Please Don’t Die begins with The Price Put on You, an introduction that provides a microcosm of the styles and approaches that Skeletons in the Piano will utilize on this album. Longpig is a track that has the instrumentation and the vocals struggle for dominance. It is the dynamic between these two elements that push the track into a completely different effort. The shambling, jangling approach taken by Skeletons…
Abomination is an intense track that stands at the juncture between punk, metal, and hard rock. Wiseguys ‘n Scallywags kick things into high gear early, linking together an absolutely brutal sound with an emotional florish. Better Off Undead is a track that touches upon The Early November and Brand New as much as they take up hints of AFI and early Avenged Sevenfold. The disc hits a new high…
Quietly Freaky is a warm and inviting introduction for The Dream Logic, while the narrative brought will ensure that listeners stick around. The dynamic achieved by each of the instruments during Quietly Freak showcases another strength; the bass, drums, and guitars create a dense and fulfilling arrangement. What People Say continues to expand The Dream Logic’s palette as the band takes on bold new arrangements and a panoply of…
Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You starts in a very soulful and singular fashion, allowing the band to continue gaining momentum and energy. It is this delightful addition of speed that makes Reckless in Vegas shine; the vocals will call forth individuals like Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20) while the guitars twinkle with all of the indie fury of Coldplay or The Black Keys. Reckless in Vegas tackles a…
It takes some balls to call out Tom Waits as a reference point in your band bio; Even more when your music fails to live up to even Waits’ weakest musical output. You can see where the D.C. based indie blues noise band The Torches were going with that comparison; frontman Stephen J. Perron Guidry boasts a purposely off kilter delivery, with a deep baritone matched by a banjo and…
If you’re don’t like the latest Willie Nelson record, just give it a couple of months, as there’s bound to be another one just about to come out. That’s actually not hyperbole, when you consider Willie has put out 68 albums to date, and that’s just counting studio releases, not live albums, compilations, box sets, etc. At 80, the legend (and yes, he has definitely earned that title at this…
This is the new side project of members from Breather Resist. Having not heard Breather Resist, my review of Young Widows will not be tainted by my impressions on the earlier act. However, Young Widows start off their “Settle Down City” in much the same way that a snowball first gains speed. This is done by creating interesting instrumental arrangements during the title / opening track, insinuating a set…
Bob Dylan’s 1970 album Self-Portrait was welcomed by Rolling Stone magazine with the rather succinct review opener: “What is this shit?” Needless to say quite a few Dylan diehards had no idea how to take the troubadour’s tenth album; a double record set featuring mainly covers of old pop and folk hits. It was rightly maligned at the time with it’s puzzling selection of covers and sappy, cluttered string…
Max Gomez certainly isn’t the first to bring together country, pop and folk influences, but he has done a noteworthy job of blending the three seemingly disparate genres for his debut. Like John Prine and Townes Van Zandt before him, Gomez succeeds where many others fail, by being able to turn out interesting lyrics. When you are backed by acoustic guitars and mellow drumming, you can’t hide a weak voice…
I expected another batch of the same bland and generic technical-hardcore that has dominated the central Ohio scene when I first looked at Your Days Are Numbered’s disc. In fact, the front cover even is done in the same style as another local act, The Heartland. Anyways, “Dana Walker Rides Again” comes out surprisingly close to an Against Me! type of sound with “Crazed Romance”. The technical guitar riffs…
Youth Group starts off their “Skeleton Jar” with a very Radiohead/Postal Service-sounding track in “Shadowland”. The same sound predominates during the disc’s title track, which has a solid feel that seemes perfectly acceptable compared with much of the college-rock out current. The guitar, bouncy throughout really lifts up and invigorates the dreamy vocals of Toby. Looking back to the Merseybeat sound just a little bit during “Lillian Lies”, the…
The very sedate opening of “Futures” sounds as if Zero 7 has taken on the mantle of folk rock that was previously worn by acts like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The infusion of this style with a very electronic-based atmosphere puts this act into a current context as well as makes the disc that much more interesting. The use of a number of guest vocalists during “The Garden”…
There are dark places in the mind of every person where feelings of bitterness and rage reside, whether acknowledged by their owner or not. For most, these are not enjoyable places to be, but for many, they are unavoidable. On the new ten track album Origins from English metal band Promethium, the dark corners of the mind are tapped into and stimulated, to the tune of a thirty-eight minute long…
Let Go is the initial track on I Made It Through, and it is catchy enough to immediately draw in listeners. The track soars on strong instrumentation and a similarly intense bit of vocal work from Owens. This album opening links together pop, hints of R&B, and a passion that is simply unparalleled in current music. Can’t Stop This Fire provides listeners with a sense of the depth of…
The North Shore EP is a rare example of a shorter album providing listeners with a complete capturing of an act’s facets; listeners will be provided with a wide array of genres, influences, and types of music. The Quiet Things blends equal parts human and electronic, weaving a narrative for each through the tracks. When Lyda’s vocals kick into high gear, this impassioned approach to music shines brightly; The…
The Sidekicks have justifiably been praised by fans and critics alike for writing some of the best pop punk songs to come out of the Midwest in the past decade. But while the band was winning over city after city of supporters, guitarist Matt Scheuermann was quietly working on his much more reserved side project American War. The result is a collection of strikingly beautiful records, the latest being the…
Man, sometimes CDs have a look that is completely unlike the style or substance of the band that resides inside. This is the case with Zero To Sixty Never who come out with this EP in a black and white CD slipcover, and then proceed to come out with “My Julia Roberts Cameo”. In the vein of Unwritten law or New Found Glory, albeit with a twinge of more…
The scratching and sampling of the beginning moments of “You Oughta Know” should remind individuals of artists like The Avalanches and Kid Koala; the sultry vocals that come soon after are a direct blend of Portishead and The Propellerheads. Of course, this is a cover of Alanis Morrisette’s original track, and the vocals pretty much stick to the blueprint that Morrisette created in the original; where the two tracks do…
The one thing that I wonder about Zozobra is how they were able to get on Hydra Head. The style of music that they play on tracks like “The Blessing” is pure stoner meets gruinge rock. One hears hints of early Tool, Alice in Chains, and Temple of the Dog in “Harmonic Tremors”. This is not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, but the approachability of…
With four releases in four consecutive years, Oregon Punk Bluegrass collective Larry & His Flask are not fucking around. They’re on a mission to spread their banjo/mandolin-fused punk rock from city to city and while no album to date has been able to quite capture their amazing live show, By the Lamplight is the closest so far. Since the band’s grand re-opening in 2008, when they went from being a more traditional…