Sad news befalls this review with the unexpected death of local musician Jeff Lenhart from the band Xpeld who passed away recently during a show. Jeff’s untimely passing serves as a constant reminder of how precious and short life truly is. R.I.P. Jeff.
Dukes of Windsor
“The Others”
www.myspace.com/dukesofwindsor
Style (dance / indie)
A band out of Australia, who according to the bio, has a number 1 song on the Australian dance charts with their title track, “The Others”. Borrowing the phrase, what happens down under stays down under sure applies here. This is one of those CD’s where one song gets radio and club recognition but the rest of the tracks absolutely suck. This CD is an embarrassment, playing this live could insight a riot, or at least cause a rush at the ticket booth to recoup your money. I have to chuckle reading on their MySpace they consider their music rock / indie / electro. They wished it sounded like that. This music reminds me of a lab experiment gone horribly awry. The vocals are hideously high pitched neo-pathetic with music befitting a troupe of machine heads standing around stiff banging on cans. Come to think of it I'd rather listen to that noise rather than this CD. If you’ve got some unwanted house guests play this CD and you won’t be able to hold the door open fast enough for the exiting stampede. Starting out with a winner!!
Rating ½ (only for the one dance song)
Adjudgement
“Human Fallout”
www.myspace.com/adjudgement
Style (hardcore metal)
A couple things jump out at me with this CD. First is the BW photos, which are gritty, emotional, and thought provoking. The second, since this is hardcore metal, is the yelled vocals normally befitting my description “howler monkey style” but these vocals are in a higher key; howler monkey style is raspy and lower. Without the vocals being buried in a deep unintelligible guttural basement the music and lyrics stand out. And third is the song subject matter ranging from music commercialization, poverty, to socio-political economics. Though this music falls into the normal hardcore metal genre bin I found something deeper within these guys that tells me they’re aware, smart, and in touch with the reality around them . The music isn't breaking new ground in the style department but fans of this genre should dig it.
Rating 2 ½
Samael
“Solar Soul”
www.samael.info
Style (metal / gothic)
Lace up the boots, grab a black t-shirt, assemble the troops, and march in step to the revolution. The latter is my immediate reaction to the music - marching. The music has good tempo to get to steppin’ too. The CD has a high production value for a metal CD, adding in some electronica flavoring which at times fits perfectly and at other times draws attention away from the music and lyrics. The vocals are gutturally spoken dug in deep, slow, and low resembling a rhythmic pulse. The music kinda reminds me of a zombie who gets killed a dozen times but keeps coming after you. This would be a cool sound to check out live in a dark, dungeon / gothic oriented club with tripped out lighting. I’m diggin’ the slow, low, vocal presentation and added electronica.
Rating 2 ½
WCR
“self titled - West Coast Revival”
www.westcoastrevival.com
Style (Christian Rock)
I don’t listen to much Christian rock preferring more traditional and hauntingly spiritual music when dealing with religion but since this showed up on the door step I’ll give my two cents. Not really diggin’ what I’m hearing. I’m all for someone giving praise and thanks to a higher power, what ever the higher power may be, but we’ve already experienced Creed and Stryper so I ask why??? Musically the rockin’ songs, too few in my opinion, are far better then the slower songs which drag on and drag down the CD. Not to mention the middle of the CD, ironically the slowest part of the CD, wallows in obscurity and leaves me with the impression of driving along a stretch of road with untimed lights where if you miss one I'm stuck behind all of them, so I hit the gas and run the next red light hoping to change the timing. Track 9 adds a reggae influence offsetting the other songs with some upbeat fun tempo but if you’re waiting for the money shot shot by track 9 you’re better off catching the next bus downtown.
Rating 1
The Actual
“In Stitches”
www.myspace.com/theactual
Style (alternative)
Unpolished, unconventional, upbeat, a sound generating the pogo. The guitar sound is not overproduced or over scrutinized and has a natural gritty quality with punk undertones. Actually I found the whole CD having punk undertones. I’m totally diggin’ on the vocals with their rough quality too . The singer sounds like he’s been belting out lyrics all night and in the morning had to lay down vocal tracks for the disc. Given the right raucous and receptive crowd this music will make the party and provide ample opportunity for jumping around on the dance floor bumping and grinding into members of the opposite sex. I don’t know anything about this band but listening to the CD I get a sense they would go over quite well with the college scene.
Rating 3
Silent Fate
“The Autumn Machine”
www.silent-fate.com
Style (rock / metal)
In three words or less - tangents, tangents, tangents. This CD is all over the place. Vocally the CD contains a variety of styles ranging from low pitched sung, to low pitched dark and spooky spoken word, to normally sung, to high pitched balls out screaming, and not to be left out even a little howler monkey. And with a mix like this I found the most irritating and completely unneeded style to be the high pitched screaming. The music, not to be outdone by the vocals, goes from metal to rock to gothic. The beauty of the mix is the combination of these vocal and music tangents occurring in the same song. After all just because you're on a bus headed for Barstow doesn't mean a trip to Bakersfield would fit right in. Reading the press release these tangents may be the result of the years it took to finish the project (some songs sound newer), or possibly related to the different band members filtering through. Whatever the reason this CD lacks a consistent sound generating purpose. Makes me feel like I'm facing a choice between the left, right, or middle of the road with no one way actually taking me directly to my destination. I found the one shining song to be the remake of Duran Duran's song “Come Undone”.
