Thursday, July 29, 2010

Hey Everyone (A Message, and New Releases)

For the few of you reading, you may have noticed our daily posts have abruptly stopped. I have written this post to tell you that this IS NOT out of sudden laziness by our staff of two. The reasons we have failed to post include:
  • Adams new job
  • An unavoidable circumstance I have to tend to over the next week
  • A lack of editors
If you are fed up with a temporary (We will get up to speed later this week) loss of content, why not make your own? We are looking for article and reviews editors, and you have no idea how much you're needed this week for reviews and an article (if you can handle it). For info, send an email to filler2001@gmail.com

Thanks a bunch,
Alex
Editor-in-chief

And without further ado, this week's new releases

Friday, July 23, 2010

Review: Korn - Korn III: Remember Who You Are (2010)

 

Release Date: July 6
Length: 44:40
Genre: Nu-Metal

Since the late 90s nu-metal has been one of metals most controversial sub-genres. Many people have called it "fake metal" because it has a mixture of hip-hop and metal which has never really sat well with many die hard metalheads. Korn, a nu-metal band from California, has been no exception to the backlash. Since they hit success they've had many fans all over the world, but also many haters just like some of their nu-metal counterparts such as Slipknot, Mudvayne, and Limp Bizkit.

With all of that being said, I myself am a fan of nu metal and think that, like all genres, there is a lot of good but also a lot of bad in it. Korn has been one of the better nu-metal bands throughout the years in my opinion. Although, before I listened to this album I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it because the last few from them have been lackluster to say the least. It has seemed like age had caught up with them and they were just having trouble capturing that classic Korn sound. This album however seems to go more towards the sound of their albums like Follow The Leader and their self titled album.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Folk Metal: One of Metals Fastest Growing Sub-Genres

If you went up to a random person on the street and asked them if they could name a folk metal band, most of them would look at you like you have four heads. However, folk metal is one of metals fastest growing sub-genres. Its popularity is growing among Metalheads all around the world but especially in Europe. It is one of the most unique types of metal ever to come onto the scene combining traditional folk instruments with other metal sub-genres such as black metal, death metal, and even symphonic metal.

Monday, July 19, 2010

New Releases: July 19-25

I'm going to be putting new releases up here every week now, to kick off the more news-y feel we're going to be transitioning towards eventually (Along with giving attention to albums that sneak up on us). These dates come directly from Metacritic.

19 July 
Monday
RPA & United Nations Of Sound [The Verve's Richard Ashcroft]RPA & United Nations Of Sound
20 July Tuesday
Big Head Todd And The Monsters
Rocksteady
Black Veil Brides
We Stitch These Wounds
Sheryl Crow100 Miles From Memphis
Department Of Eagles
Archive 2003-2006
Flore
Raw
Frazey Ford
Obadiah
Jimmy Gnecco [OURS]The Heart
The High Confessions [Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, Chris Connelly of Ministry, Revolting Cocks]Turn Lead Into Gold With High Confessions
Honor Bright
Action! Drama! Suspense!
Lil Joe
Lil Joe High School Dropout
Lower Dens
Twin-Hand Movement
Rick Ross
Teflon Don
Sleigh Bells
Treats
These United StatesWhat Lasts

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Review: Prince - 20ten (2010)


Release Date: July 10
Length: 39:18
Genre: Funk, Rock, Pop

Other than George Clinton, I've always considered Prince to be a 'king of funk', having the greatness of 1984's Purple Rain along with his long lasting career to attest to this. One of the things I've admired so much about his work is that he seems to keep his overall style (in most respects) as it did in the 80's, even as music moved forward. Somehow though, I feel his refusal to change is what allowed his music to stay really, really fresh (fine, much of his work has been pretty mediocre lately, but I am referring to his total career since 1990-...oh, shut up).

20ten acts as a follow-up to 2009's lackluster Lotusflow3r, and is Prince's twenty-seventh studio album. The album released by unconventional means, being sold with copies of European magazines as a free cover mount, after making the interesting declaration that "the internet is totally over", and refuses to provide the album over download (even though it has failed to prevent other people from uploading said album). Unsurprisingly, on the day the album was included in these publications, sales of UK's The Daily Mirror and The Daily Record increased by 334,000 and 45,000 copies respectively. My hopes for the album dwindled as I had realized that his style of release would be a great way to bring attention to an album that is otherwise poor. All I can say to that is...

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Review: Soulfly - Omen (2010)

Release Date: May 25, 2010
Length: 40:35
Genre: Groove Metal, Nu-Metal

Soulfly for years has been one of metals biggest bands. They've been known for their mixture of heavy music and traditional Brazilian sounds which have always come together to make a very cool and powerful sound. Lead singer Max Cavalera who left the band Sepultura in 1996 to form the band took the underground fame that Sepultura had with metalheads and ran with it. Over the years they have made solid album after solid album.

