Rodey's Record Reviews

The Ultimate Shuffle Sunday

2010-03-29T10:52:00.003-05:00

It's good to be back reviewing and there are many albums I would like to talk about, however, I feel I need just a little more time with them. So! I decided to do a special version of Shuffle Sunday today, in which I throw my iTunes on shuffle and discuss the first five songs that come up in my playlist. I hope you enjoy my rambles and see you soon with a brand new full album review!

1. "Wasted Years" - Iron Maiden

Sure, we all know that Iron Maiden rocks, but why do they rock so hard? It's because of songs like these. "Wasted Years" has that underlying minor tone throughout the whole song with Bruce Dickinson belting out an epic tale with a deep moral of not taking life for granted. Everything from the defining introduction to the well structured and beautifully flowing solo from Adrian Smith, this song is all a hard rock fan can ask for. Although it is one of the better songs off their 1986 album Somewhere in Time, it reminds us not to sweep this album under the carpet.

2. "Hideaway" - Chicago

This song comes from one of Chicago's less popular albums, Chicago VIII. They dropped the jazzy style present on Chicago VII and decided to go more mainstream with these recordings. This definitely shows on "Hideaway" which contains a very basic driving beat from Danny Seraphine and a simple fat dropping chord progression from the band. Terry Kath saves the repetitive nature of the song with a heavily distorted guitar solo at the end, but not much can be done with the chord base he's provided with. With a very lacking horn section and the constant use of the same musical idea throughout the whole song, "Hideaway" is best forgotten.

3. "Lost in the Flood" - Bruce Springsteen

Now I'm not usually a huge Springsteen fan, but his first album Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. is nothing to scoff at. This entire album is a gem, but since it was so 'out there' for the time, it took four years before the album caught on in America. "Lost in the Flood" is a great, heart-felt song that tells three stories from three perspectives about the time of the Vietnam War and the pain and hardships that went along with it. Springsteen's vocal technique throughout this song and even on the whole album remind me a lot of Adam Duritz of Counting Crows; filled with emotion, grief and sadness, but not without a little bit of hope. Great song. Great album. Check it out.

4. "R.U. Ready 2 Rock" - Blue Öyster Cult

Now I'm a huge Blue Öyster Cult fan, but this song never really tickled my fancy. It has that same "Cities on Flame" groove, but it really has no build like a lot of BOC's earlier hits had. It also always baffled me that this was the first song on the B-Side of their album Spectres. Being the first song on an album side, I figure it would have more pizazz, but alas, this is just a mediocre stereotypical rock chart with no real BOC character added. Maybe they just forgot to add it to the recipe on this one. Yeah, we'll just go with that.

5. "The House Wins" - OK Go

What a great end to a great album. With an entire album of greatly structured and intelligent alternative glam-rock, "The House Wins" is a simple song that revolves around a single note (concert B to be exact) repeated over and over again. I love how Damian Kulash sounds so bored in his vocals, yet at the same time seems quite enthused about it. On top of that, the rest of the band loudly overpowering the vocals makes for a great clash of ideas, leaving the listener satisfied. Oh, and did you know that Damian Kulash thinks I'm an alcoholic? Eh, we'll leave that for another time.

Have you seen OK Go's new music video for their song "This Too Shall Pass?" Great stuff as usual.

Fishhooks - Demo

2009-12-07T22:54:00.007-06:00

I love getting to know local music scenes. Whether it be acoustic coffee house performers or jam bands playing at the local bars, it’s always a great experience. On rare occasions you may happen to witness something special; something that sticks out from the crowd.

A few weeks ago, I went to a concert at a local coffee shop, and little did I know, I would be caught in one of those aforementioned ‘rare occasions.’ The band had so many great aspects: unique and innovative sound, experimental musicality, and tantalizing lyrics to go with the package.

Fishhooks are an independent reggae-gypsy rock band from Madison, Wisconsin. They’ve recently released a five track demo album that consists of some seriously solid material. “A Quick Glimpse At Captain Fishhook” is a great place to start since it nicely encompasses every element that makes the band what it is. The song is driven by its minor tonality and folk-style lyrical structure. The simple plucking guitar and minimalistic beats behind the verses bring the listener’s attention to the short and simple poetic story of an emotionally flooded captain and his unrequited love. Progressive aspects surface when the entire the song breaks into electronic trance beats for one last epic run through the refrain, showing that these guys aren’t afraid to experiment a little.

The next track, “Bum-Biggidy,” keeps that sea-faring sound by introducing the song with a strong waltz-like drive. This track definitely does a great job at taking the listener on a roller coaster ride of intensities that greatly fit the underlying moods as the lyrics progress. I only wish the bass could be brought out more in this one to really hone in on that waltz feel.

“Japan” is another lyrical masterpiece that keeps the emphasis on poetics. The lonely tone painted by the vocals engrosses the listener and forces them to look to the instrumentals to further draw the musical scenery. This is excellently done in the guitar solo that emulates the vocal delivery, almost as if acting as its own verse in the song.

This brings us to my favorite track on the demo, “Night of the Living Glass.” The band artfully uses volume to navigate the song. From the quiet verse-to-verse synth interludes, to the surprise, in-your-face intensity jumps in the refrain, this composition poses as a great live piece. However, I do believe the organ could really sing more in the refrain. What can I say? I’m a sucker for rock pipes.

The demo closes with a great minimalist-style jam song entitled “Howitzer Flower Pot.” The way this track is written, it almost plays itself off like a jazz Real Book chart returning to the catchy falling-scale guitar ‘head’ after each verse. This one definitely has potential for open solos between each verse making for a great climax for live performances (just a thought ;) ).

I have to say I’m quite fortunate to have seen this group perform and I definitely plan on keeping my eye on these guys for a while. Fishhooks are one of a kind and I personally can’t wait to see a full album release. Keep your ears open, I can tell that this isn’t the last you’ll hear of these guys.

By the way, to all my La Crosse and Madison area readers, you each have a perfect opportunity to catch these guys play and I can’t recommend it enough. On January 7^th, Fishhooks will be playing at The Frequency in Madison (right off the capitol square), and on January 23^rd they will be playing at The Warehouse in downtown La Crosse alongside a great local favorite, T.U.G.G.. Trust me, it’s well worth your time to check these guys out.

In the mean time you can download the whole demo album for free by following this link:

http://fishhooks.bandcamp.com/

Arlo Guthrie - "Alice's Restaurant Massacree"

2009-11-27T01:17:00.005-06:00

Have you ever been listening to the radio on Thanksgiving Day and happened upon a strange number in which a very folksy sounding man is narrating a story about restaurants and littering? If you have, and had the courage enough to listen through all 18.5 minutes of it, then you have subsequently heard a big part of music history.

“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” is a song by Arlo Guthrie which tells a true story in which two boys are taken to court for littering, which later leads to them not being drafted into the Vietnam War since they were marked as criminals. The song is presented in talking blues: a style of old country music where the lyrics of the song are spoken, rather than sung, sometimes in a slightly poetic manner. The lyrics of this song in particular are filled with humor through irony and simple human stupidity. Instances like having a blind judge, holding a court case for an eventual fifty dollar fine or presenting photographic evidence for proof of littering are just a few of the moments that make this song stick with you.

However, what really gives this song a place in history is the political standpoints which Guthrie presents through this cunning use of irony and humor. “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” was recorded and released in 1967, during the peak of the Vietnam War. Guthrie used this song to shed some light on the occurrence of counterculture in America during those horrific times. By simply telling the story of these two unfairly convicted boys and their role in the military draft, Guthrie successfully shows how oblivious the government was to the dangerous subcultures that were forming as a result of the war. The ironic conclusion to the story sums it all up nicely as one of the boys is waiting to be tested for his moral waiver: "I'm sittin' here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug."

Arlo Guthrie played a huge role in political protest and speaking out against social injustice through song, and “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” is proof of the perfection behind his execution of this. Since the song caught on as well as it did, it really stands out as being one of the most successful songs of its kind, and that fact further exclaims its deserved place in history. If you haven’t been lucky enough to catch this song on the radio during Thanksgiving Day, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Oh...and why does this song play on Thanksgiving every year? Only because the story of the two convicted boys originally took place on Thanksgiving of 1965. That’s really the only reason; disappointingly nothing special ;)

You can listen to the full 18.5 minute version of the song here (first track on the album):

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12028087

Neutral Milk Hotel - Live at The Side Door

2009-11-15T11:36:00.005-06:00

I have been toying with the idea of reviewing Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for a long time, but have come to the conclusion that there is absolutely no way I could properly give that album justice. It is, in my opinion, hands down the best album I have ever heard. Jeff Mangum put together the perfect combination of art, simplicity, storytelling, and core emotion into a short but powerful record that will hold a place in my heart for the rest of my life (despite what Robert Christgau has to say on the matter...). However, Aeroplane does have a tendency to overshadow the rest of Mangum’s Neutral Milk Hotel years, which is quite unfortunate. Although it doesn’t quite reach the caliber of that final album, the music Mangum wrote before it really helps one delve deep into the mind of the artist.

Live at The Side Door is a forty minute live set that was recorded in May of 1997; right between the releases of On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. This was a perfect time to witness a live performance from the group considering Mangum had not yet been overwhelmed by the attention caused by Aeroplane, but he had still recorded a full album with the band as a whole. Before I start talking about the actual performance, I want to make it clear that this live set is one of the most natural performances I’ve ever heard. Jeff wasn’t known for going all out at his shows. He was just a normal guy, who wanted to share his music.

