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Due to overwhelming volume, OpeningBands.com regrets that is not accepting CD admissions at this time.
| by will zeiger (Waz711) / todd hunter (todd) | |
1. I Met a Girl
2. Breathe
3. These Are Things
4. Life Still Applies
5. Go Get the Cops
6. Some Days
7. World United Already
8. Hey, So Long (Ohio)
9. The Beginner
10. Can't Wash It Off
11. Closer to Mercury
12. This Rough Magic
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Band: Wheat
CD: Per Second, Per Second, Per Second … Every Second |
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Review #1 - Will Zeiger
Imagine this: Jimmy Eat World and The Shins decide to marry one day and have a child. They hire Dave Fridmann (producer of, among others, The Flaming Lips) to deliver their baby. Everything seems normal, but all throughout his life, everyone seems to suspect the child may have been dropped on his head as a baby because his intelligence level never seems to never surpass his friend named, say, Matchbox Twenty.
This really is unfortunate in the case of Wheat's Per Second, Per Second, Per Second ... Every Second. The album begins promisingly enough with "I Met a Girl," a strong opener with a stop-start, indie-pop feel reminiscent of (a tamer version of) Braid. However, the album soon lulls into pleasant but ultimately boring pop-rock. The band consists of acoustic and electric guitar, drums, bass, and keyboards, but is complimented by a host of post-production add-ins. One can predict almost to the second the clichéd entry of strings on the more introspective, slower songs such as "Go Get the Cops" and "Hey, So Long (Ohio)." Other songs are so polished and derivative of other pop-rock that one can't help but wonder if he or she has already heard them on the radio (see "Some Days" or "Can't Wash It Off").
Being Wheat's major label debut, this isn't surprising, but it is more than a bit disappointing. It seems as if Wheat may be going the way so many others have gone with the prospect of a major label release. This album is one that just about anyone can find something to enjoy, but nothing really to love. Hopefully, this will be just a minor detour for Wheat on the way to more promising things in the future.
Review #2 - Todd Hunter
Outside Belgium and Massachusetts, Wheat is hardly a household name. Nevertheless, the Birkenstock rock of Medeiros (1998) and Hope and Adams (1999) tends to resonate with those who stumble upon it. Now on tour with Liz Phair, Wheat shares with her a new album that appears to repudiate all that preceded it.
The primary problem with Per Second, Per Second, Per Second ... Every Second is that it could be by any band. On "I Met a Girl," Wheat sounds like Coldplay failing at covering Old 97's; "Closer to Mercury" is another Old 97's retread. "World United Already" is the leftovers of "Delicious" by Catherine Wheel, fresh from the microwave. Almost everything else epitomizes generica. To add insult to injury, "I Met a Girl" and "Life Still Applies" parrot their titles, for the effect of an elementary-school music class that patronizes its pupils.
As if in apology, an alternate version of "Don't I Hold You" doubles as a bonus track and a reminder of the good old days. With its video of nothing but heavy petting, "Don't I Hold You" heretofore enjoys the most exposure of any Wheat song. "Go Get the Cops" is its only worthy rival here.
Through overzealous production, Per Second, Per Second, Per Second ... Every Second transforms from mere mediocrity to atrocity. In 2004, Wheat may make itself at home alongside Matchbox Twenty and Vertical Horizon as a band whose basic identity is Hamburger Helper® without the meat. With such a respectable back catalog, Wheat ought to do better.
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| by ryan lazoen (Concubine) / joseph m. pence (notaninja) | |
1. Bulls on Parade
2. Bullet in the Head
3. Born of a Broken Man
4. Killing in the Name
5. Calm Like a Bomb
6. Testify
7. Bombtrack
8. War Within a Breath
9. I’m Housin’
10. Sleep Now in the Fire
11. People of the Sun
12. Guerilla Radio
13. Kick Out the Jams
14. Know Your Enemy
15. No Shelter
16. Freedom
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Band: Rage Against the Machine
CD: Live At Grand Olympic Auditorium |
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Review #1 - Ryan Lazoen
Anyone who isn't familiar with Rage Against The Machine by now obviously has not been paying any attention to rock music over the past decade. One of the most intelligent and powerful politically charged rock bands in our history comes out with a live album that covers their entire career. Recorded at the Grand Olympic Auditorium on September 12th and 13th of 2000 in Los Angeles, CA; this is a great representation of the band at it's finest. This was the last live show ever from this group of hip hop influenced political hard rock band.
Anyway...the recording of this album is of top quality and is a good representation of their most popular and for the most part their best songs. In fact, the only gripe I have about this album is the fact that there are a few key songs missing from the first two albums. I personally would have liked to see Revolver, Take the Power Back, or Vietnow on this album. Outside of that, this album captures an intense live show from an intense band. It's unfortunate that this amazing band is no longer together, and makes this release possibly their last. It is a must for any die-hard Rage fan or anyone who would like basically a greatest hits album from one of the greatest and most influential rock bands of the past 12 years.
Review #2 - Joe Pence
Rage Against the Machine dominated Lollapalooza, when Lollapalooza meant something. Moreover, they was an revolutionary explosive live band, legendary in their time for their on-fire stage performances - James Merendino even described a Rage concert in Mexico City as being the basis for making his landmark film, SLC Punk. The band was, in fact, in the midst of compiling a live album at the time of their demise. So why is it that now, twelve years after they first set out to change the course of rock and roll and three years after they completely imploded, we get a Rage Against the Machine live album that's such a lukewarm representative of the band's fierce live assault?
It could be blamed in part on completionists. The material chosen for the live album was Rage Against the Machine's last two shows as a group, at Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. This adds some sense of finality to the production, but leaves it with inherent flaws chosing highlights from small sampling. Apart from this, another problem with the production rests in frontman Zach De La Rocha himself. While his gutteral menacing snarls set the perfect stage in studio for Tim Commerford's phat bass slabs and Tom Morello's Drop D blitzkrieg, in concert it's very different. Nowhere is this more evident than "No Shelter," where Zach's lack of rap flow ruins the song's tempo by going fast-slow, with the band stumbling to compensate. You know those cool Morello twangs at the end of Zach's "American eyes..." phrase? Here they're in the middle of the sentence *as he's saying it.* Also, De La Rocha stage's personality is hardly inciting and genuine, for instance he starts off "Guerilla Radio" with an less-than-empathic "Aww... shit!" that seems like an afterthought. These wouldn't be such a problem if ZDR weren't so high in the mastering that his lack of enthuiasm is so evident at times.
