The Curtains are a band that I find extraordinarily difficult to properly tag, as their style of largely-instrumental music seems fit for an artsy movie. However, jazz-influenced tracks such as “Kites For Rookiesâ€, even if they do maintain an instrument-heavy sound, use softly-spoken vocals to add a whole other dimension to the track. The tracks on “Vehicles of Travels†are all short, with only a few tracks breaking the two-plus…
Why have I never even heard of Current 93, considering that they have cut over twenty albums and have been around for nearly twenty-five years? This brand of folk music is very narrative-based, and the sheer amount of different singers present on “Black Ships Ate The Sky†are enough to make a case for this being more of a play than an album. A few major players in indie music…
2000, 5 piece band from Nevada (Las Vegas). Very hard rock in the vein of old Alice in Chains, Clutch, and Helmet. The vocals are influenced by black metal acts such as Venom, Six Feet Under, and Cannibal Corpse. The drums are reminiscent of Bad Religion and Pennywise while the guitars mix between Elliot Smith and Guns n Roses. All & All, a very bizarre mix of components that work…
Curl Up And Die may just be the band that has been present through the entirety of the time that NeuFutur has been a print zine. Our first review of Curl Up and Die was about their “The Only Good Bug Is A Dead Bug†album, and the band has tightened up their sound more than a little bit since then. The screamed-out vocals of Mike really do not convey…
Jill Cunniff was formerly with the band Luscious Jackson. While I am 23, the band achieved prominence and then moved away from that prominence before I was big into indie music. Thus, the tracks on this disc have little in the way of reference points with which I can work. The smooth pop music of Cunniff on “City Beach†could be enough to catapult eir into the mainstream again. The…
The production value of “Kelsey Grammer Loves Usâ€, specifically during “ExBoyfriendsâ€, is not the best. The track puts a heavy focus on the vocal component of the act, with the guitars only weakly responding to the act. However, Cult of Sue Todd are not slouches in regard to the arrangements that they bring to their listeners. “ExBoyfriends†is just one of many tracks that builds up from one thing (vocals)…
The opening instrumental track, “Majestic Twelve†really shows Cue The Doves as a band that has a lot to say. The first track is more of an introduction of the styles that will be present throughout the CD. “Sphere of the Abyss†is a track that really gets individuals thinking; the style is much more rooted in the alternative rock of the early nineties, even as the vocals come forth…
Crystal Skulls start off their “Outgiong Behavior†with a track that is firmly grounded in sixties music. This title track sets the stage for the rest of the album, and moves beyond the superficial sounds of the sixties into something much more musically literate. “Baby Boyâ€, the second track, feels much more in step with the eighties brand of goth rock (taking into consideration bands like The Cure). “Baby Boy 
Coming through like an actually-female singer like Claudio (a fake-female singer) from Coheed and Cambria, Cruiserweight’s “Sweet Weaponry†comes through in an intense way, even if it is a little on the sterile side. “Vermont†is a track that sounds like it should be in the middle of the disc, in the sense that Cruiserweight is already at the top of their game, and with their incorporation of Sean Neil’s…
The Crumbs have been around for a decade. In that time they have been on two larger independent labels, with TKO being their third. The Crumbs are also a band that can move all through different sounds and harmonies in their way to making a truly chameleonic album. However, in all of the moving through genres and intensities, we are left with a very uneven album, with some of the…
I’ve reviewed The Crumbs once before. That album I wasn’t the biggest fan of, but that was The Crumbs 2003-2004, and this is the Crumbs 1993-2002, and I don’t feel that a blanket statement would do much to describe what clearly is a different phase for this long-lasting band. I’m shocked, I hear melody, and a style of punk that is a mixture of Rancid and The Ramones come out…
Coping off the riff for Metallica’s “Motorbreath†in the beginning of the track, the opening “G.W. Cunt†is a high-water mark for these two individuals, Joe Hiles and George McSweeney. The track is only around a minute, but political beliefs don’t need to be long, drawn-out treaties or discussion. “Pentagram Agenda 1984â€, as well as the rest of the tracks on the disc, feature guest drumming by Brock Ailes, from…
The opening track on “Don’t Look Down†is one that sets up the rest of the disc; one can almost imagine a sunrise with the skillful instrumentation that takes a dominant place during the first third of the track. There are no vocals here, but the tracks tell more in its instruments than hundreds of bands could hope for with over-emotive lead singers. Seventy minutes marks the extent of “Don’t…
There are a number of fitness individuals, whether they be on the internet or sequestered in their own fitness clubs, that are only out to rip off people. However, I’ve just found a web site – Marina Online – that tries to give viewers the best possible price without removing anything in the way of quality or accessibility.
The band plays an intense brand of thrash that takes into consideration the hardcore of acts like D.R.I. and earlier Raised Fist. The tracks blow by like nothing (with the average song lasting about a minute and a half), with the production of the disc allowing the band to sound a lot like they were playing all these songs live. Of course, the all-in choruses speak much to layering, but…
If your liner notes say that Conor Oberst helped you, then chances are that your album will be absolutely fantastic. Hard rocking post-hardcore music from an all-star band (individuals come from The White Octave, Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos, Lullaby for the Working Class, Cursive). All parts of this act together make pieces of art out of their songs. “Play On Words†has a haunting chorus that is completely made up in…
While I am always leery of those bands that eschew new, better ways of recording, I still try to give the bands the benefit of the doubt. The Cringe use all analogue recording for “Tipping Pointâ€, and “California†is the first track that most individuals will be familiar with when they first hear The Cringe. The track is a noisy type of rock that has hints of Blur, Goo Goo…
The intensity in which The Cringe start off “Scratch The Sruface†was really a surprise, in that there was no lead-up to the track, just Rob’s guitar leveling the audiences from the first riff. “Been Alone†is much more of the same radio-friendly type of rock that really has polluted the nation’s airwave, but done in a slightly more palatable style. There is a certain amount of musicianship that is…
Crime in Stereo come forth with the same type of open-air guitars that individuals have learned to expect from the band. Tracks are relatively quick, but the effect that they will have on a listener will not disappear quite as quickly. During tracks like “I’m On The Guestlist, Motherfuckerâ€, the band moves into the realm previously only traversed by acts like Rise Against. The guitars are still distinct, a hallmark…
The clarity in which Crime In Stereo constructs their tracks on this EP is simply amazing; everything is meshed together perfectly to allow a track with a speedy tempo and hard-hitting beats the same ease of discovery as the average pop-punk sound. The speed does not slow during “I’m On The Guestlist Motherfuckerâ€, where Crime In Stereo assumes a slightly Rise Against meets Strike Anywhere type of sound. The gritty…