The whole show starts off with Jeff telling the crowd that their drummer couldn’t show up, and that the entire show will be more acoustic. He also lets them know that the show may not be that great because he and one of the other band-mates has the flu really bad. Well, he may have thrown up his lungs that morning, but his heart is definitely still intact in this performance. The set opens up with “She Did a Lot of Acid;” an intense Neutral Milk Hotel B-side that is almost entirely driven by Jeff’s voice. The flu definitely doesn’t hold him back on this one. He wails out those notes like his immune system is impenetrable. Opening with this song must have really got the crowd thinking that this was definitely not a typical acoustic set, it was something much more.

The next two songs, "Gardenhead" and "Naomi" are a great pair of songs that slowly bring the intensity down, becoming less and less instrumentally involved. The insecurity of Mangum comes out after "Naomi" when he tells the crowd that he’s sorry they are so pathetic, trying to work through their illnesses and technical problems. His insecurity allows you to see him at a more personal level, nothing like any other concert you will ever see.

The fourth song in the set, “Engine,” is one of my personal favorites. It’s a slow guitar/Theremin duet that discusses the human goal of adapting to life’s ever changing “tracks.” The next song in the set is called “Up and Over,” which brings me to another great aspect of the performance. Some of the songs in the set are actually unfinished versions of Aeroplane tracks. “Up and Over” in particular, is actually the predecessor of the second half of “King of Carrot Flowers, Part II & III,” the second track on Aeroplane. This almost allows you to take part in the mental construction of Neutral Milk Hotel’s final album, as you get to see the small pieces before they were put together as the finished puzzle.

Next, Mangum belts out an excellent version of the opening track to On Avery Island, “Song Against Sex.” The performance of this song is no holds barred, and Jeff takes no prisoners, shoving the uncomfortable concepts of drugs, death and sex into the crowd’s ears. Another Aeroplane track finds its way into the set just after an instrumental transition of “The Fool;” Jeff performs an early solo rendition of “Oh Comely.” This is the part of the show that really begins to wear down his voice. Even though the notes aren’t always where they should be, his intensity and drive is consistently spot-on, making this one of the best performances of the song.

The whole show ends with an “under construction” version of “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” Like I said before, it’s truly awesome to here the in-progress versions of these songs, and it's not different here. This song in particular actually has an entire verse that wasn’t kept in the final version of the song. I personally enjoy it as an addition, since it adds sort of a third element to the song, aside from the typical verses and refrain. Although, I can understand why this verse didn’t make it into the final product, since it does give the song a little more depth than need be.

Overall, I believe that this album is a truly special piece from the repertoire of Neutral Milk Hotel and you owe it to yourself to give it a good listen. If you haven’t heard much (or any, for that matter) of Neutral Milk Hotel, then I highly encourage you to give them a listen. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a great place to start. It will give you a great understanding on Mangum’s musical and poetic stance, which will in turn help you to appreciate the finer things in his earlier work. If anything, just listen to Live at The Side Door merely for the experience; to connect with the band at a more personal level. Everything from the construction of the songs, to the heart put into the performance, even the quiet and accepting way Mangum thanks the crowd after every song is something surely worth experiencing at least once. So please, I highly encourage you to check out Neutral Milk Hotel’s Live at The Side Door.

You can check out the set with the following link. Live at The Side Door (along with many other live bootlegs) is about halfway down the page. All the songs are free for listening and downloading, so enjoy them!

http://www.the-collective.net/~sashwap/media.html

Here are also two links to On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea respectively:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12904679

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12904699

Dan Collins and a Piano - Dormitory

2009-10-04T23:22:00.007-05:00

If there’s one thing I really miss in today’s mainstream music scene, it’s variety. Pop songs about clubbin’ and Rock songs about unrequited love definitely aren’t few and far between. It also seems like serious instrumental integrity is becoming a thing of the past and disc-jockey beat loops are entering as the new. I can’t say that I don’t enjoy living in a time in which such a drastic musical movement is occurring, in all seriousness, it’s actually pretty exciting, but it really does hurt me to see that Pop Rock is paving the way for conformity and leaving individuality at the door.

However, there are some people out there who are doing a noble deed in trying to save the name of Pop Rock, by bestowing us with music filled with incredible depth and musical intellect. Unfortunately, most of these artists go unnoticed, despite the fact that their music could easily redefine the industry.

This week’s album (the album that simultaneously celebrates the comeback of Rodey’s Reviews), comes from one of those noble musical personas that lives right here in my current city of residence, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Dan Collins is currently a student at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, but his college life hasn’t stopped him from delving into the realm of piano influenced Pop Rock; and releasing an album of pinnacle greatness that should be enjoyed by the masses.

The album opens up with “Take on the World.” Alongside its jumping piano chords and intensity molding drum tracks, the idea behind the entire album is introduced and encompassed in this one track: new experiences and new emotions. As the title suggests, the song is about not taking the world for granted, but to embrace as much of it as you can. Rather than sit dormant, “we should step it up and live;” not only in respects to the earth, but in every aspect of our lives. Setting up a contrast, Collins’s lyrics in “The Fourth of July” describe the importance behind also embracing the simple things in life. The title track, “Dormitory,” is one of the highest points on the album. This upbeat composition with its intense heart-driven chorus and stylistically evolving verses is guaranteed to leave you pleased.

At this point in the review I feel like I should discuss one of my favorite aspects of the album. The next song “Woke Up at the White House (Pallid Dive),” brings the sound back to a calm and allows it to rise exponentially, differing itself from the style of “The Fourth of July.” My point is that this album has a great deal of variance and keeps you pulled in from beginning to end. This is something that a lot of today’s newly emerging artists are forgetting, but Collins executes it perfectly.

The next two tracks, “Snow Town” and “Monster” inhabit two completely different sides of the stylistic spectrum. “Snow Town” is a beautifully written ballad led by timid, yet passionate vocals from Collins, whereas “Monster” is the result of a smooth jazz and hard blues recipe with just a pinch of reggae feeling, making it one of the most intriguing sounds I’ve heard from an artist in a long time.

The next two songs dive into two tough emotions: the hardships of love and the sadness that comes with the loss of a family member. “On This Piece of Paper” and “Lullaby for the Patients and the Patience” really show the depth of Collins’s lyrical abilities. On top of that, “Lullaby for the Patients and the Patience” contains, in my opinion, the most instrumental integrity on the entire album, showing that in the right respects, less is more.

As the album progresses to its next track, “Hibernate” it starts to slowly expand its sound again. Then the album comes to one of my favorite tracks “Feelings Beyond Our Own.” This track gets my great approval because it talks about the importance of music in life. Collins discusses how no matter what situation, music can always “bring you home.”

“Epitome of Me (Remixed)” returns to an experimental sound, this time with electronic style and then the album closes with “Do Feel Fine,” a song that I feel takes every style visited on the album and combines them into one. It really makes for a great closure to the album, not too intense that you feel overwhelmed, but not too little that you feel like the whole was missing something. The end of the album also contains a ten minute informative commentary track provided by Collins himself, fittingly entitled “Dormmentary.”

So, do I recommend the album? Hell yeah I do! I’m not lying when I say that this is one of the greatest things to come out of a newly emerging artist this year. Dan Collins and a Piano truly is a hidden gem worth uncovering and gets my full support.

The album is currently available on iTunes if you follow this link:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=330290398&s=143441

or at The Big Cartel via this url:

http://dancollinsandapiano.bigcartel.com/

Also, if you'd like to check out more of Dan and his future ventures, take the following links to his Myspace and Facebook pages:

http://www.myspace.com/dancollinsandapiano

http://www.facebook.com/dancollinsandapiano

Last but not least, here is the link to the album so you can check it out on Napster:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=13351904

Mullmuzzler - Keep It To Yourself

2009-08-19T02:53:00.003-05:00

Mullmuzzler is a solo project of Dream Theater vocalist, James LaBrie. Being a side project of one of the greatest progressive rock groups around today, you would expect that the group also holds their fair share of prog elements, and they do, but at the same time, they also contains a lot of aspects that set themselves far from the Dream Theater sound.

Keep It To Yourself is Mullmuzzler’s debut album, and it really does an excellent job at setting a solid basis for LaBrie’s future solo recordings. Starting off with the solid track “His Voice,” you already get a sense of how personal LaBrie’s lyrics are. It really makes me wonder why he hasn’t written more songs than he has for DT. The next track, “Statued” seems to be a direct response to “His Voice” in that the instrumentals play very similarly and the lyrics also seem closely tied together. “Shores of Avalon,” though probably my least favorite track on the album, has strong instrumental unity, but for being one of the longest songs on the album (at about eight minutes), it really doesn’t delve very far into different musical forms, making the final product relatively bland compared to the rest of the album.

