Category: Rock (Page 24 of 241)

The Airborne Toxic Event: All I Ever Wanted: Live from the Walt Disney Concert Hall

September 23, 2010 /

Note: This is a review of the 90-minute documentary film only. At press time, we did not have access to the CD or the DVD of the entire show. Though we hope to, soon.

It’s still baffling to us that Pitchfork would go so far out of their way to bash a band like the Airborne Toxic Event – they gave the band’s eponymous debut album, which we loved, a scathing 1.6 on their 10-point scale – and after watching “All I Ever Wanted: Live from the Walt Disney Concert Hall,” the insult seems twice as offensive. They seem like geniunely good, extremely gracious people, and the way they got the community involved in their landmark show was deeply touching. A local high school band plays on “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” and a raucous cover of the Ramones’ “Do You Remember Rock ‘n Roll Radio?,” while a school girl’s choir jumps in for a rousing, kitchen-sink version of “Missy.” The band sounds great – the high school band misses a few notes, but hey, they’re kids – and they look like they’re having the time of their lives both performing and recording this show.

If there is one problem with the movie, it’s that it goes for long stretches without any music, and when they do include music, they opt for a cover version (the Ramones, Magnetic Fields, Q Lazzarus) as often as they show them playing one of their own songs. The covers are cute, but the movie could have used more original material. The set includes a separate DVD of the entire show, of course, but if we’re having our music documented for all eternity, we’re going to make sure the majority of the footage consists of original material, not someone else’s. But then again, that’s a very Mikel Jollett thing to do, favoring someone else’s songs over his own. (Island 2010)

Airborne Toxic Event MySpace page
Click to buy All I Ever Wanted from Amazon

Alternative, Artists, CD Reviews, Concert CDs, Concert DVDs, Rock

Filter: The Trouble with Angels

September 22, 2010 /


RIYL: Nine Inch Nails, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice Cooper’s Brutal Planet and Dragontown

Filter is Richard Patrick. It’s his toy and he is going to steer it, hire the rest of the band and collaborate with who he thinks will make the best record. Mind you, it is going to sound like a Filter record. There will be those trademark Patrick screams contrasted against his solid singing voice; there will be crunchy industrial guitar riffs, chugging bass lines, at least one ballad and Patrick will be wrestling lyrically with subjects like addiction and the ills of organized religion. For The Trouble with Angels, Patrick works with Bob Marlette (Iommi, Alice Cooper, Atreyu among others) to re-sharpen the fangs of Filter. Marlette produces and engineers the record while co-writing nine of the ten songs.

Consistently, this is a heavier effort throughout the 41 minutes then the last several records and is much more akin to the debut Filter release, Short Bus then anything released since. Interestingly enough, Patrick brings back original Filter co-conspirator Brian Liesagang (who left the band in 1997) to add “Sound Design and Programming” to the project. The first three tracks (“The Inevitable Relapse,” “Drug Boy,” and “Absentee Father”) roll over you like a locomotive. Patrick’s intentions are loud and clear. The fourth track, “No Love,” slows the train down but features a thumping chorus and Patrick singing at the edge of his range.

There are two songs where things slow down and the record produces “Take a Picture”-like moments with the ballads “No Re-entry” and the gorgeous album closer “Fades Like a Photograph (Dead Angel).” The latter features some of Patrick’s most poetic and moving lyrics to date. Other than those two songs, Marlette is inspiring Patrick to be heavy. Marlette got great work out of Alice Cooper on Dragontown and Brutal Planet, moving Alice into industrial metal territory for two records. Here he gets a good record out of Patrick’, who has been busy the last couple of years re-energizing the brand name. Filter has released two albums, a greatest hits package and a remix album of 2008’s Anthems for the Damned in the last four years. Sobriety has treated Richard Patrick well and his fans have reaped the rewards of his re-energized work ethic. (Rocket Science Ventures, 2010)

Filter MySpace page

Alternative, CD Reviews, Industrial, Rock

Me, Myself, and iPod 9/22/10: Wake me up when September ends

September 22, 2010 /

esd ipod

Sorry, disappeared for a while there. I took a week off after Lollapalooza – my first week off in two years, I might add – and I still haven’t caught up on email. I know, wah wah wah, you have too much music to listen to. Hey, I’m just sayin’, there are only so many hours in the day. My kids miss their daddy when I hole up in the music cave, and I miss them, too.

