Though best remembered for the beautifully raunchy, but oh so catchy tune “The Dirty Song,” Athens, GA’s duo Cars Can Be Blue are back with their strongest full length yet, Trace the Tension. Bringing to mind everyone from The Muffs to The Moldy Peaches, the band is still playful and still irreverent, but a tad more focused with this latest 14-song offering. From the pumped up album opener “You…
Dr. Clive Brooks is Amberfern, and AquaEssence is a collection of tracks that he has created to elicit the sounds and experiences that one has when they are on a beach. From Avon Beach to the disc’s final track, Calm Waters Home, Amberfern has deftly created a release that will elicit memories of days spent on the boardwalk, playing around a swimming hole, or bobbing around in the ocean. At…
The Enchanted Path is the introductory effort on Day of Life. At four and a quarter minutes, the track still seems to go by like a flash. Each note created by Koch fits perfectly and sets the stage for the rest of the album. While Flowers on the Mountain barely reaches the three minute mark, the track is able to dovetail nicely into Morning Silence. The hopeful feelings that are…
Downpour opens up Daytime Dreamer, and it provides listeners with a tremendously dynamic and uptempo feel. While there are not vocals present, the piano line that Akram lays down provides a considerable amount of narrative. The track taps out at a hair over four minutes and leads into Dancing With the Wind. Dancing With the Wind is a softer and more introspective effort, where Akram delves into the corpus…
Cowboys and Indians is an independent film that benefits considerably through the presence of a set of compositions by Henrik Åstrom (who also created the score for 2011’s Jake and Jasper). While the visual component to the film is stellar and will draw viewers in, Åstrom’s 26 compositions for the film do more than highlight what is being shown on the screen. Rather, Åstrom’s work shines brilliantly on its own.…
Via delle Grazie is the latest effort from the Netherlands’ Red to Violet. Waiting for the Sun is a carefully-crafted piece of indie rock. The band is able to open up into a post-modern type of rock that is influenced by 90s alternative rock (Sean Lennon, Hedley) and the more emotive acts of the 00s (Brand New, Dashboard Confessional). The band’s instrumentation is smart, while they maintain an intensity to…
Jack Kerouac is a difficult author to transfer to the big screen, but Big Sur is a title that imbues the silver screen with the inimitable Kerouac style. The title benefits from accurate scenery, language, and overall zeitgeist captured during the feature. Big Sur focuses on Kerouac’s life in the months immediately following the success of On the Road. Rather than bask in his success, Kerouac attempts…
Rewind This! Is a title that looks to showcase the unique qualities of the history behind video cassettes. While home entertainment has moved past the VHS and DVD formats, there is a specific allure to the era that allowed smaller film companies and those with a passion for film the ability to cheaply and easily get their titles to a wider audience. Rewind This! focuses on interviews with those that…
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a sequel to 2010’s Max & the Magic Marker that released across the Wii, Playstation Network and a variety of touchscreen devices. Developer Press Play has gone exclusively to the Xbox One for their 2013 sequel (with an Xbox 360 version reportedly in the works for 2014), and their outing represents one of the few post-launch downloadable titles available on the Xbox One to…
Funky Bouriel has a funk meets New Jack Swing flair that immediately draws listeners in; Madame Freak’s vocals pull double duty in the furtherance of the narrative and in the creation of the overall flair of this track. Ow!!! brings Follow The Crack into a bold new direction; a small amount of scat-like singing opens up into an eclectic mélange of early-nineties dance and Chic-like pop. Ride It straddles…
The film reinvigorates both the fight club and the young virtuoso gains valuable skills from the master genres, with Keanu’s role as Donaka providing an anchor that allows individuals to moor themselves on. Keanu’s Donaka pays Tiger Chen (Chen Hu) for eir skills, erupting into chaos when Tiger Chen learns that ey is a pawn in an underground fighting league. The action is fast-paced and realistic, while the grimy scenery…
Sweetwater is set in the last years of the 1800s, in an America that is still incredibly rough and tumble. Ed Harris and January Jones are put up against a considerable foe in Jason Isaacs, who has a delightfully evil turn as a fundamentalist leader. The costuming and set design make it incredibly easy for viewers to immerse themselves in Sweetwater, while the dialogue fits the period without confusing viewers.…
One of the first supplements that we had the chance to review when we first began our health and fitness section was JetFuel Pyro. The supplement provided us with some of the longest-lasting and cleanest energy that we have had when supplementing. When we first had the chance to check out TeamGAT’s latest, JetFuel Superburn. This supplement provides a number of benefits, including a boost to overall alertness, breaking down…
Engel Weisse is a Berliner Weiss beer, which means that Elevation has crafted an effort that has a considerable fruit side. An initial pour has a considerable white head and a grape meets citrus head, while an initial sip yields hints of apples, grapes, lemons, and hints of tannins. With each subsequent drink, imbibers will be impressed with the effervescence of the beer – the effort is quaffed easily, granting…
It’s pretty clear that South African writer/director Quinton Lavery is a big fan of Kevin Smith. From the black and white DIY aesthetics of Clerks to the more emotional (yet still raunchy and very funny) core of Chasing Amy, Smith’s style is all over Lavery’s hilarious indie Casting Me. The semi-autobiographical movie centers around Paul, a funny, but average looking casting director who never got around to…
The Orchard has been working for a few years to further promote the artists which it distributes. What has been a solid set of signings has exceeded even our expectations when True Groove Records (Tomás Doncker’s label) was picked up for distribution today. Tomás Doncker just signed an exclusive global distribution and licensing deal with The Orchard for his True Groove Label. Founded in 2011 True Groove was born…
Coup De Grace is straight-forward bludgeoning metal, with bold vocals, sizzling guitars, and a tremendous momentum that punctuates all points of the track. Lemmy’s vocals are as vibrant and on-point as they always have been, while the track provides listeners with the kick in the ass that they need to stick with the rest of the album. Lost Woman Blues showcases Motorhead at their artistic finest. While the band can…
The gloves perform admirably, no matter what sort of exercises that one does during a workout. The gloves are thick enough to protect against skin damage when using barbells or dumbbells, while the gloves’ BioForm pads become more malleable as one continues their sessions. The Velcro-ed wraps ensures that the gloves’ fit will not hinder a set, and can be easily changed to accommodate those exercises that require a different…
Inch’Allah is a tremendously affecting film, and showcases the plight of those currently living in the West Bank. Set through the eyes of Chloe (Evelyne Brochu, of Orphan Black), a doctor that has been assigned with the Red Crescent. The sheer gap between the living situations in Jerusalem and the West Bank is shown with heart-wrenching detail, while every individual, patient, and citizens that comes in contact with has…
This shaver provides substantial improvements over manual razors and the typical shavers on the market. The CoolTec Electric Shaver devours all facial hair with a minimum of passes over one’s face – previous electric shavers that I have purchased keep one’s face inflamed as they require multiples of passes to render a face clean-shaven. The additional active cooling technology that is included in the CT5cc will make the whole process…