Category: Music Reviews

Posted on: November 4, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Musical Underground Theatre – To A Town Near You (CD)

The band does not give much of an idea what they sound like from how this EP looks. It is covered in a plain white paper holder, and the cover of the CD is nothing more than two faces that put together look like the body of a violin. To say I have no clue what Musical Underground Theatre sound like is an understatement. With “Verse One”, individuals will be…

Posted on: November 3, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Murder Disco X – Ground Zero Stuttgart (CD)

This is an all-star band if I ever heard one; Murder Disco X has members of Severed Head of State, Cluster Bomb Unit and Detestation. Of course, there have been a number of bands that have sucked it up royally that could be called “All-Star” (including acts like the Damn Yankees). However, there is no need to worry with Murder Disco X, as “Robots” starts off this disc with simple…

Posted on: November 3, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Murder By Death – In Bocca Al Lupo (CD)

You would not expect this style of music when you hear that a band is named Murder By Death. Instead of being a crust or metal band, Murder By Death is an indie rock band that throws together a very vocal, Dylan-descendent style with strings and tribal drums. In fact, during the first track of “In Bocca Al Lupo” (“Boy Decide”), Murder By Death has a very Voltaire type of…

Posted on: November 3, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Jen Murdza – Things Untold (CD)

The funky style of Murdxa during “Lamb” is not going to win eir any fans. The style has been done a number of times, and while “Lamb” is a pop song, it does not break enough ground to make it into the hearts and minds of individuals. This happens a lot with aspiring pop stars; the individuals make pop songs but they do not imbue them with enough soul to…

Posted on: November 2, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Multiverse – S/T (CD)

Multiverse plays a very safe brand of rock that is more likely to be heard in coffee shops and frat houses than anywhere else. The style is an adult contemporary brand rock that is blended with an adequate amount of jazz and funky to create something that can be received equally well by all. The disc’s first track “Different Worlds” seems to portend the blend of styles, and while there…

Posted on: November 2, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Municipal Waste – Hazardous Mutation (CD)

After the introduction, “Unleash The Bastards” starts off Municipal Waste’s latest album “Hazardous Mutation”., The clarity in which Municipal Waste works may be the most shocking thing about the band, far outstripping the speed and intensity that this thrash act puts forth on every track of “Hazardous Mutation”. There are hints of “Rust in Peace”-era Megadeth, D.R.I., and much more present in the Waste’s style, but the inclusion of the…

Posted on: November 2, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Mummy The Peepshow – School Girl Pop (CD)

Mummy The Peepshow is the first band that has been imported from Japan from Records of the Damned that really breaks free of the J-pop label. In fact, the first track on the disc (“Hide-And-Seek On The Turntable”) ties together Brassy with L7 to make a hard rocking and musically confident track. There is much of the same happening on the disc’s title track. The straight-forward dominance of the guitar…

Posted on: November 1, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Andy Mullen – I Wish My Name Were Jack (CD)

Even though the music on “I Wish My Name Were Jack” was xcreated this last year, the compositions feel as if they could have came out years and year ago. The disc’s first track is “Salt Water Jam”, and it meanders around for a few minutes before Mullen moves on. This music is not for those individuals that wish to run or mosh to the guitar strains of an act.…

Posted on: November 1, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

M2B – Signs (CD)

The way in which “Floating In The Clouds” starts is very sedate. If anything, one can hear the style of acts like Soul Asylum, Blues Traveler, and Rusted Roots in this track. In fact, the band builds their sound specifically on the style of these bands. The opening track is only three minutes long, and the slower tempo of M2B makes the three minute runtime of the song feel more…

Posted on: November 1, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Mt. Gigantic – Old Smiler (CD)

I had no clue what Mt. Gigantic was going to sound like before I put the disc in the player, and I feel good that I did not read the promo sheet before listening in this instance. What follows is a truly unique style of music, similar to A Silver Mt. Zion in its ability to subsume all different styles of music and create something that is their own. Bloomington,…

Posted on: October 31, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Mt Gigantic – Gleanings and Gatherings (CD)

Mt Gigantic – Gleanings and Gatherings / 2007 Harlan / 8 Tracks / http://www.mtgigantic.com / http://www.friendsandrelativesrecords.com / Reviewed 01 May 2007 “Get Well Cougher” is the first track on “Gleanings and Gathering”, and it is an interesting for all of the different tempos, loudnesses, and genres that Mt. Gigantic uses during the song. It is not enough that the and goes from quiet to heavy, but the track moves from…

