With a really hit or miss style of creating songs, The 4-Squares really seem if they are almost 2 bands. With either tracks that will blow one away or force people to turn of the disc, one almost wishes that the band was a little more consistent. Too many of these songs really blast through too quickly, and have almost nothing in substance, leaving a bad taste in one’s mouth.…
I’ve never really been inculcated into the cult of Fountains of Wayne, but this compilation is a good view into the band (even if none of these tracks have been on one of their proper releases). The band has really maintained a coherent and distinctive sound over the last decade, as the only thing that really divides tracks from the beginning of their career (such as Janice’s Party) with the…
It is a little hard to get into the type of music that For Those Lost start off “This is Our Fight†with. The first track is “I Smile At Your Terrorâ€, and it blends a very straight forward type of hardcore music with a set of guitar that would work better with either a sludge metal or a seventies metal band. The type of music that ultimately issues forth…
After so many years of reviewing more popularly-oriented music, it seems as if a few more classical and jazz-oriented releases have been coming my way. It is a never a problem to review any of these, but I find myself more often without words than during any other review I’ve written. Still, Anat Fort is an Israeli-born pianist, and this marks the 8th year since the release of eir first…
The Format makes another strong step forward with the first track on this EP, “Janetâ€. The similarities to Rivers Cuomo and New Radicals are coupled with a solid bass line and a jangly guitar that will make residence in a listener’s brain for weeks. The inclusion of a synthesizer really imbues the track with a fullness that is unrivaled; everything just bursts in one’s ears, just like The Rocket Summer,…
Curiously enough how I was introduced to The Format first was through their first single, “The First Singleâ€. While I’m not sure examply if the title of that track is prescient or just bragging, the track mixes the best of the New Radicals, U2, Midnight Oil, and makes the track sound intensely familiar without being completely clichéd. The sound on “Interventions and Lullibies†is masterfully crafted, allowing for a perfect…
It is true that Forgive Durden starts off their “Wonderland†CD slowly, but after the first few minutes, individuals can see the beauty of the band. The band has a viewpoint that allows them to see the entire field; while individuals might clamor for an immediate gratification, Forgive Durden knows that they can do much more if they can build on structures. That is what they do with the first…
Forever Changed is a band that actually has brought something new and refreshing to the played-out field that is emo rock. This time, Forever Changed strikes a strong blow for Christianity with tracks like “Encounterâ€, with lyrics “the enemy’s still alive/we see him all the time†obviously pointing a figer at4 Satan. However, the average listener of this disc will never know the difference between the average emo band like…
This album started to worry me, as it has one of the slowest starts of any album I’ve heard, but after the beginning to “Seating Subject To Availabilityâ€, the band really begins to shine with the luster previously present on their music. The Forecast had a few tracks on other compilations I had reviewed, and they were fantastic. “These Lights†has Shannon’s vocals simultaneously draw influences from The Sissies/Devil Is…
Hey, I didn’t know a guy from Reel Big Fish started a new band! Seriously though, The Forces of Evil is a band in a style that I haven’t heard much of in the recent years, excluding Slow Gherkin and The Spitvalves. The Forces of Evil are much more pop-influenced than either of those bands, and could even draw comparisons to the earliest Goldfinger. As what could be taken from…
Mixing rough-house eighties metal with the current popular trend of screamo, New Jersey’s Folly allows their listener to take a wild journey with the band that spans the entirety of “Insanity Laterâ€. A modern day Faith No More, Folly can mix ska-influenced guitar riffs with mid-nineties metal to really draw together a large fan base. Still, the disc has an unfinished veneer to it, and while a track like “Sweet…
Lyle Lovett is one of those rare musicians that has earned a critic’s pass of sorts. Thanks to decade’s worth of brilliant songs, he’s allowed to put out a weaker album every now and then. Natural Forces, his latest, is not bad, but again not among his best. Though Lovett has managed to cast a pretty big net beyond the traditional country music fan with past albums, the dozen songs…
FM Bats are not only like late-seventies/early-eighties Neil Young (listen to the soundtrack for Human Highway if you want to hear the similarities), but also to Stooges-era Iggy Pop and even the Velvet Underground. It is really hard to give the FM Bats a “punk†nametag, but rather they should be dubbed “experimentalists†in the greatest sense. The band is not afraid to take a slow, sedate stroll (“There’s Only…
Smash Mouth meets Depeche Mode. However, they have been doing Fluke together for fifteen years, a pretty impressive amount of time when one actually digests that fast. The opening track to “Puppyâ€, Fluke’s fifth album, is a fairly forgettable radio-friendly track that is driven quickly into the ground by a repetitive back-beat and annoyingly-inflected lyrics. The opening to “My Spine†recalls Trans-Europe Express in its highly emotive content and broad…
Continuing their live insanity onto disc, “Somebody Twisted Your Arm†is a perfect example of the thrash/punk fusion that Fleshies work so well in. Using distortion right out of the eighties and a shouted-out set of vocals reminiscent of Darby Crash, Fleshies come to each track on “Gung Ho!†with a myriad of interests and short times in which to express them. Ending “Twisted†with a sizzling guitar riff, “I…
I expected Fleshgore to be a band that is brutal, and that they are, but there are bits of harmony stuck throughout their “May God Strike Me Dead†that will bring individuals dancing into the picture. In some sense, Fleshgore reminds me of Some Girls. The technical ability of the bands are similar, while Fleshgore and Some Girls both throw in these catchy and fun guitar riffs. The bands may…
While it seemed for a few years that all the bands that were playing independent music with “The†opening up their names were those retro or dance punk bands that made it big, The Flesh break free of that categorization. The band opens up “Fire Tower†with “The Truantâ€, a track that reflects a very current brand of indie rock that uses hints of punk, rockabilly, goth, and rock music…
I didn’t want to like this CD at all. However, the catchy beats (think The Rapture meets Electric Six and Deadsy) just make one want to get up out of their seat and start dancing. The lyrics aren’t anything to be proud of, but with beats like this, I’m pretty sure that listeners are not paying attention to what Nathan Halpem, the lead singer, is saying. Raising the bar for…
Flattbush starts out their “Seize The Time†in a way that reminds me a lot of a blend of To My Surprise, Buckethead, Fear Factory, and early Korn. The use of double bass drums and shrill guitars is something that hits listeners throughout “Serve The Peopleâ€, and while the track may only be two minutes long, the band feels as if they have been playing for four or five minutes.…
“That’s My Problem†is essentially what a Green Day or a Nofx song would start out if the band started out in 2002 instead of 1982 or 1992, respectively. “That’s My Problem†really seems to show a commonality between Flashlight Brown and bands like Simple Plan and the F-Ups. It is not even that Flashlight Brown has cribbed the style of the average pop-punk band, but rather that the vocals…