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Due to overwhelming volume, OpeningBands.com regrets that is not accepting CD admissions at this time.
| by todd hunter (todd) | |
1. Little Round Mirrors
2. Oh! You Pretty Things [Live]
3. We Drew the Maps
4. Wrecking Ball [Live]
5. Radio Silence [Live]
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Band: Harvey Danger
CD: Little Round Mirrors |
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A shooting star is a little piece of cosmic debris
desperately wanting to fall to earth.
It doesn't get too far; it's not a real star.
It's hardly even worth footnotes in your memoir.
So observes Sean Nelson in "Little Round Mirrors," the tender tearjerker from the third Harvey Danger album and now the star of its own EP. A sympathetic character sketch, it concerns a musician whose only companionship is his back catalogue. French horn by Jacob Hoffman and trombone by Greg Powers enhance the effect: schmaltz, but gorgeous schmaltz.
Three tracks here are live recordings from the studio at Avanti 2: a faithful cover of "Oh! You Pretty Things" by David Bowie and glossier remakes of two tracks from the first Harvey Danger album: "Wrecking Ball" and "Radio Silence." The surprise here is "We Drew the Maps," which would be right at home on White Hot Peach by Primitive Radio Gods. Actually bassist Aaron Huffman's baby, it is the first time he has sung more than the words "upstate New York" on any Harvey Danger recording, and hopefully not the last.
Harvey Danger has outlasted most of its Seattle contemporaries, and deserved to, if the quality and range of this EP are any indication.
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| by lance birch (lance) | |
1. Favor for a Friend
2. Megan
3. Badge of Cool
4. Schemers
5. Astrofied
6. Lost Cause
7. Revolt!
8. Kid OK
9. Into the City
10. Blue Black
11. Carnival Mirrors
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Band: Career Club
CD: The New Record |
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Career Club occupies a position near the center of an equilateral triangle drawn among early REM, The Pixies, and Fugazi. The three-piece splits vocals among all members, sometimes even sounding a bit like those bands' vocalists. The lyrics are mostly of a familiar tone, and the guitar has a crispy-clean overdrive that would give me a headache on a less musical record.
"Favor for a Friend" is a nice opener with a steady guitar strumming, animated bass, and popping drums. After two cycles, we get a softer version of the chorus with drummer Lisa's vocal harmony adding a new dimension to the building incantation. The song is followed by "Megan," a successful attempt at one of those girl's name songs. If it weren't such a strong song musically, I would probably hate it. Borrowing some of the grandiose style from Cheap Trick's "Surrender" between the chimey chorus and stalling verses, the band knows how to craft a tune that guides the listener.
"Badge of Cool" is mostly forgettable aside from the introduction of horns that make for a nice outro. "Schemers" is a far better song, with a little more of that aforementioned Fugazi flavor. The guitar tone varies a little more, with some extra delay and/or reverb and a beautiful breakdown. "Astrofied" is drawn out and sunny in the open air. "Lost Cause" is a little too sing-songy for the majority of the track, but the soothing instrumental break a few minutes in is probably the high point of the entire record. I'm left wondering how they could have held that back for so long.
We get awkward organ hooks in "Revolt!" a chorus that will echo in your head while you make dinner in "Kid OK," two of those boring almost-the-end-so-reach-for-your-car-keys songs in "Into the City" and "Carnival Mirrors," and an unbearable country-esque ballad that only seems good when you're not listening in "Blue Black." It drags on a bit, but this gives us a better perspective to understand what they're going for.
The 'Club sounds very full for a rock power trio, and I suspect they cheated on the record. That's fine by me. Here's the verdict: this is a genuinely good alt-rock record that consistently emits the unexpected while fully embracing the blandness of its genre. The songs can be hit-or-miss, but the approach is consistent and satisfying. My suggestion to the band: Career Club should continue to fit extra "surprise" parts in their songs to make their albums hold up, despite the weak points. My suggestion to the listener: check out their MySpace page.