Posted on: October 31, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Mr. T Experience – Yesterday Rules (CD)

Mr. T Experience – Yesterday Rules / 12 Tracks / 2004 Lookout Records / http://www.lookoutrecords.com / Released 13 January 2004 / Reviewed 21 January 2004 Somewhat lighter of a release than I would expect from the Mr. T Experience, a band that I thought would perfectly espouse the Lookout ideal of a pop-punk band. There are still some remnants of the punk roots of this band, but a lot of…

Posted on: October 31, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Mower – Not For You (CD)

Mower – Not For You / 2006 Suburban Noize / 15 Tracks / http://www.mowermusic.com / http://www.suburbannoizerecords.com / Reviewed 01 June 2006 Mower plays a brand of hard rock that quite often goes into hardcore and metal veins. For those that did not know, they are intricately related to Kottonmouth Kings. Where KMK has put forth a very intense brand of rap down on their last few albums, Mower does nearly…

Posted on: October 30, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Movies With Heroes – Nothing Here is Perfect (CD)

Movies With Heroes – Nothing Here is Perfect / 2006 CI Records / 10 Tracks / http://www.movieswithheroes.com / http://www.cirecords.com / Reviewed 25 March 2006 Movies With Heroes do not play the same style of music that most emo bands push upon their listener.s In fact, a track like “Wake Up” is emotional rock, done with a style of music that more approximately meshes with rock than anything close to “emo”.…

Posted on: October 30, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Movie Star Kiss – Starting Over (CD)

Movie Star Kiss – Starting Over / 2006 Self / 10 Tracks / http://www.moviestarkiss.com/ http://www.myspace.com/moviestarkiss / Reviewed 07 November 2006 The opening of “Starting Over” is slow, deliberate, and snowballs to give the opening set of vocals even more fury than it would have normally had. There is a high amount of repetition present during this track, but the band is smart enough to end the track before the band…

Posted on: October 30, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

The Movies – In One Era Out the Other (CD)

The Movies – In One Era Out the Other / 2002 Gern Blandsten Records / 10 Tracks / http://www.gernblandsten.com / http://www.skyscrapermedia.net / Reviewed 01 January 2004 Another lo-fi, ethereal sounding type of alternative music. Timothy’s lyric sound plucked out of an early eighties 4AD release. While the promo sheet would have you try to equate The Movies with “Pornography-era Cure”, I would have to point individuals in the way of…

Posted on: October 29, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Motion City Soundtrack – Commit This To Memory (CD)

Motion City Soundtrack – Commit This To Memory / 2005 Epitaph / 12 Tracks / http://www.motioncitysoundtrack.com / http://www.epitaph.com / Reviewed 06 April 2005 We have a winner for the most annoying method to ensure that one’s CD is not stolen. Epitaph has decided to split up the twelve tracks on “Commit This To Memory” into 99 different sections, and this means that I get into a groove with the great…

Posted on: October 29, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

James Morrison – Undiscovered (CD)

James Morrison – Undiscovered / 2007 Interscope / 11 Tracks / http://www.jamesmorrisonmusic.com / http://www.interscope.com / Reviewed 11 March 2007 James Morrison plays a style of feel-good pop-rock that has ties to artists such as John Maher and Jack Johnson; the title track derivates from that formula only when ey adds a very psychedelic meets Counting Crows type of organ to the mix. The large role that the bass has in…

Posted on: October 29, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Mouth Sewn Shut – Pandemic = Solution (CD)

Mouth Sewn Shut – Pandemic = Solution / 2006 Rodent Popsicle / 12 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/mouthsewnshut / http://www.rodentpopsicle.com / Reviewed 07 July 2006 Obviously, Toxic Narcotic is one of the best crust bands out in the genre today. For those that do not know, Bill and Will from Toxic Narcotic are in this band. Mouth Sewn Shut seems to be a little heavier, more metal-based type of crust act. However…

Posted on: October 28, 2010 Posted by: Sargeant Comments: 0

Rex Moroux – Royal Street Inn (CD)

The opening of “Royal Street Inn” sounds as if a blend of Adam Duritz and Coldplay were present with Moroux’s “Cincinnati”. There is the typical singer-songwriter in a coffee shop style, with a very tender bit of instrumentation backing up Moroux’s vocals. What results is a track that could easily be played on all of the pop and Top 40 radio stations. This does not mean that the track is…