I Carry The Fire is an intense piece of instrumental fire. With nods to Muse and Queens of the Stone Age, I Carry the Fire whips in a bit of Peanut Butter Wolf and even Dream Theater into the mix. The song is able to tell a voluminous story with stylistic shifts through numerous genres and approaches. Hard, heavy, and taking a hard right at the 3:30 mark, Wettworker’s latest…
There’s something strangely comforting about ‘90s lo-fi Indie Pop stalwart Ben Lee turning to the songs of his louder contemporaries for his covers record. Though Lee is probably better known for the more accessible pop elements of that era’s alt rock music, he makes an inspired choice to take on songs by the likes of more distortion-laden bands like Sonic Youth, Fugazi and Dinosaur Jr. on Quarter Century Classix. The…
Good Girls is a delightful effort that blends together 1980s-inspired synth pop with a taut rap flow. Dreamy vocals are the perfect counterpoint for rapid-fire rap lyrics. AUGUST 08’s vocals are impressive here, inspiring a more docile feeling even as the modern era is given a nod through Duckwrth’s unparalleled bars. Fans of Kid Cudi’s more experimental stuff or DRAM will immediately dig what is going on here. The video…
High Sierra Club build upon the tradition of Coheed and Cambria with their latest single, Waiting. Tremendously complex instrumentation is interspersed with impassioned vocals to make something that will affect fans in a number of way. The dynamics that are established between the guitars and drums call back to the days of At The Drive-In and The Appleseed Cast. High Sierra Club’s strongest side comes in the dynamics it establishes…
Panty Droppa is a memorable effort that links together mid-oughts Atlanta with mumble rap. F$O Dinero is impressive in keeping the cadence as well as crafting an intricate flow. A bit of harmony is present in this aforementioned wordplay, adding considerable to the crap / sequenced backing beat that bubbles under on Panty Droppa. This single can easily crawl up the charts due to the hooky chorus and timeless backdrop,…
On Agate or Barium, David Norland is able to establish a compelling instrumental effort. Building an entire landscape with pianos and rising strings, Norland generates a cogent narrative. Spontaneous sections are buttressed well with more deliberate, piano heavy movements. While the effort concludes a hair over the three-minute mark, the composition will remain in one’s brain for much longer than that. It’s always impressive when an instrumental artist is able…
Come Back to Me is an epic R&B track that is able to convey some seriously heady emotions. Drea Jeann’s vocal range is without comparison, hitting highs and lows in the same breath. Come Back to Me is made stronger by DJ’s ability to tell a cogent narrative while bolstering the instrumental side of things with each note. It is precisely when Drea Jeann steps away from thie lyrical content…
Taut emo with a bit more contemplative guitar playing in the background, Nesting is one of those efforts that will continue to yield new twists and turns multiple plays in. The band is able to tell fans a multitude of stories with this layered approach. Building upon the style of early Taking Back Sunday and Alkaline Trio, An Old Friend refers back to the halcyon days of emotive rock while…
Kerry Pastine and the Crime Scene’s third album release City of Love promises to be their defining moment to date. The Denver, Colorado native and her band mates built the two previous releases around a rockabilly blues hybrid sound earning raves in the process and established a reputation as a lively concert act more than capable of building on the energy they capture in the studio in front of enthusiastic fans. Her…
Bleeker has released a very chill single in Straight For The Money. The track oozes with charisma and succeeds due to the dynamics established between smart instrumentation and alluring vox. The band is able to stop and start on a dime, further providing separation between Straight For The Money and the rest of the songs seeking popular recognition. Bleeker builds upon Walk The Moon and OK Go; the louder and…
The Best has AWOLNATIOn calling forth synth-pop and a bit of progressive to bolster their inimitable style. The soft vocals that start each stanza are pushed to their limit as things switch to a higher gear. The drum fills that are interspersed throughout The Best has AWOLNATION at their creative plateau. A very stylized video adds further context to the song as well as going all in to a children’s…
A sludgy, mid-1990s alt-rock sound issues forth from Utility’s Bull In The Shop. Deliberate, crunchy guitar riffs match nicely with classic / hair rock-style drums. There are nods made throughout this effort to acts like Deep Purple and early-1980s-era Motley Crue. By whipping in just a hint of grunge music to Bull In The Shop, Utility is able to make something bold and new while hitting some of the high-water…
During Take Me Down, Alexa Friedman is able to provide some confident and catchy vocals. Laid upon an EDM-infused backing instrumentation, Alexa’s voice ensures that fans of dance, pop, and rap will be able to find something that they can sink their teeth into. Take Me Down is able to renovate the mid-oughts sound of performers like Nelly Furtado by pairing them with a modern set of pop sensibilities. A…
During Honesty, Mychael Gabriel is able to marry together the synth-infused R&B of the early 1980s with the vocal-forward R&B of the early 1990s (e.g. Tevin Cambell, Babyface). This laid-back groove allows for Gabriel’s vocals to shine out brilliantly over the composition. A taut groove ties together luxurious synths, fat bass liners, and punctual percussion that ensures that listeners will get out on the dance floor. We’re particularly enamored with…
On I’m Straight, Kimberly Rice immediately impresses with hard-scrabble flows and more than a bit of swagger. The snap track and synths build off the mid-oughts rap of performers like Lil Jon. When Calvin Cofield enters into the mix, the effort is able to garner a bit of additional momentum. With each side of the composition hitting on all cylinders, I’m Straight ensures that it can hang quite nicely with…
On The Hardest Part, Oliver James is able to make a hauntingly beautiful track that needs little more than echoing vocals and a strummed acoustic to make huge waves. There are nods here to the alt-rock of the late 1990s as well as earlier traditions like The Smiths. Beautiful strings are weaved throughout The Hardest Part, imbuing the effort with a richness that will fulfill fans long after the song…
On Motion Sick, Anna Claire Loftis is able to blend equal amounts 1990s pop and atmospheric indie to make something that will resound with listeners long after the song ceases to play. The backing instrumentation is surprisingly deep here, with a wall of sound needing to be unraveled to hear everything that Loftis has placed within. The guitar / drum dynamic plays at the fore, but smart usage of loud…
It’s sometimes taken for granted just how brilliant a songwriter Tom Waits is. The sky is blue, water is wet, and Waits can write a truly heartbreaking song. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s been making music for more than four decades; Maybe it’s that some just can’t get past his graveled vocals, but sometime all it takes is listening to a fresh take on his songs to realize just…
“Nobody’s listening / Don’t know the world you’re in / You want someone to understand” croons David Leask in the first couple of lines of his new single “When You Think No One Loves You,” a sense of defenselessness trailing his every word. Leask has never been one to hold anything back from his audience in the music that he records, but he’s getting especially vulnerable with us in this…
Guttural in one track, smothered in a synth’s playful harmony in another, the guitar parts that adorn the material we hear on the new Parker Longbough LP Green and Gold/Drink the Hemlock are at times reminiscent of early White Stripes records, 80s Seattle sludge and even the noise-laden riffs of Sonic Youth all at once, and yet they rarely translate as being overly experimental in songs like “Avalanche Beacon,” “Bad Attitude” and…