Label: Drive-Thru Records Released: October 16, 2007 Trampoline is aptly titled, because the album has a lot of bounce and not the teeny-bopper kind of bounce either. This bounce is the combined force of Steel Train’s energy and elasticity. The band’s biggest influence is perhaps the Beatles (and who would complain?) and they draw on everything from early jangly pop… Read more »
Label: Exigent Records Released: February 26, 2008 It seems that some of the least likely bands are incorporating strings of the non-guitar variety these days. Plenty of metal and hardcore bands don’t seem to even blink at the idea anymore. Sometimes, it sticks out like a sore thumb and other times, it’s perfectly integrated. Salt Lake City’s Loom is the… Read more »
Label: Daykamp Records Released: December 4, 2007 While hard rock is probably one the easiest genres to play, it is probably one of the hardest at which to succeed. It’s has been played by so many for so long that it’s really hard to be a standout. Sure, the old hard rock regulars will flock to anything that reminds them… Read more »
Label: PRC Released: August 14, 2007 The Wildbirds draw on a variety of late 60s and early 70s influences on Golden Daze. At times they turn it into their own sound, but at other times, they filter it through more recent regurgitations, most prominently the Strokes. The first few tracks on Golden Daze get old quickly. The driving rhythms of… Read more »
Label: Cheapshock Records Released: November 5, 2007 Here’s a short list of some of the bands I can hear in Love and a .45’s music: Bad Religion, Rancid, Hole, Avail, Face to Face, a bit of the Replacements, even. The thing they all have in common is that they’re American. What’s odd is that Love and a .45 isn’t. They’re… Read more »
Label: Eschatone Records Released: November 13, 2007 Clearly, some novelty records are just silly and others are, at least on some level, actually quite serious. Words of Wisdom is certainly of the more serious variety. That’s not to say that it isn’t light-hearted, just that it has a real purpose. Brian Dewan apparently found these songs in old schoolbooks, garage… Read more »
Label: Universal Music AB Released: October 3, 2007 Even as an undercurrent to mainstream rock, a glam revival was one of the last things I expected to see. But this year has proved that a genre that was crumbling under its own bloated self twenty years ago might still have a little bit to offer. Sure, it’s full of “reunions”… Read more »
Label: Severe Records Released: December 4, 2007 A superficial reaction to Paris Luna’s City Lights might be to dismiss it as light folk rock. While it does have a few nods to bands best left forgotten like America, there is more behind it. Over the course of the album, Paris dabbles in folky pop, bluesy rock, light funk and soul… Read more »
Label: Metal Mind Productions Re-issued: 2007 Metal Mind Productions has recently re-issued Gang Green’s Roadrunner catalog on limited edition CDs. While this period may be just past their prime (1985’s Another Wasted Night), they still find Gang Green in high gear. You Got It is a lot closer to its predecessor than I remembered and it remains one of the… Read more »
Label: Holden Records Released: 2007 There is no real question that mash-ups are a novelty. Unlike a song that merely contains samples, a mash-up relies strictly on the strength of the songs that are colliding. True, there is some talent to hearing that two songs will work together and then mixing them into one. However, the result is never greater… Read more »