It is hard to believe that it has been only three years since the Arctic Monkeys burst onto the rock scene with its fantastic debut, the Mercury Prize-winning Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. That recording will be forever loved because of its standout singles such as “I Bet You Look Good…
Category: REVIEWS
CD and DVD reviews
Ted Kooshian’s Standard Orbit Quartet, Underdog, and other Stories…
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While Ted Kooshian named his album Underdog, and other Stories… Kooshian is certainly not an underdog, nor is his Standard Orbit Quartet. He gives life to old television themes and superhero anthems, such as the highly energized re-imagination of “Underdog,” an upbeat number featuring a sick tenor sax feature by Jeff Lederer that starts off…
HEALTH, GET COLOR
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If My Bloody Valentine were to ever make a baby with Crystal Castles, you’d basically be able to figure out what electronic, noise-rock nightmare you’d be getting yourself into with HEALTH. Fans of Crystal Castles should already be familiar with HEALTH; “Crimewave”, in it’s “Crystal Castles vs. HEALTH” form(as opposed to the very different version…
The Twilight Sad, Forget The Night Ahead
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There’s something about Scotland. Mysterious, seeing as how so many North Americans consider Scotland as England’s little brother. And hard-edged and gritty, thanks to the influence of pop culture mainstays such as Trainspotting and Sean Connery. Now granted, these impressions of Scotland only graze the surface of a country steeped in history and tradition. But…
The Stone Foxes, The Stone Foxes
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You know what you’re getting into with The Stone Foxes from the moment you drop the needle on their debut, self-titled LP. It’s an unabashed, dirty, rollicking good time. Borrowing heavily from their influences, the greats of the past and present including Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Black Crowes, The Stone Foxes is…
TyLean, Between 10 and 2
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Between 10 and 2 is not your usual piece of music by any standards. Vocalist, pianist and cellist, TyLean, has created something here that cannot not be matched. A sound and a style all of its own can be heard here where Lean is going in a completely different direction both musically &…
Katrin, Soul Wide Open
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Katrin goes by only one name, but she wrote from several perspectives on her latest CD Soul Wide Open. The Boston-based singer songwriter has outdone herself with this collection of 10 stellar songs that range from quiet introspection to anthem declarations of independence and survival. “Stepping Stones” is a catchy folk-rock song that plays…
Still Life Still, Girls Come Too
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When a band as young and as talented as Still Life Still make a record as swarming yet precise as Girls Come Too, one can’t help but wonder: have I wasted too many years of my life? It’s not as if the Toronto-bred five-piece make anti-climatic tunes that lend themselves to suicide or anything as…
Built to Spill, There Is No Enemy
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Built to Spill has served as the influence and inspiration for many other indie bands. They inhabit a secure area in indie rock, which gives them credibility, but where fame remains out of reach. Their folk-infused, bluesy rock teeters along the postmodern lines of Pavement while hailing to an earlier era evoking the likes of…
Quincy Jones: The 75th Birthday Celebration Live At Montreux
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What best way to pay tribute to one of the biggest music moguls today than to give a five-hour concert on his 75th birthday? That’s what Quincy Jones received last year at the Stravinski Auditorium in Montreux, Switzerland, home to the Montreux Jazz Festival. In this more than two-hour long DVD, the Montreux stage…
Blueskyreality, The Cabin Sessions
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Some of the greatest hits in music today were made from grassroots bands working on low budgets. The same goes for Blueskyreality, a group of five young 19 and 20-somethings from California, in their EP “The Cabin Sessions.” The members, made up of Zak Stucchi on lead vocals, Philip Bloom on bass, John Chong…
LIGHTS, LIGHTS
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Hailing from Toronto, LIGHTS is formerly Valerie Poxleitner; a girl who cooled off Warped Tour-goers with her light hearted synth-driven melodies and pop-ballads, while toting a keytar. At the age of 22, LIGHTS has come far from sitting in her room creating music, already gaining much attention in her home of Canada, and will soon…
Skip-Dawg, We Will Rise
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There are not many hip hop albums out there that have impressed me from start to finish as much as the fourth release by Dann Furia, popularly known as Skip-Dawg, entitled, “We Will Rise.” A Philly-based artist, Skip-Dawg’s album is a positive, and rather inspirational, piece of work. “Make A Miracle Happen” talks…
Audible Mainframe, Transients