Since I have a real love for this band I was excited when their new album came out, but from the start I was a little bit taken back. When I listen to an album I'm used to hearing some kind of intro which I like because I think that it starts it off well but the first track, "Bloodbath & Beyond" sounded more like it should have gone somewhere in the middle of the album because it started with no rhyme or reason.

Review: Nappy Roots - The Pursuit of Nappyness (2010)


Release Date: June 15
Length: 61:07
Genre: Rap/Hip Hop/Various

I really wish hip hop would stop getting such a bad repertoire when being judged as a genre. Every time I glance at a Facebook page of some musically inept person, it will typically read "I like everything except rap and country", or even worse, having a list of artists that are now used to represent these two displaced genres, such as Lil Wayne, Rascal Flatts, 50 Cent, and Taylor Swift. It's not that I hold a grudge against any of these artists in general, its just that these artists stand as terrible representations of the genres at hand (country pop is a subgenre, not an acceptable replacement for country). However, hip-hop is becoming a very difficult genre to classify these days. While there is a set definition for hip hop, samples involving typically unrelated genres have been known to cause certain genres to blur the line between genre and sub-genre (A very crude example would be Lil Wayne's Rebirth). Nappy Roots has been noticing this modern trend for the last decade, and is using this knowledge to turn hip hop (and rap) on its head.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Review: M.I.A. - "Maya" (2010)





 
Release Date: July 13th, 2010
Length: 41:31
Genre: Electronic, Hip-Hop, Experimental


 M.I.A. is a British rapper who has been in the mainstream since around 2005 when she put out her first album, "Arular" and was an accomplished visual artist by 2002.

This album came out on July 13th (Although I got it a few days early thanks to the power of the internet) and I had been waiting for this album for months now. Right off the bat it caaught my ears with the song "The Messenger" which is definitely a very interesting song. It really set the tone for the rest of the album in a way because in general I found this album to be very different from M.I.A.'s previous albums. In her other two previous albums, "Arular" and "Kala", there was a very strong Hip-Hop feel to it.


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Over the Horizon: New Albums to Look out for in 2010

By Alex C.

Looking at video gaming and film, it's not out of the ordinary for many releases to be anticipated for rediculously long periods of time (sometimes up to two years). However, most album releases are pushed under the rug for the mainstream until just a month or so before release. It's not like the album hasn't been announced, but advertisement isn't being pushed anymore, and honestly, I can't help but be just a bit shocked.

Review: Ocean's Next Victim - Giving Life to the Dead (2009)


Release Date: March
Length: 43:00
Genre: Electronic


 Giving Life to the Dead is the 2009 debut album of Ocean's Next Victim, a not-so-well-known amateur musician and composer. With a style of music combining the piano with the synth, the only possible way of classifying this music would be to call it a love child concieved between a video game score and a concept album of trance-infused hip hop beats (Notably, the album includes a cover of a well known theme in Silent Hill 2).

A New Blog, and A New Beginning

For those of you who don't know, this blog is a fresh start from my failed "website", Alex's Quill, a personal webpage devoted to my writing. However, the entire thing was a pain in the ass to navigate, and I've decided to just start fresh, only reposting my already completed reviews from this year (Note, the order I posted these reviews was most recent -> oldest, meaning the post beneath this was written in early January -- you may want to use the sidebar to select a review of your choice to read). Starting tomorrow, expect to see articles on the site as well, and once I have enough established articles and features to consider this a real music blog (I'm not sure why I need to classify a music blog as real), I will start searching for something of a staff to write for this.

Here goes nothing,

Alex

PS. If anyone knows how to indent on one of these bad boys, feel free to pass it along.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Review: Darius Rucker - Learn to Live (2008)



Release Date: September 2008
Length: 43:28
Genre: Country
Today I want to tell you about a little band called Hootie & The Blowfish. It was a popular band throughout the 90's, and even if you don't think you know who they are, you probably do. Just look up the band on Youtube or something...........yeah, that band. Well, after the band split in the last few years, their lead singer, Darius Rucker, decided to pursue a country music career. His first album has become relatively succesful, and because of his supposed talent, he has become the second black person to win a CMT award. I am not personal to modern country (actually, I dislike it very strongly), but I had decided that this album was something I had to hear solely due to it's connection with 'Hootie'.

Review: Ringo Star - Y NOT (2010)


Release Date: January 12
Length: 36: 49
Genre: Rock
I could never get into The Beatles. I can understand why people enjoy their work I guess, but nothing beyond the song Let it Be has ever impressed me enough to give them an honest listen. I was however interested when drummer Ringo Starr was going to put out a new solo album, as he seemed to be the Beatle who recieved the least attention, and it certainly had one of the more interesting titles I have had the pleasure of noticing in quite some time. Going into this record, I was a bit excited to review this, because it is one title that I will get to worry about less as far as bias is concerned. I have walked into this album with no expectations of good or bad, since I don't care one way or another about The Beatles, and I have never heard any of his solo work.

