From the brooding piano line that starts off “Don’t Belong”, one knows that this is going to immediately be another classic album by Paradise Lost. The use of string-like sounds over the piano further gives the track a fullness that is completed only when the vocals kick in a minute after the track starts. Mix an ample amount of radio-friendly metal with interesting arrangements and a heaviness previously unheard in…
The sedate sounds of Lisa Papineau remind listeners of The Postal Service. The mixture of ghostly vocals with a slightly more upbeat electronic instrumentation provides an interesting style that is still vibrant and fresh. This bit of sedate sound disappears completely by the time that Lisa comes up with “Shucking. Jiving.” In a sense, I would have to tie Papineau’s work to that done by acts like the Propellerheads and…
Paperface occupies that wonderful position besides popular-emo and the brand of indie-rock popularized by acts like Weezer. Tracks like “Company Soul” do not have the emotional intensity present in current emo, but have a brooding nature to it that belies the feel-good arrangements within. There are hints of acts like Counting Crows in tracks like “Loser’s Game”, where Paperface come forth with a richly-arranged sound that tends to be a…
Hey its country emo! For all those trailer-trash dwelling preteen girls that want to cry without having the parents having them listen to Travis Tritt and Brooks & Dunn. John’s vocals have all the twang of a John Nolan (formerly Taking Back Sunday) and Claudio Sanchez (Coheed and Cambria) and the twinkling piano lines are reminiscent of a Brand New. However, and why a musically acceptable label like Kill Rock…
The Paper Champions – Weekend of Compromise / 2004 Reason Y Records / 13 Tracks / http://www.thepaperchampions.com / info@thepaperchampions.com / Reviewed 28 September 2004 In a school of bass playing that comes directly from Geddy Lee, Jason’s bass lines to open up “Weekend of Compromise” are intricate, setting the tone of the track as well as providing an emotive force behind the track that just wouldn’t be the same without…
The noise that starts off the title track puts The Paper Champions into a very Green Day-esque sound right off the bat that drastically changes as soon as the “Station” is turned on the first segment of the track. There are still some comparisons that can be made to Green Day, as the vocals in both bands seem to converge on one point. Billie Joe Armstrong is only one influence…
The harmony that 31 Knots create purely through the vocals of Joe on the disc’s first track “City of Dust” are perhaps one of the most inspired openings to a disc I’ve ever heard, a fact that is further verified when the second set of vocals joins in. This particularly impressive brand of harmony does not peter out when “City of Dust” ends; rather it increases to a fever pitch…
The title track starts off this album, and comes out with the emotional content of a band like The Anniversary with the sincerity of a Story of the Year for an immediate hit. This mixture of a 2000 sound with something that is as fresh as a meadow will undoubtedly bring in masses of fans, and this mass will only get larger when one considers the talent in which The…
The first shock that I had when first listening to the disc is that the style of this disc had nothing to do with Pan Pipes, but with steel pan drums. Nevermind the drum is featured prominently on the front cover, I just usually stick the disc in and let it go; one thing that individuals first hear about the band is that it sounds almost like a midi version…
Pama International comes to the plate with a wave-less brand of ska that chugs away with a speed all of its own. “Float Like A Butterfly” has a distinct sound to it, which is really grounded in the slightly nasal crooning of Finny during the first two tracks. The bass, laid down by Ernie really comes through strongly on “I Found Sunshine”, even if the guitar/horns/drums on the track are…
I had no clue that individuals still listened to Rush. This is exactly how Palumbo creates eirself during the opening track to “Citizen X”, “Lost in America”. There is another type of sound that is present during “Citizen X”, and that has to be a Zevon like grimace present through each of the tracks on the disc. Couple that with a Queensryche-like paranoia and individuals have a lot to listen…
The style of music that The Pale Pacific play is a very dreamy sort of emo-influenced rock that allows for a greater explication of their tracks, manifest in the sense that the first track “Sucker Punch” breaks the five-minute mark. The band is not content in maintaining their slower tempo, as “Sucker Punch” has eddies and crests, moving towards and away from a brilliant sort of high-octane sound, all while…
The style of music that The Pale Pacific play is a very dreamy sort of emo-influenced rock that allows for a greater explication of their tracks, manifest in the sense that the first track “Sucker Punch” breaks the five-minute mark. The band is not content in maintaining their slower tempo, as “Sucker Punch” has eddies and crests, moving towards and away from a brilliant sort of high-octane sound, all while…
The sound is “Grapes of Wrath”-America at its best , and to elicit “Missouri” in the album title and to live in Iowa really cinches it. The light strumming of the guitar that presents itself through the vast majority of the track, coupled with Dave’ distorted (almost as if they were coming from an old album) vocals on tracks like “Ophelia” really brings listens back to an earlier time. The…
The angular opening to “Enemies” is reminiscent of At The Drive-In, while the emotive vocals of Justin really recall something like Third Eye Blind. “We Come Down” is an example of a nice use of nuance and negative space to really create a dynamic tension that will titillate listeners and subjugate them all the more to the music on “Plastic”. The slightly electronic-tinged sound of “Decorate Your Pavement” brings the…
The dreamy style of Page France is something that has not been heard in popular alternative music for years. This really hearkens back to the days of 4 Non Blondes, Lollipop, and Blind Melon. There is a heavy amount of the current time present in Page France as well, which allows “Hello, Dear Wind” to be such a considerable album when compared to the other albums out contemporaneously. During a…
Blair Packham really starts off this album with a vocal style that is not unlike Elvis Costello; the vocals during this opening track recollects “Veronica”-era Costello, while the backing instrumentation gives the track an innovative flair. The only thing that can be said as a negative about this opening salvo has to be the extended ending of the track; the momentum that Packham was building up is dissipated. The second…
“Wall St.” shows individuals immediately that Pablo is trying to shoehorn eirself into the space between Americana singers like Devendra Banhart and new-folkies like Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes). The vocal harmonies of Pablo during the opening track is almost enough to keep individuals interested, but it seems like “Wall St.” suffers a little bit during the Spartan musical arrangements present. If there were just a little more in the way…
The bombastic opening to this LP, the break-neck speeds achieved by “Progress” shows a band that is not afraid to hit the ground running. The mastering on this disc may not be up to Sonic Iguana quality, but the general sound that emanates from this disc both sounds appealing to many a listener’s ears and bolsters the slightly rough and raw sound that Overated live will bring to the tone…
Over It has taken the open slot as Lobster’s most impressive band after Yellowcard left about a year and a half ago. Chances are after “Silverstrand”, Over It will do much the same thing (unless Lobster locked them down for a few albums). Anyways, “Silverstrand” opens up with the immediately radio-friendly “Siren on the 101”, a track that mixes melodic vocals with guitar lines that would normally seem much too…