This is the third album that Vasandani has released; this singer has been garnering strong reviews from all sides of the jazz community since 2007. Hi-Fly showcases a singer that can power through traditional jazz tracks and experiment at length. What results is one of the most unique albums that we’ve been able to review, while still showcasing eir skill at every turn. Hi-Fly starts out with “The Very Thought…
It was late last year when these reissues were first mentioned, and I immediately became excited. This is due to the fact that Sony Legacy always attempts to dig deep with their reissues, coming out with different versions of tracks (demo, live, mono), crazy rare efforts, and a cleaning up of the sounds that originally impacted listeners all those years ago. Sony Legacy is one of the few companies that…
The cover of this album does not give any good clues to what will await listeners. “My Life After Death Pt. 1” only furthers this dilemma. There is a cohesive band playing something that is rock in nature, but what really awaits listeners? The band could easily move into rock, emo, or punk; what eventually comes to light is that Roman Numerals play a very time-tested brand of pop-infused rock.…
Ron Pope spent a few years in The District, and is quickly gaining notoriety among a wide selection of listeners; eir music was present on So You Think You Can Dance, and the iTunes sales of eir singles have been brisk throughout all of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. “Whatever It Takes” is eir latest album, released on Hard Six Records. The album starts out with “If You Were…
Wow, I had heard of Roger Miret but never really heard eir – apparently ey was the former lead singer of Agnostic Front, and yet I can hear what ey is singing. Simply fucking fantabulous! This even sounds like a mixture of the Street Dogs and LES Stitches, so RMatD have two things going for them before their first song, “Loud and Proud” ends. “Riot, Riot, Riot” gains its immense…
Jeff Ott had Fifteen. Conor Oberst had Bright Eyes and Desparecidos. Rocky Votolato chooses it to go more along Lifted-Era Bright Eyes, and have a number of individuals back him while he strums along on a guitar. The angsty vocals of Conor can be heard in tracks like “Death-Right”, while hints of Justin Sane’s solo work really seems similar politically (from discussing suicide bombers in “Automatic Rifle” to the Union…
“Paralyzed” opens up “Are You Nervous?” and the dance-punk played by Rock Kills Kid is something that is often replicated but never duplicated. This is the next step beyond Franz Ferdinand, as there are the angular arrangements present throughout this album. However, this angular sound is not the only thing that fuels the album, as the soulful vocals look back to the days of Duran Duran while the fullness of…
Built To Last is another Rock N Roll Purgatory band that has been tremendously influenced by the rockabilly movement. This influence is shown in the very distinctive, upright-soudning bass lines of “Monster Truck” and “The Best”. Lead vocalist Phil creates the distinctive vocals, a mixture of Tiger Army, Nekromantix, The Misfits and even Reel Big Fish. In an odd change from the norm, Rocket 350 really has the bass filling…
This is the Vanguard debut of Diane Schuur, and I feel that this shift in record labels is precisely what ey needed. While 2008’s “Some Other Time” (Concord) was typical Schuur, “Gathering” is the next evolutionary step forward. This renewed take on life is easily heard during “Gathering”, which will undoubtedly impress in regards to the intricate arrangements and tremendous vocal delivery that are commonplace here. The array of tracks…
The Rocket Summer sounds about as emo as you can get with their opening track “Move To The Other Side of the Block”, being essentially a Jadisonotes track: a piano with a melo-dramatic set of vocals (laid down by Bryce. What is impressiver about The Rocket Summer is the fact that Bryce does practically everything on the disc, including writing, arranging, singing, and playing on all the track – perhaps…
Rockdotrock is the most interesting premise behind a band that I think I have ever heard. The band’s sole purpose is to turn listeners onto Norton Confidential, for reasons explained in each of the five songs. To be honest, I am not expecting much from Rockdotrock besides a whole lot of product shilling and a whole lot of cheesy songs. At the beginning of “Mr. Software”, the guitars start off…
There is a laid-back, funky type of interpretation of the blues on “Another Fatal Blow”. Robustelli comes out blending Lenny Kravitz with Jameroquoi, with a track like “Poppa Don’t Think” adding just enough in the way of electronic influence to keep things interesting. The style of “Poppa Don’t Think” is very radio-friendly, and could easily make Robustelli big on the alternative rock stations throughout the United States. However, instead of…
Christopher Titus is the perfect example of a comedian that has brief brushes with fame but nothing that has been sustained. Titus, eir television show, ran for 3 seasons at the beginning of the millennium. Eir other comedy albums, Norman Rockwell is Bleeding and Love is Evol, have been tremendously emotional and killer pieces of comedy.
This disc has been sitting around my room for what feels like an eternity, and I finally sat down to listen to it not knowing what Robots and Empire had in store for me. The opening of “Stampede” is something that works well with the band’s title. The hard guitar and drum beat that opens up the track speaks to the empire side of things; the overwhelming force of the…
The Robot Ate Me starts off “Carousel Waltz” in a way that channels either Paul Simon or The Polyphonic Spree. This means that The Robot Ate Me creates a music that plays on the styles of the sixties while still being bleeding edge, with the inclusion of influences as wide as Death Cab For Cutie and Fischerspooner. The disc may be a year old but the music contained inside has…
Looking at the front of this album I had no clue what to expect from Sam Roberts. Well, I should say; I had an idea what type of music that Roberts would play but it was held back by perceptible disbelief; could someone in 2006 come out with music that recalled the rock of the sixties and seventies? It only takes a few minutes, but Sam Roberts does just that…
The bouncy bass first heard during “The Fatalist” works well alongside a very angular approach by the Robbers on High Street. What results is a style of music that relies heavily on a eighties sound even as the band wedges themselves into the retro style of rock that is played by acts like The Killers and The Charlatans UK. The vocals are catchy during a song like “The Fatalist”, but…
Silverstein has been around for a number of years, but is not a band that has ever been content on sitting on their laurels. Rather, the band’s latest effort is perfect testament to the fact that they continually wish to modify, update, and otherwise evolve their sound. From the opening strains of the album’s first track “Medication”, the band’s nuanced arrangements and bold guitar and drum swaths show this. “Good…
Ritchie Blackmore is an absolute legend when it comes to metal. Deep Purple has influenced thousands, if not tens of thousands of bands since their inception, and Blackmore has continued to evolve since eir years in the band. Blackmore’s Night is the union between Ritchie and Candice Night, and begins with a cover of the One More Time hit, “Highland”. The track is retooled considerably, and represents one of three…
When I first put this disc into the player, I had no clue what RJ & The Imperatives would sound like. However, by the time that “Find Yourself Falling” finish, one can hear hints of mid-seventies Bowie, Dire Straits, and even a little bit of Chicago. There is a classic sound to the track, but I can see the band playing in a fair or festival somewhere with an increasing…