Alana Amram & The Rough Gems – S/T / 2007 Zealous / 5 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/alanaamram / http://www.zealousrecords.com / “Blackest Crow†is the first track on this EP, and it showcases Amram’s work as something that can fit in well with the work of Alison Krauss or even the re-imagined folk genre of the current period (which has adherents including Akron/Family and Devendra Banhart). There seems to be a slight…
Pawbox – S/T / 2007 Self / 5 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/pawbox / Pawbox does not immediately shoehorn themselves into a specific style of music. Sure, they play rock music, but it is hard to tell where exactly they get their influences during a track like â€O.O.T.N.I.F.â€. There are hints of HIM, Velvet Underground, and even the Stone Temple Pilots, but these only describe a fraction of the band’s sound. The…
Tom Savell – You Just Gotta Love It / 2007 Still Fumin’ / 8 Tracks / http://www.stillfumin.com / “Simple Game†blends together Karl Clang and David Bowie into something that is interesting to say the least. The arrangements present during the disc are solid, but it feels like the vocals are mixed a little too loud for comfort on this track. If another producer could come through and let the…
Autonomadic – The Missionary / 2007 Bleeding Ear / 7 Tracks / http://www.autonomadic.com / Apparently we had a chance to review a song from Autonomadic (“Pig Tailsâ€) when we reviewed the “Punks and Pints†compilation a few years back. The review given then is still accurate – Autonomadic play a style of punk music that is catchy as all get out. Unlike their “Pig Tailsâ€, it seems as if the…
Eat Sugar – S/T EP / 2007 Self / 4 Tracks / http://www.eatsugarmusic.com / The noisy, spastic type of electro rock that starts off this EP in “I’m A Carrier†virtually ensures that Eat Sugar will be what is blasted out at any indie club throughout the United States. The synthesizers, clap lines, and coke-addled speed of the track will whip anyone that is listening in into a frenzy, while…
Lek – Giant World Knowledge Bliss Control / 2007 Self / 12 Tracks / http://www.lekmusic.com / “Quixotic†shows a very trippy style of sixties music as the one played by Lek. What does not work for the band during this 7 minute track is the spoken lyrics that go beyond mysterious and into full blown parody by the second or third minute of the track. It behooves individuals to skip…
OST: Into The Wild / 2007 Lakeshore / 36 Tracks / http://www.intothewild.com / http://www.lakeshorerecords.com / For those that do not know Michael Brook, ey first made a splash in the music industry in 1985, when U2 used eir “Infinite guitar†to make the distinct sounds that were commonplace on their seminal “The Joshua Treeâ€. Brook also worked on Peter Murphy (Bauhaus)’s 1995 album Cascade, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s 1996 work…
The Whigs – Mission Control / 2008 ATO / 11 Tracks / http://www.thewhigs.com / http://www.atorecords.com / “Like A Vibration†starts out “Mission Controlâ€, and the amount of styles that come forth from the first minute or so of The Whigs’ album is amazing, to say the least. Hints of psychedelic, sixties-rock, At The Drive-In, and even Social Distortion all play into the creation of a distinct and ufn track. The…
Sleeper Car – Love & Anxiety / 2007 Self / 6 Tracks / http://www.sleepercarband.com / “Lay It Down†is the first track on Sleeper Car’s “Love & Anxietyâ€m, and the use of strings during this track imbues the track with a folksy sound not far removed with that put out by a Banhart. However, Sleeper Car takes a different tack during “I Won’t Break Downâ€. During this track, the band…
Gary Allan – Living Hard / 2007 MCA / 11 Tracks / http://www.garyallan.com / http://www.mca.com / “Living Hard†is the eight studio album for Gary Allan, and marks the second time that Allan has reached #3 on the US 200 charts (eir highest showing). While “Living Hard†did not top the US country charts as “Tough All Over†and “Greatest Hits†had done in 2005 and earlier 2007, this higher…
Cake – B-Sides and Rarities / 2007 Upbeat / 12 Tracks / http://www.cakemusic.com / As individuals may be able to figure out from the title, the latest Cake release is a collection of all of the tracks that were either b-sides or did not make it into a finished form on any of the band’s CDs over the years. While the songs on “B-Sides and Rarities†may be scraps from…
OST: The Kite Runner / 2007 Decca / 21 Tracks / http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/kiterunner / The Kite Runner was the first album that was produced by Khalid Hosseini, in 2003. The movie adaptation of the book will likely be out after Christmas, and features pretty much the same story as the book – after spending a long time on the West Coast of America, Amir returns to Afghanistan to go forth and…
John Coltrane – Interplay / 2007 Prestige / 34 Tracks / http://www.concordmusicgroup.com / This 5 CD set covers a 3 year period in John Coltrane’s career, when ey played with the Prestige Group; these fifty-year old recordings are given a 24-bit remastering from the original tapes. This remastering allows the recordings, feature also feature Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Cobb, Paul Chambers, and Red Garland, to shine in a way that they…
D.O.A. – The Black Spot / 2007 Sudden Death / 16 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/doapunk / http://www.suddendeath.com / While there are a number of fans of the music that D.O.A. has put out for the last twenty years, few individuals are familiar with the band’s work on “The Black Spotâ€. Originally released in 1995, this album marks a tempestuous time in D.O.A.’s life. This was due to the fact that this…
Insane Clown Posse – Jugganauts / 2007 Island / 18 Tracks / http://www.insaneclownposse.com / http://www.islandrecords.com / The Insane Clown Posse split off from Island Records a few years back to create their own record label. However, Island maintains the rights to all of the ICP’s albums up to a certain point, so it’s not that surprising to see a greatest hits album not come out from Psychopathic Records. In regards…
Doug Neumann – Does Decaydance / 2007 Decaydance / 14 Tracks / http://www.dougdoes.com / Do you remember all of those lounge singers that would go and put their own spin on popular songs? Well, Doug does that with a number of Decaydance artists, which means that “Does Decaydance†has Doug’s interpretation of Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes, Cobra Starship, Panic! at the Disco, and more. Educated at the Berklee…
Eazy-E – Featuring Eazy-E / 2007 Capitol / 16 Tracks / http://www.emicap.com / “Featuring Eazy-E†is an album that collects all of the different songs that were milestones of Eazy-E’s career, whether it be with other individuals or were songs that were hidden away for about the last fifteen years. This means that there are songs on here like “Automobile†(with N.W.A.), “Get Yo Ride On†(with Mack 10 and…
Black Tide – Shockwave / 2007 Interscope / 2 Tracks / http://www.blacktidemusic.com / http://www.interscope.com / This single is Black Tide’s first foray into the major label scene, and their brand of classically influenced metal will go over big with a populace that has been lusting after anything retro. “Shockwave†is so close to a Judas Priest song that I’m frankly afraid that Black Tide will be tapped as a copycat…
Koop – Koop Islands / 2007 Atlantic / 11 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/koop / Koop is an odd band. I believe, in the 2,500+ discs that I’ve reviewed in the last decade, that they are the first to link together the swing genre with a more Caribbean type of sound. Where I originally thought that the style would not work in the slightest, just listening to a few seconds of “Koop…
Brian Dewan – Words of Wisdom / 2007 Eschatone / 16 Tracks / http://www.briandewan.com / http://www.eschatone.com / Brian Dewan is one weird individual. The sing-song nature of “Words of Wisdom†(the opening track), could conceivably be on a Disney movie or some odd, out of the way, radio station. Dewan’s opening to the album “Words of Wisdom†is primarily vocal, with only the lightest in terms of instrumentation to fill…