It’s a bit surprising Different Light, the 2007 sophomore release from Sherwood didn’t help make the California band a household name. With their Pet Sounds-era harmonies and a sound the evoked everyone from the Beatles to ELO, the album was pretty damn close pop rock perfection. Their latest, Qu is almost as good. It’s a bit cliché to talk about a maturing sound in record reviews, but it’s true with…
Okay, I’m thoroughly surprised with what I hear on this disc. I was expecting very tepid, warmed-over pop-punk, bu I get this really well done indierock. I always whine about how I don’t review CDs in a timely matter, but I’ve had this CD for about a year and a half. I’m horrible. The band really seems to switch styles between a Osceola/At the Drive-In sound and something near what…
The tracks on “Alternation†fittingly alternate in style and length, with some tracks being over six and seven minutes while some struggle to get to the two minute mark. At every point during “Alternationâ€, there is a very different sound that Excepter is trying to cultivate. There are hints of sixties pop, alternative, surf, and about fifty other styles that all blend together to create a sound that is specifically…
Evolve plays a very atmospheric brand of music that takes quite a few minutes to fully appreciate. “August Moon†is the first track on the disc, and before the beat goes into something approximating “From Your Mouthâ€-era God Lives Underwater, little can be felt about the band. Slow, Evolve finally comes into a storytelling type of music when the instrumentation settles down. No vocals are needed during the opening of…
Every Time I Die Gutter Phenomenon Ferret Records Killing the music…in the best way possible! I have two questions for each and everyone of you reading this. Question 1: Are you pissed at the world at this present moment? Question 2: Do you like to dance? If you answered yes to either one of these questions you are a perfect candidate to go out and purchase the new cd from…
The Everyothers play a style of rock that is not immediately reconcilable to the rest of the rock bands out on the market. For example, during “Too Farâ€, there is a definite psychedelic influence that makes itself known but the bulk of the track is a blend of the B-52s and The Offspring. This interesting blend makes for something that is new and fresh for the music scene, something that…
The band starts off their self-titled disc with “Meat Marketâ€, a track that is interesting to me as it seems as if the band is holding back some of the energy and fury that should be present. What results is a track that has a very current type of indie allure but is based heavily on the rock of the sixties. Hints of “That Thing You Do is present throughout…
From the liner, this mini cd was created “using two guitars, two tape recorders, our voices, found objects and the environmental sounds that surrounded usâ€. The lyrics are truly created on the spot, so don’t be shocked if a song (like “in the cityâ€) just consists of whatever the songwriter sees. The recording leaves something to be desired, but the two individuals that created this CD intentionally recorded like this,…
If any 90’s band warranted the anthology treatment it’s Morphine. It took a decade, but Rhino has given the Boston-based “low rock†band the treatment and the result is a wildly impressive look at band’s output. The refreshingly original band – name one other alt rock band from that era that sounded so good with a saxophone – ended suddenly in 1999 when singer Mark Sandman died of a heart…
While different styles dominate during the first track of “Naked on the Black Floorâ€, most notably electronic-metal in the vein of Fear Factory and the nu-metal push of bands like Disturbed, what comes forth much more clearly on the disc is a more classic style that taps bands like Queensryche. The blend of styles is essentially what Event Horizon is; where “Everything that begins must end†begins the disc and…
Coming through with a very post-hardcore sound, mixing elements of Coldplay, Pink Floyd, the Weakerthans, and the entire early-1990s indie rock movement. Matt’s voice is quirky and at times inconsistent with the style of music that Evening plays. While the promo sheet for this release is littered with the praise of in-house writers proclaiming the originality of Evening, I really tend to find this disc par for the course in…
On his second release, Belly of the Lion, Texas native David Wingo – under the moniker Ola Podrida – delivers not quite a dozen beautifully written, sweeping tracks that evoke the desolate landscape captured on the album’s cover. Known best as a music composer behind movies like George Washington and All the Real Girls, it’s not surprising that Belly of the Lion sounds a bit like a movie score. Bringing…
The first track on the disc, “A Cross + A Girl Named Blessed†mixes together Alien Ant Farm, Tool and Dashboard Confessional in some unholy alliance that really shows an incredible amount of emotive force even if the instrumentation has a lock on the low end of things. “Stop + Say You Love Me†even furthers the Tool comparison further, seemingly taken line for line out of the Aenima album.…
Evaline plays a brand of emo music but their rub is something that is completely different from anything else that the mass of emo bands are doing. The arrangements present during “Postpartum Modesty†are miles beyond anything else that emo acts are typically known for. When the band starts off their EP with “La De Daâ€, the result is something so much more intense and full-bodied than the average emo…
“I’ve Got A Life†is a track that is destined to be played for gay dance clubs all through the country, as the campy vocal stylings on the track really tend to hearken back to the disco period. “Love Is A Stranger†brings listeners a few years later, as the hokey electronics played during the track really dates the track in a good way. The song feels as if it…
It takes Europa a few minutes, but the band shows that they can play their update version of The Outlaws during “Gods of War and Peaceâ€. I say updated, because there are hints of Ramones-like punk and other musical styles present during “The Filthy Cutâ€. In fact, “Passive Aggressive†starts off with a Ramones-like drum line before going into an ersatz blend of rockabilly, country, punk, and the Foo Fighters.…
There is enough swamp-rock present in “Back Against The Wall†to grill a whole mess of crawdads on the heat of the guitar and harmonica alone. For an instrumental track, “Back Against The Wall†tells an entire story in its relatively-short five minute runtime. Incorporating vocals into the Tina Dico-sung “Blue†makes Euphoria into an act that easily panders to the pop element of society, even if the instrumentation and…
Eugene puts together a very radio-friendly type of indie-rock that is reminiscent of Hayden, never far from a good guitar hook or full sound, even though this is a very Spartan band. Tracks like “Mr. Solitude†do not have a chronological date to them, so while there might be sections on the track that just screams sixties-rock, there are equally many that look at acts like Husker Du for relevance.…
Moving through a number of different sounds, from a Nico-like heaviness to eir voice to the simple fuck off attitude of someone like Fiona Apple, Eszter makes an album in “Mud†that is both chock-full of artistic cred while still being very pop-derived. With a heavy slant towards the more minimalist of composers, like Philip Glass in tracks like the more vocally-biased “Good Luckâ€, Eszter really makes a bold statement.…
Even though a few of the kids from this band have played one of my concerts, and they’ve had tracks up on their website since I first learned about them months ago, I’ve not gotten the pleasure to just sit down and give ’87 Celebrity the attention that they deserve. The mastering is a little rough, with the drums on “Bad Luck†sounding almost as if they were intended to…