True rock legends such as UFO are characterized not only by the fact that they have added several classic anthems to the annals of rock history, but that their musical output, after many years, still remains at such a consistently high level and they always have something new and fresh coming up. With classic albums such as “Phenomenon”, “Force it” and “No Heavy Pettin” Phil Mogg, Vinnie Moore, Andy Parker…
Australia’s Darren Hanlon has plenty to be excited about, and we’re excited for you to get excited about him, starting with this MP3 for “All These Things”. It’s from his forthcoming I Will Love You At All LP (Yep Roc, 9/21), and he’ll no doubt be playing it on his forthcoming tour with Billy Bragg (dates below). MP3 for “All These Things” (please post and share!!): http://riotactmedia.com/mp3/allthesethings.mp3 DARREN HANLON ON…
I had heard snippets of this band for a decent period before actually laying my hands on the record itself. While everything that I’ve read about the band tags them as pop-punk wunderkinds, I would have to disagree. The music which Del Cielo puts out goes so far beyond the limitations of a loaded term like pop-punk into a term that is almost as derogatory : alternative. If they put…
Multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated hard rock band Disturbed have announced a special pre-order of their new album Asylum. The pre-order is available now. Asylum will be released on Reprise Records August 31, 2010. As a special gift to fans, the Chicago four-piece have created the documentary Decade of Disturbed. The 60 + minute film candidly captures the band’s ten-year history, with extensive behind the scenes and never before seen footage. Decade of…
The energy in which The Trolleyvox start out their “The Karaoke Meltdown” is pretty impressive, to say the least. “Just You Wait” is able to gain a little bit fro the punk spirit with its splashy drums and powerful vocals. The fact that the track is done and over with barely after the song hits the two minute mark shows further evidence for this link. However, the main stylistic influence…
While still only in their twenties, Irish trio Kopek have a history that stretches back a decade. Drummer Shane Cooney and bassist Brad Kinsella grew up as next-door neighbors in Dublin. The first singer who answered their ad in a local musician’s magazine turned out to be the golden voiced Daniel Jordan and from there Kopek was born. Look for the band to release their US CD debut White Collar…
Miami duo ANR, consisting of John Hancock and Brian Robertson, will release their album STAY KIDS in October via 10K Islands. “The Endless Field Of Mercury” “The Endless Field Of Mercury” is the first tune from the forthcoming album. Jamie Harley was kind enough to take on a video interpretation of the song. Jamie Harley has previously put together videos for Memoryhouse, Memory Tapes and How To Dress Well –…
The opening strains of “Big City Lights” start out a little nebulous, but rapidly fall into a hard-hitting indie rock style that has hints of Radiohead and the more emotive rock of Appleseed Cast and Fugazi present. There does not need to be any vocals at this opening section of the disc, as the instrumentation contains a vocal presence (the higher registers of the synthesizer) and the contributions are complex…
Procedure Club is a collaborative “bedroom-pop” project founded by Andrea and Polish emigré Adam Malec in New Haven, Connecticut in 2008. The two began recording as a natural progression from their boredom with living in poverty in New Haven, sharing musical tastes in shoegaze and pop bands of the 80s and 90s, such as Black Tambourine, and The Jesus and Mary Chain, as well as a common admiration for Baroque…
In September, !!! will embark on a worldwide tour in support of Strange Weather, Isn’t It? due August 24 on Warp. Strange Weather Isn’t It? is !!!’s first full-length release since 2007’s critically acclaimed Myth Takes and was recorded in Berlin, New York and Sacramento. The record was co-produced by the band along with Eric Broucek, who is the former house engineer for DFA Records. !!! has gone through a…
Low Flying Jets – Love Is In The Air / 2005 Self / http://www.lowflyingjets.com / Reviewed 09 January 2006 There is no limit to exactly how much Low Flying Jets sound like Interpol in the first track on “Love Is In The Air”. To be honest, this is a thread that weaves itself through a majority of the tracks on the disc, but the band really starts to make a…
The deliciously quirky White Ravens cannot be contained. Their keyboard-driven indie pop will make its way to the east coast this August. The tour starts with a gig at the appropriately named Raven Lounge in Philadelphia on August 28th. The brother/sister duo of William and Amy Bennett, who have been playing music together for six years, are hitting the road in earnest for the first time. They will be joined…
The crunch of hard rock that hits listeners during “Mass Denial, Massive Guilt” seems to be much more in the vein of late nineties rock, but when the vocals kick in, something that is much more close to At The Drive-In is created. The vocals do hit a Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) style at point, but for the vast majority of “Mass Denial, Massive Guilt”, the At The Drive-In comparison…
J. Tillman’s 7th full-length record is called Singing Ax and was recorded in three days, February 2010, by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago. Bob Weston mastered the album. If you are pressed for time, tracks 2 “Diamondback”, 4 “One Task”, and 6 “Tillman’s Rag”, should give you a general idea what the record’s about. Very few of the songs feature accompaniment, though a few include mellotron and drum…
Kina Grannis is a talented multiethnic 24-year-old from Mission Viejo, California. At age 15 she found her love for the guitar and has been creating sweet melodic pop songs ever since. In 2007, after self-releasing three EPs in college, Grannis entered herself into the Doritos Crash The Super Bowl Contest with a music video for her song “Message >From Your Heart.” She eventually won the contest and subsequently had her…
The beginning of a song like “Frantic” is fairly standard, but then The Lovely Feathers kick into high gear, almost taking a punk like approach to think. This mixture of emo and indie rock, a number of different vocals and styles make this song a perfect introduction to the band. There is just not a referent that individuals can latch onto; this is not an example of a band that…
California-based and North Carolina-raised singer-songwriter Joe Firstman plans to release a new album, “Live At The Treehouse,” on August 17, 2010, via Rock Ridge Music. The album is not live in the sense of a traditional live album in front of an audience; rather, it was recorded in the studio (The Treehouse in Laurel Canyon outside Los Angeles) with Firstman playing and singing simultaneously to achieve a more live sound…
Tour Dates 9/17 – Henry Fonda Theatre – Los Angeles, CA 9/19 – Belly Up Tavern – Solana Beach, CA 9/20 – SOHO Music Club – Santa Barbara, CA 9/22 – Fillmore – San Francisco, CA 9/24 – Showbox at the Market – Seattle, WA 9/25 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR 9/28 – Fox Theatre – Boulder, CO 9/30 – The Waiting Room – Omaha, NB 10/1 – First…
Looking at the front of this album, I was assuming that this was more in the realm of Kill Rock Stars indie rock. However, the style of music that The Lovekill come up with for their “These Moments are Momentum”, especially on their “Palms and Gin”, is something that comes forth as a more poppy version of At The Drive-In. The double vocals that open up this disc give the…
On August 17, bassist/vocalist/composer Esperanza Spalding releases Chamber Music Society. Backed by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and pianist Leo Genovese – and inspired by the classical training of her younger years – she creates a modern chamber music group that combines the spontaneity and intrigue of improvisation with sweet and angular string trio arrangements. Esperanza Spalding – “Little Fly” Music Video From Chamber Music Society http://www.headsup.com/media/HUI-31810-02/littlefly/Video.html