Review: Barenaked Ladies - All in Good Time (2010)


Release Date: March 23
Length: 50:09
Genre: Alternative Rock
As you may know, I have certain affections for pop bands of the 1990s. I honestly love them, because it's what I grew up on. Yeah, some (read: most) of it was bubblegum pop, but I still click with it. I have noticed an interesting trend among pop groups in the 1990's. After they all faded in about 2002, they became less and less pop oriented, and actually become quite respectable musicians. This is particularly notable for Counting Crows, who actually had more and more meaningful music as time went on.

Review: Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave (2010)




Release Date: February 23

Length: 32:21

Genre: Americana

In Johnny Cash's final nine years being alive (1995-2003) , he has transformed entirely as a musician. Once known as the freight train Man in Black of country rock legend, he turned into a reflective 70 year old man warning sinners about the nature of God, as well as singing about the beauty of the life he once lived. It's actually amazing how beautiful his decaying voice sounds, especially in his final recordings, when he barely has the power to sing anymore. Most of these recordings were carried out via the American Recording series, a several volume album series made up of with producer Rick Rubin. In the first three volumes of this series, albeit still being very good, the music sounded more of an aged Johnny Cash trying to be regular Johnny Cash. However, IV takes a very dramatic turn, in which Cash actually sings of his emotions. It's almost to the point where, as of the fourth volume, the album mood shifts from "Songs being covered by Johnny Cash" into "Songs that now belong to Johnny Cash". This trend continued into the fifth volume, notably in the song God's Gonna Cut You Down, in which the original song's warnings of divine wrath are turned into utter promises. Four years later, a new volume of this work arises. WillAmerican VI join the ranks of the previous two volumes, or are you about to read a review of an album made up of leftovers?

Review: Dropkick Murphy's - Live on Lansdowne (2010)


Release Date: March 16
Length: 1:26:19
Genre: Celtic Punk
Let's see........I openly started listening to music maybe........five years ago. That's about right. There are a few bands I remember being a part of that: Fall Out Boy (urgh), Sean Paul (ehhhhhh), Live, and Dropkick Murphys. Of these bands, Dropkick Murphys is the only one I have managed to still enjoy. The style of punk being fused with Celtic stylings has (for whatever reason) stayed appealing to me, in particular the song Sunshine Highway. A Massachusetts band formed in 1996, Dropkick Murphy's have been one of the more well known punk bands to hit the scene over the last decade, and since then, they have constantly been refining their style to be appealing to every demographic they have the potential of appealing to. The refinement can be seen throughout they're discography, especially once you listen to their first EP Boys on the Docks, and immediately follow up with their most recent album, The Meanest of Times. It's almost mind blowing.

Live on Lansdowne, Boston MA is their most recent release, and this album is (as you've probably inferred from the cover) a live one. Seeing as this is a live album, it would be rather unfair if I try complaining about the flow, so I'll find other stuff to talk about.

The setlist is actually very impressive, containing mostly songs out of Dropkicks most recent two albums, with a few exceptions tossed in. The most notable songs on here (not counting the singles and songs that get played at every single show) include Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya (If you like punk chantey's, this is for you!), Sunshine Highway, Flannigans Ball, Caught in a Jar, and one of my favorites by the band, The Dirty Glass (featuring Stephanie Dougherty on awesome backing vocals). And of course, there is going to be a very cool rendition of Shipping Up to Boston at the end, and in fact, it features some very special guests from another band with an album I [LINK] reviewed.

As far as how well those songs were played, I'm a bit mixed. On one hand, the songs are altered in some very cool ways. Many of the songs have altered instrumental arrangements, and of course, we all know how much cooler songs sound when recorded live. However, I also have a problem with how the tracks were mastered. The audiences cheering is used at the beginning and end of the tracks, but everywhere inbetween is cleaned up so well that it sounds more like re-recorded tracks than a live performance. Also, the aforementioned Shipping Up to Boston didn't have quite as much collaboration as I would have liked, but it was still very enjoyable.

Live on Lansdowne is one of the better live albums I have heard. Although there are a few things I would have liked to be changed, I am more than happy at what I was given.
Let's see........I openly started listening to music maybe........five years ago. That's about right. There are a few bands I remember being a part of that: Fall Out Boy (urgh), Sean Paul (ehhhhhh), Live, and Dropkick Murphys. Of these bands, Dropkick Murphys is the only one I have managed to still enjoy. The style of punk being fused with Celtic stylings has (for whatever reason) stayed appealing to me, in particular the song Sunshine Highway. A Massachusetts band formed in 1996, Dropkick Murphy's have been one of the more well known punk bands to hit the scene over the last decade, and since then, they have constantly been refining their style to be appealing to every demographic they have the potential of appealing to. The refinement can be seen throughout they're discography, especially once you listen to their first EP Boys on the Docks, and immediately follow up with their most recent album, The Meanest of Times. It's almost mind blowing.

