When Athens’ favorite sons R.E.M. released Life’s Rich Pageants in 1986, the rest of the world finally got a peek at what the college rock crowd had been raving about for years. Four albums into it, R.E.M. had their strongest commercial success with Lifes Rich Pageant, a foreshadowing of what was to come with the impressive succession of follow ups (Document, Green, Out of Time and Automatic for the People).…
Washington state’s The Riffbrokers have managed to find a way to sound completely timeless. They play “rock” without any unnecessary prefix needed to describe their sound and as a result they could have recorded their latest (Every Pilot’s Blinded By the Sun) in the studio right next to Tom Petty when he was working on Damn the Torpedoes in ’79 or they could have just as easily been playing with…
We’ve teased and tip-toed, but the big day is finally here. That means we’re proud to announce the debut of Valencia’s new video for “Still Need You Around (Lost Without You)”. Fly on over to PureVolume, Absolute Punk, or Buzznet to check out the premiere of this gorgeous video. Four Year Strong is headlining this year’s AP Tour and we couldn’t be more excited! You can show us how excited…
The sonic swelter of guitars and gentle finger picked motifs work like seaweed swaying with rhythm and beats. Front-woman Tanya Horo’s chilling but childlike vocals effortlessly trick and tease the melodies, weaving her lyrics and captivating audiences. Compelling the listener to delve further into this weird and wondrous world that brought Sherlock’s Daughter from the wide open spaces of downunder to the concrete jungle of New York. The band’s latest…
“Last Transmission” is the first track on “After All This Time”, and it immediately provides listeners with the perfect blend of emo, rock, and punk music. The nearest thing that I can link Low Fi to is the pre-Metal Blade Goo Goo Dolls. There is a fury and passion that is present with each of the cuts on this EP that will permanently imprint the band onto the minds and…
Dan Sartain has been crafting eir own unique style since 2001; “The Legacy of Hospitality” is eir seventh album, and showcases more of the same compelling skill that made eir last albums must-have. “Atheist Funeral” begins this album of rarities and otherwise forgotten tracks, providing listeners with that little bit of energy to keep them hanging on. Particular high notes during this album have to include “I Don’t Wanna Go…
Jungle Rot is one of those bands that has been bubbling under the radar for the better part of two decades, and their hard work has been paid off with their 2011 signing to Victory Records. Far from appeasing their new label, “Kill on Command” builds off of a great many of the sounds and styles that were first brought fans during 1997’s Slaughter the Weak and 2004’s Fueled By…
With the increasing interconnectedness of the world, it becomes easier to find musicians that are creating some impressive music no matter where they may reside. Seun Kuti, from Nigeria, is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Originally breaking on the scene with 2007’s “Think Africa”, “From Africa With Fury” represents eir first release on Knitting Factory Records. The previously mentioned interconnectedness increases when one hears the production on “From Africa…
Jonathan Edwards has been creating music for a period of time longer than a great many listeners have been alive. Eir career gradually got larger during eir stint in Sugar Creek, while many casual listeners may be familiar with Edwards’ music through “Sunshine”. “My Love Will Keep” is the first album that Edwards has released for over 12 years, and represents further maturation and evolution of the music that ey…
“Field Songs” is the fifth album by William Elliott Whitmore, and it provides listeners with some of the most touching and compelling music of Whitmore’s career. The tracks on Field Songs unite into one cohesive entity – while the different tracks on the album can be enjoyed alone, I feel that there are is a considerable amount of intertrack interplay that one has to listen to to properly get what…
“A Feminist Manifesto” begins with “Ballerina”, a spicy track that soars on the back of some sizzling horns. O’Neill’s vocals during “Ballerina” benefit from challenging time signatures and a style that touches upon pop, rock, and even country and blues in their execution. What is one of the most exciting sides of “A Feminist Manifesto” has to be the inclusion of stellar musicians to lay down the instrumental backdrop for…
March Into Paris make the beginning of their “Beautiful Chaos” into an instrument-heavy affair that benefits through the inclusion of a strong female set of vocals. There is not an easy way to compare the band to existing music; there is a fury present to the previously-mentioned vocals that is only matched by the splashing drums and sick guitar lines. “Inside My Heart” may have a little more atmospheric and…
“In LA” is the first track on “Smoke N Mirrors”, and what the band lays down will immediately catch the attention of anyone in the vicinity. The band takes nods from The Donnas, The Runaways, and The Distillers, and puts a little bit more rock into the equation that fuels “Smoke N Mirrors”. The titular track on “Smoke N Mirrors” looks further back into the annals of music to pull…
7 Months Later begins their “Time to Decide” with some tremendously interesting emotive rock that gradually gains speed until the band can go all out. The swirling eddies of guitars and drums that come forth will immediately impress listeners, even as they work together with the aforementioned vocals to push the track further. “Disengage” continues the same threads initially inserted in “Time to Decide”, but the band keeps things fresh…
Music can do a great many things. While many individuals just listen to music to lift (or support) their moods, Bruce Lipton wants to do much more with eir compositions. Specifically, ey wants to modify how an individual thinks and who an individual actually is – the shift in consciousness that is described in the disc’s title is brought through 9 distinct compositions. The album starts out with “Wisdom Calls…
I thought Kate Russell was a movie star? Maybe I’m just thinking of Kurt Russell and Kate Winslet? Anyways, that has nothing to do with what is present on Kate Russell’s album “Powerful Stuff”. The album cover does not immediately clue individuals in to what style of music that Russell would be creating for this album; current country is what individuals will get when “Powerful Stuff” is put on the…
The style of music that The Ruse plays is a more smoothed out version of U2 and Oasis; “Everything Comes With A Price” is a vocal-dominated track. This is not to say that the instrumentation is nothing less than impressive; the guitar lines on a song like “Everything Comes With A Price” is something that can be calm and collected even as they bristle with energy. The Ruse is a…
A little bit of Screeching Weasel, some Queers, Ramones and Misfits, and one has an idea what The Runs sound like on their “Wet Sounds”. The tracks run into each other, making the fourteen cut “Wet Sounds” blast through at a Flash-like speed (it ends before the twenty-seventh minute). The production of the disc is well above another achieved by the early Screeching Weasel albums, and tracks like “Rancho Slutadero”…
Hiromi has been creating innovative and unique keyboard compositions for nearly a decade now, and each different release has showcased a different side of eir. “Voice”, eir latest effort, may just be the most memorable of eir discography. The compositions present on “Voice” are filled out through the inclusion of veteran players such as Simon Phillips (drummer; Judas Priest and Jack Bruce) and Anthony Jackson (bass; The O’Jays, Chick Corea).…
Immediately reminiscent of The Postal Service, Phiadelphia’s Run Away From The Humans have created a strong sound and style for themselves only after a year of exist. Everything is sequenced and the first track “Wake Up, Wake Up” gains its energy for dreamy vocals and Aeffect-style synthesizers. The synthesizers, played by also-vocalist Jason, are crisp and clean, sounding at times like “Good News-era Modest Mouse, incorporated with a life act.…