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Audible Mainframe catapulted from their popular Boston nightclub status to making a name for themselves all over the west coast. Their sophomore CD Transients is a slick combo of rapper hip hop and 1970s funk. You can get into their raps or you can dance to the funky beat. Music fans who usually don’t go…
Cristen Grey and the Moving Dunes, 10,000 Things
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Cristen Grey once was the lead guitarist & rhythm guitarist for the heavy metal act, All Eyes. She and her heavy-hittin’ band opened for some pretty big 80’s rock acts such as: Quiet Riot and Cinderella. That was then and these 10,000 Things are the now. 10,000 Things came from “Grey’s realization,…
RANDOM STABBINGS & ARTLESS CRITIQUE, SEPTEMBER 2009
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Bobby Bare Jr., American Bread (Perfecto Records) 7-song EP of 70s radio-pop rehashes from the fortunate son of country legend Bobby Bare, assisted here and there by fortunate grandson Chris Scruggs. It’s a departure for the often more punk-oriented (at least as a live experience) Junior, now in his early 40s, but that doesn’t…
John Pondel, John Pondel
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Listening to John Pondel creates the illusion of having a nice, quiet dinner and some drinks at a jazz club. It is smooth, fun, and sexy, creating the perfect ambiance for the first date: the unpredictable world of improvisation, in this case full of flawless solos that seem to soar over the rest of the…
Sideways Reign, A Stand For All Stages
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Expect the unexpected here from a Washington-based band known as Sideways Reign. A Stand For All Stages is music for all faces. This group of musicians blends an interesting variety of rock, blues, folk and even some funk. The meaning behind the band name relates to their “Pacific Northwest roots and as a reference to…
TV Ghost, Cold Fish
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I really wanted to like TV Ghost’s latest self-titled release. Cool name, rad cover art and the backing of a highly reputable label. Ingredients for a memorable ten tracks, no? But unfortunately,where there’s smoke, there isn’t always fire. There’s just a paltry attempt from TV Ghost to scream their way into entertainment. And as we…
Desolation Wilderness, New Universe
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It’s a wild world out there. A world filled with bands essentially sponsored by faceless corporations, playing paint by numbers rock void of any emotion. A world in which talented, seamless bands fade into obscurity because they don’t fit into genres defined by words like “Accessible” and “Radio friendly.” So many succumb to the powers…
Reigning Sound, Love and Curses
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You know what you’re getting into with the Reigning Sound: a rollicking good time. Led by Greg Cartwright, the garage virtuosos chug through the 14 tracks on Love and Curses with remarkable ease, leaving listeners with a sense of loss and abandonment; how could something so exuberant be over so quickly? To be fair,…
The Kenny Young Project, EP
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This 4-song EP is nice & subtle, easy-going music. You hear a southern rock sound with elements of country and even some straight-to-the-core rootsy-type vibes. The Kenny Young Project is made up of Kenny Young mainly on vocals with an array of other talented musicians that tend to: rhythm guitars, acoustic guitars, lead…
Rob Carlton, Beautiful Collision
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This new work by Rob Carlton is nothing short of amazing with the WOW factor in full effect. This record consists of kick-ass guitar licks and high-energy jam sessions. The new CD mixes hard rock, blues and Carlton even throws in twelve string acoustic songs. ALL instrumental with a straight rock feel…
Jive64, Go To 10
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Roy Cohen is the man responsible for the birth of Jive64 coming straight out of Tel Aviv, Israel. Not your typical Israeli music by any means as Cohen mixes together 80s pop & dance music with the invigorating sounds of old-school video games. Cohen’s love for the big hair decade comes shining through…
Young Galaxy, Invisble Republic
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Long past the middle of the night, music lovers and record geeks alike sit awake, playing the “What If?” game. What if Elliot Smith’s parents banned Nick Drake from the house? Shit like that. And when one listens to Invisible Republic, the second LP from Vancouver dream poppers Young Galaxy, you get the sense that…
Zeus, Sounds Like Zeus EP
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It shuffles, it bounces, it somehow manages to rock as much as it rolls; it’s the debut from Zeus, the latest release of Arts & Crafts’s diverse line-up. Two members of Jason Collett’s backing band provide rhythms fit for an island and backbone fit for a steel town on “Sounds Like…” Though short in stature,…
Bill Ortiz, From Where I Stand
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Metallica has their Master of Puppets and I would say Bill Ortiz is master of trumpets. This artist has been a staple of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for the past 25 years. During this time span, Ortiz has also had the pleasure of working with some big hitters in the…