At this point I had thought I got a good grip on what the album had to deliver, but man was I wrong. The next song on the album, “Beelzebubba,” starts off with a very heavy Chicago style, fusion sound, riddled with awesome bass lines and a slew of messy trombone hits. The lyrics are strangely delivered, discussing in a sarcastic tone, the Monica Lewinsky trials of President Clinton, under the coined nick-name, Slick Willy. “Guardian Angel” arguably stands as the albums greatest track artistically and instrumentally with its twisting styles and awesome Andrew Lloyd Weber tributes, but personally, I feel like the lyrics could have been a little better. At points they are beautifully poetic: Another day in a cold uncaring world / Dark treasons cold unhearted ways / I stand before your providence / Nobody comes, nobody goes; but at others, they seem to be lacking and almost corny: I dream of a place of simple love / Detached from the wicked and the bad / Lost out in a storm of sinfulness / Where is the kindness we used to have? I really don’t have much to say about “Sacrifice.” It’s a pretty typical ballad piece with some slight classic rock elements sprinkled in to give it more of a definitive sound, but it’s really nothing too special.

The album starts preparing itself for a close with the next track, “Lace.” This song is definitely the album’s darkest, and has a great vocal performance from LaBrie. The end of the song ends with this very progressive tutti type section between the keyboards and guitar, which goes for about twenty seconds only to fade out. I kind of wished they would have done more with this, as it seemed like a great transition point for the piece, but alas, it just silences the short-lived idea. “Slow Burn” drops the heavier rock sound, but still holds the progressive style giving us a beautiful, orchestrated ballad. I really enjoy the way the piano travels with LaBrie’s vocals on this one. That, along with the well written and presented lyrics, makes this one a favorite of mine. The closing track of the album really lets LaBrie shine in a way he never has on any Dream Theater recording. “As A Man Thinks” revolves almost entirely around the vocals in this semi a cappella song. At the times when the instrumentals are the main focus though, they do an excellent job acting as a response to the vocals or setting up the basis for the next verse to be delivered.

Overall, I’d say the tracks are pretty good. As far as the album goes, it could have been better. However, I don’t really think it was LaBrie’s intention to tie together the entire album into one voice, but rather to let each song speak for itself. Even in the case of the first two songs, it is apparent that each song is written from a different emotional perspective about the same idea, so even though the concept is similar, the voice of each song is completely different. With that said, I would say that this album is more for the casual progressive metal listener, but can still hold a solemn place in the collection of a prog enthusiast.

As for anyone who has a strong liking for Dream Theater, I highly recommend this album, mainly because it gives you a deeper look into the mind of James LaBrie. As I said, Keep It To Yourself is overall an incredibly personal album and really shows a different side of the Dream Theater vocalist.

For the more casual listener, I suggest checking out “His Voice,” “Guardian Angel,” and “Slow Burn,” as these are, in my opinion, the highlights of the album. You can check the whole album out at Napster with the following link:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12522802

Shuffle Sunday [Béla Bartók - Rhapsody No. 1: Lassu]

2009-08-17T02:53:00.003-05:00

Shuffle Sunday has bestowed us with a little bit of classical this week. Béla Bartók is widely credited as being one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century and I wouldn’t be one to argue. His music always throws my mind into wonderment; making me wish that I could get into the mind of its greatly influential composer.

Bartók started composing at a very young age, very much influenced by the late romanticism era. Yet as he matured, he began to find inspiration in the much simpler concept of Hungarian and Turkish folk music. One of his most famous thoughts is his comparison of classical composition to the works of William Shakespeare. Bartók believed that if Shakespeare could develop ingenious art in the form of plays, simply from the stories of common-folk, then an evolution in the musical art may be unearthed from the simple songs of the same people. He then spoke the art of his composition as this: to neither use the folk songs directly, nor expand upon them, but to harbor into music, the true entity and atmosphere of the songs themselves.

Another of Bartók’s beliefs was that there were three great discoveries in the world of music, held above any others: the use of progressive form by Beethoven, Bach’s attention to the importance of counterpoint, and the endless knowledge of harmony usage, rebirthed by Claude Debussy. Throughout the early nineteen hundreds, Bartók spent a great deal of time trying to find a way of perfectly combining this great trinity of concepts. It wasn’t until 1911, when he finally admitted defeat at the criticism of his peers. From then on he gave up on this musical goal, and wrote very few new compositions afterwards. Although he may not have unveiled the powerful tri-force of music (you all knew the Zelda reference was coming), to say he didn’t leave the world with any great musical landmarks would be ludicrous.

The track shuffled into my ears this week, is the first part of a great composition of Bartók’s, “Rhapsody No. 1.” It was composed in 1928, being one of Bartók’s latest pieces. The song is written in a Night music style; a style of Bartók’s slower classical compositions in which he uses creepy or eerie backgrounds filled with strategically placed dissonance to bring emphasis to a more beautiful and innocent melody. In this case, the melody is always presented by a lone violin. The backdrop is provided by a mild string orchestra (or just a single piano in the original transcription), accompanied by a small brass section depending on the harshness of emotion being portrayed by the melody. It is simply amazing how he can get the mashing of dissonant chord to sound so uplifting. The concept is incredibly hard to muster, but believe me, the first time you listen to a Béla Bartók piece, you will understand. Not only that, your musical mind will be opened to a fresh new plain of possibilities, just waiting to be explored.

I only wish I could describe this music in greater detail, but I know if I tried, it would do you no good. Words cannot do these compositions justice, so please check out the following link. It is the original transcription of the piece, and the piano is being played by Béla Bartók himself, and if anyone can help you understand the wonders of this Night music, he can. I mean, he created the darn thing. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuMTISOHRKg

Eagle-Eye Cherry - Desireless

2009-08-14T00:00:00.004-05:00

When I was young, before I had ever owned any albums, I heard a song on the radio that really stuck out to me. It really lured me in and became my favorite song for almost that entire year. Shortly after I had heard the song on the radio, I saw a music video for the same song on VH1. The music video was also really cool, and made me love the song even more. Being the young juvenile that I was, I didn’t think twice about looking into this artist’s other material; hell, I didn’t even know the artist’s name until a friend of mine informed me at the local roller-rink. Years later however, I recalled the memories I had of that great song, and being the mature music lover that I was, decided to do a little research and uncover the mysteries of this artist.

Considering you have already seen the title of this review, you already know that the artist in discussion here is Eagle-Eye Cherry. And if you give your mind a little time to delve into your memories, you’ll recall the tune of Cherry’s debut hit “Save Tonight.” There you go. Now that you remember the song and are bobbing your head back and forth to the acoustic, intensity driven greatness, let’s talk about the album that you probably don’t know as much about.

Released to the U.S. in 1998, Desireless was a top seller. Selling over four million copies worldwide, the Eagle-Eye debut was a hit. Although people were lured into purchasing the album mainly for its hit single, it does have a few other gems within its track listing. One of these songs, “Indecision,” is an interesting song in which the lyrical delivery see-saws between soothing storytelling to anger-driven refrains and guitar solos; a cool twist on the typical soul-rock genre song structure. Cherry’s second single, “Falling In Love Again,” holds a great place in the middle of the album, giving the listener a break from the quiet acoustic soul charts and hitting it with a vicious, moody love song. Another great song that really sticks with me is “Conversation,” a song telling about the tragedies of lying to a child. The vocals in this song are touched with just the perfect amount of soul given the emotional weight of hatred and sadness.

After listening to the album a couple times, I realized how similar some of the songs sound in comparison to some of John Mayer’s mellower music. This made me wonder why Eagle-Eye Cherry never got much more recognition. Since the release of Desireless, Cherry has released two more studio albums, both being extremely unsuccessful. This may be because the acoustic sound wasn’t really highly sought after by everyday music listeners until the early 2000s when John Mayer started his rise to fame, reminding people of the overshadowed genre.

Is Desireless a perfect album though? Far from it. With the lyrical flubs within “Rainbow Wings” and “When Mermaids Cry,” and the repetition in songs like “Comatose (In The Arms of Slumber),” Cherry presented us with a pretty average album. In his defense, it was his debut album, and not many artists can successfully pull off something like the Boston debut. Either way, I definitely note the album as an honorable mention, solely for the deep amount of passion put into its construct.

If anything off Desireless seems to pull you in, I encourage you to check out Cherry’s other two albums Living in the Present Future and Sub Rosa. These too have some pretty good tracks worth checking out. In the meantime, go ahead and check this album out with this link to the album on Napster:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=10502799

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

2009-07-16T21:35:00.004-05:00

Now that I'm back from my unannounced, week long hiatus, I'm ready to post the Phoenix review! So, apologies all around, but my week was filled with plans and utter chaos. With that said, on with the review!

For those of you who have never heard of the band Phoenix, let me start by saying this: in general, Phoenix is an indie band that goes for that very stereotypical, half-way between Death Cab For Cutie and The Strokes sound, that those of us who love indie music hear so damn much. However, the thing that separates Phoenix from the rest of these bands is that Phoenix does it right.

Being a group that began as backing instrumentals for the French indie band, Air, and being partly responsible for the formation of Daft Punk, you shouldn’t be surprised to see aspects of both of these groups in all of Phoenix’s music. Using these bands as a reference, it could be said that Phoenix is comprised of the electronic intensity of Air backed by the seamlessly simple and mesmerizing musical integrations of Daft Punk. The simplicity is also reflected in their album composition. Phoenix always makes it their goal to deliver an album that, as a whole, is aesthetically pleasing. The album doesn’t need to make the concept of delivering a deep message its primary goal, but it does need to be comprised in a way that will pull the listener further into what is being presented. Now, I’m not trying to say that Phoenix doesn’t have any profound, underlying messages in their music, because that would be ludicrous; it’s just that Phoenix takes more of a musical path to delivering their messages as opposed to the more common poetic path.

