Review: City of Ships - Live Free or Don't Tour

Label: Forcefield Records

Released: January 27, 2009

This vinyl-only release collects two earlier City of Ships EPs from 2006 and 2007 that are clearly worthy of being issued on this superior format. Both EPs feature monstrous waves of dissonance underscored by shockingly melodic lines. The tension created isn't pleasant, but reflects that nice is a minor virtue next to truth and truth isn't always pretty. The influence of two 90s phenomenons, progressive metal and post-hardcore is clear, yet City of Ships is not of the past, but the future. There are metal elements, but absent is the flashy riffage that makes much metal a bore. In its place is an intensity that has few rivals. Call it post-hardcore, post-rock or whatever, one thing is clear, it's post-something. The tension it creates is constant even as the music ebbs and flows. It's not pleasant, but a rewarding exploration of the tensions of life.

The vinyl itself is as striking as the music. The black and yellow swirl looks like it might glow in the dark and it certainly could be dangerous to those given to seizures. Seriously, cool stuff.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: Lovers - I Am the West

Label: Able Heart Records

Released: April 28, 2009

I wonder why it is that when a band rehashes 60s garage psych or 70s hard rock, I'm so much more open to it than I am to the now-popular revisiting of 80s pop. I think the answer is two-fold. First, I lived through the 80s. I missed the 60s and was too young to appreciate the 70s, so those decades hold more mystique for me than the 80s. I have to keep this in mind when listening to anything that looks from a distance at my own formative years. More importantly though, simply playing a style from the past doesn't cut it whether I like the original genre or not. The band has to tap into something deeper, into the music's soul. The trouble with revisiting the 80s is that soul was kind of the exception, not the rule. Looking back fondly on something empty often produces more emptiness.

Lovers creates a catchy amalgamation of 80s pop on I Am the West. A list of its influences would be a who's who of middle of the road 80s artists, but sadly, the album never taps into any of the darkness or creativity that was stewing just outside of the Billboard Hot 100 back then. The songwriting is solid, making for a pleasant experience, but not one that presents any challenge or anything that really sticks. I Am the West will likely have more appeal to those who didn't live through the 80s the first time. However, by definition of what it is, the album is thin on soul and that really limits it.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 4/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: John Scofield - Piety Street

Label: Emarcy

Released: March 31, 2009

Over the years, John Scofield has worked with a who's who of jazz and fusion artists. He has established himself as one of the top names in jazz guitar and is almost as well known outside of jazz circles as he is within. He's one of those artists who finds himself in the unique position of being able to try whatever he wants. While that position many times finds artists releasing ego-driven nonsense, Scofield chooses instead to make an album that is an interesting experiment, showcasing the music far more than the formidable players who made it.

Piety Street find the jazz guitarist and his band making bluesy renditions of gospel songs. More than a few times, it fails to break with the conventionality of straightforward blues, sucking much of the gospel elements he supposedly wanted to capture out of the music. However, Scofield and company more often find a place where jazz, blues and gospel sing in unison. Once or twice, it's downright amazing as on "It's a Big Army," a Scofield original that sounds like a rediscovered old-time gospel gem, but generally the album is fairly understated, illustrating the band's total trust in the music itself.

Piety Street is certainly not Scofield's best work, but it is an interesting change-up. Rather than either sticking to the tried-and-true or running off on some silly ego trip, he chooses to explore some of the music he loves even if it isn't the genre for which he's best known. He assembled a top-notch band to navigate this musical adventure with him and the result is, a few weak spots aside, a very interesting listen.

Ratings
Satriani: 10/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Landing Project

Label: self-released (available at the bands Myspace and at shows)

Released: January 31, 2009

In recent years, there have been a number of bands who have returned to punk's old loose hooks and gritty melodies. Against Me is at the top of that pile with bands like Gaslight Anthem quickly climbing up behind them. Many voices are screaming to be heard behind these front runners. Not all are worth hearing, but among those that are is Landing Project. Their "three chords and the truth" approach is attempted by many. The three chords part is easy. Rock and roll has a long tradition of simplicity and even turning simplicity into great hooks isn't terribly unusual, but it's the truth part that stumps so many.

Landing Project turns out to be everyman poets (or more appropriately every-misfit/misplaced/misunderstood-man poets) to whose truth anyone with a beating heart should be able to relate. The album opens with the words, "I remember how I felt in my teens..." Don't we all remember? But this song, as the title "Keep Going" suggests, looks forward. It's this combination of examination and expectation that gives these songs the roots with which to connect and the open future into which to fly. Without that, their three chords would just add up to a handful of catchy tunes. With this truth, this honesty, they're a handful of catchy tunes that mean something.



If that's not enough (though it should be plenty), check out the packaging. Rather than package the CD in a jewel case, digipak or cardboard sleeve, the guys in Landing Project made unique sleeves out of old 5 1/4 inch floppy disks. In an age when the CD is dying off in the face of digital releases, packaging is more important than ever and this is one band who found a great way to make the hardcopy worthwhile. It even steals a bit from the digital age for irony's sake (or was it a happy accident?). Get yours quick, because the "floppy disk sleeve" edition is limited to the number of old floppies they can dig up. Once the floppies are gone, so is this great package.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: Anarbor - Free Your Mind and The Bigger Lights - Fiction Fever

Label: Hopeless Records

Released: March 10, 2009


Label: Doghouse Records

Released: April 7, 2009

Thirty years ago, a subgenre of rock that had been building for a few years was just about ready to explode. AOR took the best elements of 70s rock, dummied it down, made it safe and sold millions of records whose broad appeal was based on the least common denominator. While what they did was generally meaningless, a few bands did it well, but for every Journey or Foreigner, there were a slew of Loverboys and Survivors (and don't even make me count the Honeymoon Suites). Just about every subsequent generation has turned its primal voice into a slicked up, safe facsimile of itself that embodies the spirit, if not the sound, of AOR.

