Category: Artists (Page 112 of 262)

Neverdie: no ROCK uN ROLLed

August 1, 2008 / Captain Capm

Jon Jacbos is Neverdie and his latest CD No Rock Unrolled (to hell with the actual wacky spelling of it on the cover) is a decent, if a little forced, collection of 14 tracks. Jacobs is more famous for being known as a virtual world avatar and big cheese in the Entropia online universe. Yeah, okay, now back to the music. Jacobs’ tunes sound exactly like the kind of RAWK that would be featured in some video game or online experience. It’s cheesy, energetic, and often features guest female vocalists like Cheri London, Tina Leiu, and Shon Drew. The collaboration with London entitled “Can You Reach the Button?” has a lot of silly double entendres and a good beat. On the other hand, “Elvis Porno Song” is just ridiculous to the point of exhaustion. “Gamer Chick” sounds like a relic from 1994, with its skittkish techno beats and almost brings to mind the Lords of Acid of yore. The vocal detuner employed is hokey as hell, though. It’s hard to guess what audience this CD was recorded for, if any particular one at that. Perhaps Jacobs just had some time and money to throw around and did this for fun. That’s what it seems like in the end, and while that’s admirable on some levels, No Rock Unrolled is undoubtedly going to go the way of all those faceless techno acts that this stuff sounds like. Viva 1994. (NEVERDIE)

John Jacobs’ Wikipedia page

Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Rock

Intercept: Magnolia Road

August 1, 2008 / Captain Capm

This SoCal group makes tasty, brooding modern rock that would sound just right on your local college’s radio station. Hell, they may be already appearing on it right now. Magnolia Road is the sort of album that you’d put on when you’re feeling down and need someone to sympathize with you. “Gravity” pretty much sets the Intercept scene: pretty, crystalline guitar notes that soon give way to a larger, cinematic sound with booming guitars at the choruses and Christian Knudsen’s impassioned vocals at the fore. “Two Broken Astronauts” coasts along on a spacey groove and “Imaginary Friends” mixes coffehouse acoustic tones to modern college rock circa 1996. Funny how some things never change. This album is certainly a solid affair, and Intercept is a tight, well-rehearsed band, but there’s something about the overall sound of Magnolia Road that squarely dates it about ten years. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, but anyone who lived through those times and was going through their college years will definitely feel in familiar territory. Solid, but not quite essential. (Intercept Records)

Intercept MySpace page

Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Steal This Song: ism, “Sacred Cows”

June 19, 2008 / David Medsker

Anyone who needs a temporary fix to tide them over until Muse drops their next album (rumored to be slated for late fall), this should do the trick. In fact, New York quartet ism are a little too good at the, um, Museisms, to the point where they have little identity of their own to speak of. The title track of their upcoming album, Urgency, takes elements of three Muse songs – “Time Is Running Out,” “Apocalypse Please,” and “Butterflies and Hurricanes” – and rolls them into one. They’re not awful – they just need to figure out who they really are. If there is one takeaway moment from the album, it’s this. And we’re giving it away for free download. Dig in, Museies.

Ism – Sacred Cows (Radio Edit)

Alternative, Artists, Downloads, External Music, Rock, Songs

iiO – Rapture Reconstruction Platinum Edition

June 13, 2008 / Captain Capm

For all the iiO fans who can’t get enough of the classic dance tune “Rapture,” here’s a two-disc set featuring 18 remixes of the tune. Like any collection of remixes, Rapture Reconstruction is a hit and miss experience, and of course it really all comes down to personal opinion of just which remixes are the best here. The opening “Starkillers Dirty Girl Made Single Edit” is better than “Starkillers Undone Made Single Edit” just two tracks later, for example. Part of the problem is sitting through the whole thing and not going slightly nuts from it trying to pick out the wheat from the chaff. Even the dub versions are split right down the middle of good and irritating (the spacey “Hardware & Orue Electric Dub” is light years better than the “Friscia & Lamboy Dub,” which grates pretty fast). The second disc – the “Classic Enhanced Disk”- fares no differently. The “Armin Van Buuren remix” is a good example of classic hard trance done right, while the “Deep Dish Space Remix” sounds lazy and uninspired, like any generic remix you’d care to name. If you want to get as close to the real thing, though, the “Original Extended Mix” is the very last cut here and it shines through so much of the other versions here. Sometimes sticking to the real thing is the best decision. (Made 2008)

iiO MySpace page.

Artists, CD QuickTakes, Electronica, Songs

Too $hort – Get Off the Stage

June 13, 2008 / Captain Capm

Holy Christ. Who even knew this dude was still making CDs? Look, plain and simple this is as bad as rap gets nowadays. Too $hort is still stuck in a bubble waxing about how great he is, what he has, and how he likes “big titties.” Yeah…go figure. Of course, what else to expect with tracks such as the stunning “Shittin’ On ‘Em” (“You a soldier, nigga I’m a vet, what?“) or how $hort embraces the English lexicon with the remarkable “F.U.C.K.Y.O.U.” (“Fuck you / Nigga, fuck you, too! / Nigga, F.U.C.K.Y.O.U.!“)? Yes, it’s all in a lazy, easy day’s work shitting out inconsequential track after inconsequential track and reaping the benefits of having absolutely no real talents and letting the record label pump money into your pockets. Must be real nice. But hey, who am I to complain when I can groove effortlessly to the sexy heat of “Pull Them Panties Down”? “Tryin’ to see you get naked,” exclaims Too at the beginning. Then the full-on erotica ensues: “Gotta see the pink now / G’wan pull them panties down” and “You need to let them panties leave ya ankles / Show ’em you a bad bitch, fuck these stank hos.” Ready to pull out your wallet and let your money do the voting yet? No? Really? Why not? Doesn’t hearing $hort repeat “Gotta get a bitch and get my dick sucked” over and over on “Gangstas & Strippers” not get you horny, baby? Dayum! But really, who knew this dude was still making CDs? Yeesh. (Jive 2007)

Too $hort MySpace page.

Artists, CD QuickTakes, Rap