Brace yourself. Native Speaker, the debut from Montreal via Calgary’s Braids is destined to be the first massive indie record of the year. While only seven tracks long, there is a textural depth to the entire record that allows it to become much larger than the sum of its parts. Beginning with the nearly seven-minute…
Category: REVIEWS
CD and DVD reviews
V.I.T.A.L. Emcee, Versus-Verses
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I’m gonna be honest and say that mainstream hip-hop music is in trouble right now. This V.I.T.A.L. Emcee from Long Beach, California has an answer for this problem and it’s Versus-Verses. With not much to offer the public today as far as quality-driven rap music goes, this MC comes with a total package…
Spaceships Are Cool, Heart Echoes
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Get ready for an out-of-this-world adventure that will take you “to infinity & beyond!” (gotta love a good Buzz Lightyear reference) Rob Maddison is the mastermind behind Spaceships Are Cool writing & performing all the tracks on the new record. Guest appearances include: Helen Maddison on viola, violin, cello & saxophones and Ben…
Matthew Genovese, Change
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Over the years we’ve seen music slowly erode itself into popish nothingness. Artist after artist presenting themselves as superstars in the making, but look deeper you will discover many of these artists are nothing more than a pretty face, pushed in front of a microphone by the corporate giants in the hopes of making a…
The North Lakes, Cobra
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As a cold wind rushes through the night’s darkest hour, Charlottetown’s The North Lakes inhabit my stereo, balancing apocalyptic blues-folk with an East Coast/garage rock hybrid. Though the wind howls without reprise, the forecast is calling for sun tomorrow morning. And therein lies the manner in which Cobra, the debut from The North Lakes tantalizes…
Chikita Violenta, Tre3s
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When searching for the next big thing in the world of indie rock, bloggers are quick to lend an ear to anything coming out of hot spots like Portland, Austin or Brooklyn. Mexico City doesn’t exactly have the same kind of reputation for producing hipster-approved bands that these three cities do, but things may very…
Delta Spirit, Waits Room EP
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Whenever a band releases a live album, B-sides collection–hell, even an EP–the word “stopgap” is often thrown around. By “stopgap”, of course, I’m referring to the critical go-to insult used to describe a holdover release bridging together “proper” releases, often simply a cuter way of saying a band is suffering from writer’s block. On…
Green Children, Encounter
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“Encounter”, the title track from The Green Children’s debut full-length album, begins with buzzing nature sounds, the laughter of a small child, and a cheesy, whispered promise from frontwoman Milla Sunde: “I will always be with you”. Not a promising start. That same track eventually blooms into a micro-world of synth pads, cheap beats,…
Professor Pandemonium’s Cabinet of Wonders
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Very interesting! That pretty much sums up the listening experience of Professor Pandemonium’s Cabinet of Wonders. Douglas La Ferle is the man behind it all and boy does he have a surprise for you! The first thing I notice is a Medusa-like figure on the front cover of the CD with very detailed…
WEST COAST SEATTLE BOY, THE JIMI HENDRIX ANTHOLOGY
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WCSB is the latest offering by the Hendrix Family is available in a 16 cut CD, an eight LP Limited Edition version, a one CD one DVD Deluxe Edition, and a Box Set Collectors Edition version featuring four CD’s and a DVD. The release features both unreleased and alternative versions of Jimi’s songs. …
Voice In The Dark, Best Of
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Voice In The Dark is one artist who is a singer, composer and producer. This appears to be a man of many talents and he proves it on his new Best Of collection. The San Diego-based musician actually came out with 4 CD’s in 2009 titled: GAIA, ETHERIC, PHONEME and HIKARI. Voice…
AUDITORIUM, BE BRAVE
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Spencer Berger has joined the ranks of the one-man band genre with this release. This product is different than the majority of the things done in basically “First Person” that I get in the mail to review. Many aren’t mature material, and sound like karaoke, and I won’t waste my time reviewing them.…
Vicious Cycle, The Vagina Chronologue
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Vicious Cycle is a female rap duo made up of: Money and Neeky Devero. This tag team is taking girl power to a whole other level with their new release The Vagina Chronologue. Dainty and lady-like goes way out the window here as Money & Neeky Devero give you a raw and un-cut…
Dane Drewis, Rock and Soul
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Rock and Soul is the first solo CD from Sacramento, CA-area singer/guitarist Dane Drewis. Fans of Drewis will recognize him from the band Cuesta Drive and in fact, a number of the tracks on this release also appeared on Cuesta Drive’s Distractions album. The new tracks feature Jason Weed on drums and Dane’s…
