Arma Secreta play a brand of emo music that is not tied to the current styles of the genre as much as it is tied to acts like Sunny Day Real Estate. The disc opens up with “Segue/Debrisâ€, a track that actually showcases Arma Secreta’s musical skills instead of trying to converge with all of the big-name acts. While “Debris†has a sound to it that is harder than what…
Starting out with a Velvet Underground/Talking Heads meets Replacements style of retro-sixties rock, Ariel Aparicio calls up the still-living spirit of Iggy Pop. The Hired Guns don’t do much for Ariel in creating a coherent sound, making the entirety of “Punk Rock Girl†sound more like a mashup of different half-assed tracks instead of something put forth as one specific entity. Maintaining some of the same stylistic, psychedelic-rock sound that…
The dreamy nature of Argentine allows the band to expand their average track length to over five minutes, and this Radiohead-influenced band is able to maintain interest through a continual refreshing of their sound. The tender sound that Argentine infused each track with is on the verge of being too Spartan to continue drawing tracks like “Fresh Inventions†along, but the incorporation of an electric organ specifically during that track…
Producer/DJ Willem Gerards, the founder of GaGa ElektriX, was born in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He has been a musician since his college years and played guitar and keyboards in local bands.
It is not necessarily that Architects come forth with the catchiest vocals or something that sounds like other music out currently, but the arrangements should be what capture listeners easiest on “Reciprocityâ€. The guitars that flitter in the background are the true thing to be toasted on the track, even as the bass gives these guitars a run for their money, bashing through in all of their chunky glory. To…
During their first track on “Charge!!â€, The Aquabats mix together the guitars and structures of Interpol with the stop-start nature of Devo to create a new hybrid of music that does not find a parallel in any other band. Throwing in a little bit of Misfits-cheese for the breakdown, The Aquabats are literally boiling over with all the energy that they can muster. The Aquabats’ largest contribution to popular music…
Apologetix have been doing their style of parody for a number of years, and I’ve been able to stick with them as they’ve gotten more famous, more convincing in their parodies, and dare I say it better with each track? This is a double-disc, compiling the best of the Apologetix along with their newest disc of tracks, and I feel that the newest should be covered more – I mean,…
For those unfamiliar with the band, the Apologetix describe themselves as “”Weird Al” Yankovic meets Billy Graham”. They sent me their prior release “Keep the Change”, which is still one of my favorite CD’s to listen to. With “Grace Period”, their 7th album, they have tightened up their general sound, and made a much stronger disc then “Keep the Change”. The parodies are much more musically faithful to the original,…
While I have been able to review previous ApologetiX CDs in the past, as well as see them live, Adam Up is another high for the band. Covering tracks by Good Charlotte, B-52s, Sum 41, and 19 other acts, the mode of parodying the acts musically has improved (with more spot on duplication of the tracks), and the lyrics are laid out clear as day with Biblical notes to more…
Apiary is a current metal band. They do not play the style of music that is called progressive metal, but something that navigates between nu-rock, thrash, noise, and sludge to come up with something that is angular while being blunt, and mercilessly hard while still being nuanced. “Pain Is The Reason†is the first bullet in the air from Apiary, and while the band only lasts about three minutes in…
Electronically charged jazz, Anthony Pell (Apell to eir’s fans) provides listeners with a rich instrumental backdrop, creating the best experience one can have listening to music. This is not necessarily the music that gets the body moving, but is rather like an illicit drug, opening one’s mind to a myriad of new sensations. While instrumental CDs are notorious for becoming monotonous and extremely repetitive after the first few tracks, Apell…
The one thing that strikes the listener is that the music contained here is still as fresh as possible; there has been no dating of this material, nor can this be seen as merely a stepping stone from punk to the alternative music of the nineties. If this album were released as new material today, there is no doubt that the dorks at Pitchfork would be creaming their collective jeans.…
I get it. The band is trying to be weird and yet retro-hip with this album. The first track is “The Man Returns from the Hereafter…â€, and the only thing that really sticks out about this track are the multiple vocals that assault the listeners at points.
Now, why exactly a rapper would need to censor themselves on a review copy of an album is beyond me. The opening track of “Threatening Behavior†is incredibly solid, with the flows present really getting individuals into the disc even at the earliest strains. “Whatz up witcha†does not have all of the fury and fire of the original, but an interesting backing beat and a s till above-average flow…
Antiseen plays a style of punk in the vein of D.O.A. and D.R.I. – that is to say, tremendously influenced by bands like Venom and (especially in the case of Antiseen’s vocalist Jeff) Motorhead. Tracks blast through in the space of two minutes or less – guitars are heavy, thick and not concerned with the nuances of different chords and the drums are plodding, each subsequent thwack of the skins…
Man, was I ever wrong about this band. Most the time, I get CDs from acts that I am not familiar with. This was the case with Antiquus, and from looking at their cover of “Eleutheriaâ€, I was expecting some sort of namby-pamby progressive space-metal. However, this disc starts out with “O Captain, My Captainâ€, and starts in a way that will get individuals immediately into the music.
Foreign versions of songs are funny. Bad Religion’s “Punk Rock Song†in German was perfect, and this is the case with the French version of Anthrax’s “Antisocialâ€. However, do the French not have a work in their own language for “Antisocial†or even “Not Sociable†or something? There are twenty-nine other tracks on this two-disc set, and aside from the tracks being remastered, what makes this a must-buy? If one…
There is little fanfare on the beginning part of this disc. Besides a slow guitar lead-in, “Alive 2†starts off fairly quietly. However, after the band starts up there is little doubt that Anthrax has not grown old; the intensity that was present on their earliest recordings has stayed with the band so many years after their inception. The only thing really curious about this live album is the sheer…
Anthem Boy-Demonstration- Beginning off with a very slow tempo, kinda muted indy rock that will make up drop a load in your boxers after the interlude finishes. Hard, pounding guitar riffs with barked out vocals and a very catchy tone, excellent to mosh to. Is definitely drawing influence from Hatebreed, Negative Approach, and D.R.I. Very professional, and excellent at disguising themselves. The cover of the CD that I received was…
The emotional opening to Anorexic Beauty Queen’s “This Little Light†presses on the emo sound, but does not go into the melodrama that a number of acts in that genre get hung up on. This means that the vocals actually match the output of the rest of the band, and make for a balanced act (instead of the vocal-heavy approach of acts like Dashboard Confessional).