By the time the 14th season of E.R. hit the air, the show had long since stopped being water cooler fodder at work the next day, which is a shame because the show had finally hit a comfortable groove. ER proved years ago that it’s not always the actors that make the show. With the exception of maybe Law & Order, no other drama managed to be as successful as…
Spike has a definite nineties sound to start out “There’s No Sound In Flutes”. However, the disc starts off with “I Know Everything”, a track that has the arrangements struggling against the vocals for dominance. The instrumental interlude during the track is also something that seems out of lplace during the track, especially when Priggen’s vocals are so full of humanity where the interlude sounds forced or downright cold. Either…
The Prids start out “Until The World Is Beautiful” with a drum beat that would confuse anyone into believing that The Prids are a punk rock band. What ultimately comes from this drumming is a subtle set of vocals that make themselves quickly into something that feels like an early Joy Division track than anything else. “The Glow” is this opening track, and while the guitars do not do much…
It is always so hard to give band s a good review when all they send you is two or three songs. This is what Pretty Flowers does on this EP, so any gaps in my opinion on the band can only be corrected by a longer disc. Saying that, their self-titled EP starts out with “Riot”, a track that is led by a very distorted guitar line. There seems…
Giorgio Pretti is a more sincere brand of shrill guitar work in the vein of style like Santana. Why I say “more sincere” is the fact that Giorgio does the vocals and guitar most of the time, rather than the strictly narrow, guitar-only sound of Santana. Pretti is able to take changes in stride much more successfully than Santana; each track on “Cuidado Mano” does not need the same guitar…
Hey, Victory has a band that isn’t trying to cash in on the emo sound? And Premonitions of War sounds like the old Victory bands, what about that? Utterly brutal guitars mix in with break-neck drumming and cookie monster vocals to create a mishmash of metal, hardcore, and heavy metal. Each song starts and stops before one can actually realize whats happening. The crew in Premonitions of War blast through…
“Another’s World” is a pop track in the same vein as Kelly Clarkson and of the other singers (Sinead O’Connor, Natalie Merchant), and shows Preeta as completely capable of wowing audiences by the barrelful. Preeta really seems to have control of “In This Moment” as the first three tracks all have a runtime of one second of each other (two tracks at 3:42 and one at 3:43). The songs are…
Laura Roppe is a performer that defies convention. Where it is easy to provide broad comparisons to artists or other influences for many discs, I found myself sitting down and really focusing in to what she attempts to do on “I’m Still Here”. The album begins with “Bail Yourself Out” an effort that blends together country, gospel, rockabilly, and soul into a catchy and splashy introduction to Roppe. Continuing to…
“Chasing Trains” is the first track on Dana and Lauren’s latest release, a 4-track EP that touches upon a number of distinct and unique styles, sounds, and approaches. This track will immediately touch listeners for a variety of reasons, key of which has to be the utterly compelling vocal harmonies present. Couple these harmonies with a bluegrass-heavy set of arrangements, and what results is the duo’s first single-worthy track. Where…
Daniel Powter plays a very free and open style of pop rock that will fit well alongside groups like Maroon 5 and John Maher. The first track, “Song 6” shows that Powter is immediately marketable for any type of pop radio play. All of the songs on this self-titled disc are within a minute of each other in length, meaning that Powter has found a formula to drive home during…
