Category: Rock (Page 97 of 241)

Seen Your Video: Green Day, “Know Your Enemy”

April 24, 2009 /

We proles can’t possibly fathom the kind of pressure that Green Day must have felt when they were putting the finishing touches on 21st Century Breakdown, their first album since the multi-platinum – and game-changing – American Idiot. Perhaps that is why they played around with side projects like the Foxboro Hot Tubs (which was a damn good record, by the way), because it enabled them to get their yeah yeahs out without having to worry about commercial expectations.

Ah, but they could only put the world on hold for so long, and at last, they give us “Know Your Enemy,” the debut single from Breakdown. Does it raise the stakes of American Idiot? No, but that appears to be the point. There was no sense in even trying, so instead, they deliver something more akin to their “unplugged” album Warning, which is one of my favorites of theirs. Big choruses, hand clap-ready snare drums, and a no-nonsense performance video to promote it. It’s as if they’re asking us to forget that American Idiot ever happened, and while that makes sense, it’s just not gonna happen. Still, this definitely has me excited to hear the rest of the album. Only a couple more weeks…

Alternative, Power Pop, Rock, Seen Your Video, Songs, Videos

Pilot Speed: Wooden Bones

April 24, 2009 /

Imagine Semisonic’s Dan Wilson fronting U2 at its most earnest, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what Wooden Bones, the Wind-Up debut from Canada’s Pilot Speed, sounds like. Stacked with widescreen atmospherics and pleasantly bombastic arrangements – not to mention lines like “It’s time to rise up from your knees” and “Today I feel sure it’s them or me” – it’s the musical equivalent of a movie montage that ends with the main character standing on top of a mountain at sunset, arms outstretched toward the heavens. The overall effect is not at all unpleasant, nor as painfully self-important as you might expect from a band formerly named Pilate; in fact, if it weren’t for a couple of songs that drain the record’s momentum, Bones would be a must-hear album for anyone who misses the days when everyone from Simple Minds to the BoDeans was using the Joshua Tree formula. Still, even if it doesn’t quite succeed as a whole, this album offers a decent assortment of tracks worth plucking off Amazon’s mp3 store, particularly “Today I Feel Sure,” which makes good use of its martial drumbeat and siren-like guitars, and “Ain’t No Life,” which melds hooks with bombast as successfully as anything in the post-grunge era. “Our focus is feeling,” croons lead singer Todd Clark in “Where Does it Begin?” – and although his band could use more consistent material, it’s that focus that may just pull them through. (Wind-Up 2009)

Pilot Speed MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers: Songs in the Night

April 24, 2009 /

Sparked by critical kudos and two sensuous sets of songs, Oklahoma singer/songwriter Samantha Crain has already carved out an impressive and well-deserved reputation, despite the fact she’s a mere 22 years of age. This beguiling follow-up, dreamily titled Songs in the Night, follows only a few months after her critically lauded debut, the Confiscation EP, but it represents a forward progress that’s all the more remarkable for the relatively rapid speed of its arrival. Unlike others her age, Crain leans away from a more insurgent stance, maintaining instead a decidedly lowered gaze. Yet, while she opts for unembellished arrangements, the delivery doesn’t belie her enthusiasm; the ebullient surge of songs like “Rising Sun,” “Long Division,” “Songs in the Night” and “Bullfight (Change your Mind)” makes her back country balladry all the more endearing. Don’t mistake Crain for some freewheeling folkie, however. There’s a sense of urgency infused in “Devils in Boston,” while the forlorn sprawl of “The Dam Song” and the skewered theatrics that drive “Bananafish Revolution” show her savvy. Songs in the Night may suggest the sound of nocturnal rumination, but in truth, it’s as bright and promising as daybreak over the horizon.

Samantha Crain MySpace page

Americana, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Folk, Rock

Pat McGee: These Days (The Virginia Sessions)

April 24, 2009 /

Pat McGee has dropped the “Band” from his name and is going it alone, so to speak, in his solo debut and first effort for Rock Ridge Music, These Days (The Virginia Sessions). There is something breezy and easy to enjoy about McGee’s songs – they are delivered in a way reminiscent of ‘70s pop (think Jackson Browne) or akin to in more modern terms, Train or the Fray. McGee has a good, if not spectacular, voice; but as it’s always been, his songs are the driving force of his career, and he’s brought us another batch of good ones here. One of the only negative things you can say about Pat McGee is that much of the material, in melody, tone and arrangement, sounds very similar. But occasionally he steps things up, as he does on These Days with the stunning “Come Back Home,” a track originally written when McGee’s longtime drummer, John C. Williams, left the band, with the sentiment being how a military couple deals with separation during times of war. Sadly and somewhat symbolically, Williams’ younger brother lost his life in Iraq after McGee wrote the song last year. The Tonic-esque “The Hand That Holds You” is also a standout track. (Rock Ridge Music)

Pat McGee MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

This World Fair: This World Fair

April 24, 2009 /

It appears the next incarnation of Aware Records is here, in the form of Los Angeles-based Ping Pong Music. Ping Pong manages Epic Records’ Augustana, and they are bringing us the next wave of very talented baby bands such as This World Fair, the London, and Windsor Drive. The formula of Ping Pong’s bands is similar to Aware, which launched the careers of artists like Train, Vertical Horizon and John Mayer. And that formula is almost a no-brainer – finding talented acts with hooky, melodic songs – but it’s in stark contrast to today’s hipster-driven music industry that mostly relies on gimmicks and fabricated street cred meters. Still, there is always a demand for great bands like This World Fair, and their debut album is an absolute sonic gift to those who dig the likes of Augustana, Better Than Ezra or Keane. Chris Kalgren fronts the band with a smooth tenor that effectively delivers a balance of driving rockers such as “Can’t Stop Falling” and “Drama,” or dreamy tracks like “This is All.” But among ten tracks that are quite frankly straight A’s, This World Fair scores an A+ with the pulsing, stunning piano-driven “Seven Letters.” Despite where the music industry is headed, there is no good reason why This World Fair shouldn’t be as successful as the rest of the world will allow them to be. (Ping Pong Music)

This World Fair MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Indie Labels, Pop, Rock

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