2,271 total search results — Page 16 of 114
The Sea and Cake – Everybody
Review — May 29, 2007
Imagine sitting out on your porch or patio on a warm summer evening. You feel like just kicking back and relaxing while enjoying a light breeze. As corny as that sounds, this is what comes to mind for me when I listen to The Sea and Cake. Everything seems to …
Death is Not Glamorous / Down and Outs – Split
Review — June 20, 2007
Punk has always been international. When public intellectuals like Thomas L. Friedman began to trumpet the interconnectedness of a globalized world, American punks had already been booking tours, trading records, and making friends with their international brethren for years. It's a shining example of how the right cultural formation can …
Ben Weasel and His Iron String Quartet – These Ones are Bitter
Review — June 28, 2007
Growing up, Ben Weasel was the total embodiment of punk rock to me. Sure, NOFX was the band that hooked me in, but Screeching Weasel made me fall in love with the genre. Plus the dude's been wearing leather jackets and chucks since the late eighties and probably hasn't held …
Last Minute Fix / Lie and Wait – Split
Review — July 26, 2007
Two of Texas' most promising hardcore upstarts team up on this split 7" release. On the A-Side we have Last Minute Fix, who released Revenge on the Syringe in early 2006. Like their debut EP, the band still leans towards the earlier years of hardcore punk. The bands two songs …
Love, Hope and Fear – Fate's Frowned on Us
Review — September 13, 2007
Love, Hope and Fear are not what they used to be. And I mean that literally as well as musically. Their latest release, the four-song Fate's Frowned on Us, is the band's third official release in the band's five year (give or take) career. However, it is their second …
Tegan and Sara – The Con
Review — September 16, 2007
What is it about Canada? You know, Due South, The Arcade Fire, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Dan Aykroyd, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Terrance & Philip. Perhaps it's merely been a case of overwhelming ignorance, but lately it seems that all of the best things in the world originated in this …
Thieves and Assassins – Martyr Brigade
Review — September 26, 2007
Everything I get in for review goes through the same process. The first thing I do after I greedily rip into the manila envelope like a kid on Christmas is check out the layout. You can tell a lot just from a cover of a CD. Usually if the cover …
Dusty Rhodes and The River Band – First You Live
Review — November 13, 2007
With an Americana backbone, Dusty Rhodes and The River Band play a type of rock similar to CCR, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and other sixties acts that incorporated a strong folk/country influence into their sound without being gimmicky. Can't place those names? Then imagine Flogging Molly less punk, more …
Iron and Wine – The Shepherd's Dog
Review — November 14, 2007
I should never set expectations when it comes to music. When was the last time an album was exactly as good or as bad or as neutral as you thought it would be prior to its release? It never works out the way you want it to. Take Iron and …
Spank Rock and Benny Blanco – Bangers & Cash
Review — December 8, 2007
The latest effort from Baltimore club/DJ/rapping outfit Spank Rock brings more to the table than one might think. The opening line, "Welcome to the fuck shop," gives you an idea of what you're in store for. Bangers & Cash is five tracks of sex and money, with Spank Rock rapper …
Make Do and Mend – We're All Just Living
Review — December 12, 2007
Don't you just hate it when an album, or in this case an EP, is marred by one or two horrible tracks? Connecticut's Make Do and Mend almost created a flawless melodic post-hardcore short player if it weren't for the second and third tracks. The latter of these two tracks, …
Ravens and Chimes – Reichenbach Falls
Review — December 20, 2007
Lets paint a picture. After weeks of midterms and presentations in combination with 'seasonal' weather, I couldn't decide if I was more exhausted or cold. I was half asleep riding shotgun back to my parents house when I first slid Ravens and Chimes into the CD deck of my best …
Lie and Wait – Led Astray
Review — December 31, 2007
Most within the hardcore and punk community are likely unaware of the existence of Lie and Wait. Sure, they are a fairly new band, but there are plenty of other bands that have been around just as long as them, or even less time, that have already achieved critical praise. …
Awake and Alert – Devil in a Lambskin Suit
Review — January 1, 2008
Sometimes I think our beloved editor and all around swell dude, Michael, doesn't even bother giving our promo records a listen. Case in point: Awake and Alert's Devil in a Lambskin Suit. So Michael sees a plain CD with the name "Awake and Alert" and he thinks to himself, …
Robots and Empires – Omnivore
Review — January 25, 2008
For a while it seemed like people in hardcore bands would undergo this metamorphosis that changed them from raging balls of adolescent angst into sensitive young adults channeling that angst with more subtlety in their music. This initially spawned the post-hardcore movement where bands like Into Another and Quicksand came …
All Teeth and Knuckles – Club Hits to Hit the Club With
Review — February 14, 2008
This is what happens when trust fund kids with expendable bank accounts get their hands on keyboards and samplers: an album of weak dance tracks with sing-speak vocalists telling bad jokes about people they despise. I'm sure this is supposed to be a joke, but then there's some truth to …
Down and Outs – Friday Nights, Monday Mornings
Review — May 8, 2008
Down and Outs have been shaking things up for going on four years now. Unfortunately, I really didn't start paying attention to the band until last year when they offered up a split 7" with Death is No Glamorous. Despite my ignorance, Down and Outs have amassed a small discography …
Theo and the Skyscrapers – So Many Ways to Die
Review — August 27, 2008
It really is a double-edged sword to be visually compelling and a bit theatrical as a musician. If you're not Bowie and it isn't 1972, it's a pretty fine balance to strike with any success. Sometimes the visuals distract and obscure, and that's all there is to it. It seems …
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Have Another Ball
Review — September 9, 2008
We've all been to parties where there's always one guy. One drunk asshole to pooch the proceedings. Either he's slobbering all over you, back slaps and all regaling everyone with tales of how much he loves you, or giving you the drunken skunk-eye from across the room quietly seething and …
