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Tag / PopMatters
Aug
8
2008
1
Asia – Phoenix
So this review was a long time coming. I have been so busy of late I let a lot of these PopMatters reviews pile up. I kind of wish that I hadn’t bothered with this one. It was pretty painful to write and even more so to listen to. What can I say, ASIA just don’t float my boat like they used to.
Saying that though there was a time when I would have been delighted to receive this in the post.
It is 25 years since Asia released the follow up to their successful eponymous debut album. Their sophomore effort Alpha didn’t especially set cash registers singing and was largely considered to be a disappointment. Soon after that release, original guitarist Steve Howe (of Yes fame) left and the band went through twenty-something years of line-up changes and lukewarm receptions to increasingly similar sounding (and similar titled) albums.
And this would be the guys performing a cover of the ELP cover of Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”
Jul
29
2008
0
I may have failed to mention in my review that I knew the lead singer of this band when I was at school (but not when he was at school). Alan Adams once called the first band I was in “the most exciting band he had seen since the Southern Death Cult”. Since then I went on to get a proper job and he occasionally writes episodes for The Bill and has appeared on Telly Addicts with Noel Edmonds. I guess neither of us are as punk as we like to think we are.
There are no real surprises on this EP other than it features the drummer of my second band on bass on one track. He ironically got a job in record shop that I was fired from not long after I was fired and now works for a man who claims to have fired me once. I have just 2 words to say to that particular man, “I resigned”.
The title of this split EP translates from Latin into “Hardwork Conquers All” and that speaks volumes for this release. It harkens back to a day when independent releases were independent of major record labels. It has a real “do it yourself” work ethic stamped through it like a stick of rock.
[From Music, PopMatters, Reviews
Jul
9
2008
0
I had forgotten that I had done this little review. It is a very cool CD tapping the Wilco vein. I say CD but I seem to be able to find it available for MP3 download. Well worth $9 for hot August night listening…
The frontman of Cheyenne, Beau Jennings, has released this crop of tunes as a solo album because they allegedly did not fit with the sound of his main project. In honesty there is little difference between these songs and Cheyenne songs
[From Music, PopMatters, Reviews
Jul
1
2008
0
This stark little record is nothing really very new in musical terms but it does give goosebumps. Any recording that provokes some kind of physical response has to be worth the investment of a few dollars. It doesn’t look like this album is available in the UK yet but I guess that you could from Amazon US. It is available for download via iTunes here.
Lisa Cerbone has a gentle, childlike voice and with We Were All Together she has created an album that is somewhat evocative of Tanya Donelly or Kristin Hersh. Every aspect of this package—from the case with its lyric adorned fine art photo cards to the crystal clear production—is finely crafted and exudes quality. One wonders why this lady is not more well known as this is her fourth release in the last eight years.
[From PopMatters, Reviews
Jun
20
2008
0
This record disturbed me, I wanted to know when it was going to do something other than what was established during the first track. When it finally did, it was something so completely different and off the wall that the rest of the album paled into insignificance. Not a good album but I would recommend that you download the track Psycho. It is so wonderfully over the top that it is worth a listen. Below is an excerpt from this short take review with a link to full thing after it.
It is a sad day when you have to consider the possibility that you are old and no longer understand young people’s music. To this reviewer Mud’s Yearbook contains 13 songs that, with one exception, all sound identical. The album appears like it was created by the corpses of Real Big Fish with the ska influences ripped forcibly from their cold dead hands fronted by Avril Lavigne. It is Californian punk by checklist; repetitive riff… check, amusing self deprecating lyrics… check, brass section… check. I could go on.
[From PopMatters, Reviews
Jun
18
2008
0
Cedric Gervais – Space Miami Terrace
This collection of dance tunes bemused me. I had some trouble getting in to it. After listening to what appeared to be two hours of a 4/4 drum beat augmented by samples I realised what it was about. The album was an historical record of an event, a means by which the listeners can relive if they were there or live vicariously through if they weren’t. Exerpt and link below…
Space Miami Terrace is one of those “you had to be there” recordings. It is a two CD, 22-track mixed compilation of dance tracks from the Yoshitoshi, Yo! and Shinichi labels. All tracks are mixed together by DJ Cedric Gervais. It stomps along at quite a pace. By listening to the album alone one can only imagine the heat that would be generated by the sweaty bodies dancing to these tunes.
[From PopMatters, Reviews
May
20
2008
0
The French Kicks – Swimming
The French Kicks were a band that I got into 7 or 8 years ago by accident when I saw them play a really small hall in Peterborough. They really lit up the room for me, which led me to get hold of everything that I could by them. They had an edgy post punk sound that really spoke to me, it had such a quirky charm. Then I sort of forgot about them. I thought that they had spilt up or something. It seems that they are indeed still together and I was excited at the prospect of reviewing a new album by them. I was to be disappointed.
The trouble with not keeping in touch with old acquaintances is that they sometimes move on without you. They grow and form new opinions, new tastes, and new ways of expressing themselves. Then, when you finally catch up with them, they are barely recognisable. You find it hard to really fully get what it is that they mean. You forget what it was that you saw in them in the first place.
[From PopMatters, Reviews
May
8
2008
0
Firewater – The Golden Hour
The Golden Hour
The Golden Hour stands tall as a flawed but remarkably good experiment in mixing up influences from all over the globe. Firewater’s main man Tod A. went to the source of his musical influences to create this collection of catchy melodies that, for the most part, grab your attention instantly. It teeters on the line between punk and world music and thankfully does not sit well in either camp. It does show that pop music is universal.
Firewater: The Golden Hour – PopMatters Music Review
Other Links http://www.firewater.tv/ http://www.myspace.com/realfirewater
May
6
2008
0Another fun little Short Take that I submitted to PopMatters. An excerpt below and the direct link after that.
Lissa Schneckenburger’s Song is a cheerful array of old school folk tunes with the emphasis on the fiddle and quality vocal performance—a mixture of self-composed work and traditional songs from the New England area of the United States.
Lissa Schneckenburger review
Technorati Tags: PopMatters, review
Apr
23
2008
0
Various – Beautiful Escape
Beautiful Escape… Is Comping Right Along
The Posies were a power-pop outfit from Washington State that didn’t so much set the world on fire as give it a nasty Chinese burn. They did, however, produce some mighty fine tunes and at least one classic album, Frosting On the Beater.
The full review can be found here