Between The Buried And Me suffer from not
finding an identity and sticking with it and also relying on almost every
heavy heavy metal cliché on the books, from the bear in heat vocals
to the uninspired riffage. There are some good moments here but overall
they sound like they can’t figure out where to go. Speed metal, rock opera,
grindcore or the loop they throw you for in the middle of CD where they
try to become an art-rock band. The heavy stuff is too generic and the
mellow stuff in the middle of disc is too much of a departure.
Joe Cracker is an indie singer / songwriter
who has some good but not outstanding tracks. The vocals ring of Tom Petty
but the songs seem to blend together too much and none really standout
from the bunch. That’s a trap that many singer / songwriters fall into
and what sets the aspiring apart from the remarkable. A good effort but
Joe Cracker needs some more development if he wants to standout.
Take away the silly vocals and inane lyrics
and you have some rippin' metal here, but the music is affected by the
comical singing which comes across as some teenagers f***ing around with
a tape recorder and the lyrics are just asinine, in the “we’re so hardcore”
tradition of “let’s sing about screwing a corpse”. Since you can’t
make out the lyrics, it’s not too bad but if the band ditched the lame
vocals and got someone that could sing they could kick some serious ass.
But for now this is relegated to the diehard death/gore fans.
Some nicely laid down musical tracks that
explore various styles but still keep it pretty much within standard modern
rock context, especially in the vocal department. That being said the vocals
do change up from track to track, the first track comes out as Modern Rock
by numbers but on the second track the singing touches upon a bit of the
early Smashing Pumpkins. At other times they touch upon an almost U2 vibe.
They really shine when they step fully outside the box, like they do on
the rootsy rocker “Love Yourself”. Harmony Riley put together a solid effort
but some of the songs suffer from “just another band” in the flooded market
they are trying to reach. Some really nice lead guitar work here that helps
set the band apart. What makes Harmony Riley cool is their ability to shake
things up and still sound like the same band. A solid indie effort.
For some strange reason when I put the
first song on I thought “The Knack”. I have no idea why, but that’s what
struck me and what makes it stranger is the fact that the Lovehammers land
more into the heavier side of Tonic or Nickelback. The description offered
up by our editor about this group was “dirty pop”, and that’s apt, but
I would add alternative in the middle. Some really catchy tunes here that
grab you the first listen through. This is a great indie effort from Lovehammers.
Let’s face it the market has been flooded
by hundreds of “nu garage” bands but few standout from the pack. That’s
mostly because in their attempt to sound raw they forget to sound appealing,
and I would venture a guess that most “nu garage” bandwagon jumpers never
took the time to listen to bands that pioneered the style they are trying
to resurrect. Fortunately for Mando Diao, they not only seemed to have
referenced the Godfathers of the genre, they were actually able to capture
a lot of same spirit. It’s not just fuzzy guitars and sing/sing choruses,
Mando Diao actually incorporate a lot of the elements that endeared fans
to the genre way back when-- melodic leads and a great pop sensibility
when it comes to songwriting. Something the Ramones knew how to do and
more recently the White Stripes, but far too many bands jumping on the
“nu garage” wave seemed to have missed entirely. Mando Diao stand
ahead of the pack with “Bring Em In”, a rock solid effort that gives some
credibility to a much hyped genre.
Rock n roll to drink, f*** and fight to!
Mojo Rib throw down some kick ass beer fueled high octane rock in the tradition
of Manowar or Krokus. The guitars ring a bit of AC/DC. Good old school
hard rock that you can’t take too seriously but is damn fun to crank up.
Thank God it’s only four songs; I don’t
think I could have kept my eyes open for a fifth song. This is about tedious
as watching grass grow. It might sound great if you are on Quaaludes but
for everyone else this stuff is about as exciting a sitcom staring Al Gore
and Bob Dole.
I was prepared to hate this CD. “Damn,
another signer/songwriter,” give me a gun right now. But a strange thing
happened when I put this one on, the first song “Angel” caught my ear.
