Month: September 2010

Posted on: September 27, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Blake Miller – Together With Cats (CD)

Just because you can make a track sound like it is old does not mean it has to sound like crap. Sure, I like the style of music that Blake Miller is trying to do during the opening to “Together With Cats”, but there is absolutely NO reason to have the vocals present on the track bury the needles. This creates a form of dissonance that will irritate and annoy…

Posted on: September 27, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Midnight Movies – Patient Eye / Golden Hair (CD)

For all intents and purposes, this is a single. There is an edited and an LP version of the same song coupled with a B-side. Thus, individuals do not have that much time to get to know who Midnight Movies are and what they intend to do in the music scene. The trance like vocals that start out ‘Patient Eye” hearken back to an earlier gothic style (mix Siouxsie and…

Posted on: September 27, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Midnight Movies – Lion The Girl (CD)

Individuals may have heard of Midnight Movies from the single they cut before the album was out, “Patient Eye”. Essentially, Midnight Movies attempted to take the world by storm with this track, which mixed a psychedelic style with a mid-nineties alternative style. Since there were so few tracks on their last EP, “Lion the Girl” is the first real chance most people will have listening to Midnight Movies. “Souvenirs” is…

Posted on: September 26, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Drayton Michaels – Low Stress in the Deep End (CD)

This band of dreamy-pop is of a style that really hasn’t been approached much since Sean Lennon started out back in the late nineties. Michaels’ music is not stale or rote in the least, and “Anyways” has the same laid-back beels that Christian superstar Bryan Duncan has had throughout his career. However, “Low Stress in the Deep End” can seem middling at times; the same fault that has reared its…

Posted on: September 26, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Mi and L’Au – S/T (CD)

The dreamy pop of “They Marry” shows Mi and L’Au as masters of atmosphere. While the track sounds outwardly positive, the flute and other incident instruments present on the track gives the song a darker feeling. The meandering flow of “Philosopher” uses repletion to drive home a simplistic, yet overall catchy melody to Mi and L’Au’s listener base. This repetition would be a key problem for practically any other act…

Posted on: September 26, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Four Year Strong US, UK, Europe, Canada Tour Dates Announced!

In case you haven’t caught on just yet, we’re going to be touring all over this world. Wherever you live, be it US, UK, Europe or Canada, make sure to come check us out as we head out on our Tonight We Fee Alive tour and its European counterpart. UK, come hang with us on the Kerrang Relentless Energy Tour, and Canada on the dates w/ Alexisonfire. No matter what,…

Posted on: September 26, 2010 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

American Hi-Fi – Fight the Frequency (Hi-Fi Killers/The Ascot Club) (CD)

Four records into it and American Hi-Fi are still living blissfully in the 90’s. It makes sense, given that front man Stacy Jones played drums for Letters to Cleo and Veruca Salt, two successful 90’s alt rock bands. On Fight the Frequency, the band’s first album in five years, American Hi-Fi plays competent alt rock with plenty of sing-along choruses, crunchy distorted guitars and tight drumming. What’s lacking is simply…

Posted on: September 26, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

NeuFutur.com and Serj Tankian Giveaway Imperfect Harmonies

In anticipation of the release of Serj Tankian’s sophomore studio album Imperfect Harmonies on September 21st, Serj Tankian is giving you the chance to win two huge prize packs! One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive a recording software bundle of AmpliTube iRig/ AmpliTube Fender/ Miroslav Philharmonik plus the T-RackS 3 Mastering Software, an Epiphone Guitar, as well as the new album and a shirt.

Posted on: September 25, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Mezzanine Owls – Slingshot Echoes (CD)

The opening strains of “Moving Around” has a very tenuous set of vocals and a much more insistent set of drums. This allows for two distinct strains of style to be present during the early part of “Slingshot Echoes”, and gives the band an ability to blend styles from the eighties , nineties, and the present. The band gets added style points by allowing the bassist to have a very…