We here at NeuFutur had a chance to familiarize ourselves with DownTown Mystic, a New Jersey act that has just released a new album, “Standing Still”. This 2010 effort, on band member Robert Allen’s own Sha-La Music, contains 13 tracks of pure rock music. “Standing Still” is a step forward from a band that has already shown that they can deliver on disc, as evidenced by their 2007 work “Read…
There is no claiming that Job For A Cowboy is not the hardest, most brutal band currently out in the grindcore scene. Imagine the loudest, noisiest child throwing a temper tantrum and add about twenty years to eir age and one has a great idea of who Job For A Cowboy is. Unlike those children, however, Job For A Cowboy can put their random bursts of music together into something…
Starting off their EP with a police siren, JKPBombs’ ska-punk assault reminds us of a Leftover Crack or The Specifics, albeit a hell of a lot more sloppy. Strong bass pushes the first track, “3813” to a quick completion, and Marty’s vocals, done up in a perfectly snotty tone, match the scratchy ska-themed guitar lines of Corey. The only thing that could be changed with their first outing would be…
The innocuous brand of almost-rock, almost-punk music is reminiscent of Lit and early American HiFi, albeit with a little bit of Creed and Nickelback (especially in the vocals) thrown in. The bad thing about J4 is that many of their tracks do not provide listeners with much innovation; tracks like “Walk Away” might be euphonic as hell, but there is not a differing set of time signatures or a move…
The dream-like pop that Jettie plays on their “Heading for Mornings” has something in common with the rich instrumentation that was such a heavy presence on the Deep Elm records from a few years ago. “Inside Your Vaults / 6.5” brings to the table a deliberate type of drumming that moves beyond the traditional time-keeping role the instrument has. “One Dance” brings a Michael Stipe-spin to Clas’ vocals and a…
The first track of “Leave You Behind” is “Down in Lukenbach”. During “Down in Lukenbach”, The Jeremiah Houston Band go off into a current indie-country fusion that would make individuals like Pat Green blush. The production values of “Leave You Behind” is solid as all get out. I could easily hear the tracks on this disc turn up on CMJ or GAC. The fact that individuals that are not the…
Playing a style of rock that is aurally similar to Hilljack and 38 Special, Jeremiah Freed are not afraid to get down and dirty with their instruments. Able to consolidate a band’s worth of instruments and vocals into one tight formation, a track like “Reflect Your Light” is a lumbering beast, with drums and bass pulling the low end while the lead guitar and vocals pull the high. “Reflect Your…
Aside from having some of the most innovative packaging that I’ve seen with a major-indie label CD (using a number of cards to contain the lyrics from the disc), Jenoah ranks right up there with Amber Pacific for being the most surprising emo band of 2004. Using a true multi-part harmony (instead of just having a screamer with a melodic singer), Jenoah really makes a strong case for having some…
Jenny Piccolo is not like a number of the other speed/grind/thrash bands out on the market. First off, they are not like Agoraphobic Nosebleed in the relative slowness of the band. Jenny Piccolo is an act that uses rock influence over pretty much everything else on this self-titled (discography) disc. The band may be playing fast and cutting tracks that are only twenty or thirty seconds, but there are large…
Another straight-forward rock track by Coalition Records, The Je Ne Sais Quoi very successfully use synthesizers and a strong set of late sixties rock/punk influences (MC5, Iggy Pop) to make a very vibrant and current style of rock. Maybe not as immediately catchy as their neighbors the Sahara Hotnights, The Je Ne Said Quoi are a very danceable, bat-shit crazy type of band. Each track has a completely different style…
With one of the more interesting premises behind a CD release, this CD is a mixture of original tracks, as well as covers of those original tracks by bands that have been influenced by the Bandits. What gets annoying quickly is the pairing of the songs – perhaps if all the covers were a section of the CD, and the originals another, but the same song, like it or not,…
Whatever album post-Dead Kennedys I have received that has been released by Jello Biafra showcases extremely long songs which sometimes push my patience (Timor Circus, I’m looking at you specifically). Jello has given up the punk fury of the past and moved into a way more kosher with rock and metal, all while still keeping the tremendous political content of the past. The first track on “Never Breathe” showcases memorable…
Prior to this recording, pretty much the only acoustic fifteen / Jeff Ott track I listened to was the acoustic version of “Welcome to Berkeley”, which has been reproduced to a t on this double-disc CD. While I was a big fan of “Welcome to Berkeley”, I was a little weary at some of the beginning tracks that are found on the first CD of this set, specifically the title…
The music created by Jed & Lucia is very sedate, and Jed’s vocals at the onset of ‘World on Fire” are of a level that Cat Stevens would be proud. There is not much in the way of instrumentation during this first track, but the harmonies that the two make during the track more than make up for that overset, whether planned or not. Having one of the disc’s longest…
“Combat Zone Girl” shows that JDJ is a big fan of individuals like Mick Jagger. This is not the punk music that was expected from eir previous act, The Destroyed, but rather JDJ’s thought about what rock music should be. This style comes back for “Cream My Dream”, to the degree that JDJ’s vocals are done at the same level, the same loudness, and honestly feel as if JDJ was…
The vocals of Hayley really obscure some of the best instrumentation that Paramore can muster, especially when the band opens the disc with their “All We Know”. What is most interesting about “All We Know” are the almost-perfectly sequenced drums of Zac on the track, which are so impeccable that individuals will think that a computer created them. When Paramore creates tracks like “Pressure”, one knows that they cannot be…
Pretty much what I thought, Jarboe’s style of pseudo-goth/electronic sound sounds a little dated in the fourteen years since this album first came out. However, when compared to some of the other goth-esque music from the period, Jarboe seems a fresh as a newly-created corpse. Some of the reversed instrumentation on “Red” provides a perfect backdrop for the heavenly tones of Jarboe’s voice. The sultry vocals of Jarboe’s present on…
Boy, has Jarboe been on a cleaning spree the last year, clearing our eir closet of practically all the demos and music that have been left to the wayside in the last fifteen years? Starting out the CD with “Song For Dead Time”, Jarboe’s pop-mentality allows this gothic-tinged track to soar above the fray, using ethereal vocals and continual piano lines to make for a delectable track. Following the delightful…
The cover of “Keep Quiet, They Might Hear Us” is fairly low-key. This low-key look really is perfect for hiding a brand of emo meets rock (think Samiam more than Coheed here), and really allows The January Taxi to hit the gates running. “Star Light The Sun” drops the vocal focus of the previous track for a more compelling brand of arrangements that, even in its guitar-heavy state is able…
The instrumental interlude that starts off “Like Cold Rain Kills a Summer Day” is something that I would never recommend a band to do. The minute of instrumental opening feels like eons whenever an act does it. Start from a 0 level, but don’t let a few minutes go by before kicking into the disc. Still, even with this early black mark against the band, Janez Detd is able to…