Christian rappers can be good. For examples, Cross Examination and KJ-52 both are pretty solid rappers, even when one takes the Christian element out of their music. Hunter Brown is interesting, and to say that ey is good or bad is a little confusing. The backing beat that is present during the title track is something that is solid, a beat that takes on the instrumental style of a number…
Hundred Year Storm comes forth on their “Hello From The Children of Planet Earth” with a rock style that takes emo into consideration pretty seriously. The type of emo that the band likes to play is of the type that was famous in the nineties, not the sort of watered down pablum that is currently infecting the airwaves of today. What results on tracks like “00:01” is something that is…
This is not the punk band that I was expected when I first put the disc into the players. Instead, what comes forth during tracks like “Get To You” is something that is much more metal influenced. There are no immediate ties to other acts, which is a good thing, but individuals will be confused with where exactly the band is going to go by the time that “Get To…
While I was disappointed in the fact that “Springtime She Waits” actually had that title instead of “Sometime She Waits”, what is coming to me as a Warrant song, The Human Value are actually pretty nifty. Lead by a set of female vocals during “Give Me”, what results is a style that blends industrial with surf and rockabilly music. This music is no Vampire Beach Babes, as The Human Value…
Indie-rock has as of late not been the flavor du jour of your average band, so when a band like Humans Bow Down come forth with their Radiohead and Middle Eastern influences, the result is surprisingly refreshing. The impressive thing about Humans Bow Down is their ability to go and fill to the brim a five minute plus track, allowing for both the track to incorporate a common thread throughout…
The sound of the disc’s first real track “In Tech Knee Color” is similar to the jangly alternative rock of times gone by. There seems to be a little bit of a too-episodic nature to this track, as the band continually goes back to the same few arrangements time and time again through its runtime. The chunky bass of “How’d You Find Me” really is reminiscent of Albini-produced Nirvana, while…
When I saw that this album was on Hopeless Records, I immediately assumed a few things. First off, I thought this album was an EP. I was wrong, as this is a full length album by The Human Abstract. Secondly, I thought that The Human Abstract would be an emo band in the vein of Amber Pacific and All Time Low. I was wrong again, as “Nocturne” starts off with…
Houston Calls are you on the other end? If you’re looking for thoughtful lyrics, upbeat songs, and an all out dance party then when Houston Calls you should definitely listen up. Hailing out of Rockaway, New Jersey Houston Calls delivers a gem with their new disc, A Collection of Short Stories. The bands debut release on Drive Thru Records offers listeners a fun, and happy release from a world of…
A queer Lords on Acid. Yup. Using a repetitive beat without much in the way of aural bells or whistles, Houston Bernard uses that same style (repetition) to pound eir’s first hit into your head. “Ride It Cowboy” is the Sheep on Drugs / Lords of Acid / Lolita Storm-influenced track that is probably the best known track by this rapper, “Str8 Actin’” uses the same style to pound another…
The emotive guitar work that starts off “Arcadia” really does more to establish a voice for House on a Hill than any type of melodramatic, over the top type of warbling could do for a comparable emo band. The band seems to be influenced heavily by the mid to late nineties emo acts, taking cues from acts like Jets to Brazil and the Appleseed Cast. Nowhere on “Ladyslipper” does the…
House of Fools plays a weird brand of emo music, where soulful vocals in a dreamy vein blend with an electronic sound scape. This is the case with the shambling “Better Part of Me”. At some points, it sounds as if there are two different songs going; luckily, House of Fools are like Bright Eyes when it comes to tying disparate elements together, and that is why the act is…
The first track on “Beta” is “Young And Reckless”, and this track shows that Hotspur is a band that blends together a newer rock approach with a slightly punky tempo to create something that is similar to acts like Three Days Grace. Along the way, Hotspur adds a little bit of the angular guitars (a la Franz Ferdinand and The strokes) that have been all the rage in rock, throwing…
Starting off “Last Train” with a rockabilly riff that would make Brian Setzer proud, Hotrod Boogie quickly gets tepid by riding this riff for an extended period of time, pushing their luck with over two minutes of what essentially is the same thing. The rockabilly stylings don’t end with “Hotrod Anthem”, but become ever more obvious during “Saturday Night Rock”. To be honest, the aforementioned tie to Brian Setzer is…
“Dix Dix” is a track that seems to recall the diverse, eclectic style of the early nineties; mixing parts of Jellyfish, Audioslave (The Chris Cornell-like vocals) and just a hint of the psychedelic movement, Hotpipes start out “The Deadly Poison” with a varied approach. Shifting their general sound considerably to reflect a new-found ska and reggae influence (while having a vocal arrangement similar to that of “Runaround”-era John Popper), the…
Hot Mute start out “She’s The Medicine” with a synth line that approaches that of a Journey. In fact, the entirety of the band blend together the aforementioned Journey, Asia, and The Cars into something that screams eighties rock even as the band cuts tracks in this day and age. “She’s The Medicine” has single aspirations, but the band is still a quarter step away from grabbing the brass ring.…
The opening track in “Exits and Trails” shows how intense Hot Cross can really be. The style of music that they play cannot be easily categorized. Of course, there are hints of Rise Against and Bauhaus present, but there are also hints of hardcore and metal that are strewn throughout tracks like the aforementioned “Exits and Trails”. The thing that Hot Cross first introduces to their listeners on “TRisk Revival”…
Aside from the annoying vocal, non-lyrical noises made by Patricia throughout the first track on “Bring It On!”, the Horrorpops make a strong case for the first major derivation from the too-similar sound achieved by all the upright-bass bands (Nekromantix, Tiger Army). There are still a number of similiarites that the Horrorpops have with the other two bands, especially since Kim Nekroman is doing eir part with the guitars on…
The chaos that Hopewell throws in from the onset of “ Hopewell & The Birds of Paradise”, including a number of middle-eastern sounding instruments, horns, and dreamy-pop vocals really is enough to make listeners’ ears perk up. “Calcutta” comes to the plate with a much more traditional and coherent assault on Hopewell’s listeners, but does not completely abandon the Bacchic nature of the first track. The ropey bass present on…
Honeyhander – Woolly Mannerisms / 2005 S.A.F. / 5 Tracks / http://www.honeyhander.com / http://www.safrecords.com / Reviewed 29 September 2005 The distended vocals of Marilyn Manson hide themselves behind an eighties-influenced, synthesizer-heavy sound for “Wear Our Your Muscles Maryâ€. The track is a little repetitious, as the disotortion on the vocals renders everything into a mush from no words can escape. This mixture is decidedly low-key, and really smacks more of…
Honeycreeper – Freakqualizer / 2005 Planet A / 11 Tracks / http://www.honeycreeper.net / Reviewed 15 October 2006 At first blush, I thought Honeycreeper was going to come with a very jam band type of sound. “Your Voice†is the first track on the disc, and the female vocals are different enough that individuals will largely ignore the rest of the instrumentation on the track. This is not to say that…
