I don’t know how good I feel about bands that make a number of pop culture references during their tracks. For example, much of what the Barenaked Ladies sucked, and when Billy Joel tried to do the same thing, that sucked too. However, No More Kings drop pseudo-ironic phrase in a way that will not make one grimace like all of the latest links back to the eighties pop culture…
“60%” is a nice opening for Nofx, a song that is still smirky while being pointed and fun; this trilogy of distinct style is something that has fueled Nofx for years and even fuels them now. “Leaving Jesusland” shows Nofx at an interesting point, with a stripped-down style that only comes out of its shell during the chorus. The vitriol present during this track is something that is not heard…
“Never Trust A Hippy” contains a few unreleased tracks and a few new songs that will be on NoFX’s next full-length, “Wolves in Wolves Clothing”. The first track on this album, “Seeing Double at the Triple Rock” shows a harder edge to NoFX than is typically heard; one is reminded of the hardcore punk (The Germs, Agent Orange) that came out of California than the goofy-punk that usually is present…
Overall, this is a typical punk compilation, with a few standout bands. However, there are some interesting difference on this disc that really move it away from the typical compilation and really put it into the land of the bizarre, such as placing a Goth band on it (Deep Eynde). The punk that is played on this disc is usually loud, boisterous music that is really no apologies, and is…
“The Coast is Clear” is an interesting way to start off the disc. Drawing on the same elements for the entirety of the track, the song really doesn’t feel as if it is a good gateway into the rest of the disc. The incorporation of differing elements at about 2:30 really begins the disc and adds percussion to further quicken the heart and get individuals interested. When vocals finally find…
Poppy indie-rock that seems to be pulled up directly from a halcyon period of alternative rock, Ninja Gun should be placed in the Pantheon along with Matthew Sweet and Concrete Blonde. The mastering on “Smooth Transitions” is well, smooth and completely open in terms of allowing the band to do what they want without sounding as if this disc was recorded in a barn. Mixing in an adequate amount of…
After the last CD by Planet Verge, Fixer’s “Bend”, I was really expecting a lot from 9 Circles. Perhaps I had set too high of expectations for this act, as I can honestly say I was underwhelmed by 9 Circles. I see them to be musically similar to Lifted, but not as plastic as the aforementioned band. While both bands use the modern-rock formula to get where they want to…
The indie edge that Nine Black Alps bring to the retro-rock movement of bands like The Hives and The Strokes is refreshing, and the high-energy of “Cosmopolitan” shows a band that can use the typical punk arrangements to provoke a more thought-out track. The jangly guitars present on “Over the Ocean” mix well with the vocals of Sam, to make for a track that is as equally influenced by U2…
“Get Your Guns” starts off “Everything Is”, and what one really takes from this first track is that the band is influenced by musically diverse genres. The grungy guitars reach out to the halcyon days of acts like MC5 while the vocals cross the Atlantic to take an Oasis-type of tone. Of course, the band stops to visit with Weezer and Matthew Sweet along the way. With each following track…
There is no lack to a radio-friendly sound that is only punctuated by a high about of profanity. The Nillaz comes through on their self-titled track with a sound that closely approximates the Kottonmouth Kings, the Insane Clown Posse and Fall Guy. “Home Wrecker” verifies this with a vocal flow that is almost indinguishable from Violent J’s style, and the eighties-reminiscent backing beat that was increasingly present on the later…
Despite the fact that many individuals only know Kevin Eubanks for the time that ey spent on The Tonight Show, ey is a pretty voluminous performer. This means, that since 1980, ey has been a considerable part of well over 20 distinct recordings. “Zen Food” represents eir latest work, the seven full-length ey has released in the 2000s. There is a sort of clarity present in this release, one in…
“Dear Scene, I Wish I Were Deaf” has a nice mix of rock and emo; the end result with this is a sound that mixes Death Cab For Cutie with Weezer. The sound is mature and without some of the experimentation that mark the legion of emo acts coming from places as diverse as New Jersey and Minneapolis. There are sections of tracks like “My Life Is Trouble” that seem…
For those individuals that have been living underneath a rock for the last thirty or so years, Stevie Nicks was the one time singer of Fleetwood Mac. Since that period, ey has created enough in the way of memorable songs to comprise this, a two-disc greatest hits collection that spans pretty much eir entire career. The great thing about this set is that the first disc has all of Nicks’…
While not having the grit of The Unseen, The New York Rel-X start off “Sold Out Of Love” with an intensity, both in the ropy bass lines of Adi and the vocals of Erika. Not to be left out of the mix, the guitar riffs of Jon really push the track to its inevitable conclusion. Continuing their assault with the interesting arrangements (almost staggered in their form) of “So Long”,…
It is interesting to see the evolution of Darius Rucker’s musical career. Where ey had a tremendous amount of success as the leader of Hootie and the Blowfish, many fans have not had the chance to pick up eir later works. From the forgotten-about 2002 release “Back To Then” out to 2008’s blockbuster “Learn to Live”, Rucker’s post-Hootie career has rapidly taken off. “Charleston, SC 1966” is an album that…
Noisy while still being melodic, Utah’s New Transit Direction provides the best of both worlds (emo and Jawbreaker-punk), starting out their first album, “Wonderful Defense Mechanisms” with the full-sounding “Fictional”. Moving to incorporate some of the early-nineties Soundgarden/Tad metal-brand of grunge in “Survival 101”, The New Transit Direction still varies things enough to ensure listeners can never draw a bead on the band. Josh’s vocals occupy a middle space where…
YUMMY YUMMY VIOLINS! Thank you, The New Tragedies for your pleasant little contribution to my day right in track one. “Vanity, Vanity” is a picturesque 10-song partner to sit shotgun on those days where you rock your shades, windows down and just drive anywhere you feel. A friend you can laugh and cry with. Loving the luau vibe in “Talk to Me”. Nice falsetto! Calming yet not weak. And beautiful…
The country overtones that begin “Dead Man’s Shoes” colour this disc from the outset, with individuals only needing a few seconds to get a first impression from Mark Newman. However much of a country influences may be during the beginning few minutes of “Must Be A Pony”, there are equal hints of indie and rock present, to increase the amount of listeners considerably. The blend of country and funk that…
“Hope/Fiction” is the first full track that Lauren K Newman starts off eir “Postulate I” with, and to say that is defies convention is a great first step for trying to understand what exactly it is that Newman tries to do here. So many different and disparate struggles are striving for dominance during this track, a tendency that is continued wholeheartedly for “Prognosis”. At least “Prognosis” has Newman taking a…
The New Lou Reeds have probably the most dead-on name in the whole of music today, as they start off “Screwed” with a direct Velvet Underground-influenced track in “The Gutter”. From the grungy production value to the detatched style of singing, The New Lou Reeds would make a believer out of the old Lou Reed. The vocals laid down by Stephe DK have a Mojo Nixon-twang to them that really…