The beginning of “Seriously†has an incredibly long lead-in, to which a set of vocals are weakly draped over the grinder-like guitar riffs. The same guitar riffs are kept for nearly two minutes, after which Luke’s vocals attempt to take the track in a different path, only achieved after a minute-long struggle in which nothing is sure. What does excite one about this inaugural track of “Seriously†is the dynamic…
Essen, Germany may not have established itself on the map of musical creativity that stretches from Chicago to Berlin and back, but it’s sufï¬ce to say the unassuming German city has provided Manuel Tur with enough inspiration to name his debut album after its area code. It may not be 90210, but if it’s helped provide the backdrop for this slice of soulful deepness then we’ll just have to choose…
Lazarus A.D.’s video for “Thou Shall Not Fear†to premiere on Headbanger’s Ball! Lazarus A.D. has recently shot their first ever video for the second track from The Onslaught. Shot in the storied and (supposedly) haunted Eagle’s Ballroom in Milwaukee, WI, the video will give you a good idea of the band’s powerful and engaging live performance.
ATO Records recording artist Gomez has announced a national tour with dates confirmed throughout the Spring and Summer of 2009. The band will be touring in support of its just-released sixth studio record “A New Tide.” The tour will kick off in Detroit, MI, on May 22, hitting most regions of the US and even up into Canada for a date in Toronto on May 29. The trek will culminate…
Hey, Dan Precision is a founding member of Rise Against, and is the vocalist for this band. And I wondered why “Near Life Experience†sounds like a harder-edge RA album. Mixing the elements of mid-nineties stand at the mic and scream hardcore with melodic, emotional punk a la AFI, Break the Silence is best described as a bipolar band. Each track shows this bipartite dynamic strain over their completely different…
Straight out of Chicago and now currently living in Florida, Rip-One brings an party like vibe mix with real life situations. After losing his brother to gang violence, Rip-One turned to rapping to escape harsh reality. After about 7 years of rapping Rip-One decided to learn how to make his own music. From that point he flourish with his own style and concept. His first single Odyssey got praise from…
Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Productions and Starr Hill Presents, in a partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, are proud to announce the line-up for the second annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. The multi-faceted, three-day festival will once again take place in San Francisco’s historic Golden Gate Park August 28 – 30, 2009. Visa cardholders will get advance access and limited time “eager beaver” pricing for…
While I was expecting Breaking Benjamin to sound like every other modern-rock band out there, with threads in their music that whole-heartedly ripped off bands like Tool and Disturbed, the fact with “We Are Not Alone†is that the disc is on the whole much more melodic than anything that has came before it. Theb and is tight, musically-satisfying, and the dynamic between Aaron (lead guitar) and the smooth-down-easy vocals…
Fresh off the platinum success of their latest single “Untouched,” super-hot Aussie twin duo The Veronicas will hit the road for a series of U.S. headlining tour dates. They will embark on a short warm-up tour in May (their first Stateside tour since last year’s run with The Jonas Brothers), followed by a series of headlining shows this summer, beginning in June.
Buoyed by the success of debut album, Confessions Of A Drunken Mind, Swedish one-man band,Doctors & Dealers returns with her sophomore effort, Lost Friends And Newfound Habits. Still entirely home-recorded and produced, the album features a myriad of instruments from kazoos, maracas to cellos and trumpets – the album is a more robust, collection of tracks with finer-honed production but still retaining the cute charm of the debut album. The…
Bands like Green Day, Coldplay and Franz Ferdinand are hugely popular because they give the listener more to chew on, lyrically and arrangement-wise. One of the limitations of these bands is their relative youth. They write songs from the perspective of those on the south-side of 30 or so. Think about what you knew when you were 25 and compare that to what you know now.
What I was imagining when I got this CD was a death-metal act that would pretty much sing about killing me and having sex with my dissected body. My fears were almost confirmed when I heard the opening spastic horns, which sounded like the machine-gun drumming so common among these bands. This 5 piece act from Australia could not be any farther from a death metal band; in fact, I…
Now living in Portland, OR but originally from Melbourne, Australia Simon Honisett has carved a rich musical path since his band Sea Stories signed to IRS Records back in their R.E.M-era heyday. Since then he has released records under assorted monikers (Sunglass, Gigantaur, Baby Langston) and has now joined forces with Jonathan Jubera in the newest incarnation of Marvel Ann. Pedal steel, accordion, vibes and strings augment the sound and…
MUSIC FOR THE MASSES Thieves Like Us is a musical vehicle — an elegant starship, pointed straight to the heart of the listener. They align themselves musically with Europe, and consider Paris their home (although none of them are French).
Recalling the best of Hellacopter and Gluecifer with their straight-forward rock attack, New Jersey’s The Break starts out “Handbook For The Hopeless†with “The Wolves Are At The Front Doorâ€. However, The Break does not infuse this opening track with enough energy to keep this fresh and different; by the third minute, every one of their tricks has been used ad infinitum. The same pseudo-new rock (in the style of…
Richard Kapp, born 1976, is a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist living in the city of Vienna, Austria. From an early age he has been involved in the creation of music, first came the piano, then came the drums, later a bit of guitar. A prolific musician in his native city he has been involved in many different musical projects as a keyboardist, drummer and composer. His style has been desribed as very unique,…
U2, arguably one of the greatest rock bands of all time, has teamed up with A-list production team Justice to bring fans a mind-altering remix of epic proportions. The pairing of super stars and super producers on “Get On Your Boots,†the first single from U2’s No Line On The Horizon, can be heard exclusively on Stereogum.com. For more information on U2, including tour dates and news, can be found…
Ruby Throat is a duo comprising KatieJane Garside of Daisy Chainsaw and Queenadreena infamy and Chris Whittingham. They formed in 2006 when Katie found Chris busking on the London Underground. The first song they wrote and quickly posted on the duo’s MySpace page was called “House Of Thieves” and saw Katie dipping her toes into the sort of country-tinged folk music that comprises the Ruby Throat ouevre. Their debut album…
It has been nearly 3 years since I have reviewed Brazil. A lot can happen in three years, so what I felt about the band in 2004 should not be influencing what I feel about Brazil now. “On Safe-Cracking and Rubella†is an opening track that uses mundane noises to make a track. The disc’s first musical track comes during “Crimeâ€, and it provides listeners with an interesting look into…
NEW ENGLAND BASED FOLK/ROCK TROUBADOUR RONDA MATSON CONNECTS WITH AN AUDIENCE HUNGRY FOR HEARTFELT HONESTY ON HER NEW ALBUM ‘TRUTH BE TOLD’ A longtime believer in the philosophy that “sometimes you really just have to draw the line and step over it…take the chance,†performing songwriter Ronda Matson has long had a date with musical destiny. Along the road, life threw her some crazy curveballs—some wonderful (a husband and four…