Louis XIV - The Best Little Secrets Are Kept

A lot of bands are doing the glammed-up garage rock sound lately, but few bands are pulling off homage to pure glam like San Diego’s Louis XIV. There’s definitely something a little special about them. They have some pure T-Rex going on (that’s never a bad thing) and even a blatant ripped lyric from the Rolling Stones’ “I Know It’s Only Rock-n-Roll” (“…take out a knife/Suicide right on the stage…” – featured in “Hey Teacher”). Bouncy beats, catchy hooks with cheeky lyrics, and double entendres only add to the kitschy vibe on the aptly named The Best Little Secrets Are Kept. Some prime examples are “Kit kat kit kat kitten you’re the kicks” and “Sing me a song/Bang me like the girls in Hong Kong…/…Politics are so much better when there’s sex.” So irresistible! And the circuitous use of the album's intro music in the hidden track at the end of the record combined with the auto-loop feature in my car’s stereo gave the album one seamless flow that worked and worked well time and again. Although I’d say I really dig 90% of The Best Little Secrets Are Kept, one place where I hit a bump is with the song “All the Little Pieces.” They slow the tempo down significantly on it, but that’s not the problem I have because the music itself is quite nice. The problem is the vocals, which at that speed come off as just a bit too nasally for my taste. Another flat point is “A Letter to Dominique.” Although there’s nothing really wrong with the song, it’s just a tad lackluster compared to the rest of the tracks despite a faithful channeling of Marc Bolan. Overall, I'd have to say that this album is one little secret that shouldn’t be kept. So go tell somebody… [www.louisxiv.net]