Art is subjective interpretation. Catching the ear or eye of the unsuspecting passerby can lead to either praise or ridicule. For some the praise will inspire pursuit to continue onto the next level, while ridicule will crystallize scorn and the eye opening realization of the true reality.
To all I review I wish you All the Best.
Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys
Self titled
www.myspace.com/armyoftoys
Style (bizarre)
Ever pick up a musical instrument and start banging on it thinking the sounds you’re producing are cool, funky, offbeat, hip, a new musical revolution? Here’s a prime example of a musical revolution destined for retreat and reminiscent of the phrase “Abandon Ship!”. The accompanying bio describes this CD as “traveling through tunnels & dreams”, “special blend of Death Folk”, and my favorite “a musical alchemy, fingering the rabbit hole of performance art...weaving a spider web of Death Folk, Texture-Core, organic industrial.” What the “F” is that!!! This is death folk alright! I’m slowly dying having subjected myself to this crap. I feel like I’m listening to beatnik kaleidoscope poetry without sense, purpose, or reason (only reason is because they can), where the only mercy found is encapsulated in a mushroom cloud of bong hits and extra strength codeine. For those who listen to Marilyn Manson, this music reminds me of those short songs at the end of his CD’s that ramble making no sense acting as pure arcane filler. I’m worried for America because the bio said this duo was traveling across the country bringing the their brand of music to the masses. I pray for an empty gas tank somewhere in middle America.
Rating ½ (why I don’t know)
Severe Torture
“Sworn Vengeance”
www.myspace.com/severetorture
Style (Death Metal)
What can I really say about this CD that hasn’t already been said for the dozens of other Dutch death metal bands I’ve either listened to or reviewed? Not much. I dig the look of the band more than the music. The songs are basic run of the mill death metal with a blistering double kick, crunchy raw guitars, and the ever present incoherent howler monkey vocals. Wait a minute I found something new to say. And this will be useful to any and all bands so listen up, especially if you’re pushing death metal or any hardcore metal for that matter. When photo day comes around, even if it’s a photo taken backstage after a gig, never, wait let me rephrase that, DO NOT have a photo taken sporting an “Empire Strikes Back” t-shirt. And in the off chance someone did take a backstage photo of you with this shirt on NEVER, EVER use it as part of the CD photos. Doesn’t matter if this is your favorite all time movie and you can recite the script line for line. All that points out is that you’re a geek and does nothing to sell the whole death metal / hardcore persona. For that matter taking any picture, of any kind, with an “Empire Strikes Back” shirt on isn’t cool in any way, shape, or form.
Rating 1 (Could there be a connection between death star and death metal? I wonder.)
Emigrate
Self titled
www.myspace.com/emigrate
Style (Rock / Industrial)
This has got potential. The artwork is conceptual futuristic, which I’m totally diggin’, but the music is powerful, straight forward with excellent guitar grooves, body bumping drums, excellent mid-range vocals, great song tempo and progression through the CD. The industrial quality is perfectly placed to break up and change the song flow adding a directional dimension. But what I really dig about this sound is its crossover possibilities. Give this to a talented remixer and some of the songs, fused with a blaring PA and killer purple, magenta, and blue lasers and strobes, could dominate an underground club play list, more so in a club with a gothic sextopia clientele. Good times on a packed dance floor.
Rating 4
Onesta
“Back to Reality”
www.myspace.com/onesta
Style (hardcore, with a little urban zest)
Oh yea, this gets the joint jumpin!!! Onesta's MySpace has them classified as a hardcore / hip-hop style band out of Paris. Outfitted with a solid hardcore backbone and a small mix of hip-hop has materialized one lethal combination destined to set the place on fire – minus the pyro, least we remember what happened with Great White. The music is complete ball bruising rapid pace atomic catastrophe and getting caught unsuspecting in the mosh pit will certainly lead to an emergency room trauma visit. I’m totally into hardcore CD’s with grit grinding guitars, drums & bass that drive through your organs, coherent raw vocals intensely belted out, an explosively volcanic pace, and is mixed superbly produced to bring out a dominating in your face intensity. By far the best hardcore sound I’ve heard in many months.
Rating 4 ½ (Hidden Gem)
Burgandy Brown
“My Lucky 13”
www.burgandybrown.com
Style (Singer Songwriter / Americana / Pop)
My first reaction to this CD - thin production. Seriously why bother having a bass player and drummer, let alone a producer, if the final production is going to suck this badly? Forego the electric guitar and band altogether and instead play acoustically then if the final mix is thin, claim artistic interpretation. This reminds me of when I was a kid rubbing two halves of paper together so it becomes thinner and thinner. A little more and I’ll be able to use it as stencil paper for my next tattoo. OK, you probably get the point. So how’s the music? Just like the production, thin and needs time to age. Brown’s voice has a sexy quality but she needs some guidance to find a workable pitch to make her voice work to her strength, or switch to a complete country sound which honestly sounds more where Brown should be heading. Also, the guys in the band sound like hired studio players because there’s no character investment to the material. More time is definitely needed for Brown to figure out her true musical path. Hey, the nature of an artist.
