Okay, I’ll admit that it’s a little weird listening to the Redwalls’ most recent full-length, De Nova. I still can’t entirely get used to bands that do that whole “retro” thing, seemingly aping the past from the tone settings on their amps all the way to the ragged mops…
There’re only a handful of ways a band can go, really, in terms of musical progression. It’s an axiom of the music business that second albums are a bitch and third albums are even worse, and there’s a good reason for that — unless you’re phenomenally lucky…
Epigene’s latest album, Popular Dissent, is probably the most professionally produced CD I’ve had to review. Everything about this CD reeks of “Major Label” quality — the artwork is tasteful and original, the packaging is adequate, the liner notes are readable…
It sounds like the members of Endgames have reasonably cool taste in music, but all that means for Daybreak To Sunset is that the songs are interesting, when they manage to be interesting at all, only to the extent that they remind you of songs you like better…
Once, not that long ago, there was a time when women in the music world could be something other than rumpshakin’ hip-hop queens, utterly bland teen pop stars, or vapid “divas.” There was a time when it was okay for women to really, truly sing…
First off, a tidbit of information that may be useful to the reader: Kristi Rae is indeed female; it isn’t some clever name for an all-male band or anything. So all of you folks out there that are now rolling your eyes and thinking “OMG, not another chick band” to yourselves…
Bands that are able to meld their influences into a new sound are the ones that strike me as the most influential. In this case, Quiet Life’s “No Worries” mixes Neil Young-style harmonica and guitar with an almost jam-like beat to create a modern-sounding song that stands out…
When your album cover is a photocopy play on The Clash’s London Calling, you’ve got nowhere to go but up. Very appropriately titled, the album is more like listening to a friend’s band practice than an actual release, but the DIY production and wide array of styles…
Full Scale’s self-titled debut is decidedly a metal album for the clichéd mind. The cover art, for one thing, is jet black with Army helicopters on the back and a CD label meant to represent a bullet hole. Musically, this band reminds me of a cross between Biohazard…
On Granite, 14er haven’t quite figured things out yet. They sound too much like Hum, and their songs have that quality of formlessness, complication without complexity, that characterizes talented musicians who have little experience with songwriting…
The FM Bats pack in more action into their ten-minute EP, Everybody Out… Shark in the Water, than most bands pack into an entire album. Comprised of vocals, guitar, bass and drums, the FM Bats sound like a boiled-down, spastic Gang of Four…
Fluid Ounces is a Tennessee-based studio project/on-again, off-again live band, the brainchild of sweet-voiced popsmith by the name of Seth Timbs. The Whole Shebang is my first exposure to these folks, and it’s absolutely one of the most pleasant surprises…
Three-song EP from a Boston trio that sounds a bit like Queensryche and later King Crimson filtered through grindcore: weird, off-kilter time-signatures mashed in with dreamy little acoustic passages and topped with loutish bellowing that fades in and out of the mix…
Surprisingly, I kinda dug both songs on this two-track introduction to The Fire Still Burns. They play a unique blend of melodic punk/metal, with a tad of pop thrown in — it has the speed and style of punk, with occasional bits of metal heaviness stuck in between…
I received Irene’s 2004 offering, Constructing Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, wrapped in a letter that said the band was watching me and when I least expected it, they would chop my family members into little pieces, skin my dog alive, then come after me…
Fuzzed-out guitars and subdued vocals make up the majority of the songs on Louisville band Instant Camera’s latest album. And while the band does its best to rehash the underground punk aesthetic of the mid-’80s (bands like Public Image Limited and Pere Ubu come to mind)…
If you’ve ever seen one of the Infernal Bridegroom Productions plays, you know that one one of the things that makes a lot of the plays great is the live music that goes along with them. Instead of having canned music during or between scenes…
It’s hard to describe just what kind of music Immaculate Machine would be categorized under — that’s what makes them stand out from other indie bands out there right now. The sweet and innocent lyrics, along with energetic guitar riffs, are what make Ones and Zeroes…
Dexter Danger is a four-piece band from California that plays emo-ish punk rock. The band is tight, executing tempo changes and other obstacles well. Melodically, their specialty seems to be the anthem, but even with that, they get mixed results…
Playing the paranoid superego to the Black Lips’ unbridled id, Atlanta’s Deerhunter combine the bouncy, bass-driven disco-punk of the Liars’ first record with the creepy weirdness of the Residents or, um, the Liars’ second record, throwing in for good measure…
A glance at the liner notes of Deadly Weapon’s self-titled disc reveals much about the band’s aesthetic, as they feature emphatic thanks of GOD and their favorite pizza, hot dog, and gyro joints, and use up more valuable real estate to thank OUR TROOPS…