There's a lot of great moments on here. Zach changes the second verse of "Killing in the Name" and shouts in a blind rage, "Some of those who burn crosses / Are the same who hold office!" Or the swirling furiousness to which he attachs to the lines, "The Niña, The Pinta, The Santa Maria!" in the guitar storm of "Sleep Now in the Fire." In the end, it's more of the timing of this release than anything else (alongside Audioslave's blatantly corporatist marketing attitude) that seems out of place, and only serves to make Rage Against the Machine seem like a tool of the same agenda they supposedly spoke out so fervently against.
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| by deanna hildebrand (modusoperandi) / joseph m. pence (notaninja) | |
1. Drug Song
2. Fake Out
3. Let's Kiss
4. Tina Goes to Tibet
5. 2012
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Band: Renminbi
CD: The People's EP |
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Review #1 - Deanna Hildebrand
I was first biased towards this CD when i saw the cover of it, with the band's name on it. The name Renminbi means "the people's currency" and the EP has a picture of the yuan (Chinese currency) on the front; brilliant!
So, Renminbi is a lo-fi band of three New Yorkese ladies who play guitar, drums, and keyboards, respectively, and they all participate in the vocals. The overall feeling I got from this EP was that I wish I could invent a shrink ray, so I could shrink this band down to a size that i could carry around in my pocket. It just gave me an unshakably warm and pleasant feeling.
Three out of the five tracks on this CD are instrumental, and each song is different enough to give a well-rounded sense of diversity. The first is an upbeat number with a strong hip-shaking lateral groove, while the next track is a lot softer, with a twangy guitar and low-key, esoteric lyrics like "it's just a fake-out." That and the last track have a nice, dreamy quality to them.
The third song, "Let's Kiss," is pretty amusing. SMV, the primary vocalist of the album, is shrieking frantically and with a healthy dose of profanity about the "most dreadful day" she had to her significant other for about three verses, getting madder and madder at the person she is yelling at for not caring about what a crappy time she had returning a sweater. The rather one-sided argument is resolved with the entreaty of the person being shrieked at: "let's kiss."
The next instrumental track is hard to sum up. It sounds like an indie rock parody of some music you might hear over the PA of a shopping mall or pharmacy. It is basically carrried along by its loud/soft and slow/fast dynamic. I found it cool but not as compelling as the other tracks.
I guess my only real complaint about this CD is it's length; an all-too-brief 15 minutes. I get the feeling that this is an inadequate showcasing of their talents.
I look forward to hearing more from this band.
Review #2 - Joe Pence
"Wait," the voice on the song coos, adding, "it is impossible to sustain..." Lisa Liu, the very ocassional voice of Renminbi, is not about to let up with the many secrets presented here by the experimentalist trio from New York City.
And while some of their work seems directionless and too close to a jam band at first (the by-the-motions opener "Drug Song"), then edgy and frankly annoying (the whiny frantic dialogue on "Let's Kiss"); in terms of pacing, these are both essential to the The People's EP. They set the stage for a spectacular jazzy fusion stomp on "Tina Goes to Tibet" that's filled with electric momentum and the threshy drumming of Jenny Johnson. Likewise, "2012" lays down some of the most straightforward space rock this side of Meddle, ending in a layered wall-of-sound collapse where one could imagine all sorts of instruments being swept into a black hole of sound ad infinum ala "A Day in the Life"... now that's how you end an album!
While Renminbi may not be actually able to acheive the same messianic moments they seek out at times like many of their post-rock contemporaries, they can atleast sustain the definite possibility for oh-so-many moments, and that's a start.
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| by will zeiger (Waz711) / adam terese (adam1) | |
1. This Is Where It Begins
2. Where It Begins
3. What You Want
4. Say You Love Me
5. Apart
6. Track 6
7. Dry Dance
8. One of Them
9. Something Better
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Band: Aderrick
CD: This is Where it Begins |
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Review #1 - Adam Terese
After listening to Aderrick's latest release This Is Where It Begins..., one can't help but think that this was music meant for an entirely different time period, perhaps the 1980's? Incredibly reminiscent of Prince, vocally especially, Aderrick creates a pop dance album with touches of electronica and the soul of R&B. Despite the obvious Prince influences, Aderrick manages to create a sound all his own, just a sound that's not quite desirable.
The main problem with the entire album is Aderrick's inability to really captivate the listener musically in any way. A good majority of the album falls into repetition's trap with similar drum beats and the recurrent use of distorted guitar, and as a result the music seems incredibly unfulfilling. The one bright spot in this mess happens to be Aderrick's high pitched, sometimes expressive vocals. Although not always fitting with the music, his vocals at least show hints of potential. Aderrick's voice shines through on songs such as the R&B tune "Apart" and the sexually infused "What You Want" despite the poor production. These two tracks, definitely the most easily endured tracks on the album, showcase Aderrick's voice most prominently and are at least somewhat enjoyable to listen to; a nice departure from the painfully repetitive nature of the album.
Overall, some variation to Aderrick's different sound would have been a welcomed addition to a largely lifeless album. Aderrick's voice saves the album from being a complete disaster and tracks such as "Apart" and "What You Want" show potential in his musical vision. With such potential, hopefully Where It Begins... is not the end.
Review #2 - Will Zeiger
Utilizing simple drum loops, sparing amounts of guitar, and electronic samples galore, Aderrick's This is Where it Begins has arrived about 20 years past the 80's new wave it might once have fit right in with. His soft, almost feminine vocals flow well and fit alongside the synth-pop/electronic music. Unfortunately though, the music is overly repetitious and highly unoriginal.
