Label: Time Bomb Recordings Released: June 26, 2007 I’m not usually that big on greatest hits collections unless they’re from a singles-only pop band where there is no real context on the regular albums anyway. Every now and then though, a collection can tell you something that the individual albums didn’t. Such is the case with Social Distortion’s Greatest Hits…. Read more »
Label: EMI America Released: April 15, 2008 I was never quite sure if Asia was actually all that good. They were one of the first bands that I got really into once I got over Kiss. On one hand, they seem an awful lot like an AOR band. On the other hand, it’s three prog giants along with the a… Read more »
Label: Tooth & Nail Records Released: February 5, 2008 There Came a Lion is an entirely listenable album, but it is almost completely indiscernible from hundreds of other emo records. Sure, it’s well played and the songs are nearly perfect fits for the formula, but Ivoryline is really just a modern Foreigner, flawlessly executing the script and doing nothing to… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: 2007 These kids can play. There’s no doubt about that. They’re outstanding technicians and, at their age (all 18 and 19 years old), almost unparalleled. Beyond the technical though, they really struggle. Their sound eases its layers back and forth between airy and heavy, but neither conveys anything meaningful other than that they’ve practiced. Hints of life… Read more »
Label: Parks and Records Released: January 2008 I’ve seen Carcrashlander compared to Randy Newman and I can’t stand Randy Newman. After listening to the debut album (and first release by green-focused Parks and Records), one of two things must be true: Either the Randy Newman comparison is inaccurate or I need to reconsider my feelings about him. Or perhaps there… Read more »
Label: Geffen Records Released: March 18, 2008 A New Found Glory has always been a bit long on sappiness and short on edge, but when I bought Nothing Gold Can Stay, an album whose title is probably more a reference to S.E. Hinton than Robert Frost, it connected with me. It was an album that was geared toward kids 10… Read more »
Label: This Generation Tapes Released: March 4, 2008 There are two approaches to marrying rock and classical. The first takes the worst of both and dummies them down for the least common denominator. Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Metallica’s S&M have more in common with those old Hooked on Classics albums from the early 80s than they do with either classical or… Read more »
Label: Roadrunner Records Released: March 25, 2008 De Novo Dahl find themselves in the difficult position of following up their amazing Shout EP with a full-length release. Even if they were able to reproduce the exuberance of “Shout” (the best musical expression of joy since U2’s “Beautiful Day”) over the course of the entire album, I think it may well… Read more »
Label: Freestyle Records Released: March 24, 2008 The cover of Touch My Soul is a take-off on Small Faces’ Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. The song features Steve Marriott’s voice right out of “Afterglow (of Your Love).” But if you’re expecting Lack of Afro (aka Adam Gibbons) to be much like Small Faces, you’ve got another thing coming. Sure, “Afterglow” was… Read more »
Label: Astralwerks Released: February 4, 2008 Chuck and I tried this once before with Out_Circuit’s Pierce the Empire with a Sound. It went well enough that we decided to take another shot at it with Hot Chip’s latest, Made in the Dark. Things definitely had a better flow this time and I was surprised at how well we fed off… Read more »