This is the new side project of members from Breather Resist. Having not heard Breather Resist, my review of Young Widows will not be tainted by my impressions on the earlier act. However, Young Widows start off their “Settle Down City” in much the same way that a snowball first gains speed. This is done by creating interesting instrumental arrangements during the title / opening track, insinuating a set…
Bob Dylan’s 1970 album Self-Portrait was welcomed by Rolling Stone magazine with the rather succinct review opener: “What is this shit?” Needless to say quite a few Dylan diehards had no idea how to take the troubadour’s tenth album; a double record set featuring mainly covers of old pop and folk hits. It was rightly maligned at the time with it’s puzzling selection of covers and sappy, cluttered string…
Max Gomez certainly isn’t the first to bring together country, pop and folk influences, but he has done a noteworthy job of blending the three seemingly disparate genres for his debut. Like John Prine and Townes Van Zandt before him, Gomez succeeds where many others fail, by being able to turn out interesting lyrics. When you are backed by acoustic guitars and mellow drumming, you can’t hide a weak voice…
I expected another batch of the same bland and generic technical-hardcore that has dominated the central Ohio scene when I first looked at Your Days Are Numbered’s disc. In fact, the front cover even is done in the same style as another local act, The Heartland. Anyways, “Dana Walker Rides Again” comes out surprisingly close to an Against Me! type of sound with “Crazed Romance”. The technical guitar riffs…
Youth Group starts off their “Skeleton Jar” with a very Radiohead/Postal Service-sounding track in “Shadowland”. The same sound predominates during the disc’s title track, which has a solid feel that seemes perfectly acceptable compared with much of the college-rock out current. The guitar, bouncy throughout really lifts up and invigorates the dreamy vocals of Toby. Looking back to the Merseybeat sound just a little bit during “Lillian Lies”, the…
The very sedate opening of “Futures” sounds as if Zero 7 has taken on the mantle of folk rock that was previously worn by acts like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The infusion of this style with a very electronic-based atmosphere puts this act into a current context as well as makes the disc that much more interesting. The use of a number of guest vocalists during “The Garden”…
There are dark places in the mind of every person where feelings of bitterness and rage reside, whether acknowledged by their owner or not. For most, these are not enjoyable places to be, but for many, they are unavoidable. On the new ten track album Origins from English metal band Promethium, the dark corners of the mind are tapped into and stimulated, to the tune of a thirty-eight minute long…
Let Go is the initial track on I Made It Through, and it is catchy enough to immediately draw in listeners. The track soars on strong instrumentation and a similarly intense bit of vocal work from Owens. This album opening links together pop, hints of R&B, and a passion that is simply unparalleled in current music. Can’t Stop This Fire provides listeners with a sense of the depth of…
The North Shore EP is a rare example of a shorter album providing listeners with a complete capturing of an act’s facets; listeners will be provided with a wide array of genres, influences, and types of music. The Quiet Things blends equal parts human and electronic, weaving a narrative for each through the tracks. When Lyda’s vocals kick into high gear, this impassioned approach to music shines brightly; The…
The Sidekicks have justifiably been praised by fans and critics alike for writing some of the best pop punk songs to come out of the Midwest in the past decade. But while the band was winning over city after city of supporters, guitarist Matt Scheuermann was quietly working on his much more reserved side project American War. The result is a collection of strikingly beautiful records, the latest being the…