The album begins with "Where it Begins", a decent showcase of Aderrick's voice, but a ridiculous track musically. The arena rock distorted guitar leads into a drum machine breakdown, and things are pretty much downhill from there. "Apart" is probably the song most suited to his talents, but is lost among the thousands of other soft-rock, R&B type tracks (think the waiting area of your dentist's office) that it sounds exactly the same as. Tracks 7 and 8 are somewhat darker, with "Dry Dance" reminiscent of the soundtrack to any number of apocalyptic video games. Finally, the album is closed with "Something Better", an overtly Christian worship song.
While Aderrick's high, but soft and soulful vocals do hold potential, his efforts are lost on the rest of This is Where it Begins. With more inventive songwriting, catchier beats, and better production Aderrick has the potential to go somewhere, but for now, this album will probably remain one just for friends and family.
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| by jana robert (brmc) / josh lucas (smokey) | |
1. Wild Was the Night
2. Sing Another Song for the Winterlong
3. Blue Swans of Winter
4. Twenty Months in a Hail Storm
5. Sunlight Through the Fog
6. Summertime
7. Babydoll
8. Kittens of Lust
9. Big City Lights
10. Almost Perfect
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Band: Goldenboy
CD: Blue Swan Orchestra |
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Review #1 - Josh Lucas
Who's ready to calmly and melodically rock?! I was, a month or so ago, when I heard that an ex-member of the Eels would be at the Cowboy Monkey with his new band Goldenboy, promoting their latest album Blue Swan Orchestra, with a US tour. After talking to the guys in Goldenboy and being offered money for my John Deere sweatshirt, I bought the CD.
It being November, the CD came at the best time, if you believe in the idea that some music is more fitting in certain seasons. This happens to be a great Illinois winter album. The whole CD just oozes a cold, wet, grey day feeling, with tracks like "Sing Another Song for the Winterlong," "Blue Swans of Winter" and "Twenty Months in a Hail Storm." This album is definitely best for listening to while looking out a window at a fresh snow fall.
So, if you're sitting there thinking "boy, I have too much happy summertime music," and want to sit and contemplate on wintery stuff (whatever that may be) go out and pick up Blue Swan Orchestra before the sun comes back from hiding.
Review #2 - Jana Robert
"Without music life would be a big mistake."
–Friedrich Nietzsche
What would we be without music? Music that comes over us like a "rush of blood to the head," captures us, completely devours us whole? It is music in which we can fall like people in a strong torrent, weary of life. Music is like a drug that pulls us in deep precipices, catapults us to unknown heights, and gives us this irreplaceable feeling of being understood.
Sometimes music is what keeps you alive. It is hard to really put in words how this album Blue Swan Orchestra can put you in deep, euphoric emotions. It is dark, it is enthusiastic, it is melancholic and it makes tremendously happy. It can make you cry, like a wizard it can produce an enormous smile on your face. With a voice that sounds dark-suffering, but not dismal-limp, poetic stories about life and love, tender pianos and soft drums, Shon Sullivan, Bryan Bos and David McConnell produce a big, mysterious, intangible masterpiece. It is just ten little songs, but they can cause a warm feeling that is sometimes even hard to stand because it is so overwhelming and haunting. Wintersongs.
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| by emily johns (ejohns) / jessica cochran (lemmingcontrol) | |
1. Letter
2. Hot Anger, Soon Cold
3. (moneymaker)
4. The Contortionist
5. Same as it Ever Was
6. Burning Old Stories
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Band: The Snake The Cross The Crown
CD: Like a Moth Before a Flame |
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Review #1 - Jessica Cochran
Like a Moth Before a Flame is the first release by the CA based band The Snake The Cross The Crown. A mix between synth-pop and emotional indie rock, this EP makes me look forward to more from this band in the future.
All the songs have very interesting intros, and the songs only get better as you continue to listen. I most enjoyed the piano interwoven throughout most of the songs, it really adds a soothing touch to your basic rock song. "(moneymaker)" has some cello in the background as well. The synthesizer is used very widely in the songs; all this together makes the songs very full with the great guitar work and solid bass and drums.
The vocals on Like a Moth Before a Flame are just what you would expect to go with such great instrumentation. The lead singer has a very excellent voice; powerful and full of emotion. I also enjoyed the harmonies of the background singers. The format of the lyrics are for the most part without catchy choruses, but the words flow smoothly and are very emotional.
All in all, this is an exceptional first release for an independent rock band. The tight, solid musicianship makes you wish for a full release in the near future. I definitely recommend The Snake The Cross The Crown for all you indie rockers out there, and even those of you who just want a good CD to listen to. www.snakecrosscrown.com
Review #2 - Emily Johns
In all honesty, I picked out this album in an act of art appreciation; the cover graphics are simply kickin' which is always an added bonus. To redirect after that tangent, the group's music has been described as a mixture of emo and indie rock (a short diatribe that every band these days attaches those labels to get any dude with shaggy hair and vintage t-shirts to buy the music).
Although most of the songs due deal with the ongoing battle of love and relationships, the vocals are not terribly drawn out or whinny. In fact, the singer's voice is smooth and streamlined. It is evident that the instrumentals, while not unbearable, play only to back up the vocals. If any extraordinary musical talent exists, the direction of the group will not let the instrumental talent surface. The well blended and creative electronic beats mixed into the songs only out do the instrumentals by a few notches. The disc is most defiantly easy to listen to even more than a few times; however the lack of innovation only throws the work into a category where several other bands already exist. With a nice chill sensation this group is nice to have but while not disturb your homeostasis.
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| by casey best (happyhobo) / chris earnhart (Pocket) | |
1. Between Stations
2. Make you Cry
3. Quitter
4. Don't Forget
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Band: Istvan and His Imaginary Band
CD: Istvan and His Imaginary Band |
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Review #1 - Casey Best
Istvan's CD did not live up to my expectations--which is not to say that I didn't like it. Honestly, I don't think anything could have met with the expectations I had for a band called "IstVan and His Imaginary Band." Short of sonically blowing my mind, anything would have been a letdown. It turns out that where I thought an "Imaginary Band" would create some interesting sounds, Istvan's band is really just him on an acoustic guitar and a drum machine. A quick sidenote: the drum machine's name is Kendall Everejj Michael.
