I can understand the The Berg Sans Nipple are trying to craft their own sound even at the beginning of “Ghostâ€, but there are parts to this track that begin to grate on individuals’ ears after only the first or second repetition. This is fixed by having a number of different styles present during this track, but makes the album seem uncertain about whether The Berg Sans Nipple will be…
Friends of Suicidal Tendencies, Beowulf comes forth with music from twenty years ago that sounds as fresh and as new as today with the re-release of their S/T and “Lost My Head†albums, both on this single disc. The tracks may all sound a little fuzzy, but this fuzz is not anything that obscures the sizzling guitar lines and thrash sound of the band. “Drink Fight Fuck†is a track…
Bent Outta Shape really play with listeners hearts during the first track of their “Stray Dog Townâ€. At ties sounding like the band will flitter to a close before they’ve really even gotten stronger, the subdued intensity of “Disappointment Rock†really looks back to Paul Westerberg and Rumbleseat. The melodramatic vocals put on the disc are a constant in a time of differing arrangements and staggered arrangements (Greyhound Bus). The…
This CD shows off the much more chaotic aspect of emo music, and we could not have found a better band to show us this than benton falls. Intense burst of emotion force the listeners’ attention to be immediately directed to the CD itself, regardless of whatever the listener might be doing. I would say to literally drop whatever one is doing and plant themselves on a comfy chair or…
The straight forward rock sound of Benlavain works well with the slightly snotty lead vocals of Oren. With a healthy dollop of sixties psychedelic rock, Benlavain just as successfully blend the two disparate styles as either Ming Tea or Lenny Kravitz could ever. Later tracks like “Ain’t Got Love For Yo†move further back into the psychedelic realm, with enough distortion to take over practically all facets of a track.…
We at NeuFutur have not had much in the way of experience with wine reviewing. Our previous experiences have dealt with a limited subset of wine varietals, and the latest effort for the Luis Felipe Edwards company, their 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, is the first of the type we’ve been able to review. This organically grown wine has a bouquet that is unique in its marriage of soft notes with an…
Starting out with indie gold in “I Need You Backâ€, Brooklyn’s Ben Kweller shows that ey hasn’t lost eir’s ear for successful, poppy yet chock full of indie cred tracks. Fred Eltringham and Mike Stroud, Kweller’s drummer and guitar respectively, are essential to create the perfect, free from the restraints of time sound of Kweller, sounding at times like an early Tom Petty or even current wunderkind Ted Leo. The…
There is a definite difficulty in trying to categorize or even talk about what type of band …Bender is. The closest thing I can come with is an ambient band that creates soundscapes, not ever conforming to what would be expected from them if they were a more conformational band. Vocals on tracks such as “Trouble Is†are not just to purvey a specific message but also to step in…
Dates in support of collaborative album Dark Developments include stop at Carnegie Hall for REM tribute night.
Yet another of the oddly-premised bands off of the Columbus-based label Diaphragm records, Behemoth plays a type of down-and-dirty punk music that reminds one of “Jesus Built My Hotrodâ€- era Ministry meets ZZ Top and Black Sabbath. While I am going purely by the cd liner notes, the band looks to have an average age of 35, and yet still rocks out more than kids that are 20. With guitars…
B.I.T.E.’s vocalist Adam sounds as if eir does not have English as a native language. This is not to say that ey screws up verbs and tenses, but rather the accents on some of the syllables on “No Direction†are a little odd compared to most American English speakers. The recording on “No Direction is a little rough as well, favoring a gritty/high end feel that gives much greater attention…
Trying to be emotive and filling eir’s songs with earthy tones might work for established bands like Radiohead, but here, the earthiness and ethereal tangents of tracks like “Time A Bind†really just don’t provide a listener with a path of listening, just a take it or leave it attitude. The CD winds on, but nothing here is revolutionary – Ben’s journey along this disc is a trip that already…
Jive Records artist Living Things announces a string of upcoming tour dates with Electric Six for the spring, as well as an appearance at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX.
Cobbling their “A Taste of The Beers†from very rough origins, The Beers play a style of rock that is much more solid on the instrumental than the vocal side of issues. With 16 cuts on this album “Withheld Informationâ€, the second track really tests listeners’ attention span as it breaks the six minute mark, by far the longest track on the disc. On “Withheld Informationâ€, the bass lines are…
The fuzz that starts out “Lo-Fi Resurrection†is a little bit off-putting, as the band’s output would be even stronger during “Race of the Rats†than it currently is with the layer of fuzz added in. The plodding tempo of The Beefeater Project during this track is compelling, and the vocals fit into the grand scheme of things pretty well throughout the song. It is just the distortion that seems…
“Of Human Bondage†is the first track on this split EP, and its spread-out strains of music gradually coalesce into something much more heavy and compelling than its constituent parts. While the style that The Beautiful Mistake play on this track is unmistakably emo, there are brief forays into “Synchronicityâ€-era Police and a martial drumming that resounds with a number of different eras. The swirling guitar lines present in this…
While I had heard of Tindersticks in the past, I did not realize the act had been around for nearing on twenty years. It is thus no surprise that their latest effort, “The Hungry Sawâ€, showcases a maturity and deftness with each composition that will stick with listeners long after the band packs up shop. While there may be a few members gone (and the resulting Tindersticks turned into a…
The BeatPreachers play a blues-influenced brand of rock that tries to put itself alongside the seventies set of Detroit rock but comes off as a band that is a lot of form but little in the way of substance. With “Deniedâ€, the band bashes through a track in less than two and a half minutes, but there is nothing in the way of artistic development for individuals to really cut…
Bayside has been around for a few years, and “The Walking Wounded†is their latest album. With tracks like “Dualityâ€, Bayside plays a brand of emo music that takes on the sound of mid-nineties Weezer more than any other of their influences. “Duality†allows the band to break free of any shoegazing and actually add a moderate amount of rock to the track, making the song into the band’s first…
The rough sound placed out by Baxter House is not really linked to any other specific genre of music; its raucous sound reminds one of Apocalipstick, especially when one considers the very atonal and loud singing of Rachel’s vocals. A track like “Fat Gross Cowboy†has guitars that are linked to the middle nineties, back to a time when bands like L7 were popular. The fuzz on the track is…