MIDDLE CLASS RUT, NO NAME, NO COLOR
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Middle Class Rut are one of the newer groups out there gigging, in the vein of two man groups like White Stripes and Black Keys. Zack Lopez is on guitars and vocals, accompanied by Sean Stockham on drums and vocals. USA is a Ramone’s styled rocker. Are You On Your Way is…
STEVE LUKATHER, ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
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Steve is a well-rounded studio vet who has played with a virtual “Who’s Who” in the music industry, and was the six-string wizard behind Toto. This release as expected, features some clever and tasty guitar work. The band he’s assembled for this disc include Steve on vocals and guitar, CJ Vanston on keys…
Brennan Dylan, Bullet Ride
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Rock and electronica collide like never before on Brennan Dylan’s exciting new album Bullet Ride. This debut instrumental album from Dylan gives you the best of both worlds from rock guitar to dance-heavy beats. I remember hearing in the 70s that you either were a rocker or a disco junkie; could not be…
Intended Creation, Awake
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What I love about Indie artists is that they take risks and that they have no set boundaries or limitations holding them back. A big-time record company isn’t telling these musicians what they should play and how it should sound. The outcome is usually downright raw and unpredictable, which I simply love! Intended…
Swift Tongues, The Last MC Mix Tape
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When you think of rap meccas — you think of great cities like ATL, CALI, NY. Even Seattle Washington has had it’s share of popular rap artists over the year. Artists like Sir Mix-A-Lot, LaborOldoninion, Blue Scholers, The Boom Bap Project, No Clure just to name a few. Now I’d like to introduce you to…
Nexcyx, EP
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Get ready for a group from Barbados as they unleash their International debut EP and hope to take the world by storm! They call themselves Nexcyx and the band incorporates many different styles of music such as: hip-hop, rock and pop. Nexcyx is made up of four members: Mahalia Phillips on vocals, Andre…
Adam Rader, What Dreams Become
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Singer/songwriter Adam Rader releases a two-song EP in light of his upcoming 2011 debut album. One track is an original penned by Rader and the other is a cover of a classic tune. It will be hard to judge this artist and his music based on just two songs, but I will do…
Pas Chic Chic, 12″
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There’s something about kraut rock that just gets me. Where I often find myself bored with minimalist electronica that simply drones on and on, repeating the same melodic and rhythmic passages into a numbing, sterilized pulp, the deliberate thrust of a good, weird kraut rock groove can make me weak in the knees. …
Eight Feet Deep, EP
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Eight Feet Deep is the latest project from Long Island, NY guitarist and songwriter Billy “Pills” Fridrich. Fridrich has played guitar and written for his previous bands Celestial and HeavySurf and also plays throughout the NY area in a side project called No Excuses. Eight Feet Deep is comprised mostly of Fridrich given…
Quest For Fire, Lights From Paradise
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Maybe the members of Quest For Fire smoke a lot of pot, and maybe they don’t. What they do to fill their hours offstage and out of the studio shouldn’t really matter. Though you can’t help but wonder, considering how seamless and engulfing each of the eight tracks on Lights From Paradise are. It’s a…
Aliqua, All I Want
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The cover of All I Want, the holiday-themed sophomore release from all-female choral/pop group Aliqua, features all eight vocalists posing as mannequins behind the glass of a department store window. It’s a troubling image–anyone who’s listened to a Christmas compilation in the past thirty years probably knows holiday music has seen better days (Besides, the…
Eleven Dollar Life, Shatter The Silence
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Are you ready to get nuts and join the party that is known as Eleven Dollar Life? I hope so because these Chicago rockers are about to Shatter The Silence for good! Eleven Dollar Life unleashes a fury of sound that will excite the hell out of people’s senses everywhere! This group…
Broken Poets, Self-Titled
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If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it is a famous saying and one that Broken Poets should stand by on their latest effort. This Phoenix-based group offers up a four-track EP here, which is a teaser for their upcoming multi-media project called For The Death Of Dustin Essary. What you are getting…
Bassments of Badmen Volume 2, Various Artists
