“Unnamed” is the first salvo that Downslave shoots at their listeners, and it is pretty immediately that one can hear Papa Roach, old school Megadeth, and even Hellyeah in this straight-forward, intense bit of metal. With a production hat virtually ensures that the band will break it big, “Cost of Freedom” has it all. “Cost of Freedom” varies things up, giving the drums a highlight that properly shows the talent…
This is one of the songs that broke Celine Dion huge in the adult contemporary market here in the United States. It is thus tied to eir, as pretty much anyone that was cognizant and listening to the radio heard eir rendition way too many times. Now, apparently this song was originally written for Meatloaf. I can understand that; “I’ll Do Anything For Love” has the same general type of…
It has been over a decade since Meat Loaf came out with eir last CD. However, it was right around the same amount of time since the first “Bat Out of Hell” CD was released to the world, so I suppose that Meat Loaf has created a trend in eir own right. The first track is “The Monster is Loose”, and it has a harder sound than any of Meat…
Is the style of music that Measles Mumps Rubella play influenced by the current angular sound of bands like Franz Ferdinand or something that seems to have more in common with the dance music of the eighties. Either way, “Algorithm of Desire” is a track that will get individuals on the dance floor. There is a considerable inorganic presence to this track, but the inclusion of breathing and a flawed…
Remember that episode of Family Guy where Lois starts singing cabaret at Peter’s bar in the basement of their house? Larkin McLean tries to add a few songs to Lois’ repertoire with songs that are simultaneously strong and sultry, such as “Do I Still Love You”. The track is influenced by jazz and the entire lounge movement of the fifties and early sixties, while the production value of the disc…
It is really hard to come up with a review of a remix album considering that we have not had the pleasure of hearing the album that was the impetus for these remixes. Still, the tracks can be evaluated on the merit that they alone hold, which means that the opening track “World On Fire”, despite its extended time provides listeners with a solid beat and a compelling use of…
MC Homeless is an artist around the Northeast corner of Ohio. “Chamapgne Wishes” is the first track on the disc, and it starts off with Homeless flowing over a sample from The Smiths (How Soon is Now?). The sample really allows Homeless to shine brighter, as it pushes various phrases and fragments to the forefront while acting like a nest for the weaker sections of the rap. Continuing the delightful…
The shouted-out vocals that start out “2,4,6,8” bode well for Clit 45. The style of punk music that hits listeners’ ears are quick and streetpunk influenced, with guitars that are influenced by the Bad Religion school of music. There are few times that individuals can breathe on this disc, and this is not because Clit 45 is obnoxious, but rather that the band kicks it into high gear whenever they…
Coming out with “Ride the Rings”, Mazing Vids are a two-piece act from New York. However, that is pretty much all I can discern about the band, as this EP is really good at pounding the same general sound into my ears for nearly eighteen minutes. Throughout the entire disc, all instruments morph into one large mass that is virtually impossible to disassemble – including voice. Everything on the disc…
It was a little more than overkill when The Smashing Pumpkins put out their double album in 1995, so the fact that The Paperbacks, a Canadian indie pop band with little recognition outside of the Pitchfork crowd, gave their latest release the double record treatment seems downright ballsy. A two disc, 32 track album in the era of iTunes is a little unheard of in 2010.
Mazarin plays a brand of hygienic synth-pop that actually moves beyond the weaknesses exhibited with the genre and comes up with an intricate and compelling style through their tracks that simply forces people to listen in. Mazarin just does not like sticking in one specific style of music; “For Energy Infinite” moves back to the indie-rock style, replete with jangling guitars that was such a rage during the mid to…
I understand that this album is almost twenty years old and is also a demo, but one should make sure that they look at this disc before putting it on. I know that I was expecting something a little more formal and professional. However, after listening to the disc a few times, the demo is something that is absolutely essential for individuals to begin to get an idea of the…
With a swirling mix of sea sounds, space ships, and a myriad of different settings on one’s sound machine, Maverick starts out their EP “Caught in the Negatives” in a very open sense, inviting all from a cold-winter’s night. The emo-rock of Maverick is a perfect extrapolation of the opening soundscape, “The Annexation”. Heavily influenced by Staind, Tool, and Queens of the Stone Age, the musicianship is beyond intense even…
The first few seconds of “Mary” make Maven sound like a mixture of Nine Inch Nails and Stabbing Westward. The style of music that Maven plays on this extended single is something that took the world by storm about a decade ago, and the goal for Maven here is to try to give this style a whole fresh bit of paint. “The Candidate” starts out in a much more slinky…
“Halloween” starts off “Several Arrows Later”, which is really a very proper track that elcitis comparisons to both older bands like The Appleseed Cast and the newer works of Death Cab For Cutie. Matt Pond’s vocals are of that quality that individuals would sing along even if the music backing them up was not of as high of a quality as is found here. During “Halloween”, the track subtly shifts…
The brainchild of one individual, The Matthew Show is a fitting nomen for anything recorded by Matthew. Starting out with the country and hair-metal influenced track “Bring Me Safely Down”. Mixing a catchy chorus with a dual-part harmony and a violin flittering through the track, The Matthew show really starts the disc out on a high note. Moving into the building-up track “Old Enough”, The Matthew Show tumbles a bit,…
Starting out “Political Pop” with a brooding set of drums and an earthy bass line, the quirky, Neil Tennant-like voice of Matt Angus voice seems out of place until the equally quirky guitar riff, U2/Jimi Hendrix-influenced, comes onto the stage. In what can only be called the most dense five minutes of any track, Matt Angus Thing throws in a set of back up vocals (Kathy Phillips) as well as…
I really wasn’t expecting The Matches to sound as they do on “E. Von Dahl”, because they play a catchy brand of pop-punk in the same spirit as Blink-182 or New Found Glory. After spinning through most of the CD, I finally realized why The Matches were signed to Epitaph. Each track is perfectly crafted, hard to remove from one’s ears, and The Matches pull off this album so well…
Another emo band that is in the vein of Boys Night Out, Quickening, and The Early November. “Playing For Keeps” has more than a passing similarity to “Seventy Times Seven” in the aural sameness of the chorus, with Matchbook’s version only moving away from Brand New’s in the aural atmosphere inculcated into the track. A majority of the tracks on “Stories & Alibis” fall into the same dynamic with the…
Aside from having one of the best band names… well ever, The Dandy Warhols also spent much of the 90’s churning out great Velvet Underground inspired psychedelic pop rock that sounded like nothing any of their other contemporaries were recording at the time. The Capitol Years culls many of the best songs from the band’s four major label records, including “Not if You Were the Last Junkie on Earth,” “Bohemian…