He also provides the vocals, both lead and background. The music off the CD is surprisingly listen-to-able, even though nothing stands out in particular. The guitar work is decent, and the drum machine is...well...a drum machine. Luckily for the otherwise medicore CD, Istvan's voice is very clear and trained, and meshes pretty well with the other instruments on the CD. This CD isn't one that will be in constant rotation, but it will make good background music.
Review #2 - Chris Earnhart
Istvan has quite the imagination. And it comes out in this band. Not everyone would enjoy this music, but it is poppy-folk rock, which is always cool in my book.
With catchy guitar parts and choruses, Istvan and His Imaginary Band are really an entertaining band. The album is upbeat, musically catchy, and lyrically interesting. The vocals don't have the best recording, which at first made me a little uncomfortable, but after I became accustomed to this, it posed no problem and I could hear it all quite well.
Light guitar, which sometimes has a very slightly tropical taste to its folk sound, overlays interesting, repetitive percussion which adds to the catchiness. It's not the kind of catchiness that sticks in your head and bugs the hell out of you, but the foot-tapping goodness that leaves you feeling pretty good.
"Quitter" is my favorite, it has a wide range of tones, which I like, with the vocals going from quiet to loud. The vocals definitely worked out the best for this song, and it has all of its parts together. More feel good instrumental interludes intertwine with bouncy, catchy vocals and pretty cool lyrics.
I would recommend this album and band to any fan of catchy folk rock that feels good. If you're looking for something to which you can be sad or depressed or angry, then keep looking. But if you want some good upbeat, energetic music that is still relaxing in its own.
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| by pat (xghstst0riesx) / ryan lazoen (Concubine) | |
1. Hey! Hey! Hey!
2. New Way To Dance
3. The Way I Used To Be
4. Sorry, I'm a Pushover
5. The Kinison's Area 53
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Band: The Kinison
CD: Mortgage is Bank |
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Review #1 - Ryan Lazoen
I had no idea what I was getting into when I popped in this CD. All I knew was Casey Chaos of Amen produced it so I expected something rough and dirty sounding. This wasn't at all what I got, however, as the debut EP from The Kinison sounds roughly between a mix of The Used and The Blood Brothers.
Poppy and catchy, this album will be sure to catch the ear of many of its listeners right away. However, unlike most albums in this style of music, the lyrics aren't the same boring clichés about girls and romance and their song structures are a little bit more unique than most of the stuff you hear on MTV. This just makes the album worth listening to, as the album is pretty simple and straightforward for the most part. Even though it's not the most original thing I've listened to, something about this album makes it stick out from the other poppy melodic punk rock acts you see on television every day anymore. "The Kinison's Area 53" shows a little rougher edge to end the album, which seems to fit.
Overall, I think this band has a lot of potential to be really good. They have a unique, but easily attainable sound that will probably take them far. And with a new major label record deal on Atlantic, and a tour with Blink 182 under their belt, look out for this band next year. Not the next At The Drive-In, but pretty enjoyable EP none-the-less.
Review #2 - Patrick Marchwiak
The Kinison sound a bit like a watered down Blood Brothers meets radio rock. You can also hear some Refused and At the Drive-In in there. So think screamy punk with some hardcore influences.
When I first listened to this I thought there was only one guitar player. After listening more closely I realized there are two. The band needs to utilize the existence of two guitars better. Overall the actual music could benefit from being more complex with more interesting song structures. Yes, there's plenty of screaming. And a lot of the time it sounds out of place. The lyrics could use some work too. "I got a new pair of shoes/I got a new way to dance/I got a new haircut/I got a new pair of slacks" - this really seems to be about nothing. "Coz someone near you is sad/And I can't stop feeling bad/And I forgot what she said," - this might be good if a 5th grader wrote it.
The Kinison do have faults but they are able to write somewhat catchy songs and I can see someone who has never heard anything like this getting into it. There's definitely potential but if they want to separate themselves from all the bands out there doing styles like this, they need to be more creative and write better songs.
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| by will zeiger (Waz711) / nick escobar (Volta17) | |
1. All You Do Is Smile
2. Can Green Lantern Save Us Now?
3. Edelweis
4. First Time Around
5. Space Cadet
6. Gentle G.
7. Get Close to You
8. Not Me
9. No One/ After Midnight
10. Karaoke Queen
11. Kristy
12. I Want to Throw Your Love Away
13. The One
14. In Love At the Wrong Time
15. Rockstar
16. Starling
17. Yeah You!
18. Not Another Night
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Band: Passion Trip
CD: Don't Go |
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Review #1 - Will Zeiger
If you're anything like me and you've made a pledge to never read a review past a Weird Al comparison, you might as well save yourself a few extra seconds and just stop now. Anyone else, read on. For those that have decided to venture forward, Passion Trip is an alternative rock trio from the Chicago area. In general, their sound consists of either acoustic or lightly distorted guitar, drum, and bass reminiscent of a somewhat less talented version of Matchbox 20 (yes, apparently it is possible).
By far, the worst aspect of this album is the vocalist. Singer/Guitarist Jason Gelb sounds like Weird Al trying not to sound like Weird Al. Needless to say, whenever he extends himself much above a normal conversational tone, Jason Gelb's nasally vocals just about kill anything the band has going at that point. Unfortunately, the rest of Passion Trip doesn't fair much better. While the band is competent from a purely technical stand point, there is little in the way of creativity or originality to be found on Don't Go.
The songs themselves never stray from conventional structures or progressions. Songs like "All You Do Is Smile" incorporate lightly distorted guitars for an alternative rock feel, while others have a very obvious country influence. The lyrics lack substance and originality as well, with cliched subjects ranging from meeting girls at the bar to the self indulgent "Rockstar" where Gelb sings about his hope to someday play at the Aragon Ballroom and be known as a rockstar for doing so.
The one bright side to Passion Trip is that the band always sounds like they're enjoying themselves. This makes the album somewhat more tolerable. On the other hand, it's a plus because it's probably all they'll get out of Don't Go.
