Category: Artists (Page 112 of 262)

Douye: Journey

R&B artist Douye hs an impeccable sense of style here on Journey. Her singing is tasteful, and not over the top, unlike a lot of “divas” in the genre who are only out to show off their range with all the subtlety of a jackhammer. At times, on songs like “On for You,” she brings to mind vintage Anita Baker. The opening cut “Fly Away” is also pretty tasty, presenting Souye as an artist with true talent and serious crossover potential. Sometimes, though, things get a little repetitive and Douye will often stretch out a song a bit too long by repeating a certain phrase or chorus over and over. Still, there’s no denying the scintillating power of a track like “Wicked World” with its jazz leanings or “Waiting for My Man” that has slow jam hit written all over it. Douye definitely has the skills to have a successful music career. hopefully the right people are listening out there. (self-released)

Douye’s MySpace page.

Lou Reed: Playlist: The Very Best of Lou Reed

Once again it’s time to trot out a series of “best of” material by various artists on a particular label’s roster. RCA is up next and have created their “Playlist” series to get with the modern times and play to the mp3 player crowds who no longer want to sit around and listen to full albums. That’s fine and all, but Lou Reed has never been someone you can cover in 13 skimpy tracks, most of which are drawn from his early-to-mid ’70s heyday. This is almost a carbon copy of the original RCA Reed compilation Walk on the Wild Side released when Lou skipped over to Arista back in 1976. What’s here is good stuff (almost half of Transformer is thrown in), and somehow RCA managed to finagle the rights to “Street Hassle.” But there’s nothing here from The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts, or Mistrial. And why the hell they still insisted on putting the crummy 2:54 version of “Sally Can’t Dance” on here when there was more than enough room for the full album cut is odd. This collection is okay for a casual fan who just wants to hear “Walk on the Wild Side” and not much else, but those seriously interested in Lou would do best to just explore his individual albums. (RCA/Legacy)

Lou Reed MySpace page

Neverdie: no ROCK uN ROLLed

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

Intercept: Magnolia Road

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

Steal This Song: ism, “Sacred Cows”

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)

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