Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Betrayed – Substance

Betrayed’s first full-length release, Substance, accentuates their hardcore stylings with more than just a tinge of punk attitude and the expected accompanying musical tactics. Substance features a thick wall of distortion (though not a Spector-style Wall of Sound — which would undoubtedly be an interesting addition to the punk and hardcore canon,) those familiar not-quite-screaming vocals (recognizably influenced by veterans Suicidal Tendencies, among countless others,) and a certain amount of flare on the guitar.

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Belle and Sebastian – The Life Pursuit

From the word “go,” The Life Pursuit, latest release from famed Scottish group, Belle and Sebastian, is a pop explosion. Replete with the expected qualities — jangly guitars, heartfelt lyrics, and a solid rhythm — The Life Pursuit, the band voted Scotland’s greatest’s seventh studio album, manages to, at the very least, meet listeners’ expectations.

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Beggar’s Opera – Act One

Act One, debut album of British prog-rockers, Beggar’s Opera, is a fun, timeless work in an early British post-psychedelic style. Most notable among the instrumentation is Alan Park’s fantastical keyboard and organ playing, at times breaking into classical pieces (similar to contemporaries Emerson, Lake & Palmer), from Grieg’s famous Peer Gynt suite (best known for its “In the Hall of the Mountain King,”) to Mozart’s “Rondo allo Turka,” suggesting that Park was, at the very least, well-trained.

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Blue Merle – Burning in the Sun

The first time I heard Nashville’s Blue Merle, I could have sworn it was a side project of Coldplay’s Chris Martin based on the singer’s voice. Although the singer may sound alot like Martin, the music itself goes in several different directions with an occasional fiddle or violin thrown in.

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Billy Corgan – TheFutureEmbrace

Billy Corgan’s former band, The Smashing Pumpkins, are known mostly for their contribution to mainstream alt-rock of the mid-90s. Although garnered with success after the release of their albums Siamese Dream (1993) and the double-album epic Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness (1995), drug problems, among members, led to the deterioration of the band. Since then Corgan has struggled with music, having previously disbanded from the alt-rock ‘super group Zwan after only one album and a short tour. TheFutureEmbrace marks the beginning of Corgan?s solo career.

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Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It In People

You Forgot It In People isn’t Broken Social Scene’s latest release, nor is it their best, but it is a noteworthy release, at the very least. From the packaging to the first moments, Broken Social Scene creates an undisputably hand-made image, though the actual authenticity of such an image remains mostly in the head of listener as Broken Social Scene produces an ultimately synthetic album, the electronic sound has a clear conflict with what you are visually presented with. Of course, this can still have an enormous impact.

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Bridge and Tunnel – Without Ghosts

Without Ghosts opens with a thumping drum that can be equated to the beating of heart, but quickly strays from this path (and by quickly, I mean, four or five seconds), instead opting to explore a mixture of both electronic and electric instruments, crafting a dense, atmospheric sound, complete with clicks and buzzing you’d expect to hear come from a recording made in the basement of the teenage “rock stars” next door. This comparison, however, does not apply to any content beyond the vinyl-style noise.

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The often-significantly-altered drums presented on Without Ghosts present an interestingly unique style; the raising pitch of cymbal crashes on “A Wheelchair For Mrs. Ruple” being a notable application of such, as well as the muffled, almost synthesized feeling they are given on “Nothing Is Sacred,” a piece in which the vocals are given a similar treatment, as a distinctly electronic-filter-sounding voice sings “If I had money, I’d buy you the world, and then I would blow it up.”

The largely instrumental piece, “The Kids Are Dead” seems to exemplify the sound Bridge and Tunnel strove for on Without Ghosts — the dense-but-forgiving atmosphere, flowing instrumentation, and ultimately soothing style, topped with a smooth woodwind (likely an oboe or clarient, but behind all of the noise, it begins to obfuscate its true origins.) combine to create the unmistakable sound of Bridge and Tunnel. Another notable largely instrumental track is “Tulsa,” which follows in the same vein as “The Kids Are Dead,” but with the sound of whistling reverberating over the backing instrumentation instead of a woodwind.

At the very least, Without Ghosts is a consistent album; it builds and maintains an interesting sound, continuing to expound upon that sound until the album’s close. From the introductory “A Wheelchair For Mrs. Ruple,” to the samples of sounds from the classic Super Mario Bros. used in “Smash Up,” Bridge and Tunnel has crafted an album worthy of at least one listen, though it would be an injustice to stop there.

Matthew Montgomery