Grate-Tastic
The Grates’ debut album, Gravity Won’t Get You High, is a frenetic collection of 14 guitar-driven tracks that have the kind of punch that only a chick singer can deliver. While they have the same vigor and short attention span as many of the bands in the current wave of British pop punk, like Maximo Park, Art Brut and Young Knives, The Grates’ don’t really provide anything new. Everything from their sound to their line-up seems to be reminiscent of other bands. Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Reviews
The Disco Dance is Back!
Roller discos will be in vogue again if the Scissor Sisters have any say on the matter with their disco dance disc Ta Dah. Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Reviews
The Crazy 88
Despite the clever guise of sounding like a poppy Top 40 band, with new album, Over and Over, The 88 present a volume of work that is deeper lyrically and musically than an initial listen might have you think. Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Reviews
The Midas Touch
If Dirty Pretty Things’ debut Waterloo to Anywhere had a subtitle it would read, “Long Live the Lust of the Libertines.” The album itself is essentially Up the Bracket Part Two, but it would be unfair to say that it is just a last attempt at keeping the legacy of The Libertines alive; sans Pete Doherty and including a whole new line-up, there is almost an aura of stability to the music. Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Reviews
Cool Cool Universe
Not since “Another One Bites the Dust” has the “80’s clap” been more apparent and integral to the song catalogue of an artist, but IMA Robot’s latest release, Monument to the Masses, couldn’t have a more 80’s new wave sound than if it were actually recorded in 1982. Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Reviews
Rather Ripped
There are two tracks that musicians who have been around for decades can take – they can resign to touring based on past glories, or they can continue to evolve and take their music to progressive new heights. Based on the performance of their latest endeavor, Rather Ripped, Sonic Youth has chosen the latter path and ultimately created an album that fits in famously with the current indie scene. Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Reviews
When thinking of Scotland, misty moors and soccer brawls probably come to mind before hippie folk singers in the tradition of Bob Dylan. But Scottish songstress Sandi Thom, whose debut, Smile… It Confuses People, hit the scene last month, has found a niche for her powerful, soulful voice. Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Editorials
Still Red Hot
It has taken more than twenty years to fight off their demons and get to their “Higher Ground,” but the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the quintessential California band, has turned a page in rock history with their ninth studio album, Stadium Arcadium . Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Reviews
London Calls Again
With the recent British invasion in full swing, it seems almost a prerequisite for anyone with aspirations of rock stardom to hail from London. Mission accomplished in the case of The Rakes, who employ a sound starkly similar to what would happen were David Bowie and Billy Idol to have a walk-off to the musical styling of The Cure Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Reviews
Psychedelic Symphony
Any band that channels the orchestral psychedelia of Pink Floyd is befitting a cosmic laser show as opposed to merely the iTunes visualizer. The Secret Machines’ sophomoric piece, Ten Silver Drops, is a sweeping symphony of intricate, story-line lyrics, piano, synthesizers, and clamorous drums. Singer Brandon Curtis’s velvety voice further enhances the album with a haunting melancholy air in uncanny resemblance to Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan. Read more…
By Jen Tartaglione Posted in Reviews