Review #2 - Nick Escobar
First look at the cover design gave me hesitations about what this band would sound like. Sadly to say, the dull cover art matches the dull music contained with in - light rock with small country influences.
There are 18 songs, all basically about girls and love, that are hard for a listener to plough through. They sound like the band that plays cover songs at the back of a bowling alley during league night. And maybe one to many drunk bowlers suggested that they write their own songs.
Singer/guitarist Jason Gelb's voice doesn't posses the range that he tries to push it to. 18 songs that are all relativity the same. There's a couple salvageable tunes that your mom might like. What day is her league night on?
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| by chris earnhart (Pocket) / joseph m. pence (notaninja) | |
1. Life Story
2. No Confusion
3. The Gemini
4. Song for Alison
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Band: Jason Bentley
CD: studio bit riot! sketches |
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Review #1 - Chris Earnhart
This short taste of Mr. Bentley is a great start for an inspiring folk artist. I think my main problem with the CD is that while it does deilver, it shows potential for much more. In other words, this album offers promises that I feel it could fulfill but doesn't.
The whole album has a whole penchant for the low end, which I like, because it's not something I hear as often as I'd like in folk. In the first three songs, the band seems to use the bass to compliment Jason's deep voice and the lighter guitar to contrast it, but even the guitar doesn't go very high. The simple percussion becomes quite powerful in response to the vocals.
I think the voice is where most of the potential was. The music was simple, but powerful, and making it more complicated would take away overall. But it seems throughout that the vocals could be much more powerful. I do like the sound, but it feels like there could be more, with the voice becoming very powerful during rising points in the music in order to really push it. I say this because when I first started listening, I was expecting it to be like that, but I was disappointed to find my expectations were ill-founded.
Overall, I enjoyed this CD, the songs are well written, with a prominent role played by the bass, which isn't exactly a popular instrument in folk, but it really adds to this album because of how it compliments the vocals. It does need some work, but there is definitely something for folk fans to look into here. Check Jason Bentley out at a live show or Open Mic near you!
Review #2 - Joe Pence
Jason Bentley is a difficult artist for me to describe. Here's why. So often over the course of reviewing an artist, you're expected to dissect it and spit it back out as the sum of its parts, that when you have an EP as sparse as studio bit riot! sketches, it's difficult to follow those same guidelines. I'm not saying this in strictly in the negative sense, though.
Jason Bentley's work is a reflection of a singer-songwriter who strips down his work to only the barest essentials: vocals, light guitar, and ocassional accompaniment. The result is only sometimes successful. "How would you tell your life story?," the motivational phrase in opener "Life Story," is so skeletal and low-key that it comes off as disaffecting. "No Confusion" is more appealing, its drum rolls and the somber tone of Jason's baritone voice work well with the song's heightening swell of emotion. Equally effective is the thrumming bass of "The Gemini" put together with mysterious, half-spoken/half-sung passages.
Jason Bentley's music isn't for everyone, but it is effective mood music: looking out on a moonlight November night from the warm sanctuary of travelling car, this album reminds of you of what it's like to be out among the barren landscape rushing by.
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| by jessica cochran (lemmingcontrol) / joseph m. pence (notaninja) | |
1. Run for Mayor
2. No Record
3. You're Going to Break That Chair, Tom Colley
4. Luge Me
5. The Claw Machine
6. She's a Machine
7. Regarding Your Pleasure
8. Snowflake Crystal Motel
9. Perfect Crime
10. Walking on Red
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Band: Viza-Noir
CD: No Record |
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Review #1 - Jessica Cochran
Viza-Noir is a trio composed of Dan McAdam, Mike O'Connell, and Joe Kaplan, on guitar, bass, and drums respectively. This simple set up serves the band well on this album.
The instrumentation on this album is very stripped down to the basics. The guitar is not usually distorted, and has a raw garage sort of sound to it. As I listened to it, the guitar work sometimes reminded me of Nada Surf. The bass fills in very well behind the guitar, adding depth to the songs. The drums are tight and add in a bit of toe-tapping-ness to the songs.
The only thing I would change about this album is the vocals. They aren't really all that bad, I just don't think they mesh that well with the music. They are a little nasally at times, and are just not anything interesting or capturing.
Overall, No Record is a good album. The instrumentation is excellent and the songs are good if you don't mind the singer's voice. www.vizanoir.com
Review #2 - Joe Pence
Viza-Noir is post-punk at its most punk, Wire at their most fly-by-wire. The 'louder-and-faster' noise they produce doesn't exactly sound like it should come from Chicago present, it sounds more like it should be flowing out from somewhere like Northern England circa 1979. For a threesome, Viza-Noir fills both sound channels and then some, on one hand you have Doug McAdam's wild vocal blurts and cacophony guitar bursts and on the other is Mike O'Connell's looming bass thuds and Joe Kaplan's drum flourishes and tense flirtation with math-rock signatures.
For fans of the genre, the frantic one-two punch of "Run for Mayor" and "No Record," the glaring immediacy of "Perfect Crime," or the fractured strides of "She's a Machine" might not be wholly original steps but they leap out at you and don't let go. This is the kind of stuff that can make you wax nostalgic, it's hard to play the quickfire chords of "Luge Me" and not hear Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) or drink in the guitar-soaked slow strumming of "Snowflake Crystal Motel" and not be reminded of The Argument. While the barrage of guitar clamour and hailstorm drumming may be tiring for some, it promises a number of quality listens for those who can stand out the storm.
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| by jen cavallero (jentastic) / casey best (happyhobo) | |
1. In Your Head
2. Running in Circles
3. Walking Papers
4. The Things We Say
5. You’re Gone
6. Daydream
7. Not Another Game
8. Celebrity
9. All You Wanted Was A Crowd
10. Pleasure to Burn
11. I Won’t Wait for You
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Band: The Berlin Project
CD: The Things We Say |
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Review #1 - Jen Cavallero
Hailing from the fine state of Pennsylvania, The Berlin Project is here to send a message on their current album, The Things We Say. This message is not to convey their original ideas or innovative sounds, but rather one of predictability and formulaic sound. Many tracks sound strikingly similar to the others; the second and third tracks could even easily be combined into one drawn out song if it weren't for that short pause in between. It is also difficult to take a band seriously with lyrics such as "there's nothing left for me to do so I'll just end with this sweet bass line" ("Celebrity"). The less-than-intricate guitar lines would most likely fare better in a live show, since the band does successfully project a sense of energy in the opening track, "In Your Head."