Mackintosh Braun – Could It Be
Man, if only the rest of the record could keep up with this song. In theory, I should love Mackintosh Braun. They make ELO-inspired synth pop, which is as close to my wheelhouse as things get. In reality, I merely like Mackintosh Braun. I think it was the processed vocals that did me in. They have ’em on every track. The record overall is good, and I’m betting they can do better next time around, but if you’re going to take one song of theirs with you, this one, for now, is it.

Chatelaine – Broken Bones (Depreciation Guild remix)
Ah, Toni Halliday. She could sing the phone book, and I’d swoon. Her new band, Chatelaine, is a much mellower beast than Curve, but their album Take a Line for a Walk is a keeper. This remix of the leadoff track is a neat mix of both her past and her present. But mostly her present.

Doppelganger – Breaks My Head
I’m a sucker for those slow-building songs with only a handful of chords. This is one of those songs.

Alternative, Artists, CD Reviews, Downloads, Electronica, Me Myself and iPod, Pop, Rock, Steal This Song

Serj Tankian: Imperfect Harmonies

September 21, 2010 /


RIYL: …give us a minute…

Serj Tankian’s first solo album, 2007’s Elect the Dead, was certainly less metal than anything he put out with System of a Down, but it still had an edge to it, a certain level of manic insanity that captured the craziness of SOAD’s best tracks, even if the heavy metal thunder was lacking. Plus, it had a song called “Beethoven’s C*nt,” and that shit’s just funny.

This shit, however, is just shit. While Elect the Dead barely had enough metal in it to quality as a metal album, Imperfect Harmonies barely has enough in it qualify as a rock album. If it wasn’t for Serj’s ever-crazy vocal delivery, tracks like “Beatus” and “Borders Are…” would be cleared to play on your local soft-rock radio station, sandwiched in between Phil Collins and Peter Cetera rockers. Even with all the surreal lyrics and occasional stellar vocal performance by Serj, nothing can change the fact that the music behind his madness, on every single track, is an unwavering blah of mid-tempo, violin-driven sludge (not sludge-metal, just sludge) devoid of any memorable melody or hook. The symphonic sound on Imperfect Harmonies sucks the rock right out if it, and in fact, it just kind of sucks all together. (Reprise/Serjical Strike 2010)

Serj Tankian MySpace Page

Americana, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Metal, Progressive, Rock

Jeff Beck: Emotion & Commotion

September 20, 2010 /


RIYL: The Jeff Beck Group, Robert Fripp, Joe Satriani

Emotion & Commotion is a misleading title. One would assume with “Commotion” in the title, Beck would be ripping and shredding away throughout this 10-track recording. Instead, the enigmatic and talented Beck puts together a record of beauty and subtlety. He is reserved, melodic and letting the subtleties and nuances of his playing center the record. There is beauty throughout, like “Corpus Cristi Carol,” a Middle English Hymn which was re-interpreted by Jeff Buckley in 1994. Beck, inspired by Buckley, starts the record with his guitar accompanied quietly by an orchestra. The piece is two minutes and 40 seconds of peace and sadness. Irish Singer Imelda May is featured on another song Buckley recorded, “Lilac Wine,” and like “Carol” this song features a beautifully understated orchestra in the background and Beck’s emotive and deliberate playing.

Joss Stone contributes her ridiculously talented vocals to two tracks including a riveting reading of the classic, “I Put a Spell on You.” I am convinced she could sing the menu from a Chinese restaurant and make it intense and enjoyable. While Stone vamps it up, Beck and the rest of the folks play it straight to deliver a terrific new interpretation of a classic. The record never really comes close to chaos. It features clean production – every note, every instrument has its own space to breathe. The liner notes are good, with Beck sharing his motivations for picking the tracks. It has a very relaxing and laid back tone consistently demonstrating that less is more. Again, Beck puts something out that you might not have expected. Clapton is the popular guitarist, consistently producing music that sells by melding his influences into the pop structure. Beck never quite had a consistent vision or production schedule. Beck is a brilliant guitarist who, when he does work, usually makes something you wouldn’t expect. Emotion & Commotion might be mislabeled, but it is an excellent addition to the Beck catalog. (Atco 2010)

Jeff Beck on MySpace

CD Reviews, Progressive, Rock

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