Riotgod was formed in 2007 by Bob Pantella and Jim Baglino. Both having previously been with Monster Magnet. There somphomore CD “Invisible Empire” has been released via Metalville Records and is the follow up release to the their self titled album “Riotgod”. Invisible Empire is solid from beginning to end, with a heavy and mature rock sound. The band definitely has something unique going for it, some would put them…
Catman Cohen has taken his fair share of journeys over the course of his career. Confessions of a Shadow is his latest album, and each of the album’s 15 tracks add considerably to the performer’s mythos. While Cohen’s name is listed as the name on the disc, the sheer amount of individuals working to make this a reality is astounding. The bookending “The Final Confessions” tracks further establish the epic…
Nineties alt rock heroes Smashing Pumpkins managed to come apparently out of nowhere, toss out two amazing records, create one of the biggest assholes in rock (and that is not a small feat), turn in a couple of weaker, though successful follow up records and implode (though still limp along creating lesser albums with fewer and fewer original members) all in the span of a decade. EMI has just released…
Funny that you have to go to Brooklyn to find one of the best Americana bands playing today. The New York band The Habit, with several singers brings to mind everyone from Gram Parsons and The Jayhawks to Whiskeytown and The Cowboy Junkies, on their fantastic debut Lincoln Has Won. Excelling at dirty rock (“Ballad Of,” “Don’t Grow Old Young Man”), beautiful indie rock (“Not Brooklyn”) and dusty Americana (“Blood…
While Shortie’s information constantly throws the fact at potential reviewers that Shortie has played with umpteen popular rock bands, the same people who claim that are also claiming that Shortie is striving for their own sound. Shortie does not really have their own sound, per se but do mesh together some of the more quality aspects of a number of bands that have invaded mainstream rock radio in the last…
A Shoreline Dream is just that; the opening few minutes of their “Avoiding The Consequences” builds up slowly, with the band creating a very dreamy and tenuous musical approach that finally get into something more substantive about three minutes into the disc. The guitar and drum dynamic of a track like “Laying This One Down Now” is similar to that of “Disintegration”-era The Cure; the band does not need much…
Starting out with a honky-tonk meets the Talking Heads-type of sound, Shortstack push alt-country to the side for a more old-school style of popular country. The wide-open guitars of “Jealous Man” break out of the compressed mastering that the disc finds itself. The first exciting happening in the CD occurs during the walking bass line of the second track, “Plenty Time For Sleepin’”. Comparable to the highest plateaus of Uncle…
Shock Nagasaki play a very classic brand of punk rock that will have individuals singing along even when they have only heard the disc once or twice. “1968” starts the disc out, and the band only plays for about seventy seconds on the song before moving into the equally catchy and longer “I Get High on Low Society”. The style of music that Shock Nagasaki play is similar to that…
The line between new and traditional brands of emo is usually distinct enough to allow for rapid consolidation of bands into one style or another. This is not the case with Shinky, who really comes through with a brand of music that simultaneously recalls a list of bands as diverse as they comes, from Jane’s Addiction to Appleseed Cast and even towards newer acts like The Black Maria. The only…
When I first put on the Ari Shine disc, I was expecting something more folksy, a type of music that would be played at any coffee shop or frat house across America. However, when “Crank It Out!” starts, I was transported back to the pop-rock of the mid-sixties, before Ari spices it up ever so slightly to give listeners in 2006 a reason to listen in. The track revels in…
I had heard snippets of this band for a decent period before actually laying my hands on the record itself. While everything that I’ve read about the band tags them as pop-punk wunderkinds, I would have to disagree. The music which Del Cielo puts out goes so far beyond the limitations of a loaded term like pop-punk into a term that is almost as derogatory : alternative. If they put…
There is a very organic sound to The Shimmers’ opening to “The Way You Shine”. This has much more in common with the folk music of the late sixties and early seventies than anything in the current period. If anything, the only act in the last few years that The Shimmers can compare themselves to in the last few years would have to be Davison/Coleman. The presence of two vocalists…
Shook Ones really come out of left field for bands that are on Revelation; this snotty style of straight-forward punk rock is done with the utmost care, with more than a little hint of Rancid to be found during the 7-inch’s opening track “Slaughter of the Insole”. There is also a more than healthy helping of Fat Mike’s vocals that make it onto the track, which makes for a track…
Shedaisy plays a brand of country meets pop music that individuals would be confused to hear coming out of CMT or the like. Songs like “23 Days” could conceivably be on the adult contemporary radio stations, or it could conceivably be on the Christian station; there is nothing that really marks the track as a country song. Still, this does not change the fact that Shedaisy comes up with a…
The slow tempo that starts off “Palo Santo” mixes together Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds, and John Maher to create something that works well with either the pop set or the individuals that are into challenging music. The simple drumming that begins “Red Sea, Black Sea” is coupled with an electronic sound to approach the album in a fundamentally different way than “La Dame et la Licorne” began the disc. This…
A second year of In:motion, a second season of road-blocked parties, tens of thousands of smiling faces and a host of amazingly good times and memorable moments for all those that were part of it. Bristol’s revamped Motion skate park has lent itself not just as club but a stage and theatre of entertainment, hosting the best in electronic music and live production. There has been a feast of highlights…
Beginning tomorrow, DIKEMBE (Gainesville, FL) will team up with good friends You Blew It (Topshelf Records) for a two-week Winter tour of the East Coast. Affectionately titled “Fulfill The Prophecy,” the trek will find both bands playing shows as far north as Boston and Providence with the likes of Dads, The World Is A Beautiful Place and Cattle Drums. For details and other information, see below or click here. Dikembe…
By some fluke, Neil Diamond – the once cheese-tatstic singer that pretty much defined the 70’s, sequenced shirt and all – has managed to not only remain relevant more than four decades after his first record, but has gotten everyone from housewives to hipsters to look beyond the sideburns and Vegas-ready stage show and see him for what he really is: a damn great songwriter. As The Very Best of…
I Came Around is a song of regret and loss that mirrors well the emotional intensity felt by someone in that situation; I believe a large part of Emerick’s allure comes in being able to capture in song what a great segment of the population has had to go through. Round and Round is the teetering track on this seven-song EP, and the more pensive and quiet approach here creates…
Sal Piamonte is able to imbue rock music with a vitality that is matched only by the asheer array of styles and influences that are present during Lives in Devil City. Fans of Hinder, Papa Roach, and even Lostprophets will find something to sink their teeth into. Take Me Home is a track that just feels destined for radio rotation; with a set of vocals that will ensure listeners and…