Overall, this is not the most original album in the even less original pop-punk genre, but there are a few bright spots. Its eleven tracks, cover such topics as toxic friends ("In Your Head"), heartbreak ("Pleasure to Burn"), and even a few inklings of darkness with the lines "The snow is falling around/The blood from your face is staining the ground" ("I Won't Wait for You"). The title track is rather catchy, and transitions into a brief, almost wistful track entitled "You're Gone." The vocals are steady throughout, and drummer Nick Revak does an excellent job of holding each song together, even in varying tempos. The musicianship stands out on the song "All You Wanted Was A Crowd," with a mix of keyboards and drums as the driving force at the start and close of the track.
Review #2 - Casey Best
The Berlin Project's The Things We Say isn't a CD that will change the face of music by any means. If you're a fan of pop-punk and are looking for some music that you can just pop in and enjoy on some level, it's probably worth looking into. The album starts out with "In Your Head", which contains some Alkaline Trio-esque vocals and drums that tie together for a pretty decent song. In fact, well-harmonized vocals and tight drumming are basically the constant throughout the CD.
The only real problem with The Things We Say is that the songs' guitar parts and general styles don't change that much from song to song. The fact that the good songs and the mediocre songs have stylistic similarites ends up making the songs blur together, making the CD get old fairly quick. All in all, this is an album worth pulling a few good tracks off of, and putting them on a good mix CD.
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| by joseph m. pence (notaninja) / jeff berntson (zonelistener) | |
1. Talking Introduction
2. Talkin Backward Masking Blues
3. I'm Gonna Flip
4. Hemisphere
5. Cold Morning in Minusinsk
6. Inland Traveller
7. New Start
8. Goblins and Pines
9. Light the Torch
10. Maranata Club Lounge
11. Melting Minds
12. Green on White
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Band: Isolation Years
CD: Inland Traveller |
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Review #1 - Joe Pence
"Hey, it has a saw in it. How neat is that?" Those were the words that sold me on reviewing the Isolation Years.
And while Inland Traveller does open with a hokey spaghetti western with warbley saw and accordion accompaniment, thankfully the rest of the album is sparing of the same. Instead, the remaining tracks are in large part ambitious pop akin to fellow Swedish counterparts Kent.
Like the prize wheel with randomly dispersed song titles that adorns the back of it, Inland Traveller is a gambit, but for the chances it takes, the payoff is worthwhile. Singer Jakob Nyström anchors in accented English a solid range of material. For what doesn't work, the seethy, out-of-place, almost noir accordion instrumental of "Maranata Club Lounge"; there's a lot that does, everything from a drunken mariachi sway throughout "Talkin Backward Masking Blues" to the hypnotic organ swoon of "Melting Minds." The cautious lyrical optimism in the album is scattered and diverse, and blends well with countrified guitars and spacey tuneful melodies.
The album closes on the almost cryptic lines, "it's an anti-gravitational thing at hand / and it's sending us away / from each other once again / leaving wider gaps than what was before." While I may not be exactly sure on this, I think I felt much the same about having to leave the Isolation Years.
Review #2 - Jeff Berntson
I was at a loss.
I listened to Isolation Years' Inland Traveller more than 20 times after receiving the disk to review. I love it, but it led me to question myself.
"What makes me love certain music, and dislike other music?" I asked myself.
Inland Traveller has shed some light.
The album provides a comforting feel (like a warm fireplace at home) as well as a twinge of excitement from an original sound (like a surprise party). This is what makes me like specific music...a nice balance between comfort and excitement.
The folksy yet haunting vocals of Jakob Nystrom and superb guitars and drums, combined with the wide range of instruments used (organs, horns, accordion, saw and mandolin), make up this feeling.
Each song gives you a different taste of the depth of talent Isolation Years has. The acoustic guitars and harmonies on "Melting Minds" are nothing like the echoey guitars and organ that seem like the come from a 60's art film on "Maranta Club Lounge" – but both songs work well in their own element, and on this album. And in my musical taste.
The album begins with "Talking Introduction," a haunting little song that could have easily been found any of the recent Radiohead albums. The album is littered with equal amounts of melancholy and upbeat tracks that will make you feel as if you are in an emotional traffic jam. Stop-and-go traffic through the title track Inland Traveller, and back up to freeway speed with the poppy horn-playing on "New Start."
The album was originally released in Isolation Years' home country of Sweden in 2001, and makes it to North America by way of Urbana's own local label Galaxy Gramaphone (released this past November).
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| by mike heiber (TheUglyOrganist) / paul wagner (Wags34) | |
1. Lilith
2. Chaser
3. This (Can’t be Happening)
4. Walk to the Sun
5. Open Star
6. Dirty Road
7. Interference
8. Satellite
9. Signals
10. Transmitter
11. Sundering Sea
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Band: Analog Missionary
CD: Transmitter |
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Review #1 - Mike Heiber
With a swirling mixture of sounds, floating melodies, beautiful harmonies,and distorted sounds, swaying this way and that, this ambient progressive rock album displays a taste of many different feelings and styles. From a calm tranquil state to powerful feel-good rock, the listener experiences a vastness of musical creativity.
Being a somewhat new listener to progressive rock, I found it hard at first to grasp exactly what was going happening on this album. For listeners looking for catchy hooks and unforgettable rock anthems, you may find yourself lost.
But for those listeners looking to get lost, with most songs around 6 or 7 minutes long, you may easily find yourself swept away by the ambient nature of this album. Don't get me wrong though, this album can still rock. There are some powerful guitar solos and heavy beats, but everything resolves to a state of tranquility forming an appropriate balance between power and peacefulness.
Overall, I think this is an album that grows on you as you listen to it. There is just to much to grasp in only a few spins.