The reason I emphasize this aspect of the group is because the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix does an amazing job defining this concept. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is arguably as musically artistic as many legendary indie albums such as, Arcade Fire’s Funeral, or The Pixies’ Doolittle and does more than catch the eye of the artistic soul; this album effectively pulls in even the non-analytical listener. The first two tracks, “Lisztomania” and “1901” are so luring with their faint electronic backgrounds and pseudo-dance beat drive, it does nothing but have the listener wanting more. As the album progresses, the instrumental involvement is in and out like a musical roller coaster ride. This gives the album well spaced variety and a transforming, diverse sound. Songs like “Love Like a Sunset (Part I and II)” and “Big Sun” do a great job at making these stylistic transitions happen smoothly.

Once the musical work-up pulls your heart into the album, that’s when your mind starts to listen closer. The entire album has a classical theme (interpretable by the title) and contains a deep, historic-style inner conflict that will keep you analyzing the poetic vocals. I won’t go into the actual poetic conflicts of the album, as to leave the interpretation up to you, but let me tell you, no matter how you look at it, it’s deep. And hell, if analyzing lyrics isn’t your thing, we already talked about how the album is as pleasing as ever for those types of listeners.

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is an album that excels in all musical categories. This great achievement, however, is also its greatest criticism. It seems that to make a truly iconic album, one needs to push all efforts into one aspect, whether it be the instrumentals, the poetics, or the all around evolution of the music...but I say fuck it! Phoenix has made an excellent album that is a masterpiece to the masses. So give it a listen, I guarantee you will love it one way or another!

Album review will be posted tomorrow

2009-07-08T21:10:00.002-05:00

I just changed my mind on which album I will be reviewing this week, and rather than rush it out tonight, sloppy and poorly done, I will be taking a little more time and posting it tomorrow night. I will however, tell you what album I will be reviewing. By request this week, I will be reviewing the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by the band Phoenix. Look out for it tomorrow!

Shuffle Sunday [The Mummies - Justine]

2009-07-05T23:06:00.002-05:00

I’m really glad that this song popped up this week because to put it quite simply, I believe that anyone who has a passion for music needs to know about The Mummies. The Mummies debuted in 1988 performing a live show at the Chi Chi Club in San Fransisco. These four guys dressed in tattered mummy costumes performed their loud music, while simultaneously making a mess of the stage and screaming obscenities at the crowd in between songs. Little did the attendants of that show know, this group would later be looked at as one of the most influential and iconic garage punk bands in the history of music.

If there is one thing that I have learned in my studies of music over the years, it’s that music is nothing without a serious motive. The Mummies motive was a little thing they liked to call ‘Budget Rock.’ This concept simply meant that they would constantly reject professionalism and fame to give themselves more of a homemade, half-ass sound. When they recorded, they would usually do it on hand-me-down at best equipment, which was usually broken, or not working properly. The Mummies recorded all of their material onto vinyl and didn’t even use CDs as a means of distributing their albums until the year 2000. Hell, even when they toured, they drove themselves and all their equipment around in a beaten up 1965 Pontiac Ambulance!

This idea of ‘Budget Rock’ really showed people that if you want to make music, you can, and The Mummies proved it. This simple concept is one of the biggest reasons underground punk has come so far over the past twenty years. I guarantee if you ask any punk group in the world if they know who The Mummies are, every one of them will say yes (or at least they should). From their garbled punk music to their crazy stage antics, The Mummies have definitely put themselves on the map of punk history.

As far as the song “Justine” goes, it’s pretty much a garage punk masterpiece. It’s a simple broken up love song about a girl who just didn’t do it for the guy. The song isn’t just simple in its concept, but is also a simple musical composition with half-screamed lyrics paired with loud messy drumming, all guided by sloppy basic guitar riffs and a pressing blues bass line. The whole song contains one verse and one refrain set to repeat for a whole two minutes, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it repetitive. The mistake-ridden imperfections of the song really keep the song incredibly interesting and intriguing, and aside from that, it’s just fucking fun to rock out to! Get your punk shoes on and throw this song on at full blast. You’ll find yourself dancing ‘til you can’t dance anymore.

Now I can’t talk about The Mummies without mentioning going into their live performances, but rather than talk about it, I think I’ll just show you a video, because words can do it no justice...enjoy...

Now *that* is intense. I really wish I could have seen these guys play. The worst part about it is that the group has been randomly seen performing unannounced shows *twice* this year already. But I won’t complain to you guys anymore about it. I’ll just show you the song and get on with my life...if you hear any news about The Mummies and a live performance, please don’t hesitate to tell me.

And without further ado...here is “Justine” by The Mummies!

Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy

2009-07-01T23:36:00.002-05:00

I had wanted to talk about this album for a long time, but I decided that it would be in my best interest to let the album sit for a while; let people get all the unconstructive criticism off their chests and give them a little time to listen to the album in a different light. A light, that doesn’t hover over the fact that the album took 14 years to finish, or that Axl Rose couldn’t keep a proper band line-up throughout the creation of the album. Chinese Democracy (and I know I just may be attacked for saying this) is a virtually flawless musical composition, critiqued for all the wrong reasons.

Rather than review this one in my traditional conversational or song-by-song recap, I’m going to simply give the reasons why I believe Chinese Democracy deserves a great amount of respect and then elaborate on my points.

Time and Effort:

First of all, I need to give it up for Axl Rose, sticking with this project over all these years. The guy is probably one of the most inspiring artists I’ve ever seen. I mean, there were times that even some of his biggest fans were kicking dirt in his eyes, but he kept going. He kept going back and changing things; adding members he felt fit the parts and pushing off release dates until the album was indeed exactly what he wanted. At times he really had to be a dick about some things, but he just wanted to see his vision become a reality. He didn’t care what other people thought and when the album finally was released, I think it was a real slap in the face for all the people who doubted him.

Creativity and Ingenuity:

Chinese Democracy leans on the long side with a finished length of a little over 70 minutes. The first time I listened through the album it didn’t feel like any time had passed at all. My mind was sucked into the album, the way its sound travelled from track to track. It keeps the same feeling underneath it all, but drastically changes the moods and styles with every song. This album is the perfect way to introduce someone to the many sounds of rock. There are so many sub-genres of rock music; it’s almost inconceivable that one album could present them all. However, Chinese Democracy does just that. “It’s a very complex record; I’m trying to do something different.” Well Axl, you can rest well knowing that you have achieved that goal with a vengeance.

Axl Rose:

Axl Rose has always been known for his long ranged, scratchy vocals, but the true reason why my ears perk up every time I hear Rose’s voice is because of the immense amount of passion behind it. The only other American vocalist that I can think of that is even comparable to the intensity of Rose is probably Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. The best track on the album that proves the power of Rose’s voice is the beautiful piano ballad “This I Love.” Even when it comes to more intense avant-garde/fusion tracks, the way he molds his voice around the instrumentals is frickin’ awesome. Check out “There Was A Time” and you’ll see exactly what I mean; breathtaking.

Instrumentals:

Obviously after having almost 30 members contributing parts to this album over the 14 years of construction, Rose had a hell of a lot to work with and incorporate. The finished product after all the cutting and pasting of the thousands of recorded parts for each song leaves me with nothing to say but...holy shit. There is so much going on in every track it’s almost hard to keep track of it all. I could see where this could come off as being a bad thing, but trust me, it’s not. It keeps you listening and delving deeper into each track. I’ve listened to the album a lot since it came out and I’m still finding new things. It just keeps me coming back to find more and I love it.

Really there is only one thing that I could complain about on this album and that is the name of the band that released it. It just simply isn’t Guns N’ Roses. Is this a bad thing? Well, no. It’s just so far from the line-up, style and musicality of the original band that the group deserves a different title. The only remaining member of the original band is Axl and either way I don’t think that the name Guns N’ Roses deserves to tie into the release of the album. The group is simply a new legacy in music history.

Well, there you have it, my take on the infamous Chinese Democracy. If you’ve listened to the album I’m really intrigued to hear what you have to say about it, so please, head over to the forum and tell me what you think! The link to the forum is in the side bar, just register yourself and reply to the Chinese Democracy topic.

Here's the link to the album on Napster:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=13004813

Shuffle Sunday [Kadenzza - War Phantasma (Suite Opus 4)]

2009-06-28T22:09:00.005-05:00

What do you get when you mix the Castlevania soundtracks, death metal, Arjen Lucassen, progressive rock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra together...? You get the one-man composing powerhouse that is Kadenzza.

Kadenzza is the solo project of Japanese musician and composer, You Oshima. I compare Oshima to Arjen Lucassen (the man responsible for the progressive metal project, Ayreon) because Oshima provides the entire instrumental line-up of each album he records. But, unlike Lucassen, Oshima also provides the vocals and self-produces all of his music.

Although Kadenzza holds strongly to the neoclassical genre, it is far too intellectual to be labeled by anything but its very own sub-genre. Described in the words of Oshima himself, it is “Grand Orchestral Kamikaze...sophisticated full orchestra, razor edged screaming insane vocals, astral Japanese soprano, solemn church organs, furious blast beats, hyper-speed neo-classical guitars, dancing intellectual piano with complicated rhythms.” It sounds like a hell of a lot to handle all at once, and trust me it is. I definitely wouldn’t recommend listening to this unless you are already deeply introduced to the progressive style.