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| by lance birch (lance) | |
1. Deco
2. Sidecar
3. Why Don't We (Fall in Love)
4. Get Back What You Give
5. Me and You
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Band: Pleasant Brothers
CD: Tell Me Once Again |
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The Detroit-based Pleasant Brothers spared no expense with the packaging for their review submission. I thought they may be trying to make up for something, but it turns out they're just trying to differentiate themselves. Pleasant Brothers may simply call themselves rock/pop, but their funky sounds deserve a more specific tag. I think this music would be at home where BBQ parties and alcohol cross paths, ideally in a scene with several outdoor beer-garden stages. Their songs have been the soundtrack to sunshine and melting snow this week, but I don't know if that works in Michigan.
This CD is aptly titled, as Pleasant Brothers seem so well versed in the language of music that the general life experience lyrics fade to the background. The songs all have that Everlast "What It's Like" feel to them, but with a much more positive tone. "Deco" requests sunlight through the haze, and that fairly characterizes the choruses. The blues leads and riffs building on old themes toward the end of the song convince the listener that the PBs made the right choice for an opener. "Sidecar" takes a step back with funk/blues/jazz sounds before trailing us through more of their beautifully-frilled peaks and valleys. "Get Back What You Give" probably has the best variations in mood of the 5 songs, while both this track and "Me and You" combine pounding bass with gleaming guitar in a way that could only elicit enthusiasm in those listeners not yet dazed.
This five-song CD is very radio-friendly in a Dave Matthews Band, mainstream post-hippie generica sort of way. What really stands out to me about this disc is the way it works so well with different listening approaches: you may not notice when one song stops and another starts, but that doesn't matter if you're just relaxing with some friends and cold drinks. However, if you are listening closely, their combinations of chill chords, ever-moving bass, string raking, and lead guitar never leave you bored. Perhaps all the other bar- and radio-oriented generic bands should listen to Pleasant Brothers for good ideas, but bear in mind they would require strong ability, execution, and (probably) production quality.
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| by mohan karulkar (mohan37) | |
1. Perspective
2. The Tempest
3. All Is Even
4. The Travelers
5. Irrigators
6. Future Man
7. The Festival
8. Kitchen
9. Ferris Wheel
10. One Last Harlequin
11. Subcutaneous
12. Deeper Still
13. On the Mend
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Band: Daniel Rogers
CD: This Side of the Green Arrow |
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The first few moments of This Side of the Green Arrow, by Daniel Rogers, greet the listener with a modulated Tron-like voice playing word games ("from one angle it looks so tangled and from another so pristine"), but the record quickly breaks into a shuffling, soulful rocker that forgoes electricity in favor of pianos, organs, harmonicas, and guitars. The second track ("The Tempest") starts with soft vocals and builds beautifully as Rogers sings of an impending storm coming straight for him. The rest of the album features similarly styled soft-loud combos, but avoids tedium through expert use of piano as both rhythm and lead instrument.
And then there's Rogers' voice, with alternates between a soothing rumble and devastating wail, and conjures up memories of "November Rain" unburdened by expectation, ego and melodrama. In fact, the record is thick with Axl's influence, like during the excellent "Future Man," complete with whispers, backup singers, slow drum rolls, and a killer chorus that leaves no illusion unused (sorry, couldn't resist).
Not everything crescendos into a wall of sound that succeeds, however, and a few of the tracks feature unnecessary variety and drag on far too long, like the two-faced "The Festival," which starts Monkees but somehow finishes Madonna, and comes in at just over five and a half minutes. "Kitchen," which follows, is just pots, pans, rain, a radio, and some computer-generated techno; "One Last Harlequin" and "Subcutaneous" are equally out of place and disjointed.
Despite some misses, the tracks that do work tend to work very well. "All Is Even" sounds like a Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie cover, and the final track of the album ("On the Mend") ends upbeat and contemplatively ("Is the good side the bad side? Is there only this side?"). This Side of the Green Arrow benefits from Rogers' hypnotic voice and thoughtfully-arranged sonic buildups, and with no shortage of "sounds like" moments, there's plenty for just about any fan to listen for.