Review #2 - Paul Wagner
Analog Missionary has a very unique sound, and as a band is very hard to classify; jazz in some parts, but clearly rock in others... in the same song. Anstrom, the lead singer of AM, cuts into the rhythmic, sometimes too-long musical interludes with a Dido-esque voice. Anstrom is supported by Kevin Kaiser on guitar, and Tony Novak on bass, sticks, and keyboard.
Transmitter is a good record to mellow out to. Novak and Kaiser provide smooth guitar rhythms and jazzish keyboard tones that go on for minutes at a time without the interruption of vocals, as demonstrated in the nearly nine minute long "Satellite."
This record does grow on you though, and it is an excellent choice for background music while doing homework. It's soothing, and when you can hear them, the lyrics are poetic and deep.
Analog Missionary needs to pick a direction, shorten their songs (at least for the album, long songs are awesome live), and let their lyrics be heard more.
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| by natasha carter (twztedangel) / adam terese (adam1) | |
1. Quarter
2. Down Inside of You
3. Million Miles
4. Falls on Me
5. These Things
6. Won’t Back Down (Bring You Hell Remix)
7. Running Away
8. Most of All
9. Getting Thru?
10. Die Like This
11. Luck
12. Days With You
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Band: Fuel
CD: Natural Selection |
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Review #1 - Natasha Carter
Fuel has kept the sound they have perfected over the years while still evolving musically. Natural Selection is far from simplistic; it's eclectic and versatile. As I listen to this record I can tell that their sound has matured and that these guys have grown up. They incorporate different styles and experiment with new sounds. "Falls on Me" is a classic alternative rock song mixed with cellos. Another one of their songs, "Luck" deviates from the traditional sound that Fuel plays. Luck is a less harsh song, but it still maintains an alternative rock base while blending a bluesy element.
Brett's powerful and gruff voice makes you want to feel what Carl Bell( guitars and vocal) felt when he wrote these lyrics. Natural Selection's lyrics are dark, lonesome, painful and haunting. In track number six, "Won't Back Down" Brett sings, " I know what darkness means and the void you left for me. The isolation stings so thick it wants to bleed. The echos in my brain of the things you said to me. You took my everything now I'm coming for you." While its lyrics are anguish ridden they are also hidden under carefully crafted and engineered guitar solos. Honestly, if you are a fan of rock in general, you have to have Natural Selection as part of your collection.
Review #2 - Adam Terese
With their third album, Natural Selection, Fuel brings back that melodically driven hard rock sound that we know and love. Surely their best effort yet, this album is an edgy, hard hitting piece by one of today's most formidable rock talents. Often compared to bands such as Nickelback and Creed, Fuel yet again proves that they're better than the rest.
The album begins on a high note with the heavy and irresistibly catchy "Quarter". Quickly, Fuel sets the pace for this surprisingly heavy work of art that is as complicated as it is appealing. Where many bands rely on the use of a one similar, driving riff, Fuel is not afraid to add in the occasional guitar solo or deviation to keep things interesting. Overall, the album remains consistently melodic and heavy, with an occasional ballad or so. What stands out most on this album is Brett Scallion's distinct and very fitting vocals. He has obviously matured over the past few Fuel albums. He shines on the arguably best track, "Luck", a bluesy rock tune with a simple, but appropriate solo that serves as a deviation from the hard nature of the album.
For long time fans of Fuel, this album should surely fulfill your appetite for the intense, hard rock that Fuel has always brought to us. For newcomers to Fuel, this album stands as their best and most matured effort yet, and will likely win over a few. Undeniably the best songs on this album include "Quarter", "Million Miles", "Running Away", and "Luck". All tunes on the album are solid though, and this album definitely serves as one of the better mainstream hard rock albums of the year.
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| by joseph m. pence (notaninja) / casey best (happyhobo) | |
1. Smoke and Mirrors
2. Cancel the Sun
3. Confession
4. Aphrodite's Tears
5. Brighton by the Sea
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Band: Salem
CD: Love It or Leave Me |
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Review #1 - Casey Best
Salem is a pop/punk band that hails from balmy Gainesville Florida, although they're pop/punk in the way that Alkaline Trio is pop/punk. It isn't quite happy-go-lucky enough to be classified as pop/punk, but there's not really a better genre to put it under. Although there's nothing revolutionary about their music, they do it really well. The drums are very good, played at a fast and energetic pace. The guitar meshs well with the music. Lastly, although the album sounds as if the studio work was fantastic, it also has a little bit of a cool "around the edges" sound.
The singer's voice tends to waver a little at times, but that's really the only complaint regarding the Florida band's CD. The songs mostly deal with relationships, so the lyrics are nothing too special, but the music is good enough that that aspect can be easily overlooked, if not forgotten entirely.
Review #2 - Joe Pence
First off, Adam D'Zurrilla does a Robert Smith vocal impression effortlessly and that's a measure of worth. And maybe Salem's post-hardcore complicated rhythms have a flash of Thursday-ish appeal to them on first listen. But the sameness of his emotional inflections and song structure tends to make Love It or Leave Me difficult to listen through on multiple plays.
While the cohesiveness of the EP might draw a positive response from their core college rock audience, it's unlikely to draw in any new fans to the band. The Gainesville, FL band outrightly does well in their intentions on the surf-rock inflections and growl/mutes of the guitars of "Brighton by the Sea," or the thrashing tumultuous close of "Confession," or the drumming step-swagger start of "Cancel the Sun." But the dulled emotional urgency driven in over and over in the choruses of most of the songs undoes the impact of every fresh moment.
Salem unmistakably has the right ingredients in the right quantities to reach a wider audience, but unfortunately not all of them are present at the right times in Love It or Leave Me.
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| by emily johns (ejohns) / deanna hildebrand (modusoperandi) | |
1. Slayed
2. Stompbox
3. Supermoves
4. Velocity Shift
5. Horndog
6. Meteorology
7. Aquaplane
8. Doomsday
9. Basstrap
10. Sparks
11. Never
12. Heligoland
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Band: Overseer
CD: Wreckage |
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Review #1 - Emily Johns
The CD, Wreckage, may be déjà vu for your auditory senses. The group's high voltage electronic beat mixing and guitar riffs have entered mainstream through the silver screen (Snatch, Any Given Sunday) and the box set (Mitsubishi commercials). Musically challenged gamers could also be jamming to Overseer tunes unbeknownst to them.
