LA, by way of Alabama, musician Beth Thornley may have turned in the first record of 2010 that is simply too impossible to cram into an easily definable genre. And that’s a good thing. Her third album, Wash U Clean, is at times Power Pop, singer songwriter and indie pop and often all at once. Rather than sounding sloppy, the effect is refreshingly brilliant. From the quirky album opener and…
This is not the punk band that I was expected when I first put the disc into the players. Instead, what comes forth during tracks like “Get To You” is something that is much more metal influenced. There are no immediate ties to other acts, which is a good thing, but individuals will be confused with where exactly the band is going to go by the time that “Get To…
While I was disappointed in the fact that “Springtime She Waits” actually had that title instead of “Sometime She Waits”, what is coming to me as a Warrant song, The Human Value are actually pretty nifty. Lead by a set of female vocals during “Give Me”, what results is a style that blends industrial with surf and rockabilly music. This music is no Vampire Beach Babes, as The Human Value…
Indie-rock has as of late not been the flavor du jour of your average band, so when a band like Humans Bow Down come forth with their Radiohead and Middle Eastern influences, the result is surprisingly refreshing. The impressive thing about Humans Bow Down is their ability to go and fill to the brim a five minute plus track, allowing for both the track to incorporate a common thread throughout…
The sound of the disc’s first real track “In Tech Knee Color” is similar to the jangly alternative rock of times gone by. There seems to be a little bit of a too-episodic nature to this track, as the band continually goes back to the same few arrangements time and time again through its runtime. The chunky bass of “How’d You Find Me” really is reminiscent of Albini-produced Nirvana, while…
Christian Scott is a young face in jazz that could conceivably bring a blast of fresh air to the genre. The sheer amount and scope of collaborations that ey has done in the last few years is impressive, and includes a whos-who list in music (Mos Def, Prince, and DJ Muggs are just three). Instead of merely resting on eir laurels, Scott has just released eir latest album, “Yesterday You…
When I saw that this album was on Hopeless Records, I immediately assumed a few things. First off, I thought this album was an EP. I was wrong, as this is a full length album by The Human Abstract. Secondly, I thought that The Human Abstract would be an emo band in the vein of Amber Pacific and All Time Low. I was wrong again, as “Nocturne” starts off with…
Houston Calls are you on the other end? If you’re looking for thoughtful lyrics, upbeat songs, and an all out dance party then when Houston Calls you should definitely listen up. Hailing out of Rockaway, New Jersey Houston Calls delivers a gem with their new disc, A Collection of Short Stories. The bands debut release on Drive Thru Records offers listeners a fun, and happy release from a world of…
“Dancing On The Moon” is a rich entry to the world of Lisa Bell, as her vocals marry together all the strengths of artists like Sheryl Crow, Feist, and even Shania Twain. The instrumentation works nicely in the creation of compelling and alluring music, all while allowing Bell’s vocals to shine the brightest they can. “No Time” is a confident track in the sense that it clocks in at four…
A queer Lords on Acid. Yup. Using a repetitive beat without much in the way of aural bells or whistles, Houston Bernard uses that same style (repetition) to pound eir’s first hit into your head. “Ride It Cowboy” is the Sheep on Drugs / Lords of Acid / Lolita Storm-influenced track that is probably the best known track by this rapper, “Str8 Actin’” uses the same style to pound another…
The emotive guitar work that starts off “Arcadia” really does more to establish a voice for House on a Hill than any type of melodramatic, over the top type of warbling could do for a comparable emo band. The band seems to be influenced heavily by the mid to late nineties emo acts, taking cues from acts like Jets to Brazil and the Appleseed Cast. Nowhere on “Ladyslipper” does the…
House of Fools plays a weird brand of emo music, where soulful vocals in a dreamy vein blend with an electronic sound scape. This is the case with the shambling “Better Part of Me”. At some points, it sounds as if there are two different songs going; luckily, House of Fools are like Bright Eyes when it comes to tying disparate elements together, and that is why the act is…
I have been a Pet Shop Boys fan for about a decade now, and while I stick with a great many of their classic tracks, I feel that they have had a nice progression over the course of the last few years. “Pandemonium Live” is their latest effort, and it showcases the entirety of one of their storied live performances. This time out, the tapes were rolling at the O2…
The first track on “Beta” is “Young And Reckless”, and this track shows that Hotspur is a band that blends together a newer rock approach with a slightly punky tempo to create something that is similar to acts like Three Days Grace. Along the way, Hotspur adds a little bit of the angular guitars (a la Franz Ferdinand and The strokes) that have been all the rage in rock, throwing…
Starting off “Last Train” with a rockabilly riff that would make Brian Setzer proud, Hotrod Boogie quickly gets tepid by riding this riff for an extended period of time, pushing their luck with over two minutes of what essentially is the same thing. The rockabilly stylings don’t end with “Hotrod Anthem”, but become ever more obvious during “Saturday Night Rock”. To be honest, the aforementioned tie to Brian Setzer is…
Alkaline Trio has pretty much guaranteed their spot of being a cornerstone band in the post-emo years, but it really seems as if rather than merely resting on the goodwill created by their prior works, AK3 are continuing to add to the diversity and complexities that mark their work as a band. The disc starts off with the titular track, a song that sets up listeners nicely for the entirety…
“Dix Dix” is a track that seems to recall the diverse, eclectic style of the early nineties; mixing parts of Jellyfish, Audioslave (The Chris Cornell-like vocals) and just a hint of the psychedelic movement, Hotpipes start out “The Deadly Poison” with a varied approach. Shifting their general sound considerably to reflect a new-found ska and reggae influence (while having a vocal arrangement similar to that of “Runaround”-era John Popper), the…
Hot Mute start out “She’s The Medicine” with a synth line that approaches that of a Journey. In fact, the entirety of the band blend together the aforementioned Journey, Asia, and The Cars into something that screams eighties rock even as the band cuts tracks in this day and age. “She’s The Medicine” has single aspirations, but the band is still a quarter step away from grabbing the brass ring.…
I saw A Day to Remember Friday April 16th 2010 at the House of Blues in Cleveland. I can’t honestly say that I was overly familiar with the band before the event, but I did know a couple of the radio releases and I crammed in as many of their songs as possible on the hour drive to the show. The show was opening by Veara, followed by Enter Shikari.
When one attends a folk-metal show it is generally expected that there will be the highly talented folk-metal headliner and prior to their set will be a collection of folk metal bands who have yet to find their niche but are trying with various folk instruments thrown into their music awkwardly.