Music Reviews of Punk, Indie Rock, Emo, Ska
Band Spotlight
Chiodos
Perhaps no one can explain the sheer ferocity and timid quietness it is better than when vocalist Craig Owens says “we don’t want to let the kids down” when discussing the group’s intense vocals live at shows. Well they never let a single kid down with their vicious assault on the ears and grip on the jugular...
Subscribe to our mailing list
Current Top Ten Chart
Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker
Converge - No Heroes
The Graduate - Anhedonia
Death By Stereo - Death Alive
Comeback Kid - Broadcasting
The Snake The Cross The Crown - Cotton Teeth
Dear and the Headlights - Small Steps, Heavy Hooves
The Geeks - Every Time We Fall
Limbeck - Limbeck
WinterKids - Memoirs
03.09.2007 by J-Sin
Music Reviews of Punk, Indie Rock, Emo, Ska
Wintersleep — Wintersleep Buy it at Amazon
Canadian indie rock has found its way into my heart before. It might just settle down and live in there for a while. After you get done listening to the majestic sweeping harmonies of Wintersleep you realize, holy crap, this is one of those bands I must share with others! Calling a small Nova Scotia town their native land, Wintersleep even boasts a name that evokes images of the Great North. But their sound is fortunate to not boast any cold interludes; instead you have warm and fuzzy indie pop that encircles the listener with multiple angles from guitar, vocals, and post-Tortoise rock in the vein of Mogwai.
- J-Sin
The Gena Rowlands Band — Flesh and Spirits Buy it at Amazon
After working alongside Anti-Social Music, The Gena Rowlands Band strikes out alone once again with their magnificent “Flesh and Spirits”. An album sure to inspire a lot of budding independent musicians, “Flesh and Spirits” seems destined to go down as a stunning display of creative songwriting. Armed with encouraging song arrangements and perfect lyrical wit, The Gena Rowlands Band proves that something productive can come from our nation’s capital.
- J-Sin
Slaraffenland — Private Cinema Buy it at Amazon
Meaning the “land of milk and honey” in Danish, Slaraffenland uses multiple instruments including woodwinds and brass horns along with your standard rock group setup to compose noisy indie rock. As art rockers the group slices and dices melodies with gang vocals raining in from all sides. Explosive guitars jangle while noisy soundscapes are composed around vocals that are visceral and imaginative. Very different even for the Hometapes label.
- J-Sin
Sherwood — A Different Light Buy it at Amazon
Having toured alongside This Providence and Daphne Loves Derby, Sherwood were able to put together a bit of a following. Combine that with their recent signing to MySpace Records and you have the recipe for success. Catchy pop hooks are blended with teenager approved lyrics and are garnished with nifty melodic vocals. Produced by Lou Giordano who has tackled great bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Taking Back Sunday, and Husker Du, “A Different Light” is an enigmatic indie rock album chock full of power pop melodies and sugary vocals. A pleasant listen for sure.
- J-Sin
Hotpipes — Hotpipes Buy it at Amazon
Off-time drumming, staggering discordant guitars, and a vocalist who sounds as if he drinks warm beer. Yeah that’s Hotpipes for ya. Chugging guitars that are more garage punk than the Strokes make Hotpipes an item that will no doubt be popular outside of the MySpace crowds as their vocalist sounds like the dude from the Flaming Lips. Having only been around for some four years, the group already boasts two self-released albums as well as their debut on Vacant Cage Records that was released two years ago. Hotpipes doesn’t care for anthems but instead goes for the jugular with loud clanging music that you’ll love if you’re into any of those darn “The” bands.
- J-Sin
The Graduate — Anhedonia Buy it at Amazon
Dustin Hoffman, where are you? Produced by Brian McTernan, a hot producer these days whose known for his past work with such “it” bands as Moneen, Senses Fail, Thrice, and Circa Survive, “Anhedonia” is a magical accomplishment of rousing melodies. Looking towards U2’s The Edge for guitar guidance, The Graduate have developed a unique almost shoegazing indie rock flavor that creates a tension-and-release feeling wrought with emotional cuts. Vocally, The Graduate’s Corey Warning manages to push the indie rock envelope with emotional melodic vocals and plenty of multiple vocal layers. I can’t remember a better way to start an album than with “Sit & Sink”—but this is an album boiling over with gut-wrenching post-emo pop-rock anthems. The groups inspirations are the aforementioned U2 as well as Coldplay, Mute Math, and Death Cab for Cutie but their sound is not only compelling and intriguing, it’s not mimicking anything but rather truly inspired which is a breath of fresh air in the cookie cutter universe of indie rock. To sum it up: you need this album to survive.
- J-Sin
Heat From a DeadStar — The Lighthouse Buy it at Amazon
Ambient experimental rock that isn’t afraid to be as noisy as Fugazi and as angry as Refused. How often do you get to say that? Not many times I promise you. With Heat From a DeadStar you get to say that four times over on this new imaginative EP, “The Lighthouse”. While not every song is ‘angry’ per-say, they all seem to reside firmly on the negative tip of the emotional rollercoaster. Fitting melodies meet crafty songwriting head-on with well deserved hooks roping you in to bring you a bit closer.
- J-Sin
Wooden Ghost — True Gold Does Not Fear the Refiners Fire Buy it at Amazon
A Brooklyn based group of musicians unafraid to record daring indie rock music, Wooden Ghost have assembled a slew of heavy and dense songs thick with distortion and misdirection. Loaded to the hilt with bass and steady rhythmic percussion, “True Gold...” finds multi-instrumentalist Brent Cole joining forces with fellow collaborators Scott Loving (guitar) and Michael Napolitano (drums). The result has Wooden Ghost pushing forth an album that will have critics in the indie rock world going ga-ga.
- J-Sin
Autovein — Bullets and Bruises Buy it at Amazon
Bryan Roach and company have managed to already play shows alongside such big names in the emo and punk world as Fall Out Boy, Coheed and Cambria, Pedro the Lion, Jimmy Eat World, as well as groups like Lost Prophets, Tom Petty, and Cake. All that via self-promotion and self-produced demos. Autovein isn’t just a hard-working band anymore though, now they’re now as that opening act that blew away the main headliner. “Bullets and Bruises” is a pop-punk cum indie rock joint produced by GGGarth Richardson (Rise Against, Mudvayne, Chevelle, and Rage Against the Machine). There are elements of Foo Fighters stirred in with Nickelback, and amazingly it works.
- J-Sin
Witches With Dicks — Manual Buy it at Amazon
Punk rock that has pop but not in the mall nonsense way. Remember the way that the Vans Warped Tour used to sound (Screeching Weasel anyone?), well that’s Witches with Dicks. Bringing the DIY ethic back to center focus, the group isn’t afraid to play at house shows, post on messageboards, and do the things that you won’t find most any band on MTV or Fuse doing. “Manual” gives punk hope again.
- J-Sin
Read More Music Reviews