Rating 1 ½
Dan Lorenzo & Cassius King
“Cut From a Different Cloth”
www.danlorenzo.net
Style (rock / metal)
On the inside jacket Dan boasts this is his third solo CD in 13 months, and criticizes other artists who have 35 songs to choose from for their CD and then release a CD with 12 songs but only a couple good ones. Listening to this CD, which reminds me of garage metal with a little early White Zombie sound in Lorenzo’s vocal style, it should be pointed out just because you can doesn’t mean you should. It’s great to be a songwriter with a never ending supply of creative ability, not to mention free studio time, but dude these songs need work. Pull back the reigns to evaluate what’s been released previously and how it’s being received before pressing whimsically egotistically unabated into the black hole of musical obscurity digging a deeper and deeper mess. Sure some CD’s do contain one or two good songs and the rest are filler (“Girls, Girls, Girls” by Motley Crue, which sold millions comes to mind), and yes this pisses most of us off. But sometimes those 12 songs are all the band had but it’s the best they had. Hey this reminds me of Nirvana, which never had a plethora of songs available or recorded to choose from, and look what they did; they inspired a generation. A mountain of material for any artist is a fantastic problem to have but if you’re gonna brag about how much material you have and how often you released a CD, even if you’re an Indie artist, it’s just taking up space and goes unnoticed if the songs being released aren’t the best ones available. Least I mention and criticize the cheesy King Arthur Renascence cover artwork – Hazzaa!!!
Rating 1
Shadow’s Far
“Eleven Sins”
www.myspace.com/shadowsfar
Style (hardcore metal)
A couple things I dig about this offering. First is the CD artwork which is a collection of layered images with a gothic, death, resurrection, morbid theme in a yellow / green tint with heavy shadows. As a photographer I’m really into this type of imagery. The second thing I like, and most important, is the music. The sound, complete with machine gun double kick, is straight forward hardcore that doesn’t hide or pretend to be something other than what it is. The vocals are a coherent powerful rough and raw low to mid scream / yell. And I might be a little sentimental with this but the duel guitars remind me a little of the 80’s metal I grew up with. Oh how I loved those shows filled with plenty of head banging and helicopter skull spinning. Something I’m sure the guys in Shadow’s Far experience during their live show.
Rating 3
Dug Pinnick
“Strum Sum Up”
www.myspace.com/dugpinnickpoundhound
Style (rock / blues)
The accompanying bio described this CD as “a raucous batch of jam-heavy tunes.” and for once I’ve come across a dead on the money description. This CD is a “show up, plug in, and let’s rip it up” stripped down to basics musical production. If you like the music of Joe Bonamassa then Dug Pinnick will be right up your alley. Some of Pinnick’s songs are complete with vocals and some are straight forward blues rock instrumental. But what I really dig is how this music reminds me of walking into a local dive joint, belly up to the bar, “barkeep, double tequila”, and hearing a band play that makes the whole night worthwhile. The cool blues rock chords and rhythms of “Coming Over” amplify and solidify this feeling so well.
Rating 3 ½ (this CD is very cool)
Dark Miracle
“A Better Tomorrow”
www.myspace.com/darkmiracle
Style (Alternative)
One of the things I get the biggest kick out of reviewing indie CD’s is the many creative ways a CD can be packaged. This CD from Dark Miracle came in a jacket resembling a small binder notebook with the accompanying inside artwork and lyrics resembling what most of our notebooks looked like going through high school with all our ramblings and drawings because we were bored as hell in class. I love the creativity of the packaging. This is a band out of the Dominican Republic and sounds like a garage band with influences in punk and alternative. The songs are rough around the edges, with limited polishing, and a mid grade production quality. I’ve listened to the CD three times and I’m still on the fence about the vocals. For this style of music and production value it’s OK, but if this band begins to polish it’s sound then something will definitely need to be done with the singer and his long held notes which go flat the longer the note is held. For this style of music there’s really no need to sustain vocal notes that long and doing so without having a strong quality voice only draws attention to how flat it sounds.
Rating 2 (really dig the packaging)
Nathalie Matthews
Self titled
www.nathaliematthews.com
Style (pop)
I’m glad to hear there are copycats within each and every facet of music and I’m not stuck in the repetitive obscurity that is Death Metal. Some would say copying is the greatest form of flattery. I say some lack originality and take the easy road trying to ride the coat tails of more talented artists before them. This CD vocally is heavily produced ala Britney, Beyonce, Christina, Mariah, and the gaggle en masse of female singers who utilize the same casio drum machine beats we’ve all heard a bazillion times. Some of the beats are so cheesy and overplayed they sound like someone dug up the original recordings from back in the day when the casio first hit the market. Didn’t we think we were so cool back then?? Well here it is in 2008! And I really had to chuckle at the record label name – Cougar Entertainment Group. Anyone lost on the term cougar should check out the movie “Ocean’s 13” for the reference and you’ll get the point. If you're inclined to seek out music sounding like the singers I mentioned before, Matthews has your kind of sound, so bon appetit.
Rating 1 (the lyrics may have changed but the beats stay the same)
