Ash Gray and the Girls creates a sixties, Hippie type of sound with Purple and Gold, the first track on Born In The Summer. In the four minutes that the track occupies, hints of The Turtles, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and the Mamas and the Papas can all be heard. All the Good Girls starts softly and gathers considerable steam before the vocals even start. Whether it be a Sonny…
Xenia Dunford & the Eastern Exile create on the Lonely Streets EP a title that touches upon pop, country, and strong female singer-songwriters. Best I’ve Ever Had has a catchy melody that works its way deep into the psyche of listeners. The energy exhibited here is simply infectious, and this will bring in a bevy of listeners. Don’t Forget Me slows things down as it begins with little more…
Avant-garde black metal duo FORMLOFF released their latest work of audio grimness in the form of Spyhorelandet last month via Eisenwald. The follow up to 2006’s Adjø Silo finds the eclectic Norwegian duo — Bernt Karsten Sannerud and Marius Sjøli – exploring the darker, more atmospheric realms of their past. An underground masterpiece of sorts, the record has earned critical acclaim from fans and media alike earning a 9/10 rating…
Oberhofer is a band that is tremendously capable at what they do. They are able to take on a variety of different musical styles and genres, creating a cohesive entity with their Time Capsules II. Whether touching on new wave, punk, surf (Beach Boys meets Turtles), or straight rock, Oberhofer are able to speak directly to their listeners. Oberhofer plays to the wide expanses; with arrangements that look to the…
Upon the heels of their debut full length album release, Tiger Child, The Young Romans are currently occupying the coveted Indie Spotlight feature on iTunes for the synonymous title track of the record. Brad Hooks (guitar, vocals) is a classically trained piano player and made his way from North Carolina to Los Angeles as a teenager to pursue music. He met the Chilean born Sari Mellafe (guitar, vocals) through mutual friends who…
Selfmadegod Records is proud to be unleashing some grim brutality under the banner of Uppsala, Sweden-based outlaws USURPRESS. The unit fuse classic founding death metal patterns with dissonant, primitive crust/punk tones into a raw, filthy attack. Having only soiled the metal underworld with a demo and short split 7″ releases to date (one with Bombs of Hades, the other with Pyramido), but that will all change on the 1st…
New York City Opera celebrates the company’s hugely successful 2011-12 season with New York’s civic leaders on Wednesday, May 16, with its Spring Gala: An Evening with Deborah Voigt. The sparkling event will take place at the historic Loeb Central Park Boathouse in Manhattan and feature cocktails and gondola rides on the lake, as well as a formal dinner and dancing to the Jazz Age sounds of the Grammy Award-winning…
“Ryan Spaulding raved about Kasey Anderson so I bought all the records and I really dug them. I really found out how right Ryan was a few months later when Kasey came down to Austin last year to play Smoke & Sand, Ryan’s Smashing Life (RSLblog.com) & Tyrannosaurus Record’s 2011 SxSW showcase. His big lonely rock songs are addictive but he crushed at Smoke & Sand with an acoustic set. Maybe that’s why…
This movie is absolutely crazy. Where The Dead Go To Die focuses on a group of children that are hounded (literally) by a talking dog named Labby. Labby takes them on a number of adventures, many of which go beyond our dimension and time. Along the way, there is a tremendous amount of gore, nudity, and all the things that make a film great. The filmmakers tasked with making Where…
What Bad Weather California do on Sunkissed is create a new form of music that takes on various genres, whether it be desert-rock, punk, or even jam-band styles. The 11 tracks on Sunkissed cover a wide variety of tempos, influences, and styles, but Bad Weather California is a band that is talented enough to make it all work. The band is signed to the new Akron/Family label Family Tree, and…
The Veteran is a taut thriller that showcases the lengths that governments will go in using those that were brave enough to serve in the military. After coming back from Afghanistan, Miller (Toby Kebbell) has to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Rather than just take a normal civilian job, ey comes into a position where ey determines whether individuals are terrorists. After one of the individuals that ey is…
Esperanza Spalding is an astonishing performer, and puts forth eir all in creating a stellar album in Radio Music Society. It may be only two years since 2010’s Chamber Music Society, but I feel that there has been considerable evolution in terms of the types and styles of music that issue forth here. Radio Song is a straight flip of what one would expect; I believe that what Spalding is…
ThinQ is a drink that attempts to do a number of things. First off, it desires to taste good. The different efforts have solid flavors, but one can take up hints of the vitamins and minerals that are present. A can of ThinQ is a supplement – there are ample amounts of Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamins D and B6 / B12 / B3, along with Acai, CoQ10, and L-Tyrosine. There…
This is it. This is the release of the final few episodes of the Ben 10: Ultimate Alien show. Cartoon Network / Warner Brothers have included these episodes in a value-priced format (one can purchase it from online retailers for $20). This set contains the final 10 episodes, wrapping up nicely the loose ends that were present in the previous forty episodes of the show. With enemies seemingly ready…
Robert Nix cannot be pigeonholed; his work on Walk Down The Street simply defies genre convention. This is the reason that this release is so compelling. The album begins with the titular track, a ball of frenetic energy that firmly plants listeners in their seats. The momentum garnered by this opening is used to great effect in Should You Should I. This early-disc masterpiece pushes Nix’s vocals to the fore;…
The Chorderoys create an EP that speaks more to listeners than many bands do on a full-length album. The Train is the initial salvo on No Man’s Land, and it will immediately snare fans through a blending of intelligent arrangements and utterly soulful singing. The confidence exuded by the band will endear The Chorderoys to their listeners. Keeping things strong, the band is able to move to The Train. The…
It is not surprising that the Bible is a little obtuse at times. However, the messages that are contained among this prose are still solid ones with which to build a life on. Swoboda’s work in demystifying some of the more challenging bits of this holy book does for me what pastors have been unable to do. Messy: God Likes It That Way is a book that calls Christians…
Tito Ortiz’s Punishment Nutrition is one of the few celebrity-endorsed companies that can make supplmenets with the same high quality of tried and true fitness organization. We reviewed their Muscle Fusion protein a while back, and are pleased to report that their Thermofuse C4 is similarly amazing. Thermofuse C4 has a number of inclusions that are common (Caffeine, Acai berry extract), but the presence of Naringin and EGCG are…
The Danish four-piece comprising Iceage — Jakob Tvilling Pless (bass), Dan Kjær Nielsen (drums), Elias Bender Rønnenfelt (vocals/guitar), and Johan Wieth (guitar) — have kept busy since the release of their debut full-length album, New Brigade (What’s Your Rupture?/Abeano/Escho). Following a five-week tour of North America last summer, they released the video for “You’re Blessed,” which chronicled their tour of the states, received a thorough range of year-end accolades from…
On Friday and Saturday, April 20-21, 2012, a coalition of faith, academic, and community partners will sponsor “LaPaz: Peacemaking and Justice Summit.” LaPaz Summitwill be a training resource for congregations and community organizations that want to be beacons of peace and justice and equip them with the tools to do that. “At times those of us working out in the community can feel isolated and alone in our efforts,” says Jenni…