“War Phantasma (Suite Opus 4)” is a 13-minute power ride of an epic. The introduction is almost like a slowed down mix of Dream Theater’s “As I Am” and “Constant Motion.” The lyrics make a hasty entrance presented with obvious inspirations from Chuck Schuldiner of Death. After a quick guitar solo and an exponential increase in tempo and intensity, the song goes into a very King Crimson style of play. The minimalistic segregation of the piano solo plays much like the first half of “Moonchild” from King Crimson’s progressive masterpiece, In the Court of the Crimson King. After a few more minutes, the song begins to incorporate aggressive stock audio until the lyrics enter back in. The vocals are lot more brutal now and rather than bringing the guitar with them, this time, the solo is provided by electric organ synth. The song then continues to rise with anger until completely dissolving away, leaving a short bit of silence before the solemn piano returns. Ocean waves in the background, the piano begins to transform into a music box song, slowly fading away over the last minute of the song.

The song definitely leaves the listener in awe, especially because it was all conceived and provided by one man. As I said, this music is incredibly intellectual and leaves room for an endless amount of interpretation. For a prog listener, this is the best part. So, if you love progressive music as much as I do, please give this song a listen and tell me your thoughts. And while you’re at it, why don’t you give the entire album a chance. “War Phantasma” is actually the last track of Kadenzza’s Into the Oriental Phantasma. You may find that listening to the rest of the album will help you in your journeys through this week’s song.

I apologize for this Sunday's review being a little shorter than most, but the song truly speaks better for itself. Here's the link to the album:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12911163

Aural Vampire - Vampire Ecstasy

2009-06-24T22:45:00.003-05:00

This week’s album is definitely not for the weak hearted. This is some of the darkest electronic synthpop you’ll ever hear. It’s industrial, raw, warped and twisted. There are sounds on this album you will have never heard anything like in your entire life. I warned you that this is some pretty intense stuff, but if you are looking for an underground experimental experience like no other, look no further than Vampire Ecstasy by Aural Vampire.

Aural Vampire is made up of two members: Exo-Chika supplying vocals and one of my favorite DJs of all time, Raveman, doing everything else. Raveman is one of the Buckethead/Daft Punk variety in that he conceals his face from public view by the use of his signature mask. I like comparing him to Buckethead not only because of his “fashion sense,” but also because of the obscure experimental musical talent. Like I said, you will hear some sounds you have never heard before. Raveman lays it all out to give you the most unique listening experience possible. These are sounds I simply cannot explain. In order to understand you need to give it a listen yourself. A great example of this obscurity is the album’s title track “Vampire Ecstasy.” Go ahead; take a listen......pretty damn nuts, huh?

As far as Exo-Chika goes, it’s almost hard to believe how well her voice goes with this genre. It fits the pop sound so well, yet still holds really dark expressions. Her voice is powerfully alluring and on top of the background music it’s almost hypnotizing. Listen to the song “Disco King” and you will know exactly what I mean; she is one talented girl.

The electronic duo is actually relatively new to the music world, debuting in 2004 on an independent label. Vampire Ecstasy was Aural Vampire’s first album and still remains to be their only full length LP. The band puts a lot more work into being a live band than releasing an extensive amount of albums. This may change however, since the band has recently signed with Avex Trax, planning a summer release date for their newest album.

The album itself pulls you in further and further with each track. It has you from its strong industrial tracks like “Terror Vixen” and “Banboro Koubou,” to the electronic mayhem of “S.O.B.” and “Murealism.” But don’t let me convince you that this album is solely about oddities, because it also has its fill of mellow pop and house techno. “Freeeeze!!” will definitely have you raving the instant you throw it on the speakers, but throw on “Hana no Sakigake” and you’ll almost be in tears. On top of all this there are also many musical surprises planted by Raveman throughout the album. “Crimson Tyrant” and the latter of “PNFPN” will creep you out like no other. You just never know what you will get from Raveman.

If you are into electronica music in any way, I recommend you check this album out. It’s an almost undiscovered gem in the darkwave/synthpop world and deserves to be heard. Also, if you like some of Daft Punks less mainstream recordings, you might be inclined to give this album a listen as well.

The whole album can be found on this guys YouTube channel, here:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ahotaku&view=videos&query=aural+vampire

Shuffle Sunday [Bonnie Pink - Last Kiss]

2009-06-21T14:06:00.003-05:00

The 90s opened up many doors to the pop genre, bringing us many new and talented faces. Britney Spears came out from the shadows and has become one of the most powerful pop stars to date. Christina Aguilera shot her debut out late in the decade, but she proved herself as being one of the best singers in history. These were also the days of iconic pop groups such as, Destiny’s Child, TLC, and the boy band that redefined the genre, The Backstreet Boys. As all these groups were emerging and taking the world by storm, not many solo pop artists were able to compete and intervene. However, a 22-year-old Kyoto girl, Kaori Asada, showed that even though she mostly stayed within Japanese borders, she was still able to capture the masses with great success.

Kaori Asada debuted as the pop singer, Bonnie Pink in 1995, with her single “Orenji.” The song was an instant hit, but it was unlike anything the pop genre had seen before. It was jazzy, but at the same time, incorporated the blues. It came through with that definitive pop vocalizations, but at times broke through with a strong rock tone. No one describes it better than Bonnie Pink herself. In the booklet from her debut album Blue Jam, she describes the sound she was going for as a “mixture of bitter honey, blues music, momentary silence, irresistible madness, teardrops, sourgrapes, hopeful bombs, big big love, and a few green apples.” At first this seems like a strange conception, but it truly is beautifully stated and well presented.

Bonnie Pink went on to release three incredibly successful albums in the 90s, but after these releases, she slowly started to lose popularity, until 2007 when her ninth studio album, Thinking Out Loud was released. Its single “A Perfect Sky” (released in 2006) brought her back into the spot light, and she has been staying at the top ever since. Unfortunately, she released some pretty damn good material in the early 2000s, that wasn’t picked up on by the charts. It wasn’t until her greatest hits album, Every Single Day, was released in 2006 that people began to revisit her older material. One of the songs featured on this greatest hits album is the song “Last Kiss.”

“Last Kiss” was the second single off of Bonnie Pink’s seventh studio album, Even So. There are so many reasons why I absolutely love this song and I’ll try my hardest to list them all for you. The song uses a heavy amount of string instruments which, when used in pop songs, can almost come off as being a crutch for the singer; letting the strings lead their singing for them. Fortunately, the string section on “Last Kiss” does nothing but give a perfect tone and environment for the song. The way the violins swell and release to give a perfect intense silence before each refrain is enough to give you the chills.

But, what makes it even better is the way Bonnie Pink solely delivers the refrain entrance. This girl needs no help driving her vocals. She is by far one of the greatest female vocalists to come out of that decade. It’s almost as if she isn’t capable of screwing up. Every dip, every sway, any inflection in her vocal patterns at all, comes off as perfectly executed.

Another aspect of the song that I really love is the way she intertwines the vibraphone. Wherever there seems to be a good place for movement in the bass, with the exception of the intro, the vibraphone does the work. This can be very subtle at times, but I see it as absolutely essential. If the bass were to come forth and play a moving part, it would break the line and become too intense for the environment set by the strings section. By using the vibraphone, you still get that less treble filled tone but with just a hair more reverb, which fits the song perfectly.

If you feel like listening to something a bit more relaxing than the past couple genres I’ve talked about this month, than Bonnie Pink is right for you. She’s got those beautiful compositions and vocals with just a hint of unique twist. So if you are looking for something a little different from your everyday American pop, be sure to give Bonnie Pink a try.

Here's the "Last Kiss" music video on YouTube:

Also, here's a cool duet version of Bonnie Pink's first single "Orenji," along with with an awesome live performance of "Last Kiss." Enjoy!

The Pillows - Happy Bivouac

2009-06-17T22:43:00.004-05:00

When I first looked into modern foreign music I instantly thought of Japan first. Watching many Anime shows as a child I knew that Japan was capable of producing some pretty awesome music for their television programs. The soundtracks never seemed to fail; from Cowboy Bebop to Lupin the Third, the music always sucked me in. The first band I found in my musical journey happened to have composed one of the soundtracks to a popular anime show in the 90s.

FLCL was the name of the Anime and it was insane; full of action and suspense, amazing, fluid animations through every scene, and a story that gave you the smallest possible amount of information directly regarding the plot, keeping you conjuring ideas non-stop. The best part about this anime was how well the music fit the story. However, when I found out that almost all the music was recorded before the Anime was ever even conceived, I began to wonder how they found one band that had such an array of musical ingenuity to integrate their recordings so well into every scene. To this day I still haven’t found a band (in or out of Japan) that is as ingenious as the band they chose for this soundtrack. That band is The Pillows.

The Pillows are a Japanese alternative rock band that debuted in 1989. Having recorded sixteen studio albums alone to date, all of which that have been reasonably successful, the band has become one of the most successful in Japan, alongside others such as B’z. Their stellar studio album success comes from their diverse selection of songs on each record they produce. However, what makes The Pillows diversity different from that of Dir en Grey or B’z, is that The Pillows maintain a diverse selection of music while still retaining the alternative rock genre in every recording. This is an incredibly difficult concept to take in, but I can personally say that out of the over 150 songs the band has written over the years, each one has its own style and clarity. Some of the differences small, but they are never subtle. Each song speaks a different story, and it shows.

