The tight arrangement of Schleusolz comes out the moment that listeners put in “Running Out of Timeâ€. “They are here!†is a track that blends together rock, ska, and new wave into something that will have everyone out on the dance floor. The slower approach of “Who are you?†draws heavily on the blues tradition, but has a contemporary sound that will resonate in the minds and hearts of anyone…
“Lie Awake†is a distinctive track, one that will indelibly imprint the Straw Dogs on the minds of anyone fortunate enough to listen in. The natural progression that is present throughout “Lie Awake†allows listeners to gradually get their feet wet with the band, as well as establish the band as operating within the alternative and college rock genres. Unlike other bands in this genre, there is a richness of…
“He Who Has Ears Let Him Hear†is an intensely emotional track that has the same gravitas of a Muse or Queens of the Stone Age, but has a diversity of layers that would make bands as storied as U2 proud. Sipo’s first effort on “Year Of The White Rose†will keep listeners focused in on the rest of his compositions on the album, regardless of what genres that they…
There is so little in the way of feel good music out today, and it really takes someone like Frank Jurgens to inject a little bit of sunshine to what is a pretty bleak era of music. “Date Night, the Game†is a track that ties together a wide swath of music, playing on the works of individuals like Jimmy Buffett, Tom Petty, and even Warren Zevon. The chorus hits…
Blivit comes through as a band on “Unhand the World†that is tremendously influenced by the seventies, specifically the arena rock that took over as the dominant musical style for a couple of years. However, much like “Blinded By The Lightâ€, Blivit doesn’t use a guitar but rather a keyboard to make all sorts of nutty songs. At moments, the keyboard is virtually indistinguishable from a guitar line, but just…
Hey, it’s like the B-52s lost about fifteen years and were thrown together as Bling Kong. The same eclectic instrumental sound mixes with a quirky male set of vocals and deepish female vocals. The only thing that one can possibly distinguish the two bands from each other has to to be the stronger instrumentation that Bling Kong has. The disc’s first track “I Want More†benefits from a strong bass…
An example of poor graphic design hits purchasers of this album right after they unwrap this album. The black text on lighter black backdrop means that individuals will not be able to see who produces the track unless they get about two inches away from the disc. This problem is lessened when individuals put the disc into the player, as the production is really clean for a smaller-market rapper. The…
From “Can’t Help You Thereâ€, which cribs the guitar line from a seventies song (which is on the tip of my tongue but can’t come forth any farther), Bleeding Kansas shows that a return the basics should be a welcome thing. Most of the tracks on “Dead Under Décor†do not follow that ethos, and as such Bleeding Kansas’ music does not move beyond the new style of hardcore that…
The self-assured, serpentine melodies, liquid-glass harmonies and literate, cutting lyrics almost render their name ironic: for a group whose name implies struggle and nascent growth, Cocoon seemed to appear out of thin air, fully-formed.
“This Girl Has A Gun†is the first song (not counting introductions) on The Bleeding Alarm’s “Beauty in Destructionâ€. The band comes to this track in an interesting way; the band vacillates between a harder rock style and the much more emotive rock style that ultimately takes the day by the end of the track. The band starts out their album in strong fashion, but there seems to be something…
Starting out with the same type of singer-songwriter vibe that numerous bands from Matthew West to The Majestic Twelve have, Blake Rainey goes through “Appetizer Sickness†with the same earthy tone that Brandon Patton was not able to completely tame. However, while Brandon tries to oversaturate the disc with a number of different instruments, Blake goes the other route and creates a Spartan atmosphere that really is not hospitable to…
The acoustic-heavy opening to “Treadmarks†is the “We Didn’t Start The Fireâ€-inspired “One Planet – One Utopia – One Helmetâ€. The phrasing of the lyrics during the track is at least as random as the aforementioned Billy Joel song, without the interesting piano work to divert a critical eye from this randomness. The guitar lines, while maintaining a certain cohesion tend to break down after tremendous repetition; Johnny J Blair…
4 songs on Projekt Records, which brings the total running time of the disc to 15:04, around 3:46 per song. “Remnants of Deeper Purity” has a richer collection of voices then “this lush garden within” but falls a little short in the instrumental department. This is not to say that the instrumentation is weak by any means, as a number of traditional instruments are played over a very fitting synth…
Mixing together parts of The Doors, early nineties Goo Goo Dolls and Bauhaus, Alicja Trout starts off “Tronic Blanc†with a jangly goth-dance track that could honestly have been pulled out from the halcyon days of the form. However, complacency is no on the docket for this disc, as “Torture Torture†rips up any framework that was created with “The Picture Looks So Small†and uses seventies-punk guitar riffs to…
“Shuffle Your Feet†is a blues-influenced track that seems more in common with a Stevie Ray Vaughn than with the current focus on the retro-rock of The White Stripes or . The slightly-slower sound of the title track is thus facilitated by the Corrosion of Conformity-esque opening to the disc, and will allow individuals to see the slightly Brit-rock sound of the second track. The heavy synth lines during “Howl 
The album’s cover looks like it comes right out of the sixties, which makes sense since the band plays the closest thing to 60s rock that has came out in the last decade or so. The tracks are Shaharazad-story long, as the first two (Druganaut and Buffalo Swan) tracks almost break twenty minutes in runtime on their own. The extension of simple arrangements, such as a three or four note…
Blackmaker plays a branch of pop-rock that has parallels in bands like Switchfoot and Nickelback, and while many practitioners of this system are nothing more than apers of the style (Damage and Ditchwater are two of the bands that illustrate that example fairly well), Blackmaker plays the style in terms that are their own. Both “Spiraling” and “Let It Go” start off the disc with a tremendous amount of momentum,…
One of the most even discs of this new year, The Black Maria’s “Lead Us To Reason†is the latest in Victory emo bands revolutionizing the genre. Everything has the gentle sound of the late nineties alternative scene, but the Fear Factory meets Shadows Fall sound of more current days. The overarching synthesizer present in a track like “Organs†works perfectly in playing off of and accentuating the emotive and…
With song lengths that would make the quickest punk or noise bands blush, Blacklisted create a style of hardcore that has not been seen for quite a few years. Coming out of a more metal tradition than the nerd-core (technical hardcore) pablum that has been filling the street, this is furious music that does not give listeners time before going off into another direction. The arrangements are obvious, and it…
“Home of the Brave†is a great way to start “Bittersweet Sixteenâ€, mixing together a very eighties type of American pop with a set of bagpipes to start a traditional/current dichotomy. Very few bands actually make it past the five year mark, so to see that Black 47 has been around for sixteen years is a statement all to itself. This greatest hits collects sixteen tracks from the band’s sixteen…