger Radio’s Doghouse debut suffers from an identity crisis: Over the course of the disc’s seven tracks, the Washington-based quintet split their time between funk-tinged pop-rock—reminiscent of My Favorite Highway and the Rocket Summer—and unabashedly electronic dance numbers. The songs closely aligned to the former category (“Build It Up,” the title track) rank among Nothing’s Gonna Hold Us Down’s strongest moments, while those relegated to the latter falter from the very start. “You & Me” finds vocalist Andrew de Torres trying on his best Justin Timberlake impression while fronting what sounds like a Justin Bieber B-side, while “Memories” sounds ripped from the soundtrack of an early-’90s Super Nintendo game. But as disproportionate as the two styles are, the band mesh them nicely on “Set You Free,” which manages to blend Danger Radio’s dancier (and blander) tendencies with some of the disc’s more appealing moments.

Doghouse http://www.doghouserecords.com

“Nothing’s Gonna Hold Us Down”