Happy Bivouac is not an exception to this concept. Although many of the songs off this album are written in similar fashions, the way they are presented through the difference in slurring of Sawao Yamanaka voice, or the varying intensities of the guitar and bass, make for a new experience on every track. Along with changing each band member’s style from track to track, the diversity of the songs on the album also comes from the slight changes within each song itself.

Songs like “Carnival” and “Beautiful Morning With You” both contain the same sort of growth in the recording as a whole, but the product results in a completely different reaction to each song. “Rush” and “Back Seat Dog” contain very similar strong structures, but “Rush” leaves me feeling determination in Yamanaka’s voice after every refrain, where “Back Seat Dog” comes off as a very bubbly love song. The vocals in “Funny Bunny” seem almost like they were copy/pasted right out of “Our Love and Peace,” but with the instrumental styles differing so greatly, you can’t help but feel a completely different emotion coming out of each vocal presentation.

I guess in the end this was more of a review of The Pillows themselves, but the reason I wanted to show you Happy Bivouac is because of the great deal of internal connections between the tracks on the album. Happy Bivouac is, in my opinion, the best way to introduce anyone to this band. It contains some of the best recordings from the band’s entire career and at the same time, it paints an amazing picture of the band’s shining success through diversity within the genre. I don’t care what kind of music you like to listen to; The Pillows are a band for you. They will have you singing along with every song even if you don’t speak or know Japanese. Check these guys out. You’d be a sucker if you didn’t.

Once again I couldn't find this album anywhere on the internet, which is a real bummer. If you go to the following YouTube link, this user has the entire album in their posted videos. They are all located in the bottom two rows of the first page, with the exception of the title track "Happy Bivouac," which is on the top of page two. Please check it out, I promise it's worth the work.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=magonzamusic&view=videos

Shuffle Sunday [Tak Matsumoto - One for the Road]

2009-06-15T16:37:00.011-05:00

There are many notable American guitar players that have made their marks throughout history, becoming largely recognizable musical figures. Just mention the names Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan or B.B. King and someone is guaranteed to label them as monuments in the world of music. Unfortunately, as far as foreign guitar players go, we as American’s really only recognize guitarists as far as the European nations (with the exception of Angus Young from Australia). Whenever I am asked who my favorite guitar players are, I always include the name Takahiro Matsumoto in my list and to this day, no one recognizes the name.

Tak Matsumoto is a Japanese guitarist best known for his use of a unique blend of genres, ranging between blues, jazz, classical, metal, soul and ska elements. He began in Japan as a solo artist, gaining popularity quickly with his song “99.” As he continued to produce solo projects, Matsumoto wanted to form a band, but needed to find a singer fit for his ideas. While fishing through random unknown singer demo tapes, he stumbled upon a boy by the name of Koshi Inaba. Matsumoto fell in love with Inaba’s singing abilities instantly and they went on to create the band B’z (pronounced Bizu) in 1988. The duo went on to becoming one of the most successful bands in the history of Japanese music.

Over the years of Matsumoto’s career he has been very good at adapting to almost any genre of music. As far as B’z is concerned, Matsumoto’s favorite genres differ greatly from Inaba’s, but mixing the two clumps of genres together makes for an amazing product. Matsumoto will find himself playing guitar to anything from intense pop rock to interesting combinations of ska and metal. This week’s Shuffle Sunday piece however is a composition framed with one of Matsumoto’s most well performed genres, blues.

“One for the Road” is definitely one of Matsumoto’s tamer recordings, strongly incorporating elements of jazz, blues and soul. The song has very simple instrumentation and structure almost coming off as a smooth jazz jam session. The song begins with the main riff of the refrain and continues with a solos on both guitar and synth separated by the refrain in a very A-B-A-B pattern. The refrain itself is put together almost as a quiet call and response between the two instruments. Matsumoto uses a very small amount of reverb in his presentation which extends the length of the notes just long enough to make them appear slurred together, giving a very soulful sound. This soulful sound makes the guitar refrain very memorable and heartwarming. The use of an electric drum kit in this recording also helps intensify that bluesy soul feel, giving the whole song a very clean sound. This clean sound also helps bring out the almost sliding bass line behind the synth and guitar.

If I had to categorize the song I would more than likely say it falls under the smooth jazz genre, but with the addition of strings and piano in some portions, it almost presents itself as its own sub-genre somewhere between slow rock and modern blues. But rather than get technical with it, “One for the Road” is a great guitar piece that really defines the amount of soul (no pun intended) that Tak Matsumoto puts into his guitar playing. If you are looking for some great guitar playing outside the U.S. and Europe, I strongly urge you to check Takahiro out; he will not let you down.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the original recording of the song online anywhere, but I did find one of his more recent albums, "Hana," on Napster. It's not the same style exactly, but if you are looking to see if you like Tak Matsumoto's work, I'd check it out. Here's the link...

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12089875

X Japan - Jealousy

2009-06-10T23:55:00.002-05:00

Album two of Japanese Artist Month goes under the category of metal. Whether it's progressive, symphonic, heavy, melodic, power, speed, or glam, X Japan has it all. Starting as a power metal band, influenced by American and British glam metal of the 80s, X Japan evolved into more of a progressive sound through the band’s career by incorporating many different styles of metal into their compositions. Aside from the great amount of metal inspiration, the band is responsible for composing some of the best and most emotional ballads in the genre. With historical songs such as “Orgasm;” an adrenaline rushing, three minute speed/power metal piece, and “Art of Life;” a thirty minute progressive, high octane, experimental ballad, simply put, X Japan has gone down in history as being one of the most diverse and influential metal bands in the world.

X Japan’s 1991 studio album Jealousy, is an amazing composition of songs that encompasses every element of the band, beautifully in one package. This being the first album I ever heard of the group’s, I can personally say that it pulled me in instantly. Between its deep innovativeness and experimental uses of the genres, Jealousy is a hard album to put away.

The album starts off with a beautiful piano piece entitled “Piano String En Es Dur.” The song is an emotional journey through minor chords lifting into a more major tonality, but about one and a half minutes through, the calming song is abruptly interrupted by a slew of disgustingly hammered piano blurbs. This is a great way of saying “don’t take this album at face value.” The numbers of hidden aspects underneath each composition are immense.

The album then progresses with “Silent Jealousy;” a seven minute symphonic metal piece consisting of a heart rendering piano introduction, piercing guitar lines, and beautiful classical interludes. This song is a great definition of the band itself. This song feeds into the more late 80s heavy metal influenced “Miscast.” The heavily chugged guitar riffs and powerfully presented vocalizations play against each other really well, creating a great metal experience. The next track, “Desperate Angel,” is as 80s glam as you can get, but damn is it good. Between its well constructed vocal harmonies, driving snare/bass kicks, and fast but muddy guitar solos, this song is 80s metal at its finest.

The album takes a complete U-turn, catching the listener off guard with a one minute acoustic interlude, “White Wind from Mr. Martin,” introducing the album’s first ballad, “Voiceless Screaming.” This track is very interesting in that it is completely acoustic, composed of only piano, acoustic guitar and violin. This makes for a very peaceful calm to a powerfully driven first half of the album.

The album switches back into the pure metal type of sound with the song “Stab Me in the Back.” Influenced more by heavy metal, this song also brings a hint of black metal to the mix, by letting the guitars rule the show and incorporating true metal drumming behind them. The following track, “Love Replica,” is definitely the most experimental on the album with its carnival-esque, ballad type sound. With the piano absent in this song, the guitar act more like they have keys, giving a more defining sound in front of the ambient voices in the background. The band hits the listener with one more glam metal track called “Joker.” This song always sounds like Poison to me, with its travelling vocals and brass section like guitar hits. Whether this song should have been placed this close to the end of the album is debatable in my opinion, because it just feels a bit out of place, but it’s a great chart nonetheless.

Jealousy closes with, in my opinion, the best song on the album, behind “Silent Jealousy,” “Say Anything.” This powerful, nine minute, symphonic ballad is full of many passionate guitar solos and piano lines that can really touch the listener. The strings in the song are always lifting and it builds even when you don’t think the song could build any more. The amount of heart put into this song really makes for a great close to the whole album.

It was tough for me to review this album mainly because X Japan is one of those bands you need to take in all at once. To pick and choose pieces of each album that stick out is really tough, because you really need to hear it all to truly appreciate it. If you are looking to find out more about this band then I encourage you to begin with this album, but please don’t stop here. Over the years, X Japan has become one of my favorite bands of all time, and there are so many good reasons for this. Do yourself a favor and check these guys out.

Here is a link to a free stream of the album on Napster:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12939538

[If you are into progressive metal, then listen to this album and then listen to their thirty minute “Art of Life” - true appreciation for the art that X Japan produces, starts with this song.]

Shuffle Sunday [Guitar Wolf - Loverock]

2009-06-07T21:56:00.004-05:00

To prepare for this week’s Shuffle Sunday, I put my entire collection of Japanese artists and put them into a playlist. What we have randomly pulled out of this one is most definitely a gem. Think of the loudest song you have ever heard in your entire life and imagine it being played at full blast into your ears through your best pair of headphones. Now multiply that by fifty and you still won’t reach the volume intensity of this week’s Shuffle Sunday band, Guitar Wolf.