Both Anarbor and The Bigger Lights embody that spirit, but the results aren't quite the same. On their Free Your Mind EP, Anarbor take a step forward in songwriting. While they still won't be remembered years from now, their songs are catchy and draw from influences that expand their basic power pop sound. Each song is catchy enough to be memorable and "The Brightest Green" and "Halfway Sober" both have clear single potential, with the latter tapping into power ballad territory worthy of Aerosmith. All in all, not bad for today's version of AOR. It may not have staying power, but it's a good listen in the moment.

The Bigger Lights have bigger problems. While Anarbor have trouble creating a consistent, distinctive sound, their songs do manage to maintain some personality in their own right, but The Bigger Lights can't even establish that on a song by song basis. Not only could their Fiction Fever EP be played by any number of bands, but the songs themselves could be interchanged with literally thousands of others glutting the current rock market. Where Anarbor struggles to find a voice of their own, The Bigger Lights struggle to find something worth saying.

Anarbor - Free Your Mind

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

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The Bigger Lights - Fiction Fever

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 4/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 4/10

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Review: Oceans - Nothing Collapses

Label: Copper Lung Records

Released: March 24, 2009

I have long believed that artists only are only half of the creative force behind art. The other half of the creation is the interpretation. Often, the greatest art allows for significant breadth of interpretation even as it guides the very same. Most often though, the artist errs on the side of doing too much and closing too many doors.

This is particularly true in music, but every once in awhile, an album comes along that acts in a sense as an open-ended soundtrack to a movie that will play in the listener's head. Nothing Collapses is one such album. In a sense the music is in the background, but not in a passive way. It's twisting, turning rhythms and layered sound paints a vivid scene with both a clear point and endless possibility. What's best is that Oceans trusts its listeners to do their part, to participate in something great, to not just listen, but to act (at least on the stage of their own minds).

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 9/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: Motorik - Klang!

Label: self-released (CD Baby)

Released: April 28, 2009

In the waning days of the first wave of punk, several bands took the groundwork it had laid and mixed it up with a frantic sense of dancability. For lack of a better desciption, we called it post-punk. Three decades later, it seems like everyone wants to "rediscover" Joy Division, the Fall, Pil and their peers. Motorik, despite their name's nod to Krautrock, is one such devotee, but unlike most, they paid close attention, demonstrating a deep understanding of what made the best post-punk bands so good.

Just like those of their mentors, Motorik's songs are driven more by sharp, angular rhythms than by overt melodies. Their agitated beats, a la early Joy Division, stir the music and provide the perfect force for the snearing artiness that dominates the record, though they do occasionally stray into the darker, harder world of Killing Joke. While Klang! struggles to find a reasonably original moment, it is nonetheless very genuine in its homage to the past.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 6/10

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Review: The Eruptors - Microwave Massacre

Label: Fixing a Hole Records

Released: February 2009

Ken Decter, infamous leader of Florida fun punks F, once said of his band, "We don't have a message. If we had a message, we'd put out a newspaper. We're just a stupid band." That statement could be applied to any number of punk bands from the goofball antics of Adrenalin OD to B horror movie shenanigans of the Misfits. At a time when punk was freeing itself from its nonsensical nihilistic beginnings, it immediately found itself in danger of being too serious. But there were still bands out there warding off that threat by not taking it all too seriously and having fun. While a sense of seriousness may have saved punk on one hand, in a sense these are the bands that kept things honest. Amidst the sometimes overbearing weight of post-hardcore's musical challenges and of emo's over-dramatic emotion (not to mention NOFX's posturing as a political force), good time bands are as essential as ever and the Eruptors do a great job of reminding everyone to keep it fun.

Microwave Massacre's title alone shows its hand and with tunes like "Cannibal Holocaust" and "Whöregazm," there can be no question where things are going. However, just as a string of clichés about tenderness and longing don't make a great love song and posturing and received opinion aren't the ingredients of the theme to the revolution, fun is more than just the sum of a few silly titles. The Eruptors are a band that understand that. Their raw punk spontaneity meshes perfectly with their wild, offbeat humor to create classic punk rock silliness. Sure, the echoes of Cocksparrer on "One Minute Decision," an excellent holdover from the last record, and the strange psyche leanings of "Cannibal Reprise" play out a little more seriously, at least musically, but those pace changes help make the party, not hinder it.

Punk needs a laugh from time to time and right now, there are few bands as good as the Eruptors to deliver that comic relief.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

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Review: Kate Mann - Things Look Different When the Sun Goes Down

Label: Orange Dress Records

Released: March 17, 2009

On the surface, Kate Mann finds herself channeling a bit of Joni Mitchell and a bit of Janis Joplin, her music swinging gently across the short space between folk and blues. While it is that bit of Joni that shows up in a clever musical phrase here and there, it also manifests itself in the albums lighter, less compelling moments. But Mann's reliance on Janis makes up for those underwhelming spots with songs that have teeth to bite and hands to touch the soul.

The best example of what Mann offers though is made clear on "Robert Johnson Knew." Ever since Johnson sang about his encounter at the crossroads, the idea of selling one's soul has been oddly glorified in popular music (much like suicide and drug addiction), but just about everyone misses the point. The crossroads isn't a place for the happy or even the hedonistic. It is a place of torture and a moment of terrible decision. Mann questions if she'll really have to sign in blood. She wonders how long is forever. She isn't fabricating her demons, but vacillating between exorcising them or joining them. Honest dealing like this is at odds with the shallow lexicon of pop culture imagery. It is also Mann's greatest strength. I hope she makes it back, soul intact, because I think she may just know a thing or two herself.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

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