Stephen’s Top 9 While I’m fairly certain that there were other brilliant releases in 2006 that I raved, here are the few that I loved enough to remember. Pontiak – Valley of Cats Most creative thing I’ve heard genre-wise all year: hipster indie rock, as filtered through an Appalachian rural band. Not even kidding....
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Archive for February, 2007
Stephen’s Top 9
Stephen J. -Midwest in Mono
Band: Stephen J. Album: Midwest in Mono Best Element: Fluid, relaxing songwriting Genre: Acoustic/Americana/Folk Rock Website: www.stephenjmusic.com Label: Maritime Fist Glee Club Band Email: stephenj@stephenjmusic.com Close your eyes (figuratively of course). Let’s pretend for a moment that you are living in Chicago and working on a PhD. In your spare time you play guitar...
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Standish Arms-The Reasoning Engine
Band Name: Standish Arms Album Name: The Reasoning Engine Best Element: Perceptive and catchy lyrics infused with pop melodies. Genre: Indie/Pop/Folk. Website: http://www.myspace.com/standisharms, http://www.standisharms.com. Label Name: OTP Records Email: brad@standisharms.com. Vacillating between surprising brilliance and heart-rending cynicism, Standish Arms’ first full-length release The Reasoning Engineis brimming with pop hooks and riddled with witty lines....
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Solar Powered People: The Shoegazers are Coming!
Solar Powered People: The Shoegazers are Coming! I was going over my “to listen” pile when I came across the self titled album by Solar Powered People. After a really impressive opener I was ready to turn on the computer and start writing. As the songs progressed, I found myself drowning in a wave...
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Shake Some Action-Self-Titled
Band Name: Shake Some Action Album Title: Self-Titled Best Element: Songwriting skills Genre: Power-pop/Rock/Pop Website: www.shakesomeaction.net Label Name: Satellite 451 Records Band Email: info@shakesomeaction.net Although recently dubbed as the worst town ever for American Idol tryouts, Seattle still has a claim to fame when it comes to the evolution of music. Not only did...
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Scott’s Top 5 releases of 2006
Scott’s Top 5 releases of 2006 5. The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me – Brand New I will be mocked mercilessly for this but Brand New’s third full length release was one of the few albums this year that could be listened to the whole way through. While there were no stand-out...
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Do You Hate Signed Bands?
Do You Hate Signed Bands? When I tell people what Independent Clauses is about, I, almost without fail, get the asked if I hated signed bands or if I’m a socialist. While the latter is true, it has nothing to do with my work with unsigned bands – and I do not hate signed...
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Randall Shreve-The Cure for Yesterday
Band: Randall Shreve Album: The Cure for Yesterday Best Element: Honest songwriting Genre: Pop Website: www.randallshreve.com Label: n/a Band E-mail: randall@randallshreve.com Randall Shreve has spent most of his life playing in bands. GS Megaphone was his most notable success in earlier years, led by his brother Benjamin Del Shreve. After the band disbursed he...
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Mika-Life in Cartoon Motion
Band Name: Mika Album Name: Life in Cartoon Motion Best Element: All around superb musicianship Genre: Pop Website: http://www.mikasounds.com Label Name: Casablanca Band E-mail: n/a The current pop climate is open for a jack-of-all-trades, and after listening to Mika’s debut album Life In Cartoon Motion, that seems to be exactly the title he’s going...
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Best Albums of 2006
Best Albums of 2006 Mogwai – Mr. Beast The Black Keys – Magic Potion Kunek – Flight of the Flynns Oh No! Oh My! – Oh No! Oh My! Ghostland Observatory – Paparazzi Lightning 65daysofstatic – One Time For All Time Danielson – Ships Steve Hefter and Friends and Friends of Friends – A...
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