Guitar Wolf is a Japanese punk rock band that formed in 1987 and is still rocking strong today, playing live shows that are as extreme as ever. The band is very influenced by garage and noise punk, using the typical instruments in a punk band (guitar, bass and drums) but expanding their musical input by incorporating heavy distortion, feedback and dissonance. Their goal is always to release the loudest most amped up record they can. When they released their fourth studio album “Jet Generation,” it went down in history as the world’s loudest punk rock album, so I’d say they’re doing pretty good for themselves.

Whenever people ask me why I like punk rock music so much, I always answer “it’s because of the passion and fun put into it.” With Guitar Wolf, this is no exception. In every song that the band has recorded, they have always used every ounce of their soul and energy to make it the most in-your-face recording imaginable. You’ll never see these guys slacking on the job. Even when they play live shows, there is virtually no time in between songs, and they have been known to occasionally play non-stop sets. Below is a one of the bands live sets in Seattle, which just so happens to start with this week’s Shuffle Sunday song, “Loverock.” (It also so happens to feature them chugging beers and getting the crowd riled up for the first 3 to 4 minutes, but it just shows how hyped they get for their performances, even to the point of getting up close and personal with the fans at times.)

The song “Loverock” is the title track of their seventh studio album released in 2004 called, obviously, Loverock. “Loverock” starts off with a patented feedback supported “1, 2, 3, 4!!” by guitarist and vocalist, Seiji. This beautifully executed introduction prepares the listener for three minutes of pure noise punk. The garage punk elements are very recognizable, considering all three members are so slightly off beat from one another. The average music enthusiast would probably find that this would take away from the songs charm, but this is not the case. The song only pulls you in more with the mayhem presented by the members.

The songs instrumental elements are few, but grand. With feedback coming heavily from the guitar almost non-stop throughout the song, and a shredding whammy infested guitar solo dropping you into one final instrumental squealing verse, this song is a true definition of the band. Seiji’s soulfully screamed vocals are also an absolutely imperative element that makes this song as awesome as it is. With the simple driving refrain “Love, love, love! Loverock Baby! / Love, Love! Loverock!” bursting at the top of his lungs, one can’t help but feel like they’ve been switched to overload.

If you’ve always had a secret love for punk rock music and you’ve never heard of Guitar Wolf, I really encourage you to check them out. If you like it loud, heavy and in your face, there is no better band to turn to. I can certainly say that Guitar Wolf is one of my favorite hidden treasures from the land of the rising sun.

I couldn't find an mp3 version of this song anywhere for free, but I did find a video on YouTube of studio version of the song, put to scenes from the Japanese film, Riki-Oh: The Story of Riki. It can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22lETjHTfbM

Dir en Grey - Uroboros

2009-06-05T19:10:00.002-05:00

To start Japanese Artist Month off, I turn your attention to the band Dir en Grey. Dir en Grey is almost impossible to categorize under a genre because over the years they have changed their musical styles numerous times. The band began as a sort of alternative rock with some pop influences but slowly started to adopt some heavier rock tones. Their third and fourth studio albums became almost entirely a style of nu metal but during the years after these recordings they began becoming more experimental with their presentation. Their fifth and sixth studio albums are very inventive compositions that were heavily influenced by American nu metal bands like KoRn and Deftones (who they also toured with during the releases of these two albums).

This now brings us to their seventh and most recent, studio album which will also be the one I’ll be reviewing for you today. Uroboros is nothing less than a masterpiece recording. It’s as if Dir en Grey combined the best qualities of all their previous styles and molded them together with progressive metal, resulting in an album that I consider one of favorites of all time. My favorite description of the album is by a Japanese writer, You Masuda, who stated “If you put it in a strange way, it's close to something like, 'What happens if Thom Yorke does metal?'”

Before I begin to describe the album itself, let me discuss Dir en Grey’s lead singer, Kyo. Kyo’s vocal abilities are a pivotal part of the bands presentation. When I tell people to listen to Japanese music, the first retaliation I normally get is along the lines that you can’t understand the lyrics. This is only partly correct when it comes to Dir en Grey. Sure, you can’t understand the actual words, but when it comes to the emotions portrayed through Kyo’s voice, you don’t need words to know what is coming from his soul. On top of the immense amount of emotion Kyo puts into his singing, his voice practically acts as another instrument in the band. In a review for their sixth studio album “Marrow of a Bone,” they listed his versatility as being able to “howl, croon, emote cleanly, scream, shriek, growl, bellow, and make nearly inhuman sounds.” With one of the most extensive ranges of any vocalist in the world, Kyo’s talents are simply breathtaking.

Now onto the album itself...

Uroboros starts off with an eerie, slightly oriental introduction, entitled “Sa Bir.” Backed by distant shrieks from Kyo, this song really puts the listener into a state of suspense, not knowing what to expect. The following track “Vinushka” is the staple track of the entire album. Running at almost ten minutes, this song takes the listener through many styles, time signatures, tempo changes and emotions. Kyo’s vocal range is stretched throughout the entire song, from subtle and quietly emotional, to brutal, heavy and in your face. On top of that, the instrumentals provide excellent backing behind the vocals all the way.

The next track “Red Soil” sways back and forth between a slight industrial pop style to a brutal driving rock sound. The song’s bridge houses an excellent example of some Kyo’s “inhuman” sounds. “Doukoku To Sarinu” contains brutally belted verses in between ever intensifying soulful refrains. Each refrain adds more harmonies and backing vocals to give the listener a sense of build. “Toguro” holds some of the same elements as “Doukoku To Sarinu,” but instead uses a more experimental minor pop feel making for a great composition.

The album begins to quiet down with the industrial rock ballad “Glass Skin.” The vocals are delivered with great ecstasy during the entire song as the monstrous bass and driving drums build Kyo’s voice indefinitely. The next two songs, “Stuck Man” and “Reiketsu Nariseba” really play well against each other. “Stuck Man” is a no holds bar garbage/funk fandango with intense vocal instrumentation by Kyo, and “Reiketsu Nariseba” is a continuation of the same elements, incorporating brutal/thrash metal with a reverb heavy acoustic break. Both songs contain strong progressive aspects over incredibly difficult styles, yet it is executed brilliantly.

The second ballad on the album “Ware, Yami Tote...” is by far the most beautiful composition on the entire album. Kyo puts his entire soul into this seven minute acoustic ballad, stretching his falsetto range to the max. If this song doesn’t make you want to break into tears or at least give you goose bumps, then you probably don’t have a pulse.

The album continues with “Bugaboo” and “Gaika, Chinmoku ga Nemuru Koro.” These two songs take the cake for scariest presentation on the album. Kyo reaches deep into his bag of tricks to pull out some of the craziest vocalizations that will leave your heart pounding. “Gaika, Chinmoku ga Nemuru Koro” is a well composed, intensified revamp of “Doukoku To Sarinu,” and if you thought it couldn’t get more intense than that, then you were sorely mistaken.

After these two fearful songs, “Dozing Green” throws many ruthless instrumental riffs and callous verses at the listener letting them know that the end is near. This finally brings us to the albums closing track “Inconvenient Ideal.” This song is the third ballad on the album and it does nothing but build from start to finish. The only drop in intensity within the song is the bridge which only brings the listener more suspense until the final refrain, where the band doesn’t hold back. Rising to the top of Kyo’s vocal range, the band hits its peak and fades into nothingness.

There is so much more to this album that I couldn’t possibly put it all into this review. In this description I only took a look at the exoskeleton of Uroboros. Beyond this frame of a description, the lyrics to all the songs contain amazingly powerful messages; messages that to this day I am still soaking in and analyzing. The way all the songs piece together so well; how the first two ballads act as eyes to the storm of the surrounding songs, and the way the closing ballad acts as the aftermath. I could seriously go on about this album forever.

Like I said, Dir en Grey recorded a masterpiece that I encourage all of you to listen to. If you aren’t into the progressive scene, than you could get away with leaving this alone, but if you in any way enjoy a good prog album, give this one a try. If you like what you hear, than I guarantee you will find joy in listening to Dir en Grey’s pre-Uroboros work as well. Their earlier works aren’t heavy in the progressive department, but they hold some amazing talent that can’t be passed up.

Here is a link to the album on Napster:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12993505

New Post Coming Soon!

2009-06-03T22:54:00.004-05:00

Since Monday, I have been moving into my new house in La Crosse, and it has been a lot more work than originally perceived. The review this week will be posted a little late, but I will tell you this...I have deemed the month of June "Japanese Artist Month." So for the entirety of this month I will be reviewing a different Japanese album each week. Japanese music is a completely different art and I sincerely believe that anyone who really enjoys music should investigate the great musical treasures housed by the land of the rising sun.

The review will probably be posted some time on Thursday, so be sure to check back tomorrow!

Shuffle Sunday [The Beatles - Roll Over Beethoven (Live at the BBC)]

2009-05-31T01:03:00.003-05:00

This weeks shuffle session brought us to the song "Roll Over Beethoven" performed by none other than good ol' John, Paul, George and Ringo. This track is a little different than the classic found on The Beatles' second studio album With the Beatles in that it was actually recorded live in the BBC studios. The track was later released on The Beatles' BBC studio compilation Live at the BBC in 1994. Live at the BBC is a large collection of songs recorded at the BBC by the band between 1963 and 1965. The album is an excellent collection of songs that are fully unedited and presented in their original recorded forms. Listening to this album through gives the listener a great understanding for who The Beatles were as a band during their down-to-earth pop days before they became mainstream and experimental.

