I feel like being blunt. Estrela is a band of many vocal styles. They have breathy, nearly whispered vocals, which are good for the most part, normal singing, which is grainy, nasal and bad, and screaming, which is pretty good. To open their demo, Estrela uses a dreamy, flowing playing style on “Blurred”. Fast...
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“Sending Signals” kicks off this CD. The song’s instrumentation creates a stomping, unfaltering drive of a mood. The high, mournful vocals contribute to the general mood of hopelessness by trying to soar above it, but not quite making it. The solo is simply amazing. “Impression is a Target” isn’t as hard as “Sending Signals”,...
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Rikki Gann’s self-titled EP opens up with “I Can See”. It features a melodic acoustic strum. The vocalist, a mellow bluesy singer, sounds fine except for when he goes for vibrato, which makes him sound really unoriginal. He does this often, sadly. The second guitar plays an interesting ditty, making the song mildly interesting....
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There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding this new band Mae. They sport a cryptic band name, cd name, and website name. They have an independent label affiliation, but play all over mtv, mtv2, and mtv.com. Who are they?! Let’s see… The album kicks off with some distant sounding, haunting, but very beautiful melody....
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I have been on the Holland bandwagon for a while. I saw them twice before this cd, their debut, came out. They didn’t really seem to rock that hard though, compared to the punk bands they were touring with. As a good groupie, I went out and bought the CD almost as soon as...
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Bleach Ain’t Cheap in Oklahoma. When: Aug. 18 Where: The Edge Building, Grace Fellowship Church, Tulsa, OK Bleach always puts on a good show. That’s why I have no less than three Bleach shirts- they blow me away every time. This time was no exception. I missed the opener bands, and even the first...
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Anberlin just popped up. I know nothing about them. After listening to the CD through a couple times, I still know virtually nothing about them, cause they didn’t print their lyrics in the CD booklet. That is most definitely a pet peeve of mine. The cd blasts out of the gate with Readyfuels (yes,...
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Stellas Music for umbrella This cd is titled astutely. You can take this out on a rainy day, and have shelter from the elements (mood-wise). This girl-fronted punk band isn’t your average dime-a-dozen punk run-of-the-mill. They sport no bassist, but there are bass lines, don’t worry. Although males might have a problem with the...
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Some bands take a while to get used to, but you enjoy them more with every listen. As Advertised is different. They hook you instantly, sucking you into their charm and diversity, and still get better each time you listen. This CD, a mere 27:34, has more styles than some bands can pull off...
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Mourning September may or may not be a reference to that infamous day. It really doesn’t matter though, because the music speaks for itself. This three song-prerelease is an excellent taste of what’s to come. A drum solo is the lead-in to “Running”, a melodic rock song which asks a question no one wants...
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