Ism – Monkey Underneath I had started writing my review of “Monkey Underneath”, but after writing about half of it I realized that the music that was playing from my speakers was in reality not Ism but Him or Avenged Sevenfold, coming out of one of my friends’ Myspace. Oh well, Ism sounds quite different from either band, so I can’t salvage much besides “and” and “the”. The style of…
I loved The Unicorns a great deal when I heard their “Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone”, and to hear that some of the members of that band are in the Islands, I began to get excited about “Return to the Sea”. The album breaks away from the traditional pop act sound by incorporating a number of vocalists as the focal point of the band. In this sense,…
It is true that Oceanic fits well with the sound that Isis puts on this disc. For “Weight”, done by Fennesz gives listeners a sense of being by a sea. This sea sound, created by white noise, is one of the better emulations of nature. This compilation of “reinterpretations” is interesting to say the least. While Fennesz has a very solemn and sedate sound dominating their track, Ayal Naor creates…
Scheduled for release on June 8th, 2010 by Seeland Records, the label owned by legendary culture-jammers, Negativland, GiTAr’s “STUFFED” has the potential to make you more than you are without it. GiTAr members Ellipse Elkshow and I Cut People were raised in Evansville, Indiana, home to major polluters, factories, cancer statistics, pharmaceutical manufacturing and a test town for new products cooked up by various fast food giants. In that cold…
I’m not sure exactly if having two non-song tracks to start out your album is necessarily something a rapper attempting to reach that next level of fame really should be doing. When J. Isaac starts the song section of eir disc with “Baby Ez Up”, a lot of this doubt disappears. “Baby Ez Up” starts out in a Sisqo vein, but the backing beat seems to be a little anemic…
There are albums that are re-released for a number of reasons seemingly every day. Expanded editions, discs with new tracks on them, but very rarely is it that a deleted, long out of print album will see the ligh of day again. It probably will not happen in regards to Warren Zevon’s Terminus City or Neil Young’s Trans, but to see that there are individuals that will take it upon…
The style of music that Irving plays is something that has not been heard quite as much since the end of the eighties. The very dusky, retro sound of Irving is done with a quality that will make individuals find something to love about the band, even if the individual’s tastes are far removed from the band’s style. For example, a song like “Situation” is something that is heavily based…
This is hardcore that should be called such, instead of jock-metal. This mixes thrash, punk, and Slayer-like metal to create something that is hard enough to bang one’s head to but not dark enough that a killer mosh pit couldn’t be started. The band, which has members of Sick of It All, Nausea, and Killing Time in it, really shows a maturity that goes well beyond the amount of time…
Fresh off their 2007 effort, “Read The Signs”, DownTown Mystic have just cut their latest album, “Standing Still”. “Standing Still” represents an evolutionary step forward for the act, while still maintaining cohesion amongst the disc’s thirteen cuts. “Backdoor” starts out with a bit of blues-tinged rock that allows Robert’s vocals to approach the timbre and quality of a Warren Zevon or Jimmy Buffett. Despite having a sound that would easily…
Iron Age – Constant Struggle / 2006 Youngblood Records / 10 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/youngbloodrecords / Reviewed 01 April 2006 It was not an accident that Iron Age makes their actual CD for Constant Struggle” look like an eighties CD. The style put forth on tracks like “We’re Dust / The Violator” looks back to bands like Megadeth and their ilk for influence. Still, the production values of “Constant Struggle”, as…
More than a decade after they formed, it’s still amazing to think that John K. Samson, the voice behind Canada’s The Weakerthans, is the same punk rocker that used to play bass for the skate punks in Propaghandi. The sounds of both bands are so drastically different. While Propaghandi had the angst-ridden teen market in mind, The Weakerthans churn out beautifully-crafted, melody-soaked, deeply introspective indie rock. Recorded before a hometown…
Ion Dissonance – Solace / 2005 Abacus / 10 Tracks / http://www.iondissonance.com / http://www.abacusrecordings.com / Reviewed 16 November 2005 While it is hard for me to typically appreciate the style of technical hardcore that bands like Converge play, I feel that Ion Dissonance moves beyond that sound in trying to put the hardest type of music down on disc. Individuals may say that this is just a chaotic mess, that…
The Invisible Eyes – Laugh In The Dark / 2005 Bomp! / 16 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/theinvisibleeyes / http://www.bomp.com / Reviewed 09 December 2005 Psychedelic seems to be the major fuel that drives bands in 2005. Between the Invisible Eyes and The Coffin Lids, there seems to be a single-handed resurrection of the style by Bomp! bands. The Invisible Eyes are more sedate than The Coffin Lids, tending to be more…
Intronaut – Void / 2006 Goodfellow / 7 Tracks / http://www.intronaut.net / http://www.goodfellowrecords.com / Reviewed 10 August 2006 It may take a few seconds for individuals to be properly welcomed (assaulted) by Intronaut, but when you hear the band cranking themselves up during “A Monolithic Vulgarity”, you know that something impressive awaits just around the corner. The track is not just a minute of introduction and then something that drops…
Intrinzik – Double U I Double L / 15 Tracks / 2004 Intrinz Ink / http://www.intrinzikweb.com / intrinzik@fall-guy.com / Reviewed 18 April 2004 Intrinzik is a key member of Arizona’s Fall Guy, and this album is an album in which we finally see where Intrinzik wants to go. We are immediately assaulted with a diverse sound that mixes together Cypress Hill, House of Krazees, and Kid Rock, along with nu-metal…
Intangible – Elevate / 2005 Larkin Music / 4 Tracks / http://www.intangiblemusic.com / http://www.larkiomusic.com / Reviewed 22 March 2005 Intangible begins their EP with “Release”, a track that explores fully the indie-rock influences of the members of the band, allowing a high-flying Creed-like guitar-solo (which looks back to the rock of the sixties) to dominate the bridges on the track. The drums are still the highest part of the disc,…
In Stereo – Death Before Emo / 2005 New School / 6 Tracks / http://www.instereomusic.com / http://www.newschoolrecords.com / Reviewed 23 August 2005 The pop-punk played by In Stereo really is amazing considering that the current band has only been around for four months. Everything sounds smoothed out and mature, not quite unlike a better version of Unwritten Law. “Always And Forever” is reliant on repetitive guitar riffs in the vein…
Instant Camera – Alive On Departure / 2005 Wall To Wall / 10 Tracks / instantcamera1@yahoo.com / wfw_records@yahoo.com / Reviewed 14 July 2005 The opening track “Beyond Infinity” starts off with a mixture of different style, taking equal parts from Radiohead and Coldplay just as from the dream-pop movement from the mid-nineties. The rockabilly approach to “Dr. Glass” mixes with Modern English to have Instant Camera attack with a new…
Innaway – S/T / 2005 Some / 10 Tracks / http://www.innawaymusic.com / http://www.some.com / Reviewed 11 May 2005 The dreamy fuzz of “Threat Hawk” hides a great appreciation for harder rock, and the driving guitar line that threads its way through the first track makes me expec that the band will just break out in true rock-fashion. When the band brings finesse to their general sound (“The Strings of North…
InMemory – In So Many Words / 2004 Doughmain / 12 Tracks / http://www.inmemorymusic.com / http://www.doughmainrecords.com / Reviewed 02 June 2005 InMemory plays the same brand of emo that is so present uin every high school and music scene through the United States. InMemory’s hook is that they have a greater ear for arrangement and have a better general sound than 99% of the bands currently out on the scene.…