Rating 2
Chris Francis
“Studs n’ Sisters”
www.chrisfrancis.net
Style (instrumental rock)
An offering from the 2000 Guitar Magazine ‘guitarist of the year’. Without reading the accompanying bio Chris Francis's guitar playing immediately draws comparisons to Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie, Vai, and all the other “guitar heroes” of the last 20+ years. And there alone is the problem. Too much of the same sound with a different set of strings. I'm scratching my noggin in confusion to the bio description stating this CD is “a moving and visually inspired work suggesting heart breaking love songs in Paris and pulse driving car chases through San Francisco.” Whoever wrote this description must have done so after playing some Playstation 3 car game or some French movie because the music’s nowhere near those two descriptions. Not even in the same car or in the same continent. Honestly this is the same boring ass melodic instrumental guitar sound coming from most of the praised and polished MI grads. Look, a school can teach you how to play but a school cannot teach you soul and personality, two important characteristic all artists should have. But even though I found the music boring and predictable as hell I do dig the CD title.
Rating 1 (only because of the CD title)
Fletcher Harrington
“Under the Shadow of the San Gabriel”
www.lopie.com/fletcher.htm
Style (Americana / Rock / Folk)
Dude can’t sing. Ok, let me put it another way, DUDE CAN’T SING!!!! Reading the positive remarks Harrington received from two reasonably respected news publications, The LA Times and OC Register, has me befuddled, bemused, and baffled. I’m wondering what CD Harrington sent them to review because it sure wasn’t this one. Sure is good to have friends who work at a paper who can write some kind words. Well I sure ain’t making friends with this review but if I was a friend I’d have offered some kind but honest criticism. Something along the lines of, ever been to a county fair where off in the corner is some local singer belting out his “hits” but there’s no one really hanging around listening to him because it’s best to walk away rather than stay and snicker. Or if people are hanging around they're doing so only because the beer tent or port-a-potty's are next to the stage. Nice way of saying dude you aren’t gettin’ it done. Harrington’s vibrating vocals are so distracting all I can think about is Elmer Fudd with an even more overly pronounced stuttering problem. Sure his vocals are his style but at the cost of taking away from any real “gem” quality within the music or lyrics. The bright spot is the name of the CD which I like a lot. But a good CD title doesn’t mean a good CD. Think I’ll pass on the next county fair.
Rating 1 (only because of the CD title)
Dirty South Revolutionaries
"Queen City Underground”
www.myspace.com/thedirtysouthrevolutionaries
Style (underground hardcore / punk metal)
Not simply the punishing attack of distortion, double kicks, and howler screaming I was expecting to hear. The music’s got a deep punk influence with the pitch higher than most hardcore, and get this - songs with structure. Imagine that, a hardcore metal / punk band who actually gave thought to how their songs were written. Some sections in the songs lend themselves to a tripped out desert excursion fighting off zombies or giant spiders, or maybe that was the movie I watched last night. Either way it’s freakin’ cool. The vocals are filled with a combination of punk angst and howler monkey with the angry spoken style vocals of track 9 and the jamming of vocal chords in track 4 winning me over more then the screaming simply because the screaming vocals make the music sound like all the other bands in this genre. Using the punk style more will create separation and bring about notice. One thing is for sure and can’t be overlooked, this music is definitely mosh pit material and no ones leaving without a bruise or two. And that’s just how we like our mosh pits.
Rating 3 ½
Shop Boyz
“Rockstar Mentality”
www.shopboyzonline.com
Style (hip-hop)
This CD is either a ploy to sell t-shirts based upon CD art or simply a group making a joke. The CD cover art is a skull with a black headband and two Gibson guitars with a CD title matching the artwork perfectly. The group photos have a metal / alternative style with the trio dressed in jeans and t-shirts with skulls and alternative designs (the kinda stuff sold in most shops on Melrose), studded bracelets, skull belt buckles, and long wallet chains. Before I threw the disk into my CD player the packaging has me thinking metal. And because the group is three brotha’s I’m thinking something along the style of Body Count. Well like I said above, either the Shop Boyz are using the CD as a marketing tool to sell clothing (the artwork would look cool on t-shirts) or the guys are making a joke about the rock / metal scene. I don't really know and I don't really care. Bottom line is this is hip-hop and in no way the kind that’s “off the hook” party music. The grooves and rhythms are too simple, flat, lacking a solid “bumpin” quality that’s a stable in hip-hop. The beats on the CD are sad overly tired drum machine rehashed into oblivion. Lyrically and vocally nothing more than ordinary. The tangents between the visual representation and musical style cause way too much confusion and it won't surprise me if the unknowing buying public come to the same conclusions after the first listen.
Rating 1 (totally dig the title and cover art)