But this review isn't about the album the song is found on, so let's go on and talk about this recording of "Roll Over Beethoven." Although it is probably best known as being played by The Beatles, the song was actually originally written by Chuck Berry in 1956. The song has gone down in history as the definition of rock 'n' roll. Although on the surface it seems like just another catchy rock tune, the songs lyrics hold many meaningful references to the rise of the rock 'n' roll scene throughout the 40s and 50s.

The song's lyrics reference many rock legends that were inspiration to Chuck Berry. The verse "Well, early in the mornin' I'm a-givin' you a warnin' / Don't you step on my blue suede shoes" is a direct reference to both Louis Jordan's "Early in the Mornin'" and Carl Perkins's rockabilly hit "Blue Suede Shoes." Outside it's excellent musical references, the song is filled with great lyrics that really show the impact rock 'n' roll had on the music scene through the 50s.

Since its release by Berry, the song has been a popular rock cover song, recorded by many bands such as The Rolling Stones, Electric Light Orchestra, The Byrds and even Iron Maiden. Each band makes their own tweaks to the original song and makes it their own which has made the song age well and keep with the times. It isn't a surprise that Rolling Stone magazine rated it as one of the top 500 songs of all time.

The Beatles performance of the song on Live at the BBC is pretty comparable to its LP counterpart, but is slightly better in my opinion because it holds that genuine quality. It's similar to the difference between seeing a band live as opposed to just listening to their album at home. You really get a sense of the song being performed on the spot, in the studio, with little preparation time, which in and of itself is excellent. It represents a true performance of one of the band's favorite songs and the love that they had playing it.

Every song on the compilation holds that same power and meaning and listening to it makes for a great experience. I definitely recommend the album Live at the BBC to any Beatles fans, but if you just sort of like the band and aren't exactly into them for their history and impact, than you could definitely get away with leaving this one alone.

I couldn't find the mp3 anywhere for free, but you can hear the recording from the album in this YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADlAj-p5VZ4

Ben Folds - Way to Normal

2009-05-28T00:40:00.008-05:00

Being one of the first artists I ever saw perform live, I’ve always had a special liking for Ben Folds. The songs he wrote were clever, fun and instrumentally inclined, yet at the same time he would compose songs that could both warm the soul and pull at the listener’s heartstrings. Keep in mind that I am purposely speaking in past tense because I truly believe that Ben Folds has lost his edge.

Anyone who has listened to Ben Folds knows that he’s never afraid to mix a little humor into his lyrics. Whether it’s by adding an awkward swear word amidst calming verses or simply singing of narcolepsy and shut out hippies, Folds had developed a whole new way of writing music. This formula worked great throughout his early albums, but as the years go by, the Ben Folds element has become waterlogged.

Way to Normal is an album that follows the same few concepts as all of Folds’s previous works: humor and failed romances. Unfortunately, this time around, the humor is incredibly over done and the romance is dry and impersonal. Many of the songs on the album have great potential but were stained by Folds poor lyrical commitment. Songs about free coffee, an enraged basketball slicing girlfriend and a pun worthy city in Illinois, leave you wondering what drugs Folds was on when coming up with this stuff.

As far as the romance is concerned, you can only write so many songs about the same failed relationships before the listeners begin to see it as whiny deserved bullshit, worthy of going in one ear and out the other. Although I do have to give Folds credit for the songs “You Don’t Know Me” and “Errant Dog” in which he sings of himself as being no more than an errant bitch in every relationship he’s been through. It had to of been tough putting himself down after all those songs that left the girl in the dust.

I can’t say that the entire album is terrible because it does have its strong points. “Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)” is an excellent introduction to the album and an experiment in instrumental minimalism. Also, the albums lone single “You Don’t Know Me” is hands down Way to Normal’s best track but this is undeniably because of the Regina Specktor feature. “Cologne” is a mark of musical genius, yet was unfortunately ruined by Folds ridiculous lyrical input about astronauts wearing diapers. “Bitch Went Nutz” is also an instrumental gem plagued by impersonal storytelling and the same lyrical follies found throughout the album. The entire albums piano compositions are pretty damn good but unfortunately you just can’t listen to the album and overlook words that are on top of it all. Way to Normal definitely shows that Folds has not lost his piano rock roots, but merely a few screws from his head.

As the years go by and Ben Folds continues to write music all we can hope is that he somehow finds it in himself to reject all this non-sensical writing and compose another Whatever and Ever Amen.

You can check out the album for free here:

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12945238

Shuffle...Tuesday? [Ben Folds - Learn To Live With What You Are]

2009-05-26T00:50:00.003-05:00

Firstly, let me apologize for being behind in my posting of the inaugural Shuffle Sunday, but as most of you know it was Memorial Day weekend. I was away from Internet access and spending my weekend with my wonderful girlfriend and her parents at their cottage in northern Wisconsin. But now that I am done with my excellent vacation weekend and heading closer to reality again, on with the reviews!

I was very surprised by what happened when I hit my shuffle button for this first shuffle review, but at the same time I totally saw it coming. The song that popped up, just so happens to be by the same artist that I plan to review come Wednesday. The song is "Learn To Live With What You Are" by Ben Folds.

This song comes from what I believe to be the pinnacle of Ben Folds career so far. The album Supersunnyspeedgraphic, The LP, is a compilation of songs from strictly Internet released EPs. The twelve songs that make up the album work incredibly well together, both illuminating Folds's musical ability and cleverly backing it up with his cleverly placed immaturity that Folds fans love so much.

"Learn To Live With What You Are" is a well constructed piano rock ballad using simple chord progressions backed by a beautiful string section (not included in the original sunny 16 EP recording) and led by some of Folds's best love folly lyrical guidance to date such as "And I'm not saying that the effort is a waste of time, but I/Just love you for the things you couldn't change, though you've tried."

In the end, the song is definitely one of my favorite piano ballads by Folds and the LP it comes from gets my recommendation as being one Ben Folds's best. On Wednesday I'll open up discussion for another of Ben Folds albums which may need to be looked at in a different light.

Check out the song (Track 5) here:
http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12285406

Also, here is a link to the album I reviewed last week, The Head on the Door by The Cure:
http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12856474

The Cure - The Head on the Door

2009-05-20T15:11:00.000-05:00

It took me a while to decide what kind of review I wanted to do for this first post. I mean, it’s sort of a landmark, isn’t it? Anyways, I came to the conclusion that I should make this review one with some sort of meaning to me. So I decided to review an album that I consistently refer to as one of my “top ten favorite albums of all time.”

The Cure has always held a special place in my heart, and the reasons for that are endless, but there is one reason that tops them all. Many bands of the varying alt-rock genre write most of their songs in a similar fashion, but one runs into a problem when trying to classify The Cure’s musical style. From experimental industrial type songs like “One Hundred Years” to bubblegum pop songs like “Mint Car,” The Cure does it all.

The Cure has a tendency of experimenting with styles from album to album, such as Disintegration, which revolves around an overall deep gothic rock sound, and Faith, which revolves around a more ambient experience. With that said, I’d like to bring attention to this week’s album, The Head on the Door, because this album is not necessarily an experiment in any specific type of sound, but more of a cluster of stylistic ingenuity.

The album starts off with “In Between Days.” This simple up-beat pop chart does an excellent job at pulling you into the rest of the album. The next track however makes a drastic change in styles. “Kyoto Song” pulls you in further with its ambient oriental sound. This song is also where Robert Smith begins escalating his emotions with many slow vocal builds and declines. “The Blood” hits you up with another drastic change in styles, now experimenting with a Latin/Indian make-up fronted by a powerful yet beautifully driven acoustic chord progression.

The album sinks back into a pop sound with “Six Different Ways” but instead twists the sound slightly by adding a hint of ambience and electronic elements. I really adore how bubbly Smith sings this song, and with the slightly seducing sound to his voice it really comes together well.

The next four songs experiment with the variations of instrumental to vocal intensities. “Push” keeps the same type of style as “In Between Days” yet brings the tempo down slightly and relies more on the instrumentals to build and push the vocals. “The Baby Screams” inverses the concept of “Push” and has Smith’s vocals lead the instrumentals. “Close To Me” is an instrumental minimalism experiment, using nothing more than a basic drum beat, hand claps, a quiet bass line and a small array of simple synth riffs. This group of four songs ends with “A Night Like This” where the vocals and instrumentation rely on each other, constantly switching intensities for the sole purpose of driving the song to the next level.

“Screw” is a heavily bass driven song that has three instrumental parts behind the drums and vocals, each emphasizing different beats of the drums, yet not emphasizing each other. The three sounds come together forming an excellent industrial sort of sound. The album closes beautifully with the track “Sinking,” in which Smith’s vocals slowly become more intense throughout the first three quarters of the song until he finally lets it all out in the last refrain and falling out as the rest of the band slowly sinks away to nothing.

If I had to pick a few key tracks off the album I would probably suggest “In Between Days,” “Six Different Ways,” “Close To Me” and “A Night Like This,” but in all actuality, the album is not best in small quantities. The album presents itself best in its entirety, but if you are one who loves listening to single tracks as opposed to whole albums, these selected tracks are indeed excellent.

It’s very hard to find an album in the alt-rock category whose tracks do such an amazing job complimenting each other, but this one definitely does it, and does it with style.