Music Reviews of Modern Rock, Folk, Pop
Band Spotlight
Chiodos
Perhaps no one can explain the sheer ferocity and timid quietness it is better than when vocalist Craig Owens says “we don’t want to let the kids down” when discussing the group’s intense vocals live at shows. Well they never let a single kid down with their vicious assault on the ears and grip on the jugular...
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03.09.2007 by J-Sin
Music Reviews of Modern Rock, Folk, Alternative, Pop
Andy Monley — Triplight Buy it at Amazon
Denver-based musician Andy Monley has been around for a while. Whether it was as a guitarist or singer for acts like Jux County, The Velveteen Monster, or the Czars, Monley has a lot of experience under his belt. This maturity shines through on his first solo album “Triplight”. Delectable guitar hooks are married well with Andy’s raw roots-oriented vocal delivery. Elements of pop, Americana, and jazzy interludes conjure visions of past Iron & Wine and Nick Drake efforts—but this is pure Monley at his best.
- J-Sin
Lost in the Trees — Time Taunts Me Buy it at Amazon
Ari Picker of the Never is once again at the helm of the vastly creative Lost In the Trees. The group takes orchestral pop to the next level with sturdy urban beats, sweeping string arrangements, and folk-pop lyrical honesty. “Time Taunts Me” is a 7-song EP that sounds like it was plucked from a film score. Complete with arcane references and stories that we can all relate to, the lyrics are just as much an instrument as the vocals that sing them. Completely solid on every level, “Time Taunts Me” teaches one that a full orchestra can come in small packages.
- J-Sin
She's Spanish, I'm American — She's Spanish, I'm American Buy it at Amazon
So Josh Rouse lives in Spain, coming to that great European wonder from Nashville, Tennessee, while Paz Suay is pure Spanish. These five songs are a combination of talents that find a harmony in pop-formatted singer/songwriter material. Clever songwriting with astonishingly brilliant vocal arrangements are the meat of the matter. Nice apartment rock for the creative mind who needs an audio arrangement with their mental canvas at all times.
- J-Sin
Ed Gray — The Late Great Ed Gray Buy it at Amazon
Sassy acoustic rocker Ed Gray doesn’t give two shits if you name drop obscure Southern train-hopping beatnik guitarists. His prose and poetry of lyrics and witty acoustic guitar strumming stands on its own; he should exhibit no sign of needing to be validated. Not when you write songs this amazing, strong, and unifying. I hear mention of Willie Nelson’s country, deep Appalachian Americana, and Woody Guthrie attitude dripping from each tune. But it’s not as stripped down of an album as you might imagine with drums, mandolin, organ, keyboard, viola and violin, along with pedal steel, lap steel, and electric and acoustic guitars rounding out the sullen vocals.
- J-Sin
Ampop — Sail to the Moon Buy it at Amazon
Icelandic bands must get frustrated sometimes. With other artists in their midst of the quality of a Bjork or Sigur Ros, how on earth do you live up to that high standard? Well you just have to be as carefully creative as Ampop. The group who got their name from a clever merger of ‘ambient’ and ‘pop’, which of course describes their calculated sound perfectly, write significantly distinctive indie pop anthems. Staccato rhythms are blended nicely with mellow melodic vocals that recall The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft with electronic disco-esque synths and outer space samples nerving up. Nice.
- J-Sin
Will Thompson — Will Thompson Buy it at Amazon
As a young man whose future is bright, Will Thompson will rarely shudder. But if you perhaps question him a bit further, you might see a wrinkle of doubt furrow into his eyebrows. As an agnostic vegetarian environmentalist yogi practitioner, there’s no doubt that his desires are felt on an always questioned measure. Thankfully his music is worldly spoken with soft melodies and light piano-centric songwriting fares strongly pieced together.
- J-Sin
S(h)e — Animal Buy it at Amazon
Philadelphia’s S(H)E want to remind you that you’re not deaf—indeed you truly are hearing something this awful, disjointed, and divorced from the reality of pop music. Dark bass notes that have nothing to do with making a sound seem close to ‘club’ seem to dot each song while the vocals dominate a whole lot too much. If this was the soundtrack to some spy movie, then sure, maybe. But only if we knew it was going to be a bit trip-hop with a spell of lo-fi melodic indie pop clicking rhythms underneath.
- J-Sin
Eisenhower Field Day — Let's Not Tell Lies / Our Time in the Colonies Buy it at Amazon
Effortless melodic rock with bright harmonies and stern pop choruses is at the heart of this double album. Combining their ’03 EP “Our Time in the Colonies” and their latest 10 song full-length “Let’s Not Tell Lies”, Eisenhower Field Day allows the listener to see how broad the band has become over time. Their maturity is indeed superb though I wish they had started it with their older songs so I could more naturally hear a progression. But honestly as a musician myself, I understand the desire to put forth your latest material first and foremost, in the hopes that the listener will judge you on that and not older more mundane (at least in your own mind) material. Fortunately for the listener, almost every track on the entire disc is a true winner.
- J-Sin
Peter Baldrachi — Solid Ground Buy it at Amazon
Formerly with the group Krushr, Peter Baldrachi reaches out to his previous audience with his first solo effort. Krushr was a group that released a self-titled EP three years ago that Smother reviewed and dubbed a decent substitute for Queens of the Stone Age (at times). Baldrachi’s music is more sublime and serene with floating melodies. Often reaching towards rangy singer/songwriter pop-rock formats, Baldrachi utilizes a straight-forward guitar-centric pop hook approach that’s delectable but also perhaps a bit too easily digestible.
- J-Sin
Elliott Brood — Ambassador Buy it at Amazon
Some of the more crafty liner notes that I’ve seen were included in “Ambassador”—a train ‘ticket’ and a ‘project worksheet’. So what gives eh? Well, “Ambassador” is a lofty narration about everything and nothing at once with desert guitars flashing back the high noon sunlight and a whiskey-coated throat singing the country blues with a fierce nod to Americana. Think of these Canadians as ambassadors themselves as they usher in a time where the dust bowl wasn’t settled and sometimes you had to drink from a mud puddle to survive. When you were facing four bad guys in a saloon and you knew your six shooter had only one bullet; you could cock the hammer back and pick at least one off, or you could put it to your temple and squeeze one out, doing yourself in as if Kevorkian was playing cards next to the saloon’s piano player. Roots rock that’s unforgiving, unrelenting, and something that will make tapping your toes a cliché—and people think you can get away with just calling Elliott Brood “death country”, how undescriptive is that?
- J-Sin
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