B.I.T.E.’s vocalist Adam sounds as if eir does not have English as a native language. This is not to say that ey screws up verbs and tenses, but rather the accents on some of the syllables on “No Direction†are a little odd compared to most American English speakers. The recording on “No Direction is a little rough as well, favoring a gritty/high end feel that gives much greater attention…
Trying to be emotive and filling eir’s songs with earthy tones might work for established bands like Radiohead, but here, the earthiness and ethereal tangents of tracks like “Time A Bind†really just don’t provide a listener with a path of listening, just a take it or leave it attitude. The CD winds on, but nothing here is revolutionary – Ben’s journey along this disc is a trip that already…
Jive Records artist Living Things announces a string of upcoming tour dates with Electric Six for the spring, as well as an appearance at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX.
Cobbling their “A Taste of The Beers†from very rough origins, The Beers play a style of rock that is much more solid on the instrumental than the vocal side of issues. With 16 cuts on this album “Withheld Informationâ€, the second track really tests listeners’ attention span as it breaks the six minute mark, by far the longest track on the disc. On “Withheld Informationâ€, the bass lines are…
The fuzz that starts out “Lo-Fi Resurrection†is a little bit off-putting, as the band’s output would be even stronger during “Race of the Rats†than it currently is with the layer of fuzz added in. The plodding tempo of The Beefeater Project during this track is compelling, and the vocals fit into the grand scheme of things pretty well throughout the song. It is just the distortion that seems…
“Of Human Bondage†is the first track on this split EP, and its spread-out strains of music gradually coalesce into something much more heavy and compelling than its constituent parts. While the style that The Beautiful Mistake play on this track is unmistakably emo, there are brief forays into “Synchronicityâ€-era Police and a martial drumming that resounds with a number of different eras. The swirling guitar lines present in this…
The BeatPreachers play a blues-influenced brand of rock that tries to put itself alongside the seventies set of Detroit rock but comes off as a band that is a lot of form but little in the way of substance. With “Deniedâ€, the band bashes through a track in less than two and a half minutes, but there is nothing in the way of artistic development for individuals to really cut…
Bayside has been around for a few years, and “The Walking Wounded†is their latest album. With tracks like “Dualityâ€, Bayside plays a brand of emo music that takes on the sound of mid-nineties Weezer more than any other of their influences. “Duality†allows the band to break free of any shoegazing and actually add a moderate amount of rock to the track, making the song into the band’s first…
The rough sound placed out by Baxter House is not really linked to any other specific genre of music; its raucous sound reminds one of Apocalipstick, especially when one considers the very atonal and loud singing of Rachel’s vocals. A track like “Fat Gross Cowboy†has guitars that are linked to the middle nineties, back to a time when bands like L7 were popular. The fuzz on the track is…
Jamie Barnes plays a brand of folk-rock that is similar to that created at regular intervals by Devendra Banhart. However, Jamie takes more than a little hint from sixties-rock (America, Neil Young) and this is why “Honey From The Ribcage†far out-strips much of the earlier-influenced folk rock of the current period. The bouncy sound of “Pearly Gate and Son Pest Control†shows a little more of that sixties-influence, and…
“Death Is Never Permitted†has a moment of uncertainty present before Blinded Black start. While they come forth a very hard-hitting pop-punk meets emo and rock sound, this bit of confusion showed that the band is human. “Death Is Never Permanent†is a typical emo track, but does throw in something a little bit new. This time, Blinded Black place a synthesizer into the mix that hearkens back to all…
The Bank Robbers play a brand of emo that has been popular for a few years ago, following from the trends of both acts like Alkaline Trio and Hawthorne Heights. The disc’s opening (full) track is “Defending The Kingdom†and it feels as if The Bank Robbers already have the formula down for their first big radio hit. “Making Promises†is more of the same, with the guitars and vocals…
“Black Faced Clocks†starts out in a very deliberate way, but when Blag’ard gets into the meat and potatoes of “Monkâ€, one can hear that the band is still tremendously reverent of the early nineties. The band plays a brand of alternative rock music, but this is the style of alt rock that was big during the days of The Pixies rather than The Raconteurs. In fact, there is nothing…
“Damaged Goods†seems to be as good of a starting point for The Bangkok Five as anything else on their “Who’s Gonna Take Us Aliveâ€. The track is a smart brand of indie rock that ties together dominant styles, whether it be the angular rock of Franz Ferdinand or sexy vocals of The Killers into one hard-hitting and fun type of track. This high-energy sound is not something that The…
“Inside†has a very strong vocal presence that blends well with the electronic backing instrumentation. The progression of the lines is similar to that of more classic and neo-classic compositions. Where the instrumentation taken separately might be perfect for a soundtrack, the vocals give Bang Gang enough of a radio-friendly sound that it would not be surprising to hear them on alternative stations across the United States. “Something Wrong†continues…
Mixing the catchy rhythms of a jam band with the alternative sound of the mid-1990s, Ballyrag makes an album that is innocuous and bubbling with energy. Coming to the table with omnipresent bass guitar, Ballyrag first bands a good impression with individuals on “Sweet Thingsâ€. In this track, a surf rhythm is mixed with classical Spanish music to create a style that transcends the conventions of both the genres. “Johnny…
“Dog Eat Dog†starts off in a way that sounds more in tune with progressive metal than anything else heard in popular music lately. There are also nods to country-rock and a little bit of the earthy-punk that acts like Fugazi and Husker Du were known for; The Balls tell a tremendously detailed story with only three minutes of music, to start off “Come Out Swingin’â€. The guitar is the…
Baleen is a hard band to follow during the first track of their “Follow Me Blindâ€, which to be honest really has an opening style not quite unlike the early-nineties gospel-rock tracks that are still played often on Christian music stations. The stop-start sound present on “Magnifico (The Mule)†really puts Baleen in the nexus between a number of different styles, as diverse as Jazz and college-rock. The multiple-vocals that…
Glyn Bailey starts up “Toys From Balsa†with “Sorryâ€, a track that sounds like and continues the same humor that the late Warren Zevon strove for in eir career. “East & West†has Glyn going a little too far with eir vocals, straining at points where the placement of vocals should have been a cakewalk. The second set of vocals are melodramatic, but do end up working. However, Glyn really…
I thought this album had an introduction that was spoken word, but then would go into something that was perhaps a little musical. That is not the case with “A Random Litter of Thoughtâ€. What Dennis Bagwell does on this album is essentially what all perzine creators do with their zines. The minor amount of instrumentation that works as the backdrop for tracks on “A Random Litter of Thought†is…