The product of this live album is something that honestly holds a candle to previous live works like KISS’s “Alive” or Cheap Trick’s “Budokan” album. The music contained within is solid enough to conceivably be on a studio recording, while the addition of live singalongs to a number of the tracks really adds another dimension to this disc. What is even more impressive is the fact that these tracks were…
The straight-forward emo rock of Lakota makes for tracks that are relentless in their mission, trying to make the most compelling music for both Clearchannel listeners and individuals that must have interesting arrangements in their music. In a sense, tracks like “She Has It” maintain some of the same fury of early Foo Fighters recording, in that the general tempo is somewhat aurally similar to the aforementioned band’s “Everlong”. When…
The average track on “Ultimate Destroyer” is not a short one, with the eight songs of the disc reaching well over the thirty-eight minute mark. The band does not need anything in the way o fvocals to affect ttheir listeners; all that Lair of the Minotaur needs to rock is the guitars, bass, and drums that are typically present on a metal disc. When vocals do occur (as is the…
“Walking Wine” is the first track on “Tres Tontos”, and it immediately kicks things into high grear. The music that Mikingmihrab starts their album out with is a blend of Fugazi, rockabilly, and early Alkaline Trio. The off-kilter sound of the band stands out as some of the most unique I’ve heard, and the density of this initial composition should provide enough of an impetus to continue listening to this…
“The Real Thing” is the first track on Ria’s self-titled album, and it is important for setting the stage for the rest of the album. There is a decidedly pop sound to the track that touches upon different styles ranging from the eighties on; while there is a Pet Shop Boys electronic feel to the backing instrumentation, there is a current and contemporary feel to Ria’s vocals. This blending of…
Lagwagon has been around for tons of years (older than most of their fans, since they started in 1988). There is a comparable chunk of Lagwagon’s sound to The Vandals, in that a number of their tracks have the same style of hair-metal guitars. Couple that with a chunky bass that plays a major role in a number of tracks (especially “Automatic”) and one has theformula for a sold, spastic…
Not really what I could categorize as emo rock, Long Since Forgotten mixes acts like Jimmy Eat World with the Goo Goo Dolls, using rich recording to mesh the two sounds without any discernible seams. All and all, the tracks go by incredibly fast, working just as well as incidental music as front-level driving music. Josh’s vocals on every track are ultimately clear and act in different capacities, creating something…
With the best recording of anything to come out of Greencastle, Lagging Leftward’s style of Led Zepplin and Lynyrd Skynyrd-like rock is also a bold step in a direction that was previously untouched by the whole of Greencastle music. One thing that hampers the band would be the length of each track on this demo, with the shortest track averaging out at over 4 minutes. Repetition is the key for…
Patti LaBelle is one of those artists that I know was big in the past, but has not really done anything earthshaking since I became cognizant of music. For those that do not know, LaBelle started out as a singer for the Bluebelles, changed their name to Labelle, and then broke free from the rest of the pack starting in 1976. From 1962 to 1993, LaBelle charted tens of songs,…
The opening piano to “He Was There” should be reminiscent to listeners to Des’ree’s “Kissing You”. In fact, the general style of “He Was There” is tracked alongside that song, even if the act adds a considerable amount of gospel influence to the mix. The decision to put the longest track at the beginning of the disc is an interesting one; this gambit has sunk many a band when they…
I like how all of the band’s album titles have dealt with illegal immigration. This is not the next Manic Hispanic, but rather an interesting band that starts off their “We Came To Take Your Jobs Away” with a track that blends together a They Might Be Giants sound with a more Middle Eastern sound. While Kultur Shock is confident that their song will never be on the radio during…
The raw exuberance that Woven Bones seethes from its tightly-wound inner coil of turmoil isn’t exactly the stuff daydreams are made of, but as their menacing presence has been culminating over the past couple of years, it’s now clear as daylight that their finest efforts would come together on this, their debut LP. As they’ve effectively dragged the shards of their tattered souls with building ferocity on each of their…
There is a tremendous comparison available here in Kronowitt’s case, in which Kronowitt sets eirself to be the inheritor of the Elvis Costello mantle; the heavily-vocal opening to “Elements” really subjugates the instrumental side of things to Kronowitt’s emotive voice. The first real hit on this album is “Ballad of Pete & Heather”; the pitch-shifting aspect of Kronowitt’s vocals taking on a Marc Schultz tone at times. The Spanish-infused guitar…
The opening track to “Green City” is called “Vanity”, and the approach done by the lead singer is something that has as its predecessor the over the top singing styles of fifties musicals. At the same time, the instrumentation that is present in this opening track has much more in common with the style of psychedelic rock that acts like The Doors were known for in the late sixties. To…
You know what would have been cool for Dave Koz to do? 12 different reinterpretations of Alien Ant Farm’s hit “At The Movies”. Well, this album is not it, and instead features Koz doing eir reinterpretation of a number of important films (Moon River, Cinema Paradiso, Schindler’s List). While there are hints of the original vocals for “Over The Rainbow”, a soulful sax line starts up soon after the vocals…
In a sense, the Kola Koca Death Squad takes the best parts of Johnny Rotten and Lou Reed, while simultaneously working under a psychedelic-influenced instrumentation to make something memorable for the first track on this disc, “Rising Son”. What is really a chaotic and emotional-filled set of vocals during “Power Condition” are really dominated and removed from their context with the very angular and proper arrangements on the track. When…
“Knuckles and Nipples”, the band (and the disc’s) theme, comes through with a fury that initially begins with a very growling, Doom-like vocal quality to MC Homeless’ vocals. In “Your Taste In Music Sucks”, the band does really not allow itself enough to really get out and construct an distinct sound for their track. The song is really just a car crash before the occupants could get up to full…
Jess Klein starts “Strawberry Lover” with one of the most bold steps forward on a disc I’ve ever heard, with “Darkroom” mixing together punk directness, country, musicals (think “Little Shop of Horrors”) and gospel in well less than three minutes. “Shonalee” has to be the farthest that Jess can go away from “Darkroom”, but the nuanced guitar lines on the track ensures the same level of quality being reached by…
Coming out of the gate with some impressive two part harmonies, especially during “Through the Width of a Straw”, The Kite-Eating Tree makes their own disc into an interesting journey. Mixing up a great deal of distortion with saccharine-sweet vocals, “Method: Fail, Repeat…” is an amalgam of two major stylistic genres: what is being called emo-rock (in the vein of Taking Back Sunday and Story of the Year) and an…
The sly sound of “Sillhouettes” mixes well with the light instrumentation that individuals are confronted with at the onset of this self-titled EP. In a sense, Kissing Cousins sound like “Horses”-era Patti Smith, mixed with a good serving of the Velvet Underground (when they still had Nico). It is during “Phone Call” that Kissing Cousins really get into something that more closely relates itself to punk music. However, this is…