The Von Bondies — Love, Hate And Then There's You

The Von Bondies' name might ring a bell because frontman Jason Stollsteimer was famously involved in some fisticuffs with The White Stripes' Jack White in 2003. You may also be familiar with "C'mon, C'mon," the theme to the Rescue Me television series, from their 2004 sophomore album, Pawn Shoppe Heart.

The Bondies are back nearly five years later amidst lineup changes and a split from Sire Records, but it might as well be the early 2000s. Love, Hate And Then There's You hovers comfortably in the garage rock world of the turn of the 21st century, but has a poppy sleekness that can be attributed to Butch Walker (Simple Plan, Avril Lavigne) — who co-produced the album with Stollsteimer — and engineer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol).

The Detroit quartet's third album is littered with catchy songs that beg for singalongs, from opener "This Is Our Perfect Crime" to the infectious single "Pale Bride," and the album's best song, the super-fun "21st Birthday."

From all this "love," we move to the "hate" portion of the disc with "She's Dead To Me," which sounds entirely out of place. The vocals are whiny and the track's '90s grunge flair makes it sit in stark contrast to the rest of the album.

Love, Hate And The There's You starts to wane from then on. The female backing vocals are too precious, and things blend together once you wise up to the Bondies' obvious songwriting formula. As the title suggests, there's love, hate and then, somewhere in the middle, there's this album.

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