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| by smokehouse (Smokehouse) | |
1. Chase
2. Everything
3. Reckoning
4. Found
5. Finish Line
6. Identify
7. Greatest Thing
8. So Much More
9. Line
10. Letter
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Band: Kiyoshi Graves
CD: Chase |
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Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Kiyoshi Graves blends musical elements of classic rock (The Who and Led Zeppelin) with pop vocal melodies on his full-length debut Chase. The combination is most effective in "Reckoning," which employs a quiet-loud-quiet format to trade between Americana-style lyrics and a classic rock riff, not to mention a particularly ripping guitar solo. Placed side by side in a single song, the two genres add a dynamic element to what might otherwise be just another quiet war song. "Chase," "Ending," and "Line" (my personal fave) are likewise solid pop-rock songs, each full of radio-ready hooks. Softer, atmospheric tracks like "Finish Line" and "Identify" add variety to the album without sounding contrived. The album's closer (my second favorite), "Letter", relies on layered E-bow guitars for the bulk of the track and might even be considered an experimental addition to the album. As trite and cliché as it sounds, Kiyoshi Graves has put together a considerably solid debut album: well written, recorded and performed. Truthfully, there's not a song that could be considered an automatic "skip." In plain English, Chase rocks.
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| by neil yeager (CarnivoreRepublican) | |
1. Drinking Gasoline
2. New World City
3. Constantly Reminded
4. Paper Thin Walls
5. Hate Is Safer than Love
6. Castaway
7. Outsize Shoes
8. Hook of Time
9. Skin and Bone
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Band: Ben Godwin
CD: Skin and Bone |
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In terms of vocals Ben Godwin sings like he has a bread basket in his gut; the slender chunk of a man does not match up to the voice in his pictures. There is passion in his voice, and a touch of soul. At times the sound gets dirty and you can really hear the gravel in his voice, and then it turns over completely and sings it out crisp and clean. At first I was quick to compare Ben Godwin to a sound like Tom Waits, but that thinking was a bit rash, as the sound is a bit crisper and cleaner overall. I think that compared to a sound like this, Tom leans a bit more into the dirty side of acoustic rock. I don't really want this to put the album this way, but it's kind of how it came in my head, this album is a dash of a more modern, poppier brand of swing that meets with Dave Matthews and Joe Cocker, then throws a birthday party for Tom Waits.
I really enjoy the tunes that have the more swing feel to them versus the songs that are a bit more Americana/acoustic pop. I think the full raspy and clean booming voice lends better to that style. The lead track entitled "Drinking Gasoline" would be one of these songs. Personally I don't recommend drinking gasoline, it's not good for you, a health hazard they say, but in this song, for some reason the dinosaurs are drinking it, I guess I'm OK with that, though if they didn't drink so much maybe the gas prices wouldn't be so high or something. So back to the song, it's rather fantastic, if only the whole album were as awesome as the lead song, I would probably rave about this album, but as it stands, I recommend it as a solid album, great production, there aren't any technical flaws, it's just that some of the songs are not my style.
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| by libby daggers (Libbyloo) | |
1. Been There
2. Boy Wonder
3. Pretty Little Lies
4. You Told Me So
5. Anna Joy
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Band: Talia Segal
CD: Nonprophet |
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Talia Segal is a singer-songwriter born and raised in Washington DC and now living in New York. She is a self-proclaimed folk-rock/pop artist. Not being an avid listener of folk-rock, I was skeptical of what her sound would be. However, Segal's five-song EP Nonprophet swiftly combines the folk-rock roots of acoustic guitar with the pop side of more upbeat songs.
Nonprophet is soulful, deep, and incredibly heartfelt. Segal's angelic voice is incredibly powerful in these songs and not afraid to speak her mind. These songs could easily be any girl's power anthem. It is obvious that songwriting is one of Segal's strengths as these songs are easy to understand and identify with.
Overall this album is inspiring. It is easy to appreciate the obvious heart and soul that was poured into making such an album. It is clear Segal is an independent, hard-working woman with a lot going for her. This EP draws you with the first sweet chord and keeps your attention to the very last note.
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