Category: Alternative (Page 27 of 155)

Foxy Shazam: Foxy Shazam

June 9, 2010 /


RIYL: Queen, Meat Loaf, Mike Patton, Epic Facial Hair

There’s a scene in Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” where two members of the fictional band Stillwater are arguing over who works the hardest. The lead singer makes his case the best, yelling at the guitarist “You know what I do? I connect. I get people off. I look for the guy who isn’t getting off, and I make him get off!”

Convert that sentiment into music, and that is the sound of Foxy Shazam’s self-titled third album. This is music tailor-made to get you off. The magnificent howls of lead singer Eric Sean Nally grab you by the ghoulies from opening minute of the intro, which he closes with an ungodly howl that will make your dog freak the eff out, and doesn’t let go. From there it’s bombs away, literally, that’s the name of opening track, and figuratively; these crazy mothers from Cincinnati are not afraid to throw everything they got at you and then some.

Foxy_Shazam_03

Past that, it’s practically impossible to describe the maniacal sound Foxy Shazam created on this record. No genre can contain them, not even on a single song. They’re part ’70s glam, part ’80s metal and part ’90s hardcore, all with an overwhelming current of timeless soul thrown in. Some tracks, like “Count Me Out” and “Unstoppable,” wear their Queen/Elton John influences on their sleeves. But odder numbers like the oddly funky “Connect” defy all categorization. Then there’s the lyrics, which are so goofy and high on camp that they just have to be serious. On “Bye Bye Symphony” Nally seductively belts out “life is a bitch but she’s totally doable” and on the ode to down-low loving “Second Floor” he compares his sneaking ability to that of G.I. Joe. It’s so crazy it doesn’t just work, it works marvelously.

You need this record. Trust me. Sure, you can buy the new Broken Social Scene album and have yourself a good cry, or you can pick up Foxy Shazam and have your ears punched in the balls with a fistful of awesome. Your choice. (Sire 2010)

Foxy Shazam MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Funk, Metal, Progressive, Rock, Soul

Melissa Auf der Maur: Out of Our Minds

June 8, 2010 /


RIYL: Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, Danzig

As a former bassist for alt-rock icons such as Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins, Melissa Auf der Maur has been through the grunge wars. She’s been lying low for a while, but she’s clearly put a lot of energy into this new album. The album seems to have a vague theme about using the power of music to transcend dark times, and Auf der Maur has put together a collection of powerful tunes with strong production value and artistic flair.

“If there’s a fire, a need, a desire, are you willing and able to set the stakes higher?” asks Auf der Maur on the darkly-tinged title track. She’s set the bar higher with this album, inviting fans to go along for a ride. All of the tunes are minor key songs that veer from moody to hard rocking, and she navigates between those two areas with great skill. Many of the songs seem to have a cinematic vibe, as the album was apparently designed to accompany a graphic novel and film. The tunes stand alone well on their own, though.

“Isis Speaks” is a hard rocker that conjures the image of a dark goddess. “Follow the Map” is a highlight with its dark, edgy riffs and lyrics about a pirate’s journey. “Meet Me on the Dark Side” is another dynamic hard rocker, interspersed with some melodic guitar lines to create some extra sonic texture. The tune conjures the image of a character like Kate Beckinsale’s Celine from the “Underworld” movie series. Glenn Danzig joins the fun for a dark duet on “Father’s Grave,” which delves into a more subdued but freaky territory. Auf der Maur amps it back up with two more killer rockers toward the end of the album in “The Key” and “The One.” Then she closes it out with “1000 Years,” which seems to allude to an epic storyline.

The material is strong and could make for an intriguing theatrical style performance in the live setting if Auf der Maur should decide to go that way. (PHI-MAdM/EMI 2010)

