The amount of guest stars that Carmen Rizzo has on this album is impressive; on this album Esthero, Jem, and Grant Lee Phillips all find their way onto the disc. The dreamy vocals of Esthero during “Too Rude” allows the arrangements of Rizzo to really reach their potential, as there is a Bjork/sixties dynamic at play throughout the entire track. The infusion of more atmosphere and some scratching a la…
“Biz Love’s Sluts” is an interesting track, as it shows Riverboat Gamblers as a band that know well the pop punk that infected California in the early part of the nineties, but also shows that the band wants to unite this style with the emo/punk style of bands like Rise Against. The band changes up their style with “The Song We Used to Call “Wasting Time”” is much quicker, and…
Even though the band says that this EP is “basically a practice tape with a facelift”, the fact is the tremendous energy of the band shines through, clean as day. The apeshit-crazy mood of “The Things You Saved Can’t Be Replaced”, having all the members of Rise and Shine blast through their parts with the utmost speed from the “starting line” of its synthesizer opening. Seamlessly moving from pop-punk to…
Rise and Shine has been a solid band in the central Ohio scene for at least a year to my knowledge, and this album really cleans up any minor issues the band may have had with their production circa their 2004 EP. Especially present in their re-done “The Things You’ve Saved Can’t Be Replaced”, Rise and Shine shines through, aided by an especially generous mastering. Opening the follow-up to “Replaced”,…
Okay, how is this album going to sound. Rise Against’s last album, “Siren Song of the Counter-Culture” was hit after hit, but how will “The Sufferer and The Witness” even sound? After the band kicks into “Chamber the Cartridge”, I had little doubt in my heart that the band would deliver with this album. If anything, Rise Against have started listening to their early Offspring albums for a little bit…
I’ve never liked Rise Against as much as many of my friends, but these five cuts off of “Siren Song of the Counter-Culture” has fast become some of the most-played tracks on my radio show. “Paper Wings” has the perfect mix of scratchy vocals and smoothed-out yet break-neck guitar lines. The tightness of the band is also a key factor into the massive enjoyment I’ve taken from this disc, whether…
The type of music that has been present on the Fast and Furious franchise’s soundtracks has been the perfect blend of genres, tempos, and sounds. The blazing speed of each of the films is presented quite well with their soundtracks, and the Fast Five Soundtrack does not disappoint. The disc’s first track, “How We Roll” by Busta Rhymes, will immediately kick listeners in the ass and keep them focused in…
I must admit, I was not too terribly familiar with New Zealand recording artist Annabel Alpers before receiving eir Bachelorette disc a few weeks back. From the disc’s opening salvo “Grow Old With Me”, Alpers makes me want to search out the rest of eir music. There just seems to be an unique flair to this disc that distinguishes it from other similar sorts of releases. The tracks themselves have…
I have little doubt in my mind that Cars 2 is going to be the biggest childrens’ movie of the summer. Regardless of what is present in the movie and what tracks are used, the flick is going to go gangbusters. However, Disney has created a soundtrack that further revs up the film, and will be some part of the reason why the film will do so well. The score…
Chicago’s Material Issue is one of the best power pop bands to come out of the 90’s and there were a slew of decent bands from that genre in the 90s. International Pop Overthrow, the band’s first major label (and finest )release is finally getting the anniversary treatment, complete with a slew (eight to be exact) of bonus tracks including a live version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” and…
I always thought that the CDs that were put out by Starbucks’ Hear Music were just normal retail versions of CDs, and in the odd case that they created an album, that it would be a greatest hits album that was reordered. However, they have done a tremendous service to fans with the release of two two-CD sets in their re-release of Paul McCartney’s 1970 and 1980 solo albums. The…
City Center has just released their first full-length album on K Records in “Redeemer”, and there seems to be a certain spring in the band’s step that is noticeable on the disc’s introductory track, “Puppers”. The band works towards the creation of an album rather than the furtherance of a few key singles. This means that there are considerable nods towards other efforts on the same album during cuts like…
When a band member goes solo, there is typically some semblance of their original act present in the solo album. Brian Olive just spent a few years in The Greenhornes and Soledad Brothers, and the music that issues forth on “Two of Everything” is considerably different from either of those acts. In fact, there is a marked departure from any of Olive’s previous bands in the opening strains of “Left…
If Queen were to make their debut now, instead of 1973 when they released their eponymous debut, it’s very likely they’d be considered a novelty band, and I’m not even talking about Freddy Mercury’s skin tight cat suits or Brian May’s getting closer to God afro as reasons why. The songs alone, which have proven not only to be fantastic examples of what can be accomplished with hard driving drums…
Iron Maiden has been one of my favorite metal bands for a long time now. The first concert that I ever attended was an Iron Maiden show, and a great number of the tracks contained on “From Fear to Eternity” are their strongest cuts. This 23 track greatest hits compilation could easy have another two or three discs added without any decrease in quality, but Universal has done a tremendous…
“Lucky You” is an interesting pop track that ties together a current and contemporary sound with the synth-pop of the eighties along with the female singers of the mid-sixties. By bringing back these disparate styles and bundling them up with a bold new approach, what results in the Theory of Tides EP is nothing less than revolutionary. “Stay Away” is my favorite track on this album, as it provides an…
“Connected” is the introduction that many listeners will have to Richard Anthony; the catchy pop that opens up the disc provides a perfect backdrop that Anthony can then build off of. “Even If” continues many of the trends that are initially present during “Connected”, placing Anthony’s vocals at the forefront of the track. The guitar work and drums present during this track provide additional levels of complexity; “Even If” is…
The type of rock that Revel 9 immediately hit their listeners with has the immediate catchiness to be present on rock radio, while the overall sound of Revel 9 touches upon a number of different rock styles. Particularly noticeable during “San Jose” has to be the guitar work, which lifts the track to an entirely new plateau. The band marries together a much grittier feel with a punk style that…
If By Yes breaks conventions. The music that is contained on “Salt on Sea Glass” bounces around considerably, from indie rock to twee to jazz, avant-garde, and a whole host of other different approaches. This is not too surprising, giving the pedigree that the quartet possess. With stints in That Dog and Cibo Matto, If By Yes are mature and have the energy to create an album that is wholly…
Fans of Broadway may know O’Hara’s work in the oughts, with stints taken in Jekyll & Hyde, Dracula The Musical, and South Pacific. “Always” is only O’Hara’s second album, the first after eir 2008 debut, “Wonder in the World”. “Always” starts off with “What More Do I Need?”, a track that showcases the warmth and love that O’Hara brings to each of the disc’s compositions. After this “how do you…