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Hand’Solo records has recently re-released their classic hip-hop compilation, Bassments of Badmen Volume Two. Featuring a new cover that reflects the darker tone of mixtape, the album still contains early songs from Mindbender, Conspiracy, Noah 23, Epic, Wordburglar and Selfhelp. Embracing all the Hand’Solo trademarks ( twisted, and often laugh-out-loud funny, lyrics and…
Kenny Young, Simple Things
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We should all enjoy the simple things in life and never take them for granted. That is exactly what Kenny Young has done here on his new, full-length album Simple Things. Young says that the record is about “good things, bad things, friends, family, just about everything about me.” Simplicity is never…
Katherine Jenkins, Believe
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Katherine Jenkins: model, TV personality, classical/pop crossover vocalist. That’s quite a rap sheet, basically the holy trinity of pretty people jobs. But as her seventh studio album, Believe, demonstrates, she has one hell of a voice. And that’s really all that matters, isn’t it? Jenkins has been around for the better part of the…
Delicate Steve, Wondervisions
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It’s safe to say you’ve never heard a band quite like New Jersey’s Delicate Steve. Oh, sure, there are some clear reference points in the band’s psychedelic, guitar heavy instrumentals (particularly Dirty Projectors, whose maestro/guitar god Dave Longstreth also makes a point of pushing his instrument’s boundaries), but beneath all the synth squeals, trademark…
Phillip Morris, The Truth Campaign
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Chicago-based MC Phillip Morris has proven himself to be one of the ultimate wordsmiths of hip-hop on such albums as Instrumentality (2007) and The Process of Addiction Has Its Costs (2009). His latest album, The Truth Campaign, grabs modern day lotus-eaters by the collar and makes them question their addiction to manufactured consent,the…
Richard Laviolette and the Oil Spills, All Of Your Raw Materials
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Richard Laviolette is probably the friendliest guy you’ve never met. Each of his down-home folk tunes are rich with a rugged and honest sensibility. And though he’d probably never back you up in any kind of scrap, he’d probably talk down the aggressor with his affectionate demeanour. On top of his affable, sunset-ready state of…
Jukebox The Ghost, Everything Under The Sun
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It wouldn’t be fair to say that Jukebox The Ghost, a Philadelphia trio, write catchy songs. What would be fair to say is that if all three members had a cold, they’d probably sneeze out a pitch perfect pop-rock records, drenched in the kind of hooks that make modern rock radio programmers drool uncontrollably. Yes,…
Forest City Lovers, Carriage
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For the past five years, Kat Burns has been making the kind of music that makes lonely, dimly-lit bedrooms that much more inviting. Her subtle drawl constantly finds itself atop rippling waves of quiet, persistent indie folk. Then there are the motifs, full of the kind of brutal honesty you’d want in your bedroom too.…
The Micronite Filters, Puff Go The Dragon’s Mystic Fires
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The Micronite Filters, yet another fine addition to Get Bent’s intensely visceral lineup of blues-heavy rock and rollers, are not a band to be taken lately. From the opening crash and swell of “In Search Of Delights,” its easy to get seduced by the band’s no-nonsense attitude. Heavy, but never overbearing, The Micronite Filters manage…
La Strada, New Home
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La Strada, a Brooklyn five piece, sounded like the most seafaring of seafaring bands on their debut that I had myself double checking that they weren’t from Halifax or Scotland. Now, on their follow-up, New Home, the band seems to be injecting some of that chamber-pop sound that Brooklyn is known so well for. No,…
TALES OF THE FRIGHTENED, VERNON WELLS, EBAN SCHLETTER
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When it comes to recording the written word, Halloween (and of course The Grinch at Christmas) belonged to actor Boris Karloff. Eban Schletter who recently did a CD of spooky music, Witching Hour, has teamed up with actor and narrator Vernon Wells to recreate the 60’s pulp fiction stories of Michael Avallone. As…
Sissita’s Soul Tangos, Self-titled
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Get ready for a style of music that is so creative & original that it will amaze your ears! Sissita’s Soul Tangos and the genius behind it were originated by Austrian soul singer Sissita and Bueno Aires-based producer Ariel Gato. These two members have successfully blended together classic Argentine tango, soul, waltz and…
Ceramic, The Past Ain’t Fair
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This group known as Ceramic really digs deep here by going outside the box on The Past Ain’t Fair. The mastermind behind this band is singer/songwriter John Scheaffer who hails from NY. The new record also features guest cameos from vocalist Kendal Meade and violinist Margaret White. These two musicians play regularly…