On Understanding a Guarantee, Maryland’s Downtown Singapore crosses the crunching guitars and pop sensibilities of the Foo Fighters with the emotional, thoughtful lyrics of Death Cab For Cutie. The result is an impressive six songs that sounds similar to many bands of the same genre…
DMBQ’s Essential Sounds From the Far East is the best record I’ve gotten in six months. By far. Yeah, some of them were free, but I paid for some, too, and we’re talking about sixty or more CDs, here. If you’re hard to impress, and you like hard music, seek out DMBQ, quick. I’d pay Best Buy prices…
Listed among Dine Alone’s influences on the press materials are Chevelle, Tool and Staind — that should give you a pretty solid idea of what the music should be like, except for that Staind reference there. Before even popping in the CD, I’m wondering which incarnation of Staind…
On Love + Rescue, her first album since 2000’s acclaimed Mary’s Daughter, singer/songwriter Cameron Dezen raises the stakes. Instead of opting for a traditional band and strings, like most singers in this genre would do, Dezen uses samples and electronics as the backdrop…
Yes, friends, the rumors are true. Indie-rock figurehead John Davis, formerly of Superdrag, has found God (rediscovered God, really, according to him) and now dedicates himself to praise music. I guess you could call that the bad news. What’s the good news, then? Well, the good news is that John’s…
After 20 years and 12 releases, this band is still the Greatest “Country Punk” band around. Recyclone goes through their collection and shows you how great they are — just when you think it’s going to slow down, they belt out an ever more powerful song than the last…
It’s the weirdest thing. Clem Snide’s End of Love has, against all odds, been the hardest damn CD to critique that I’ve seen in quite a while. It’s not that I think it’s bad, per se, or even that it’s good — bear with me, here — but that it’s both, just at different times…
Is this a playful, lighthearted industrial record or a gut-wrenching hurdy-gurdy E.P.? On Stories About Gods & Heroes, Doug Cheatwood doesn’t always sing, and he doesn’t exactly rap, although a lot of the time he speaks with the voice affectations of Biz Markie. He employs visual lyric patterns that seem well-crafted (like Beck)…
I hate this album. Seriously. Since the first time I listened to it, anything else I attempt to listen to pales in comparison, and I have to switch back. It’s becoming annoying. I blew a $100 gift certificate on iTunes in January but have yet to even make it through two songs…
You want unctuous? Budapest One can give you unctuous in spades. The four-piece band kicks off This town just gave you a dreamer. with “Signal For The Assassins,” which sounds like the sleaziest accountant in town singing “Besame Mucho” at the bar from Ally McBeal, and it all goes downhill…
Any band that opens its album with an obvious Rush rip (“YYZ”) deserves credit, so here goes: Brookfield are talented musicians. Unfortunately, their choice of music (think 311 covering Sublime — no, really) leaves a lot to be desired, and lyrically, it doesn’t get much better…
There’s a lot to be proud of on David Brake & That Damn Band’s Lean, Mean Texas Machine (most notably, “101 Tattoos”). But listen to songs like the title track (“Pick your jaw up off the floor / You’d think you never seen a woman before / Now put your tongue back in your mouth…”
Punk-pop bands are a dime a dozen these days, and it takes a special brand of talent to stand out among the seemingly endless glut of mainstream bands like Sum 41, Blink-182, and New Found Glory. With The Measure of All Things…, Amazing Transparent Man breathe new life…
I really like Armor For Sleep — they manage to incorporate some of my favorite musical elements (infectious melodies, huge metallic guitars, and dark, introspective, sometimes morbid imagery) into a cohesive whole that works…
I’m nowhere near an authority on the noisier, dirtier end of the post-punk spectrum, I have to admit. I own no Gang of Four CDs, never much liked the Melvins, and couldn’t tell you which Jesus Lizard CDs I’ve actually listened (there were a few, back in college, but I have no clue which they […]
If there were any way I could think of to most easily give you a sense of Matt Boroff’s music, it’d be this: Quentin Tarantino. When I listen to Boroff’s self-titled CD, it strikes me just how perfectly it’d fit into one of Quentin’s movies — just a little dark and moody…
Bone Simple has about two really interesting slow songs on their new disc, What Was Her Name? And then, unfortunately, there are literally seventeen other really bad songs. Various levels of folk-rock, and mainly below-average bar band stuff. There is no focus to this…
Blood Meridian’s We almost made it home… reminds me of the Young Guns 2 soundtrack — meaning, it’s country music made by Yankees, and plus, it’s cinematic much of the time. It starts with slow, haunting, rising action, builds to a lagging second act…
Blind Jackson probably could have cleaned up in 1990. The London band has the feel of Britpop in the days before it was stadium-sized by Oasis, and the three songs on Stop The Clock have a neatly kicky punch. “Keep On Running” and the garage-y “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”…
