Posts Tagged ‘new releases’
Superdead…
I have been a fan of The Record Company ever since I heard Bryan Childs spin a track of theirs on Ninebullets radio. Chris Vos, Alex Stiff and Marc Cazorla play a cool sound that is part rockabilly, part rhythm and blues and all great music.
This past July they released their debut EP, Superdead. I went back and forth on what kind of review to write and finally decided to let the band and their music do most of the talking.
My favorites are, well all of them. I like the guitars, the drums and I will never say no to more bass. From the rockin’ beat of Don’t Let me Get Lonely to the gritty drums of Medicine Man and all the way to the soulful This Crooked City – this is awesome music.
Check out this video for Don’t Let Me Get Lonely -
The new EP is available to download for free over on bandcamp or from a link on the band’s website. They also have some nice vinyl for sale.
(The This Crooked City/Tallahassie Lassie limited edition 45 has me considering picking up a turntable)
You can like the guys on their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @therecordcomp.
- Kit
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Awakefulsleep…
It is supremely unfair that while I am listening and reviewing Awakefulsleep, the debut release from Chicago band The Hawthorne Effect, (John Jauch, Scott Fritz, Joe Babiak and Will Sprawls) my sore throat is preventing me from singing along to Viva,
Girl I hate to leave you but I gotta go,
Goodbye Blackwell Texas hello Mexico,
Drivin’ 85 all night but it’s still too slow…”
Viva is every rock song…well - ever…all mashed together into the ultimate ‘on the road’ anthem. It could have been gimmicky, but the pounding drums and the cool guitar echo effect raise it to epic levels of awesome.
Yes, there are some slower tracks on Awakefulsleep but my favorites are definitely Viva and the other rock numbers Devil Don’t Care and Drunk Mistake.
The tracklist ends with Goodbye, a quiet little tune that slowly builds and flows into a nice rock number. Goodbye never gets quite as hard as I wanted (hey, the heart wants what it wants) but it does remake the power ballad formula in some innovative ways.
This is a solid effort for a debut album and I really like the layers, both instrumental and vocal in the songs. Not only am I enjoying the album, but I’m also looking forward to hearing where they take their music in the future.
You all can download the track Drunk Mistake for free from soundcloud (link above in the demo track) and can preview three more songs from the album over on The Hawthorne Effect bandcamp page. Catch up with the band on their Reverbnation page or on Facebook.
You can also preview and/or purchase the entire album over on CD Baby.
Awakefulsleep releases today, July 10, 2012. Snag a copy and rock your summer.
- Kit
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Left Over Right
About ten minutes into Left Over Right by The Sights it was easy to tell this was going to be a ‘toss some burgers on the grill, put the beer and soda on ice and yell for all the neighbors to come over and have a party’ album.
The tracks are rock with a great rhythm & blues vibe running through them. My favorites are Fool, with it’s slammed by a freight train intro,
You Are The Sunshine, for its Carolina Beach Music sound that pulls everyone out on the patio to do the shag, and Mercy because sometimes I just need a cool saxophone sound with my guitars.
Left Over Right is an awesome album you will want to share. Pick up a copy, have your family or friends over and just throw a party or barbecue while it plays.
You can check out more music from the band on their website or their facebook page. You can also follow them on Twitter @TheSightsArmy.
Left Over Right releases tomorrow, June 19th and is available on CD or Vinyl from the website and as a digital download from iTunes and Amazon.
- Kit
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Once Upon A Time In The West…
The ‘Bit is reading John Steinbeck for her English class so it seemed serendipitous to start my review of Once Upon a Time in the West, the new album from The White Buffalo (Jake Smith, Matt Lynott, Tommy Andrews) with a quote from another California storyteller:
We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say — and to feel — Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought…”
Jake Smith does this. Whether he is singing about growing up in California in BB Guns and Dirtbikes, or about the things many of us long to do over in Wish it Was True, his skill as a songwriter, as a storyteller, shines through. When he sings the words just pour out and I find myself remembering and feeling - yes, that is the way it was.
My favorites are The Pilot, which has become my go-to song for those bad days when I feel like “kickin ass and taking names”, Wish it Was True, full of grim regrets and broken promises, the honky tonk vibe of Good Ole Day to Die and the mournful One Lone Night:
I’m dreamin’ wide awake, sleepwalkin’ shake the dust out.
Got to give this heart a break, I can’t seem to slow the beats down…”
So beautiful, but with an edge that digs in and hurts. I don’t know how many of the stories that Jake tells are real but it doesn’t matter because they all -feel- real. He doesn’t just write songs; he weaves worlds. That’s music.
Bottom line – I love this album. Yes go buy it. Or listen to the tracks below, then go buy it.
Check out The White Buffalo website for concert info and videos. You can like The White Buffalo on Facebook or follow @blancobuffalo on Twitter.