500 Days of Summer soundtrack
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The movie “500 Days of Summer” starring Zooey Deschanel and Joesph Gordon-Levitt is an offbeat comedy about a girl who doesn’t believe in love and the unfortunate and hopeless romantic that falls for her. Of course its makes sense to cast Deschanel in the role of Summer – she’s had a successful foray as a…
Mina, Mina
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Mina is inviting you to take a trip to the dark side just for a bit. This journey will take you on a haunting trip through the human mind. You will hear raw emotions & feelings being poured out by Mina, from a dark-clouded standpoint. Mina’s vocals & performance on this record…
T.O.K., Our World
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After a four-year hiatus, dancehall supergroup, T.O.K. is back with their third highly-anticipated album, “Our World,” which releases on August 25th. Since their 2001 debut album, “My Crew, My Dawgs,” T.O.K., which comprises of members Alex, Bay-C, Flexx and Craigy T., have taken not only the U.S. and Caribbean by storm, but the…
Tarrus Riley, Contagious
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Released earlier this month, Tarrus Riley’s third release, “Contagious” is everything its’ title embodies, and more. Riley’s beautiful tenor vocals are soft and smooth, remaining consistently delightful throughout each track. Though his music screams roots reggae and is in the Rastafarian tradition, Riley’s sound is also more contemporary, noting issues that affect our generation…
Amanda Blank, I Love You
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It’s out of character for the typically foul-mouthed rapper Amanda Blank to talk about love and that’s why her debut album’s title I Love You seems wildly inconsistent with her established persona. Our first taste of the dirty rap diva has been on her potty-mouthed cameo appearances on Spank Rock and Plastic Little tracks —…
Bahamas, Pink Strat
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Very rarely does an artist choose a stage moniker with apt precision. Finnish-Canadian troubadour Afie Jurvanen and his axe over his shoulder attitude is better known as Bahamas. Though this reviewer has never visited the tropical island region, it’s safe to say that if I do go, I’ll be bringing Bahamas Pink Strat with me.…
Gaby Velazquez, Let Me In
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This San Francisco based singer/songwriter, who was born in Puerto Rico, has one incredible story that absolutely needs to be told first. Four short years ago, Gaby Velazquez worked at a Los Angeles real estate office as a mortgage loan officer. There was steady income, but Gaby’s heart wasn’t in the work as…
Requiem For Delinquency, Hobs End
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The mastermind behind Requiem For Delinquency’s newest creation, Hobs End, is Faron Chance Morrison. This one man also produced, engineered, mixed, composed and orchestrated this entire work. One individual has come up with a layer of sounds that are creatively-driven, humble, sensual, passionate, well-textured, matured, emotive, incredibly serene and equally full of spiritual…
West Gate, Daylight
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Coming off their 2008 EP, Selah, which sold over 1,000 copies, West Gate is looking high to skies with their new release, Daylight. It is also worth noting that Selah was produced by Grammy Award Winner, John Seymour whose impressive resume includes work with U2, Santana, Dave Matthews and many others. West Gate…
Cobra Starship, Hot Mess
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With an album named Hot Mess with its garish cover art, Cobra Starship delivers another musical punch line. Their irreverent humor and cavalier attitude make it hard to know when they are joking — where the lampoon ends and the music starts. To this day, it’s not clear whether or not their name is supposed…
Mutemath, Armistice
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Armistice is Mutemath’s second full length album. The New Orleans based electro alt rock band broke out on the music scene with a self title release in 2006. Here they continue with their shiny brand of electronic rock. The band constructs a full and lush sound through samples, chords and keys. The album starts off…
John Vanderslice, Romanian Names
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John Vanderslice isn’t new to the music scene, Romanian Names is his seventh album in only nine years. He is a prolific artist with a wide berth of work and production experience plus collaborations with bands like The Mountain Goats and Spoon. His expressive and poetic spirit is delivered in a signature sound which is…
Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
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Grizzly Bear is currently enjoying indie darling status – it is a band that is unanimously being lauded for its brilliance by The New York Times and other purveyors of taste. The genius of some bands can be overestimated and the hype of the blogosphere can get out of hand. But in this case they…