It’s not on par with Paul Simon but still in this day in age of boring
singer/songwriters Matt Nathanson does seem to have that spark which sets
him apart from the wannabes. Nathanson explores two sides of him
musical personality on this disc, the standard singer/songwriter side and
also a slick alt-pop side that rings of the more commercial work from the
Goo Goo Dolls. Hook heavy songs that fall in the middle of road but
to good effect. In the 70’s Nathanson wouldn’t have stood out but in 2004
his efforts are rewarded when judged against a wealth of mediocre competitors.
He’s better than most and manages to capture your ears and not put you
instantly to sleep.
Qwiksand is a groovy funk rock outfit
that's not quite Isaac Hayes but this is fun concept album, that mixes
classic funk with touches of Reggae. It won’t set the world on fire but
is definitely worth a listen if funk is your thing.
SOiL know how to kick ass, there is no
doubt about it. While they do go for some numetal clichés they are
one of the few groups that can pull it off and sound genuine. This EP is
really nothing more than a CD single but a great edition to the library
of any nu metal fan.
Street Dogs are a melodic punk band, not
a pop-punk band. Yes, it’s a thin line, but let’s be honest, most pop-punk
bands are basically pop bands with some distorted guitar. While Street
Dogs follow a similar template to pop-punk in some cases, the rawness still
rings of punk and that gives them some credibility. The true test
comes when you ask if you could transport the band back to 1979 and would
they get the s*** kicked out of them at CBGBs. While Blink-182 would be
ripped piece by piece, Street Dogs would probably have no problem winning
over the NYC punkers back in the day, so they’d be a shoe in today.
Tub Ring is what would happen is Queen
dropped acid with Smashing Pumpkins and decided to record a drug induced
jam session. This experimental alternative may not fly with a wide audience,
but anyone looking for something different will find a lot to love here.
A bit too strange to describe, for the most part this is the kind of band
you have to hear to believe.
Zerbey gets an A for effort but sadly an
A for boredom too. And now the new release from “Guy in Basement Records…
Zerbey!”. I hate to trash indie artists but this just wasn’t ready
for release and the vocals sound like a struggle, and the songwriting cumbersome.
This might be great to friends and family but Zerbey is definitely not
ready for prime time.
Posted by Amber:
After seeing Qwiksand live at the Hard Rock in Newport Beach a few weeks ago, I'd have to say they're probably one of the best bands to come out of socal in a long time. All four members of the group are talented musicians and their songs are so much fun unlike so many other commercially successful rock outfits that just make you want to commit suiccide every 15 minutes.
Posted by LithiumBliss:
Here's my shorty: Courtney Love - "America's Sweetheart". One star and a boatload of hurl. Die!
Posted by aG:
Cheese, I want to for one commend you for getting what the Fan Speak is all about. See you disagreed with my review and you posted your reasons why you disagreed. I wish more people would do that on the reviews here, instead of the lame "you suck", "your gelus" (I spelled it like they do), "guy on a computer", "I don't see you making millions", and my favorite "let's hear your cd". But back to your point. I for one always love when a band covers a lot of different genres. But the problem I had with BTB was they didn't do it that well in my opinion. Again my opinion. To my ears it would have been better for them to do a kick ass job in one genre than a mediocre job in several. I've heard much more competent bands attempt it and succeed. Got to call em as I see em. But we do have the fan speak so others can give their take as well. Which is great, because it gives people more to go on. What's one mans treasure is another's garbage. BTW, the 2 smiles doesn't mean "it sucks", it just means its best suited for hardcore fans. We used to link to rating guide but here is the link for future ref - /reviews/guide.shtml - Tim, thanks brother. But I don't think I show anyone how it's done and you certainly don't need any instruction =) . So I take that as a supreme compliment. But I still contend that anyone that is good at bullsh1ting can do reviews (provided they have basic writing skills.. the jury's still out on that one in my case). And yeah, the CBGB test never fails.
Posted by cheese:
between the buried and me are way better than two whatevers you gave it. i love the fact that they play almost every genre of rock music on the record it's pretty damn cool, and they do it very well. it seems like people have a divided opinion on them so i suggest that everyone check them out for themselves.
Posted by tim:
aG, Thanks for showing us how it's done. Succinct, fair-minded and informative. Love the cbgb test. More like this, indeed.
