8 posts tagged “review”
)These six reviews are all from Ariel Publicity. We've been working with them for over a year and I generally like the variety of music we get from them - mostly pop and jazz and blues. So just look at some of the selection of different bands represented here:
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Dreaming Isabelle This review is a little behind, but it was quite easy to do because Awake is just a short four-track EP, from Virginia's Dreaming Isabelle. Their biography doesn't list much, which suggests they might be a very new band, but listening to Awake I felt that they played really well together. Take a listen to "Not Missing You" as it starts with a great guitar hook, timed perfectly as the drums kick in, then followed by the singer on queue. The three songs that follows the opening track seems to all start off pretty slow. "That I Am" starts off acoustically, while "Above All" is overall mellow and "Mine" has a great guitar noodle portion. I must admit "Mine" did sound a bit creepy/stalkerish with the lyrics "She will be mine" repeated over and over. [ read more ] |
Josephine
Joséphine grew up in Paris, France, left at the age of 17 to Montreal (the mostly French, half English Canadian city), where she started singing with The People’s Gospel Choir of Montréal (they won some award for their album). She eventually made her way to New York, where she is currently released Unfinished Life in 2007. For the most part, I think the whole album is very pop/acoustic songwriter type of music, mostly centered around her very sweet young voice. I really like her poppy song, "Stronger". Take a listen as she belts out "I need to get together when I'm falling apart/I need to love when it's broken my heart", followed by some great guitar playing by Craig Wilson. Wilson co-wrote all the songs with Joséphine with the exception of "Bit by Bit" (by Joséphine only) and "Right Here" (by Wilson only). [ read more ] |
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Della Valle I got a trackless album from Della Valle, which made it kind of annoying to add in my iTunes. Although I would have to admit that I did end up listening to all the songs to determine all 10 titles... so Mister Jay Della Valle, you've suckered me into listening to your album! All kiddings aside, I actually liked what I heard, so it wasn't such a nightmare. Out of his four releases, the tracks are basically from Stay Gold and The Best Years EP, which Della Valle is calling it his "Greatest Hits", then humorously retracted:
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Satoru - Balancing In the Twilight The funny story about Satoru's first CD, Ash Returns to Ash, was that it was just a CD-R with a hand-written note saying that he had trouble with the printing company and so he doesn't have the finished product. It didn't matter because I thought the album was really enjoyable that I wrote about it. I am glad to see that he came through on his second Balancing in the Twilight, in March 2008. I believe he already had the album "in the can" as they say last year. Both Ash Returns to Ash and Balancing in the Twilight are in standard digipaks, they are very reasonably priced at $9 on Amazon and $10 on CD Baby. But what I am really impressed with is that all of his music is licensed through Creative Commons, which grant you permission to copy, distribute and transmit the work, as long as you give credit and attribution for noncommercial usage. I think all artists should follow in this footstep. [ read more ] |
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Michael Paige The press material I received for Michael Paige's self-titled debut album, out now on Astrum Records, explicitly stated that under no circumstances should I be allowed to stream one particular song, "Aqui Esperando". So naturally, that is the first song I queued up to listen to. I was pleasantly surprised that "Aqui Esperando" is a Spanish version of "Right Here Waiting", originally by Richard Marx. This kind of legal thing upsets me, because this is actually a very good song, and I'm assuming writing royalties would eventually end up in Marx's pockets - so why bother trying to stop people from hearing this very faithful rendition? I believe there's only one other cover on this album, is "Eres Tú" a second place winner from Eurovision 1973 by a band called Mocedades. [ read more ] |
Edgar Gabriel's StringFusion - Not Radio Material Their album name, Not Radio Material, couldn't be more approriate. Edward Gabriel's StringFusion music is a very interesting (and rare) blend of classical instrumentals, primarily violin string arrangements, blended with mellow light jazz piano and saxophone riffs. A sultry vocal is offered on track three, "Would You Be My Valentine" along with a very smooth keyboard solo. The percussion driven samba of track 4, "Mobile", suggests more Latin swing influences, very contemporary and cool. The saxophone on track 5, "I Knew That" really soars to some impressive heights. Down and dirty blues guitar can be heard on the urban slynish of track 6, "Blue 7", probably my favorite composition on this CD. [ read more ] |