However, Wreckage is the group's first full blown CD. This collection hits the ground running with the first tracks that are heavy hitting, with multilayer mixing and guitar riffs. This creates an in your face attitude and makes any listener a pseudo badass. However, the repeated chants and half attempts at rapping do not come to their own until later in the CD, "Doomsday." Here the lyrics are well thought out into an apocalyptic theme, integrating history, pop culture and myth.
The highlight of the CD comes during the lull when the beats take the back seat. The two songs ("Meteorology" and "Aquaplane") blend orchestral music with natural environmental sounds. The beats serve as a well balanced atmospheric baseline. The group emphasizes the vocals, and experiments heavily with artistic augmentation of the vocals in the latter song. The transition between the two songs is seamless, making for a great chill mood in the middle of all the mixing.
The CD once more picks up speed and intensity with more heavy beats and layered mixing. The closing is a track with a voice mixing speech on health and weather conditions while the music is mixing electronic beats with an orchestral score. Then there is twenty minutes of a phone ringing until a voice picks up and says hello (do not be a loser and listen just take my word for it)! If you are into the whole Moby electronic mixing scene, you would probably enjoy the CD minus the few tracks towards the end, where the heavy beats and recorded chants can become tiresome.
Review #2 - Deanna Hildebrand
This album has been heavily commercialized. I'm not just saying that as a bitter elitist, but as someone who has turned on a goddamned television a few times in the past few months. This album is like the Play of the 'derivative techno-rock' outfit. The first track, "Slayed," is prominent in the current Victoria's Secret commercial. You may recognize the song "Supermoves" from the movies "Snatch" and "The Matrix: Reloaded." "Horndog" was featured in a Mitsubishi commercial. I heard "Stompbox" whilst watching the Video Game Awards...I could write a pretty long article about the album's placements, but there are other points to be touched on.
This album is well-produced. When I first heard it, I rather liked it. That is mainly because I wasn't listening to it too well, it was just one of several applications running on my mental task bar. I used to listen to a lot of this brand of music, and this stuff is clearly either extremely derivative or a non-chalant ripoff of Prodigy and/or Crystal Method.
The first five tracks are rather tolerable, but the whole album is an unsettling concatenation of styles that don't mix well. There are some attempts at hip-hop here, and the last track is a 20 minute-long experimental track of ambient noise and a couple of recordings. There is a track with female vocals on it that starts off softly and then gets slightly irritating. Like many of the tracks here, "Meteorology" would be better without vocals. There is rap track called "Never" that doesn't fit in with the rest of the album at all, and the lyrics to "Doomsday" are just embarassing. I guess Overseer was going for a pretty gangster-tough quality with some of his lyrics, but the most edgy of qualities that could be mustered from this product was "Fuck you mom, I'm going to the mall."
I have an anecdote that comes to mind when I try to think of a proper context for this album: One time, I was in TriBeCa at a late hour and I saw all of these people loitering on a sidewalk, waiting to be let into rave at a non-exclusive club. Waiting outside was a group of several young adults speaking ASL amongst eachother; the deaf kids wanted to party at the rave, and wouldn't even have to hear the rave music! It was a great lesson in bad music synergy. The whole soundtrack at those things is a hard and repetitive bassline that sort of controls your pulse with it's rhythms.
That is what I get out of this Overseer stuff, at least the tracks on the album that I sort of liked. This album would be better-reviewed if it didn't have vocals, or if I were one of those hearing-impaired ravers from TriBeCa.
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| by steve sobel (steve) / joseph m. pence (notaninja) | |
1. Fear in Me
2. Bellevue
3. Guilt (hold down)
4. At War
5. Speak in Tongues
6. 515 Mellus
7. Nathaniel
8. Things Have Changed
9. Emo This
10. Shut Up
11. Surface
12. Resurface
13. The Orient
14. Bla Bla Radio
15. Magical
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Band: Fingertight
CD: In the Name of Progress |
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Review #1 - Joe Pence
Fingertight. Nickelback. How very similar. Let this be a warning to you.
The cover of Fingertight's album In the Name of Progress is a blocky robot with cactus-like appendages. But Yoshimi fans beware, for this is all clever lies and deception! Fingertight prove yet again that bands from California manage to get major label appreciation (in this case Columbia Records) before actually defining their own musicial confidence - when you have an album in your hands with a song called "Emo This," you know it must be trying to prove something to someone. The majority of this album ("Bla Bla Radio", "At War", "Fear in Me") sound like outtakes grabbed from the Flawless Records' cutting room floor. "Bellevue" slips in the line "I Stand Alone" several times in its chorus as if it weren't a major radio single for another post-grunge band, while "Guilt (hold down)" is a muddled nu-metal pastiche attempting to be Korn's guitar rap-rock.
Not even the slow latin-tinged alt.rock balladeering of "Things Have Changed" or the Deftones-nod in the straightforward core of "Surface" redeem this album from being such underwhelming and familiar material. In the Name of Progress is, in fact, very little progress at all.
Review #2 - Steve Sobel
While what Fingertight does, they do well - they certainly don't innovate. Fans of today's uber-produced radio ready rock will certainly enjoy Fingertight. They are capable of writing interesting and emotional melodic rock, but there's an indescribable next step that the band just hasn't yet taken from the sound of this album.
With track titles like "Emo This" which has so much humor potential soon followed by a track entitled "Bla Bla Radio", perhaps In the Name of Progress sets itself up with high expectations from an independent music fan.
There is absolutely a radio friendly pop-produced sound here, though the emotion in tracks such as "Surface" and "At War" isn't entirely glossed over by computers. With some more confidence to go in the musical direction of their choosing, Fingertight could prove to be a powerful force in melodic rock. This album, however, gives a glimmer of some potential for the future, rather than oozing great songwriting today.
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