Melissa Auf der Maur MySpace page

Alternative, CD Reviews, Rock

Nada Surf: If I Had a Hi-Fi

June 4, 2010 /


RIYL: Josh Rouse, Rogue Wave, The Silver Seas

The cool thing about alt-pop band Nada Surf is that they appear to always do things their own way. For whatever reason, though, they stayed together all these years and broke through in 2005 with The Weight Is a Gift, which was produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla. The band continued some of that magic with 2008’s Lucky, and instead of lying low as they had planned, decided to release an album of cover tunes. Fast-forward to today, and If I Had a Hi-Fi. While it’s a set of songs that varies widely from the known (Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” and The Moody Blues’ “Question”) to the currently hip (The Go Betweens’ “Love Goes On” and Spoon’s “Agony of Lafitte”) to the mostly obscure (Bill Fox’s “Electrocution” and Macromina’s “Evolucion”), the base of this is Nada Surf’s signature sound, which is akin to Josh Rouse or Ben Folds fronting a modern version of the Beatles. And it’s that sound that is so endearing. That said, there is something about this album that, while nice enough, may leave you wanting more. That could be because Nada Surf’s original material is that good, or it could be that they just chose these songs on a whim based on what they were listening to at the moment. Surely we can’t fault them for taking chances, because they even covered Kate Bush’s “Love and Anger.” But one or two covers on a new Nada Surf record would have worked just as well. (Mardev 2010)

Nada Surf MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Tracey Thorn: Love and Its Opposite

June 2, 2010 /


RIYL: Everything But The Girl, Beth Orton, Amy Rigby

TraceyThornThough it’s a bit jarring to consider, it has been 11 years since the last proper Everything but the Girl studio album (1999’s Temperamental), and singer Tracey Thorn’s solo output in that period has been relatively sparse. Love and Its Opposite, her first new disc in three years, is worth the wait—an extraordinary adult pop record, full of meditations on middle age, its disappointments, and tiny victories.

The somber piano ballad “Oh, the Divorces!” opens the record, with Thorn employing her distinctive, languid voice to emanate empathy as she imagines the sad scenes leading toward a relationship’s downfall and aftermath. She ponders the reticence to wed in the first place, in “Long White Dress,” casting the wedding gown as love’s “opposite,” while quietly celebrating those who demur. Fear of loneliness, however, sends the protagonist to the “Singles Bar,” where life as a cougar ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. “Can you guess my age in this light?” she asks. “Who will be taking me home tonight?” This triptych forms the foundation of the record, delivering a melancholy take on aging, romance, and sexuality.

Elsewhere, Thorn’s wit pokes through on the up-tempo “Hormones,” and she floats on the danceable groove of “Why Does the Wind?” making one miss Everything But The Girl just a little bit. In all, however, Love and Its Opposite argues convincingly for Thorn’s continued viability as an artist, solo or otherwise, and as a chronicler of the everyday. (Merge 2010)

Tracey Thorn Myspace Page
Click to buy Love and Its Opposite from Amazon

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

The Purrs: Tearing Down Paisley Garden

May 31, 2010 /


RIYL: The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Velvet Underground, The Brian Jonestown Massacre

The Purrs Tearing Down Paisly GardenThere’s much to be said for a band like the Purrs, with ten years together and six solid releases under its belt. They might not be household names, but they’ve never compromised their music to raise their profile. This is where the music comes out ahead, and Tearing Down Paisley Garden is yet another winner.

At seven songs, Paisley is not quite an EP, though had it been released in 1972, it still might have been considered a full-length album. And then, looking at the makeup of the songs themselves, Paisley could even be called an “odds and ends” kind of collection. “Only Dreaming” and “I Move Around” are covers of songs by ’80s goth rockers Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and the late Nancy Sinatra collaborator Lee Hazlewood, respectively. And “Just a Little More” and “It Could Be So Wonderful” are new recordings of old songs, which explains the oddly out of time reference to “the president” in the former.

In spite of what could easily have been a set-up for a major bomb, Paisley plays like a strikingly cohesive collection, exhibiting all the Purrs trademarks – Jason Milne’s cutting lead guitar lines, Jima’s lackadaisically cool detachment and sarcastic wit, and that reverb-laden, psychedelic shoegazey sound married to seasoned pop songcraft. If there’s anything different about the Purrs this time around, it’s a subtle but noticeable uptick in their mood compared to last year’s excellent Amused, Confused and More Bad News that comes through even in a downer like “I’m Slipping” – which in this case keeps a song about sexual transgressions against a friend from devolving into a pity party. And in the case of the disc’s closing tune, “Always Something In My Way,” the title ends up coming across less as a complaint and more as a celebration of the challenges that would crush a lesser person. Clearly, these Seattle stalwarts are having more fun than ever, which is exactly how a good rock record should sound. (self released 2010)

The Purrs MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Psychedelic, Rock

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