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I'm going to use a five stars, or rather hearts, rating. I've created 10 images in my Rating Folder, if anyone else wants to use it for review. Since images tend to align itself defaults to "center", you can actually set the image to align to the bottom. Here's how, example:
<img src="http://a6.vox.com/6a00f48cdd2598000200f48cf11d4e0002-500pi" style="vertical-align: bottom;">
The code above will generate a 2.5 rating:
Okay! So this week's review theme is Girls! Girls! Girls! Here we go:
The Last Town Chorus - Loud and Clear I am kind of excited to see that Megan Hickey, aka The Last Town Chorus, has a new single out called Loud and Clear (released last February). I believe it's just a one-track single that you can download on iTunes for 99 cents. The Last Town Chorus, since the last time I reviewed her Wire Waltz on W♥M, I noted that all her songs are kind of mini-biography, or at it least seems so. This song is a dialogue between listener and song, with her obvious trademark lap steel guitar sliding in and out. [ read more ] |
Madita - Too Edita Malovcic, aka Madita, is an Austrian singer and actress. To be honest, I haven't seen any of her films, they're mostly European features, but they do look interesting. And who knew that she would also have a great voice to go on her second album. I'll have to also admit that the first time I saw her album artwork, I thought of that M.I.A. woman, but although the DIY/weird mix of sounds is more to do with improv jazz as heard on "Fragile", I think in some ways, Madita is more classic and traditional. [ read more ] |
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Anna Ternheim - Halfway To Fivepoints As it, I came across Sweden's Anna Ternheim in association with El Perro Del Mar[W♥M], who apparently they are going on tour together in May (with Lykke Li). And just in time, for America to catch up on Ternheim, Universal Music released a self-titled EP and Halfway To Fivepoints , which collects some of Ternheim's best known songs together. I wish they'd use a different cover artwork for Halfway To Fivepoints as it is exactly the same as her second album, Separation Road. [ read more ] |
Sarah Vonderhaar Sarah Vonderhaar just released Are You Listening Now on April 22nd. According to her notes printed on the CD, she lived with her manager, Bill Covert, for six weeks to record of this debut album. The result? An impressive debut pop record. She first found fame through CW's America's Top Model (Cycle 8), which translate to her massive fan base of mostly young women. As I previously mentioned this being a pop record, most of these songs are radio friendly (which means they are 3-minute songs)... [ read more ] |
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Nicole Atkins - Maybe Tonight I've seen Nicole Atkins in concert before, so I'm glad to see that she's doing some promotional dates in the UK, just in time for her album Neptune City to be released in the UK on June 2nd, 2008. Since I already have the album, being in the US, I can tell you that it'll do well in the UK charts. Prior to the album, her UK single will be Maybe Tonight to be released on May 26th. The one-track promo I receive doesn't have any album artwork, so I'm putting one of favorite photo of the 'magical' Atkins. It's one of those songs that would play very well on the radio and you'll find yourself humming and singing to the catchy chorus of "I know we'll never meet again/Maybe tonight/Just tell me where and when", but failing to know any of the other lyrics. [ read more ] |
Lara Ewen and the Unstrung Orchestra I'll have to admit, I think Lara Ewen is very good looking, based on her photographs on her debut album, Ghosts and Gasoline (2007). I even love her mysterious angel wings on her left arm, which she wears proudly like a badge of honor. By the way, the band's name is actually Lara Ewen and the Unstrung Orchestra. The orchestra part is kind of amusing because I don't really recall any traditional orchestra part at all (although it would be interesting to hear her music set to wind instruments...) Most of the songs are kind of folky and country, centered around Ewen's gorgeous full vocals. Such as the bluesy "Clear", probably taken from her debut EP. Her vocals suggest a sassy young woman in New York City, full of an American dream. [ read more ] |
04/26/2008 18:24:10
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This week's review are all based on one or two MP3s that I've either downloaded or were submitted to me for possible inclusion on W♥M. Needless to say, they are reviews based on a few songs, so these are very short articles. I think next week's reviews will all be based on "sexy" cover art.... oooh can't wait!