Once Upon a Time in the West is set to release on Feb 28, 2012. You can also pre-order a copy from iTunes or Amazon.
- Kit Tweet
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Hard times come, hard times go…
-Kit
When was the last time you did something for the first time…
Okay, I like guitars. Eddie is an epic guitarist. I play Eruption in my head when I am bored or I need to wake up and don’t have access to coffee. Eddie plays Eruption on his guitar. There is no bad here. So when I went to review the new release from Van Halen, A Different
Kind of Truth, I thought it was going to be an easy post.
I was so wrong.
Look, I am all about finding great music and passing it on to other people. It’s possible that I might be just a tiny bit addicted to the rush I get when I hear an amazing song for the first time and the music just washes through me and lets me ‘feel’ the sound as much as I hear it. I just wish more of this album had made me feel that way.
There are some great tracks. China Town is pretty awesome. This song reaches out, grabs you and slams you against the wall as if to say, ‘HEY, LET’S ROCK-NOW’. The guitar is still classic Eddie, but somehow even more so and Dave just rules the world on it. It’s my favorite track from the album.
I also like the blues flavor and Dave’s phrasing on Stay Frosty and love The Trouble With Never for its heavy bite and hard edge. As Is starts off with booming drums and blasting guitars but then abruptly backs off the intensity and kind of turns into Sweet. Yeah, I don’t get it either but it makes a wild 70′s sound that is pretty cool.
Die hard fans of the band will probably disagree, but I thought the other tracks were kind of ‘meh’. None of the remaining songs match the awful of Tattoo, but none of them is anything extra special. This doesn’t make it a bad album, but it isn’t a great one either.
You can preview several tracks over on the Van Halen News Desk or on the band’s website.
A Different Kind of Truth is scheduled to release Tuesday, Feb 7th. You can pick it up at all the usual online vendors but you may want to buy a hardcopy for Dave’s handwritten and illustrated liner notes.
- Kit Tweet
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Gotta get there while I still can…
Okay, I can write a three page review describing in great detail every sound and nuance on Harlem River Blues, the new release by Justin Townes Earle or I can just let you all listen to it and save us some time.
Don’t get me wrong – the album is very, very good. Possibly his best and strongest work yet. But there are already hundreds of reviews out in print and on the net that break everything down, song by song and lyric by lyric so it seems a little redundant to go that direction.
Instead here is my review:
Harlem River Blues is really good. Listen to several of the tracks from it below, then go pick it up.
Harlem River Blues is available from eMusic, Amazon and other retailers.
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You’ll see I’m not that easy to forget…
One of the best things about the internet and higher speed connections is access to videos, music and interviews from bands and performers that many of us would never see or hear without it. Before the internet and high speed exploded any artist considered 
indie/small/local was limited to whatever local exposure they could scrape up. If they were based in a city they were big in that city and the rest of us struggled to get their music.
Now it has all changed. Instead of emailing and scouring mailing lists or bulletin boards for that tiny little two minutes of someone performing we can just log onto any site and get music and videos.
This makes me very happy.
While watching Leverage a few weeks ago, Christian Kane sang a song in one of the episodes. I liked it so much I went hunting for a copy of it. I discovered he not only sang it, he also co-wrote the song with Blair Daly. (This happens to me a lot lately. I kind of enjoy it) I picked up a copy of the song Thinking of You from his website along with his new EP.
You can listen to Thinking of You and the new EP on the website.
I love Thinking of You (hey, I went hunting for it). The harder party songs on the EP have kind of a Brooks and Dunn feel to them and the slower numbers just sound like Kane. Predictably, I didn’t really like the big video song The House Rules but I very much like Whiskey in Mind.
You can pick up any of the tracks on Christian Kane’s website or you can download them and the video for The House Rules on Itunes.
- Kit
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- Blurred…
February 12, 2013 | 4:06 pm
I have been trying to write the review for Blurred, by San Francisco singer/songwriter Alex Wise for a few months now but can’t seem to finish it. This is difficult for me to say but I get about halfway through the process and find myself so homesick I just can’t continue. The past few years have been full [...] - Arc & Stones…
February 11, 2013 | 4:53 am
Now that Scooter is back sleeping nights I proclaim this ’dig myself out from under the mountain of un-reviewed music‘ week. Kicking off the week o’reviewing is Arc & Stones, the debut EP from Brooklyn band Arc & Stones. The guys are Dan Pellarin (vocals), Ben Cramer (guitar), Joe Doino (drums) and Eddy Bayes (bass). I had [...] - Telegraph Taboo…
January 21, 2013 | 8:45 am
So, I was in the mood for some blues and whoosh – blues appeared. Other people get coupons, bills and news updates in the mail while I get blues music. Cool new blues music in the form of the debut release Telegraph Taboo from the Chicago-based band Nick and the Ovorols. This is not a pretty album. The vocals on a few tracks [...] -
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