Adam Zwig is a musician that has been putting in work for a number of years; Visions Of The Shimmering Night is his fifth album, and was produced by Stuart Sikes (Modest Mouse) and David Bianco (Tom Petty). Everybody Love is a tremendous opening effort for Zwig. During this introductory track, Adam is able to provide listeners with directions for where he’ll ultimately go on the album. These thematic touches…
Living Proof is the first introduction that listeners will likely have for Perala’s music, and it allows listeners to be entranced by her inimitable style. The track soars on plinking pianos and a vocal style that takes on hints of Sheryl Crow and Stevie Nicks. While Perala’s vocals are front and center, the instrumental arrangements present here provide a very thoughtful backdrop. Fine uses an interesting differentiation between the vocal…
The Wear introduces listeners to the Straw Dogs’ latest effort, No Dividing Line. This soft, alternative take on rock is led by an emotive and alluring set of vocals. The lush arrangements laid down by the drums and guitars make for a track that will stick with listeners long after it ends. High Horses speeds things up, inserting a Tom Petty meets Soul Asylum feel into the mix. No Dividing…
Walk begins Chances, and it immediately provides listeners with a heavy dose of emotional intensity and bombastic instrumentation. The band touches upon Brand New and Taking Back Sunday, but improves on the formula with the inclusion of a beefiness that will resound with listeners long after the disc ends. Downin’ straddles the line between pop-punk and emo-rock, while remaining eminently approachable for fans of rock and metal alike. While there…
A Return to The Cool (Album review of Tim Easton’s, Not Cool) by Owen M.S. Coughlin, Jr. In the world of music and art as a whole, there is, for whatever reason, a tendency to try to put artists into a certain kind of box, based on the perceived genre under which their work falls. It’s sort of like, “well these guys rock hard but they are very emo,…
Universal Music has announced that Eminem is releasing the second Marshall Mathers LP on November 5th. Keep an eye out for Em’s latest single, Berzerk, which will be released on Tuesday (8/27). This album is Eminem’s first since 2010’s Recovery.
It’s been about six years since The Blow Monkeys – once one of the brightest spots on the 80’s New Wave movement – reunited and the band has certainly been making up for lost time. Feels Like a New Morning marks the band’s fourth release since getting back on the bike and while they have certainly settled into a much more mellow vibe, they have likely aged right alongside their…
The Suicide Machines bring another twist with this new album, slowing down the tempo, but they still keep the sense of good-naturedness with the single “Sometimes I don’t mind”, which is a paean to a dog. A psuedo-Ramones track is thrown in with “Permanent Holiday”, from the topic of the song (Rebelling and Running Away) to the Ramonish pitch of Jason Navarro,.All and all this CD shows the Machines…
Blending Latino culture with punk rock is not unheard of. The Casualties have been known to sing in Spanish; The Bronx have an entire side project devoted to Mariachi music, so the fact that San Antonio’s Piñata Protest have fused an accordion and snatches of traditional Mexican-American music with punk rock is not exactly ground-breaking. But the fact that they do it well, is worthy of attention. Their sophomore album,…
Fire(Part 2) is a free-form jazz that simultaneously touches upon an entire range of styles from the fifties out to the eighties. The constituent elements of Lullaby North are talented enough to weave a cogent narrative through this introduction to the band, resulting in a set of listeners that will be utterly enamored. Words for hire begins with a vocal narration before touching upon nineties…
Slavery has a retro feel to it that will recall the electrified pop of the halcyon days of the eighties and early nineties. The lush production behind Slavery makes the effort work admirably in the current period. A very poppy tempo and smooth feel to the instrumentation ensures that this track will easily slide onto radio rotation. I feel that Achim G does more with the pop genre than…
Bad Bad Feeling is a track that touches upon a lengthy tradition in music, expressing infidelity and raw emotion alongside a similarly responsive set of arrangements. Don’t Want No Woman is a fiery and multi-faceted effort, topped off by smooth and radio-friendly vocals. The production on Badlands allows for each constituent act of Trampled Under Foot to shine, creating a bouncy order out of a disparate set of instruments…
Shadows begins with Nothing Here but Love, a track that blends sedate and emotive instrumentation with an utterly memorable set of vocals. The dreamy nature of the track sets the stage for subsequent tracks; Faster with You continues this trend with a slight bit of electronic instrumentation. Floating between pop, EDM, and influences including Jewel and Natalie Imbruglia, Lenka deftly crafts a unique style of music during the first part…
Superstitious Mind is a hard-rocking track that ties together the work of Guns N’ Roses with a more current and contemporary (Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood) country sound. My Perfect World keeps with a strong instrumentation and showcases Lim’s eclectic set of influences. With more than a passing nod to sixties psychedelic rock and nineties grunge, My Perfect World has the hooks necessary to garner a substantial amount of replay. Broken…
Automatic showcases Iration’s own unique take on reggae; hints of 311 and Sublime can be heard even as the band takes a more pensive and even progressive-tinged approach to their music. The production during this introduction will pique listeners’ interests, which the band uses to great effect during Show Me. Show Me is a radio-ready track that looks back to the days of The Police and the second wave…
Seeming to come out of nowhere, Nashville’s Joy of Painting have just turned in one of the most exciting EPs of the year, genres be damned (they happen to straddle garage, punk and pop, in case you were wondering). With just seven songs, the band has actually managed to make Indie rock sound fresh, a big task when you consider that just about every band with a release in 2013…
The Suicide Machines-Battle Hymns-This is another band that I am giving a 2nd (and 3rd) chance to prove themselves. This album is much more cohesive then the first one I reviewed. The Suicide Machines end each song before it gets stagnant, by having the songs only last about a minute and a half each. They also are talented enough to keep the mix away from stagnation, changing styles numerous times…
The chunky rock of Suffrajett that starts off their self-titled EP in “Mr.Man” is reminiscent of acts like Joan Jett, but also from the very loud and raucous female country singers of the last decade (such as Shania Twain). The production is very Spartan for this disc, showcasing the empty space more than the instrumentation of the disc. This creates some tension in the track, something that is only negated…
Philly psychedelic Indie pop rockers the Photon Band have been at it since the early 90’s and they remain just has hard to categorize as they’ve ever been. Sounding like MC5 on one track and The Smithereen’s on the next, the band seamlessly skips from one genre to the next. Pure Photonic Matter [Volume 1], their latest, starts off with a swirl of electronic noise and what sounds like a…
Hookworms has been terrorizing headlining bands across northern England (as support with Wooden Shjips, Sun Araw and Peaking Lights), and beyond through sheer sonic velocity and emotive intent. The reel feels cathartic, each fresh revolution of the loop a confrontation between the band and themes of depression, loss and anger – subjects close to the heart of the group’s vocalist MJ. Pearl Mystic is an absolutely thunderous statement of…