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Mixel Pixel When I was writing the article to Yip-Yip, I ran into Mixel Pixel by accident. I have to admit, I really enjoyed their songs on myspace. I noticed they have "Sinking Feeling" available for download from their forth-coming album Let's Be Friends in June. The song is a duet between Kaia Wong and Rob Corradetti, with some quirky 8-bit sound and beats to make this song really catch and sweet. Since I haven't heard any of the other songs, I would be really interested in checking out the rest of the new album. Look for Let's Be Friends on June 3rd from Mental Monkey. [ read more ] |
Micah Micah is a modern day folk singer/songwriter from Rochester, New York. Going to school and working on his music craft on the side, he was able to produce a four-track EP last August at GFI Studios in Rochester. Again, I don't need to stress just how important to be searchable and brand recognition, especially because "micah" is a name that a lot of people share. I don't want him to change his name, it's just an observation. Of the three tracks sent to me, I liked "Goodbye", with its acoustic notes to start the song, followed by a sweet and soulful folk vocals. I'm not quite sure if the protagonist in this song is... [ read more ] |
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Of Fate and Chance It looks like New Jersey's Of Fate and Chance are going to do a massive "Extreme" tour this year. Looking at their myspace page they've already released five EPs and a full length, so these guys are constantly writing new material and (probably) evolving their music along the way. Of the two mp3s, I received ("Bravery" and "Post Explosion"), I thought the first one is pretty good at displaying their energy and sound - but I also get the impression that they are very young. This is not meant as a putdown, but I could not picture someone in their late 30s... [ read more ] |
Tafra Niklas Tafra is a Swedish guy living in London, and I suppose people just know him as Tafra. You know, kind of like Steven Patrick. Series Two Records sent over some of Tafra's music, I reckon it's from his album Why Even Bother?, which you can buy by paypaling $13 to Seriestworecords(at)gmail.com. I could not for the life of me open up their biography which was saved in docx (why doesn't Word 2007 documents work with Word 2003? For god's sake, text is text is text, right?) So I really couldn't tell you much about Tafra, other than that he played on the third Suburban Kids WIth Biblical Names album, which you may remember Randy writing an article on them. [ read more ] |
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Kennedy Kennedy are a southern rock band based out of Nashville, Tennessee. Since Nashville is the home of all-things-Country / Western, you would expect to hear that influence in their music - but no! They're pretty much sound very alternative southern-sounding rock.... at least based on the two songs that were submitted to me. According to their biography, the band have been around since 2004, honing their song playing skills. I believe their album or EP will be called Slanky.SEXY.Rock, which pretty much described the songs I've heard. Both "Cocaine" and "Lovechild" are available to download on their myspace. Check out the bassline in "Cocaine". It's really good, you can hear it very clearly in the song's... [ read more ] |
Pic Vicious I just reviewed The Living Legends and I guess I'm already in the mood for underground hip-hop. Already an established rapper frontsman for Illadapted, Pic, aka Pic Vicious have decided to concentrate more on his solo material. It would seem that he also has a sidekick woman in his group, which I believe her name is Letta Love. His latest album will be called Welcome to the Clown Show, which as of this writing, it doesn't look like they've put together the cover artwork. "Systematik II" features Love completing lyrics to Vicious to some computer noises and beeps. If they both perform with clown makeup, it should be a very interesting and fun show. Unfortunately, I didn't notice any live tour dates on their myspace. [ read more ] |
04/09/2008 08:05:46 vu my♥posts www.weheartmusic.com
This week's review theme are debut albums! Be sure to click "read more" to check out more of the band, including additional videos, pictures, and tour information.
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Walter Meego Justin Sconza and Colin Yarck together are Walter Meego, a band based out of Chicago, Illinois. With already FOUR EPs (Walter Meego, Hollywood, Romantic, and Usually), their debut album, Voyager is set for release on May 27, 2008. I got an advance copy a few months ago, so please note that the final mix may in fact be different than the ones I have. Please also note that I did not receive an approved album artwork, so the mock-up artwork I've included here is not the final album artwork. I'm glad to see that Meego are not just about dance beats, but sings on many of their songs. The lyrics aren't "dum dum" either, they actually fit and sounds really great in accordance to the music. [ read more ] |
Josh Fix Free at Last is debut album by Josh Fix, a musician from San Francisco, California. I wanted to mention his current location, because apparently Fix was born in South Africa (!). According to his biography, he was first noticed by the SF Chronicle (front cover story) in 2005, when he was asked to open up for the legendary The Who. Although Fix's sound isn't so much rock, I'm almost certain his piano-driven songs would be well-received by The Who's audience. The track that really stood out will probably be "Rock And Roll Slut" with its very personal lyrics: [ read more ] |
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The Details I'm actually familiar with The Details before through some downloads of a 2007's Parliament of Trees sampler on Virb. The label's that's putting this out is based out of Winnipeg, Canada, and they have already released The Paperbacks's An Illusion Against Death and The Details' Draw a Distance. Draw a Border. Draw a Distance comes with a nice 16 lyric booklet inside a digipak packaging and I really generally like the minimalistic design and artwork by Lisa Friesen. There's a few good tracks off the new album, ranging from all out alternative rock to sensitive rock. [ read more ] |
