The style of music that The Pale Pacific play is a very dreamy sort of emo-influenced rock that allows for a greater explication of their tracks, manifest in the sense that the first track “Sucker Punch” breaks the five-minute mark. The band is not content in maintaining their slower tempo, as “Sucker Punch” has eddies and crests, moving towards and away from a brilliant sort of high-octane sound, all while…
The sound is “Grapes of Wrath”-America at its best , and to elicit “Missouri” in the album title and to live in Iowa really cinches it. The light strumming of the guitar that presents itself through the vast majority of the track, coupled with Dave’ distorted (almost as if they were coming from an old album) vocals on tracks like “Ophelia” really brings listens back to an earlier time. The…
The angular opening to “Enemies” is reminiscent of At The Drive-In, while the emotive vocals of Justin really recall something like Third Eye Blind. “We Come Down” is an example of a nice use of nuance and negative space to really create a dynamic tension that will titillate listeners and subjugate them all the more to the music on “Plastic”. The slightly electronic-tinged sound of “Decorate Your Pavement” brings the…
The dreamy style of Page France is something that has not been heard in popular alternative music for years. This really hearkens back to the days of 4 Non Blondes, Lollipop, and Blind Melon. There is a heavy amount of the current time present in Page France as well, which allows “Hello, Dear Wind” to be such a considerable album when compared to the other albums out contemporaneously. During a…
Blair Packham really starts off this album with a vocal style that is not unlike Elvis Costello; the vocals during this opening track recollects “Veronica”-era Costello, while the backing instrumentation gives the track an innovative flair. The only thing that can be said as a negative about this opening salvo has to be the extended ending of the track; the momentum that Packham was building up is dissipated. The second…
“Wall St.” shows individuals immediately that Pablo is trying to shoehorn eirself into the space between Americana singers like Devendra Banhart and new-folkies like Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes). The vocal harmonies of Pablo during the opening track is almost enough to keep individuals interested, but it seems like “Wall St.” suffers a little bit during the Spartan musical arrangements present. If there were just a little more in the way…
The bombastic opening to this LP, the break-neck speeds achieved by “Progress” shows a band that is not afraid to hit the ground running. The mastering on this disc may not be up to Sonic Iguana quality, but the general sound that emanates from this disc both sounds appealing to many a listener’s ears and bolsters the slightly rough and raw sound that Overated live will bring to the tone…
Over It has taken the open slot as Lobster’s most impressive band after Yellowcard left about a year and a half ago. Chances are after “Silverstrand”, Over It will do much the same thing (unless Lobster locked them down for a few albums). Anyways, “Silverstrand” opens up with the immediately radio-friendly “Siren on the 101”, a track that mixes melodic vocals with guitar lines that would normally seem much too…
One of the first things that hit me when I first put on the CD is the rich influences that the members of Over It have. The first track on the disc, “Limiter”, mixes breakneck punk vocals with 80s-metal (read: Megadeth) guitar lines and Rush-style (Signals-Era) bass. “Wrong Way” moves on from “Limiter”, continuing the richly-belted out punk guitars and simply brutal guitar licks to provide a song that literally…
Outsmarting Simon start out their “Stand Up Tonight” with a well-meaning but essentially bland track in “Number Two”. The vocals are reminiscent of Yellowcard and Over It, and while the track plods on with a tempo that threatens to turn people off before they’ve adequately been turned on, Outsmarting Simon do play a strong, instrumentally-based type of emotive rock. The bass lines that provide such a presence during “Thirty-Third and…
