As much as I wanted to say that Jules Shear has a sound that is similar to Bob Dylan during the opening track of “Dreams Don’t Count”, the fact is that Shear blazes a path for eirself by only the third or forth minute of the disc. The tracks are fairly dreamy, with the sound of acoustic rock bolstered by an atmosphere that cradles Shear’s output at all sections of…
The first track on (S)he’s album sounds a lot like Destiny’s Child and the other women-centric acts on the market today. From the beginning of the disc (S)he sounds as if they have drawn heavily from a number of similar sounding acts. (S)he goes into a more gospel like style with “Temptation”, to the degree that the track sounds very influenced by acts like Trin-I-Tee 5:7 and Nicole C. Mullen.…
Jack Blades was in Night Ranger and Damn Yankees. Tommy Shaw was in Styx. Together they are Shaw-Blades, and they don’t play anything original on this album. Tracks confront listeners from acts like Seals & Crofts, Paul Simon, and the Mamas and the Papas. From these two individuals, who created some of the harder rock and hair metal of the seventies, eighties, and nineties, to hear a song like “Summer…
No Work Dancing begins with Molina (oh yeah), a slow and steady-paced track that touches upon the pop-rock of the sixties just as much as it does on Weezer and slacker rock. The titular track for No Work Dancing has a more insistent beat, with the drums tattooing a rhythm on listeners’ hearts. With a nod to early Rolling Stones and Monkees, the narrative quality of the instrumentation here establishes…
The Drive EP begins with the titular track, a song that updates the work of the Goo Goo Dolls into a mature and intensively emotive format. The vocals have that little bit of punk stylings playing at the periphery, which provides the band with a truly unique style. The fullness of the instrumentation is shown as well during Drive, with a resplendent bass line adding that much to the track.…
Do It All Over Again is a flipping of the traditional guy and girl song that will have listeners ecstatic. By reversing these gender roles, Janzen is able to provide a voice to all of womankind. In terms of instrumentation, there is a layered approach taken that stashes a fuller sound in the background. Everybody Knows Better moves Janzen into a more pop sound; hints of Sheryl Crow and Alanis…
The singer-songwriter trope is one in which there is a tremendous amount of flotsam. It is hard to find a solid title among all of the titles that are released on a monthly basis. However, I feel that Beverly McClellan’s Fear Nothing is a title that looks to redefine the genre, as well as provide a solid experience for anyone that happens to find a copy of the album. Fear…
Revolutionary Girl Utena’s The Black Rose Saga is where I originally cut my RGU teeth; the storyline showcases substantial evolution from the original series, while containing the same quality that one had came to expect from the show. For those unfamiliar with the Black Rose Saga, it takes place as the friendship between Anthy and Utena starts to twist and turn. As this is happening, Utena’s world become more hectic…
Mushroomhead is one of the biggest active bands to come from Cleveland. While they have formed their style over the course of numerous albums, Jeffrey Nothing (the band’s vocalist) has boldly went out on eir own with The New Psychodalia. There is a confidence that is weaved through the album’s 13 cuts that pushes the album past Mushroomhead territory. This is an evolutionary step forward for Nothing, and the album’s…
The momentum of the initial composition on Frozen In Motion will immediately bring listeners in to Kodomo’s psyche. A chattering, busy sort of sound works alongside atmospheric compositions, moving to a slower and more deliberate feel after the break. While this initial track taps out at well below the three minute mark, I feel that the song acts as a microcosm of the different sounds, styles, and approaches that will…
There are a number of female singer-songwriters that are currently out on the market. Frankly, a number of them are fair to middling. However, Doctaryn is an act that boldly looks to tear down many of these conceptions and create in Conundrum one of the most intelligent and inspiring albums that we at NeuFutur have heard in the last year. Fresh instrumentation and a unique singing voice are the reason…
Shake It Like A Hillbilly is the first track on Ringo Manor, and it immediately showcases Hillbilly Vegas as an act that can touch upon the work of Every Mother’s Nightmare and Bon Jovi, while still having a little bit of a country twang. What results during Ringo Manor is an album that is catchy and musically sound. The energy generated during Shake It Like A Hillbilly does not diminish…
I was not expecting The Sharp Ease to come up with such a retro-punk track to open up “Going Modern”, using a Ramones-like song structure to push through their desires. Tracks spin through before one can honestly get a grasp on The Sharp Ease, but with tracks like “I Demand”, a sort of disco-like guitar line permeates the track, while Paloma‘s vocals achieve a more energetic, Debbie Harry-esque style. Each…
“Holy Water” is a lighter version of the punkabilly that acts like Tiger Army and Nekromantix have been perfecting over the last decade or so. However, Shark Soup seem to be influenced by a larger set of bands than either of the two aforementioned acts, which means that the album is exponentially more interesting than anything put out by either act. “One Eyed Kat” shows that diversity of interests, as…
Electronic-based indie rock, Sharks and Minnows start off “The Cost of Living” with the electronically influenced pop gem “Sunday Driver”. Not pigeonholing themselves into one specific genre of music, different tracks continue the thread of strong lyrics and pop-influenced hooks with “Slow Learner”. A tad quieter than The Weakerthans, a little more musically apt than Weezer, and a google less annoying that Matthew Sweet, Sharks and Minnows play the most…
The band seems to be so uncollected and random that I felt sort of odd getting into Shark Pants as much as I did. Its almost as if Frank Zappa fronted The Offspring. Using guitar riffs that are as straight-forward as the ones from any of the retro-rock bands (The White Stripes) and a yelped-out set of vocals, Shark Pants are definitely a unique enough band to merit being on…
Shallow Water Grave play a brand of metal that is influenced both by Slayer and Helloween. To say that the opening salvo of “Lay In Wait” is confusing is to hit the nail on the head. There are just so many things that are happening during this first track that individuals just do not know where to go or what to listen to. Luckily, this confusion is much less during…
I know that Revelation released “A Comprehensive Retrospective” a year or two ago, but these re-releases of Shai Hulud discs contribute a lot more to the corpus of the band than does a “everything’s here”, 24 track version of the band’s history. I’m assuming what Revelation is doing here with these discs is re-releasing what was an EP (such as “A Profound Hatred of Man”) and trying to find any…
Unlike “A Profound Hatred of Man”, “Hearts Once Nourished” only has its original nine tracks. Why the other disc had a number of covers and this one does is beyond me, but the band is able to make a good thing even with this smaller amount of tracks. The disc is much longer per track than is “A Profound Hatred of Man”, so that may be the case. This was…
The band has been around for a long time, considering it was 1999 and people even here in nowheresville Ohio had heard of them. To see a label like Revelation release this album is a surprise, as much of their current roster (Temper Temper, Pitch Black) has seemed to be more into the retro and dance-punk style of things. Still, this is essential in terms of history in that, much…