Cold Dead Hands – Novelization / 2007 Self / 5 Tracks / The band first lurches in a Fu Manchu o Monster Magnet direction, with the opening calling forth the same general style of stoner rock that those acts (along with early Sugar Ray) created. The vocals kick in and give the track much more of a Foo Fighters sound, while the bass line (linked to the lead guitar) finishes…
Minus the Bear is currently supporting its latest release, Planet of Ice on Suicide Squeeze Records. The Seattle based outfit is gearing up to tour Australia and Japan this February, in addition to select dates in Hawaii and Florida. The tour will begin in Brisbane, AU on February 8 and will include appearances at the Langerado Music Festival on March 9 and Coachella Music Festival on April 25. Tour dates…
Ice Nine Kills – The Burning / 2007 Red Blue / 7 Tracks / http://www.iceninekills.com / “The Greatest Story Ever Told†is a track that links together the work of bands like Brand New and Taking Back Sunday with the screamed out hardcore of Coalesce and Maroon. The bouncing back and forth between screaming and intensely catchy vocal lines, especially during “The Greatest Story Ever Told†is fun as all…
New EP available now, Faunts recording new LP for fall 2008 release Friendly Fire Recordings is extremely proud to announce that the magnificent new Faunts EP (really closer to a full-length album, considering it’s 40+ minutes long), entitled “M4,” is now available digitally. Faunts was formed in the fall of 2000 by brothers Tim and Steven Batke and soon after, Paul Arnusch. At this point the band emerged, squinting, into…
The Female Species #3 / Free / Half-Sized / 20 Pages / [email protected] /Â An anarchist zine with the outside look of a perzine, The Female Species is a much longer read than the 20 pages would have individuals think. A lot of pieces in this issue are no longer than one or two pages, but their respective writers are talented enough to make brevity a strength. This issue contains…
 Much buzzed-about breaking band BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE has commissioned celebrated indie comic book writer and illustrator Tom Manning to create a mini-comic book for every one of the 11 songs on the band’s new album, “Scream Aim Fire,†which will be released on January 29 (20/20/Jive/Zomba).
The Spoon Benders – Resurrecting the Giants / 2007 Self / 8 Tracks / http://www.thespoonbenders.net / The Spoon Benders craft a style of music that brings me back to the early days of the nineties. The disc’s first track is “Making My Nameâ€, and it has The Spoon Benders linking together the works of Rusted Root, the Dave Matthews Band, and hints of more current (Maroon 5, Matchbox 20, and…
Santa Monica, CA – Lyricist/singer/multi-instrumentalist/producer Greg Laswell reveals another chapter in his musical and emotional journey with How The Day Sounds, a six song EP that is openly transitional from its spotlight on Laswell’s elegantly expressive piano playing to the sense of healing and moving on that resonates throughout its course. How The Day Sounds will be released March 11th on Vanguard.
A Third Wish Granted – The Lost Art of Conversation: Vol. 1 / 2007 Self / 6 Tracks / http://www.a3wg.net / If you have been around Los Angeles in any serious sense since 2001, and followed the local music scene at all, chances are good that you have heard of A Third Wish Granted. Hell, I’m from Ohio, and I had heard them before I was sent “The Lost Art…
While a quick assessment of King of Prussia’s debut might bring to mind the Smiths, Belle and Sebastian, or a more straight-ahead Flaming Lips, the band’s deftly-designed, often misanthropic, lyrics–which speak of home as place, home as state, consumerism, summertime, etc.–place the band closer to the Steely Dans and Magnetic Fields of the world. The point here is that it’s hard to categorize KoP, even if their erudite power pop…
