Friday, January 15, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Glee Returns for 2nd Season
and will be taking online auditions to fill three new roles! I think it's cool that they're opening up casting calls to the public in an American Idol kind of way. I wonder if they're going to have a show about the selection process.
More details on Mashable.
More details on Mashable.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Crushing Low
I was contacted by The Crushing Low to review their recently released debut EP, All Orbits are Free. This is a description of their style of music taken from the band's bio:
"Combining decades of influences from both sides of the Atlantic, The Crushing Low has created their own unique brand of sonic bombast. Holding the band's DNA under the microscope reveals strands of Interpol, My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, Catherine Wheel, Swervedriver, U2, Drive, Doves, Sonic Youth, and Radiohead chaining together with a variety of more far flung influences to form a sound that is at once familiar and distinctly their own."
There are many great influences listed in the above blurb and I can hear some of them in their songs. The vocals do remind me of a bit of My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth, which honestly, I'm not a huge fan of; however, I think fans of those bands will appreciate this band because they stay true to that singing style. In that case, the music stands out more than the vocals, which can be pretty catchy. I do like that not all the songs sound exactly the same. Some of the standout tracks are Skies Divided and Dead Man's Hands.
More about the band:
http://www.myspace.com/
http://www.reverbnation.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
http://www.thecrushinglow.com
http://www.youtube.com/
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Near Death Photography Club @ Tribal Cafe
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| Photo from ReverbNation |
Tribal Cafe is an artsy little cafe that serves healthy organic food. It's small and gets especially stuffy when it's filled with people. I like that they have a place for live performances, but I feel like such a small venue is better suited for acoustic sets. Although, it is cool that they support the local music scene.
Near Death Photography Club is made up of some members of Crimespree in Candyland and other bands. I was all the way in the back and didn't really get a good view of the band. It was so stuffy in there, I almost couldn't pay attention to the music. I did like their black and white dressy attire. I always love seeing guys in ties and things. They wore some face makeup to appear as if they were puppets. I'm not sure if they just did that for Halloween or if that will be the case for all future shows. The music was more indie rock compared to Crimespree in Candyland. I liked the music. It was catchy. Although, sometimes Xander's singing was a bit distracting. Not that he's a bad singer, it's just the style of singing he does, which fits better with his more punk rock band Siberian Summercamp. I felt that the music NDPC was playing would have sounded better if the singing was slower and lower, similar to Echo and the Bunnymen or The Cure.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Sounds, Shiny Toy Guns @ Wiltern
Shiny Toy Guns
We arrived at The Wiltern just in time to catch them playing Ricochet!, which sounded great live. I also enjoyed Rainy Monday and Don't Cry Out. Honestly, I haven't really heard too many of their songs, but I like their style. The male vocals, Chad Petree, sounded great, just like on their albums. The only downside to their performance was Sisely Treasure. She didn't seem to understand voice control. Don't get me wrong, she was great on stage, dancing around all over the place. However, all that frenetic movement seemed to make her sound very out of breath on the mic and she just sounded like she was yelling all the time instead of actually singing. Turns out she's actually the third in the line of changing female vocalists. She's been with the band since last year. Maybe she still hasn't had enough practice coordinating her singing and dancing on stage?
The Sounds
were great live, especially compared to the only other time I've seen them, at The Palladium, which was kind of a craphole. I really hate that venue, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt because it just reopened after being shut down for renovation. The place did look nicer, but they seemed to have upgraded everything BUT the awful sound system. I even passed up a $10 Franz Ferdinand show (even thought I've been wanting to see them since forever) because it was at The Palladium. Also, I got stuck all the way in the back and couldn't really see anything. I know their performance was probably great and I enjoyed it because I like the music and the people I was with, but certain circumstances didn't make it their best show.
I know people might think I'm mean for the comment I made about Treasure's singing above, but honestly, Maja Iversson was dancing, doing high kicks, climbing on things and her voice still sounded fantastic live.
I loved everything they played off their first two albums. I honestly hadn't heard anything off their latest album, Crossing the Rubicon, except for what they previewed at The Palladium show. I have to say that I did like some of their new stuff, a lot. Note to self: get new album, put it on repeat.
I knew Maja was very sexual in The Sounds' music videos, but I didn't know that was part of her stage show, since I couldn't really see them at The Palladium. I was a bit shocked, but I think she pulled it off well. She has the right look for it. She was wearing this leather body suit that looked like it was painted on her and very high heels. I'm surprised she was able to do all that dancing and climbing without tipping over!
High Note: Great view of stage and great friends to enjoy the show with.
Also, seeing this ridiculously drunk / high (?) girl with her boyfriend who was merely there to prop her up. Extremely glad she was propped up across the aisle from us because she looked like she was going to throw up any minute. She was so hilarious, some of us watched her more than we watched The Sounds.
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