Review: Hot Chip - One Life Stand (2010)


Release Date: February 1
Length: 49:37
Genre: Electropop
For a band that has been around since the turn of the millenium, I am surprised Im not aware of these fellows from Great Britain. I actually found this record because an acquaintance of mine recommended I see a sweet music video by them (And yeah, it is pretty sweet. I'll link it at the end of the review). With so many albums now on my plate (14 so far from this year or so, prepare for some multi-reviews in the future), I sort of went for this album on impulse, mostly because of how much I enjoyed the music video. Hot Chip is a band focusing on mixes of pop, electronica, and something I read about on Wikipedia called "Alternative dance". Supposedly, it fuses electronic dance music with rock, which sounds pretty sweet in concept. Let's see if the album turns out to be as sweet.

Multi Review Madness: Ska, Rock, Stand-Up, and Whatever Gorillaz Is


Today, Im going to be doing some mini reviews for some albums I've listened to but don't want to write full reviews for. Expect a long-ass text wall out of this. Enjoy.
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (2010)
Release Date: March 3
Length: 56:46
Genre: Electropop/Hip Hop
As a big release, one would probably want to know why I didn't decide to give this album a full review. My reason is simple: this album has been talked about to death. However, loving Gorillaz, I have decided that I wanted to give you guys my input on this in some form. Anyways, this is Gorillaz (A virtual band from the minds of David Albarn and Jamie Hewlett) third studio album, following the incredible Demon Days, as well as their self titled album. Overall,Plastic Beach has taken quite a large step away from the beat heavy experimental tracks in favor of some slightly experimental hip hop and pop fusions.Honestly, I'm a bit uncomfortable with it. With the amount of hip hop influences in this (such as Kano, De La Soul, and Snoop Dogg himself), this album has changed tone to become something of a high production mix tape with professional beats backing it. The thing I'm most uncomfortable with is that Gorillaz tried way too hard to experiment with Plastic Beach, and I can't help but feel that this album isn't even close to the excellence of the first two studio albums. That said, there is certainly quite a bit of praise to go towards the album itself. The flow is fantastic, and there are at least a few tracks which I would openly call good to the point of insanity. Alright, maybe not that good, but pretty damn good. These songs include Superfast Jellyfish (a song added in just for the sake of catchiness, but man, does it do a good job), White Flag (Heavy orchestra, awesome lyrics, and sweet beats? This is basically the definition of "hell yeah"), and Some Kind of Nature (By far the best song on the album, the song combines Lou Reeds soothing voice and an upbeat yet mellow melody). To put my opinions of this album into perspective, do you see those three excellent tracks I've just described? Demon Dayshas six songs on the album which easily surpass these three, and the other nine all come pretty damn close, and would be surpassing as well if it wasn't for the outside influences of Lou Reed. As far as other tracks go, the other songs on Plastic Beach are pretty decent, with a few I would call quite good. Although this was a good album, and I certainly recommend it, Plastic Beach just does not match up to Gorillaz other albums, and I'd like you (if possible) to keep that out of your mind (And wish to apologize that that will now be a bit difficult having read this review).

Review: Ed Kowalczyk - Alive (2010)


Release Date: July 6
Length: Unknown
Genre: Alternative
As a person who reviews music, it may be slightly surprising that one of the bands that got me into music was in fact, Live. Although the band is widely known for their use of bubble gum pop based tunes, something has continued to strike me about their music, particularly the video for the song Lightning Crashes. Among a swarm of music videos involving stardom and sex, this band had the balls to release a video discussing a mothers gruesome end in a hospital bed due to a miscarriage. I've seen this band once, and upon seeing lead singer Eds booming entry upon the stage to the song All Over You, I whimpered "badass" towards the stage, and towards one of the first musicians I had ever found a profound respect for.

Review: Serj Tankian - Elect the Dead (2007)


Release Date: October 22
Length: 45:03
Genre: Modern Rock
You know, I've never considered myself to be a fan of System of a Down. With the mixture of two genres Ive always tended to dislike (alternative metal combined with modern progressive rock), the music of this band (and its singer) had been constantly drowned out by my earlier adolesence as "Typical Hot Topic bullshit". In recent weeks, however, I had heard frontman Serj Tankians voice while wandering the internet for new music to sink my teeth into, and something about his voice really intrigued me. I wouldn't even say that the voice belonged to someone with immense talent, but the voice I had heard was so different than the other voices heard in music today, I just couldn't help but somehow get pulled in by it.