“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.…
Before I heard this album, I had only heard of Rumbleseat in passing. A track like “California Burritos” just really shocked me, as I based my idea of what Rumbleseat sounded like off the more noisy bands that No Idea is typically apt to sign. Rumbleseat plays a baked, Against Me! type of acoustic punk that relies as much on the solid vocals as on the tinny acoustics present. In…
Rufio has lost much of their ultra-distinct sound from “Perhaps I Suppose” for a more intense, more accessible sound with this, their “The Comfort of Home”. The technical ability of the band is shown during the soaring guitar solos of the first track “Out of Control”, coupled with the ability of the band to throw down their instrumentation running and affect with some of the greatest breakdowns ever placed on…
There are 17 different artists on this compilation, and for those individuals that might not be the biggest fans of dance and electronic music, the names will not be too recognizable. For me, I was only familiar with Royksopp. The disc starts out with a quick introduction before moving into a Claude Vonstroke song. This song, “The 7 Deadly Strokes”, is a solid electronic song but tends to last for…
Hey, it’s Disturbed and Korn, having a party. And lets see, they invited their screamo cousin to the party. Everything that is churned up on “The Hollow Men” is essentially, note for note, the same that can be heard on thousands of new-rock stations owned by Clearchannel, and while there are times where Rubikon find themselves in a groove, the fact is that this music isn’t incredibly innovative. I’m sure…
The way that this album looked, I had absolutely no idea that the music on “Passion” would have such a dance stomp. Honestly, during both “Intro” and “Fly RRRRRRRobin Fly”, I was half expecting a disco singer to start laying down eir vocals over the violin played by Robin Olson. The disco flavor surrounding the earliest parts of “Passion” is really no surprise, as “Fly Robin Fly” was a Silver…
RPM is a slightly-harder edged version of Avril Lavigne. Replace the definite pop influences of Avril with a slightly more rock influence (Bif Naked, Green Day, The Donnas) and you have RPM. While RPM seems to have all of eir politics in order (with liner notes attacking Clear Channel for post-9/11 lists), this music seems to be derivative and just a little late in the game to ride someone like…
After starting out “Best Friends Our Worst Enemies” slowly with their first track “Carabella”, Roden breaks through to their listeners with the very AFI-influenced “Ghosthouse, 1922”. The multiple-vocals of the aforementioned “Ghosthouse, 1922” really make the track crash and break against the ears of listeners, and go off into pseudo-instrumental noodling soon after. “Murder Of An Albatross” is a much more vocally-focused track, and the lack of audible instrumentation (for…
There are a few different styles that are shown off by Royce at the opening of their “Tuff Love”. The blend of dreamy pop with very funky and electronic backing beats give individuals two distinct ways to see the band. The track is catchy and radio friendly in the God Lives Underwater way, and has a current sound even if the constituent parts of Royce here are slightly older. The…
The hard opening to “Brave” allows listeners to lock into Royal Bliss; the style is not metal but rather is in a style of the LostProphets or a slightly harder Treble Charger. The vocals that are presented during “Brave” and “Here They Come” are those that are present in pretty much any playlist of a major radio station; there is little doubt that one of the songs on “After the…
Coming out of virtually nowhere, this Pacific Northwest band wows and amazes with their impressively introspective and emotive type of power-pop music. Beginning “Big City Sin…” with “Something that’s Real”, which has an driving beat that is unparalleled along with a lush production and proper harmonization. Coming in smoothly between the country-tinged alt rock of The Weakerthans and the alt country of Drive Til Morning, Roy proves much with this,…