Beat the Odds is a raw and intense collection of songs that capture Dave’s wide array of influences. This means that Take Me Away has a CSNY meets America type of groove, while Rock A Bye Baby has a late sixties / early seventies sound that is reminiscent of Alice Cooper or Brownsville Station.
White Women is an amazing retro-tinged album that is strong from beginning to end; Sexy Socialite is the perfect example of a track that will immediately fill dance floors, while Over Your Shoulder keeps things hopping despite having a much more contemplative arrangement.
The story behind Slinger could easily be transformed into a television show or movie. The band has been around for a number of years, far enough back in history that they committed their first recordings to a reel-to-reel. The act poured their hearts and souls into their work, and were able to garner considerable support in and around the Orange County (California) area.
Full Sail’s ESB pours with a dark-brown / reddish hue and a small amount of persistent off-white head. The beer’s initial flavors link together sweet with a slight amount of hops. Full Sail has pegged their ESB at a level that will keep individuals warm through the spring months while still having enough outward sweetness to include the widest possible swath of imbibers.
Knight of Badassdom, the latest horror comedy from Joe Lynch, has all the hallmarks of a cult classic: metal music, roleplaying games that conjure up demons and plenty of stoner laughs.
Even if you don’t know your Kajagoogoo from your Yaz, this oral history of New Wave is entertaining enough to suck up the next few hours of your life, regardless of your relationship with the genre. Culled from countless interviews by music journalists Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein, Mad World captures bands big (Duran Duran, The Psychedelic Furs) and obscure (The Normal, Ultravox) in this run down of the music…
Aram Garriga’s absorbing documentary American Jesus is one of the few religious documentaries in recent memory that manages to even-handedly offer a glimpse at the uniqueness of Christianity in the U.S. without taking a clear side praising or condemning the way these groups choose to worship.
The Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center is a lush area, seeming more like an early twentieth-century university than a hotel. This quaint and timeless touch is paralleled by tremendous customer service. I recently visited Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center for leisure and was very impressed. Perfect for those that are looking to rest and relax at the NHCC, the rooms have the feel of an apartment.
Country Crazy is the latest single from Amy Rose, and it will immediately capture listeners’ attention with a strong instrumental side. When Rose’s vocals kick in, the track is given a full sound. Rose’s approach to country has hints of Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, Gretchen Wilson, and possesses just enough pop to have tremendous crossover potential.
The band released High Water late last year, and can be seen live at Axum’s Level X Lounge in Washington, DC on 4/26 and Desmond’s Tavern in New York, NY on 5/31. Make sure to visit their social networking profiles to locate more information about the act, their releases, and their live shows. High Water is a raw and visceral title, but is recorded in such a fashion that each…
Go Some More is a timeless track that allows listeners of a wide swath to find something that they can appreciate. The driving arrangement is provide additional depth through a bouncing, driven set of vocals.
Low Life is dark and gritty rock that would shine as brightly in the seventies as it does now. The track has a number of bold and brash elements – vocals, drums, and guitars all vie for dominance – but the constituent elements are able to gel into something fun and hard-hitting. I particularly like Three State Famous’ ability to just stop the instrumental side of things and allow the…
Sacred Earth has created one of the most cohesive meditative albums that we have heard this year. Each of the disc’s first five tracks range in length from eight to ten minutes, and provide a wide array of distinct influences along with considerable twists and turns over the course of the sixty-plus minute run time.
The Haiku Project is a musician that is looking to further the ambient genre into something that is tremendously effecting while still being approachable by the widest swath of listeners. The album begins with Atlantis, an eight-minute track that feels to be a fraction of that.
How did your debut release, Stephen Farrell move from initial thought to finished effort? Initially, I was working on demoing some of my songs and I began thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great to really put this down on some tracks with some great musicians and play the tunes live for a change instead of just demoing the tunes with machines and synths.”
Musicians are notoriously a sensitive group. Even more so when it comes to poking fun at their own legacy. So it was particularly admirable of longtime cult rocker Graham Parker to play himself in 2012’s This Is 40, a film where Paul Rudd’s character is losing money because his record label banked on the failed notion that there was still an audience for Parker and his longtime band The Rumors.
Since the last time we had met with DownTown Mystic, much has changed. The band has gone through considerable successes (reaching the Top 25 on the Euro/Americana charts) in Europe, and Sony Music spreading their Standing Still album throughout the continent. Jingle Punks had slated their music to be played on US cable & network television, ensuring that millions of viewers were familiar with DownTown Mystic through programs like American…
People don’t normally consider Canada to be a hotbed of extreme metal. When talking about the best black or death metal bands, Scandinavia is constantly mentioned, along with a few American bands, German bands and various regional scenes but the Canadian scene is often overlooked which is a shame because some of the bands to come out of the Great White North are some of the best bands metal has…
Prospect is a very emotion track that requires nothing more than Thorpe’s fantastic voice. The different harmonies that she achieves before the whistling begins is simply unparalleled in music, with comparisons being drawn to Sarah McLachlan or Paula Cole.
Monk’s Blood has a wonderful reddish-brown color and a small tannish head that sticks around for a decent time. The beer has a decent amount of hop flavor that is moderated by a bit of sweetness. These two elements combine to make for a beer that is eminently drinkable despite having a considerable (8.3%) alcohol percent.