Running Still Running Still are from Brooklyn, New York, and they have a self-titled debut album that was released sometime earlier this year. Their myspace lists that they're influenced by Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Radiohead, etc., and listening to their album, I can hear some of their influences in their song. Their songs seems to be about life and personal experiences, such as in "Fly" with the line "life is just like playing cards/sometime you lose". In "Ordinary", singer Asi Meskin, shows his doubt, stating what sounds like "I don't belong with, I'm ordinary." [ read more ] |
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Pleasureboaters From what I've read about Pleasureboaters, is that it seems that they've been together since 2005 and have steadily built up their fans through the Seattle, Washington, area. They finally have released a debut album called ¡Gross! on February 12, 2008. Not really sure how I would describe their music, it sounds to me that they're almost noise artists doing thrash metal... which needs to experience live to fully appreciate what they're trying to do. I may have to include a live video of them for example. [ read more ] |
Josiah Wordsworth I wanted to mention Josiah Wordsworth's debut album, Wordsworth!, was released March 18th. I found out that his name is actually Jordan Slominski and he's based in St Paul, Minnesota. I'll have to point out that I don't actually have his album or debut EP called Blue State, which was released in 2007, but based on the few songs I listened to, it sounds like a lot of jazz piano with a rock n roll sensibility. The two songs I've heard on Wordsworth! are instrumentals, so I am assuming the rest of the album have no lyrics. It's still enjoyable. [ read more ] |
03/23/2008 14:35:16 vu my♥posts www.weheartmusic.com
These reviews are grouped together by the fact that they are playing some concerts - so to see their tour dates, please click on "read more". Most of these guys are playing at SXSW, which is happening right about now.
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Hilary McRae I've previously mentioned Hear Music, the Starbucks label, before. The label seems to be signing the more singer/songwriter type music, and obviously it's prestigious to be associated with Sir Paul McCartney and, er, corporate coffee. It must be an honor for Hilary McRae's debut album Through These Walls to be released the Hear Music label, in association with Stone Road Records. According to her biography she's wanted to be a performing singer since the age of fifteen. She auditioned (and awarded) for a scholarship for the Berklee College of Music and ended up studying music in Boston. [ read more ] |
The Diggs Today (March 11th) sees the release of Ctrl-Alt-Del, the sophomore album from The Diggs. With that title being so closely associated with computers and technology, you'd think that this was Kevin Rose's band... but no, The Diggs are a rock band from Brooklyn, New York. Timothy Lannen (singer/guitars) and Robert Haussmann (bass) met as roommates near Long Island. They were both in a prior band together and decided to start The Diggs when that band broke up. [ read more ] |
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Strix Vega Strix Vega is a rock band from California. Their name is a strange one, "Strix" is an old Roman legendary blood-sucking owl creature, while "Vega" is the name of a bright star. Their debut album is called Drunken Sky (2006) and reading their latest news, they're also putting together an EP and a sophomore album, to be released around the same time. They're playing a few dates, including some festivals, such as the Red Gorilla Music Festival... which should draw in a pretty large crowd. And as the title of their album suggests: you're meant to enjoy this album some cold beer and laying on the grass, staring at the sky. [ read more ] |
The OaKs - Songs for Waiting I've previously mentioned about The OaKs before, about singer, Ryan Costello's humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan. On his first album, it seems that all the songs were inspired from the time he's spent in Afghanistan (and even contain some of the native's random dialogue). He's still trying to save the world with his second album, Songs for Waiting, which was released last Tuesday, March 4th. There's an airplane engine on the first track, "The Two Calls (Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer)". The airplane does have a linger of 9/11, at least to me, because Costello left for Afghanistan as a result from that incident. [ read more ] |
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Motion City Soundtrack I've been really happy that Motion City Soundtrack are a famous band from Minneapolis, Minnesota (where I live!). I would have to describe as a power pop band, and in some ways sounds sort of like a very pop Green Day. Their latest album, Even If It Kills Me is their most successful to date, charting #16 on the US Billboard charts. They are currently on tour to support their album throughout North America. Judging from some of the sold-out tour dates, it's going to be a pretty lucrative tour. [ read more ] |
Kate Schutt What makes Kate Schutt's No Love Lost album very interactive is that she's on the Artist Share network. You get a serial number with the purchase of the CD, which you'll need to enter into the artist share website. It then offers additional contents (demos, interviews, audio blog, etc) from the artist themselves - bridging that gap between artists and fans. What a great idea this is! I am absolutely thrilled to hear Schutt's rendition of "The Glamorous Life"... [ read more ] |
03/14/2008 11:32:34
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