CD review: Matt King, Rube (Montage Music Group)

By Rachel Heisler

Matt King: wordsmith, storyteller, historian of sorts. On Rube, King delves into this own family’s tumultuous past as well as the plight of the American working man and mountain people and their unique way of life. Mountain people? Yeah, they’re out there and King is giving them a voice. “This album is for the misfits,” he said.

Though his stories are paramount to his songs, the music that surrounds them weren’t written on the fly. Crafted from a past filled with both bluegrass and rock ‘n’ roll, King’s stuff is edgy when necessary and chill when the tale demands. “The Mountain”, with raw sentiment is matched perfectly with a rough, steady billy club-tapping beat that drives his point home. Downshifting, King softens his voice, his demeanor and guitar effects on “Graveyard Shift”, still driving his message of strife, but doing so in a drastically calm way. (more…)

CD review: Blind Melon, For My Friends (Adrenaline Records)

By Rachel Heisler

When a member of any band dies, especially the beloved frontman, one of the first questions everyone asks is: “Will the band continue? Will it survive?” The same was asked of Blind Melon after the passing of singer Shannon Hoon in 1995. An accidental cocaine overdose took the 28-year-old, leaving the remaining band members to fend for themselves. The group managed to release an outtake collection in ‘96, but disbanded in 1999, and Christopher Thorn, Rogers Stevens, Brad Smith and Glen Graham went on to perform in a number of other bands.

However, hardcore Blind Melon fans refused to let the past fade, and the demand for the group’s music continued. So, in 2006 the guys regrouped, and adding singer/guitarist Travis Warren, spent 2007 writing new material and recording For My Friends. Just like that Blind Melon is back, and back with a vengeance. (more…)

SHORT SCALE: CD reviews in 200 words or less

By Rachel Heisler

CD review: Ian Walsh, Please Remember (Plus 5 Records)

Rating: 2 out of 5 geetars

Nineteen-year-old Ian Walsh is an avid surfer, a second-semester student at Berklee College of Music and a multi-instrumentalist who sings and plays guitar, bass and piano on his debut album, Please Remember.

“I just want to make music that has real instruments, that’s catchy and artsy … but isn’t so polished and dehumanized,” Walsh said. His wishes are reality with music that’s radio-ready, listerner-friendly and pop-driven with rock undertones. His lyrics may be too sappy for the guys, but the ladies who yearn for love songs that make them shed a tear for relationships gone wrong will have a field day. Walsh is a romantic and his feminine side is displayed in all its sentimental glory.

But, when it’s all said and done, it’s a bit much. Though his music is proficient, it’s not powerful enough to carry 10 songs about lost love. Variety, being the spice of life and all, is a necessity, and Walsh, though committed, doesn’t always deliver. A love song here and there is fine, but a whole album? I just can’t get on board. You need to be pretty hard-up to live in the past that much.

CD review: Don Immel, Long Way Home (Elemental Music)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 geetars

Don Immel is a former university professor in charge of teaching his selected instrument, he’s led hos own jazz, rock and ska groups as well as neo-classical ensembles, has performed music for television, video games, IMAX features, and he’s a composer, producer and arranger. For all this, Immel has chosen not the guitar, not vocals, not violin to front his songwriting … but trombone.

“It has always bothered me that the trombone has fallen out of fashion as a melodic lead instrument during the past 40 years,” Immel said. On Long Way Home, he has blended smooth jazz with pop, traditional jazz, neo-classical, chill, new age and lounge music, and he’s done it with a tremendous amount of grace.

There’s really no bad seed in the bunch, and songs like “Still In Love” showcase a truly romantic foundation; “Dualife” is passionate, expressive and moving; and his version of Willie Dixon/Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” (vocals by Chandry Moore) showed his groovy and playful side. Immel covers many bases when it comes to genre-jumping and mastering an instrument that has fallen out of mainstream view, and it’s great to hear an instrument that has a life outside of high school jazz band.

CD review: Somehow Still Alive, Afterall (Self-released)

Rating: 2 out of 5 geetars

“All of us make heavy metal metal music because that’s what we’re into and that’s what people want to hear,” says Somehow Still Alive’s lead vocalist and songwriter Lucas Valenzuela. “I just can’t write cheesy love songs, I really want to write and play deep music that makes people shiver as they mosh along.”

Shivering to deep music while moshing? It’s an odd concept, but Valenzuela pulls it off by writing songs that cover a range of emotionally charged topics, such as what his grandmother taught him while growing up and her death, his parents’ divorce and his own personal ambition to never give up his dreams. So yes, while the music is metal/hard rock with an abundance of distorted guitars and more powerhouse riffs than actual hook, it has a layer of refinement that saves it from being your dull hesher rock that only talks about hot chicks in short shorts.

That, though, doesn’t save songs like “On Borrowed Time” from begging for more melody and sense of musical direction. But, in the end, Afterall is a good representation of what this band says it’s trying to do, especially when it enters the recording studio.

CD review: Soular System, Big Bang (Self-released)

By Rachel Heisler

Looking for something a little different for your music collection? Then check out Soular System – it’s more than a little different from the boring “normal” stuff out there.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what’s going on with this band, but lets start by saying there are some interesting influences rumbling round in these songs. There’s definitely an ’80’s electronic thing happening throughout, there’s an adult contemporary, almost Broadway feel to some songs (“Say Yes To Goodbye”) and a strong jazz backbone running through others (“I’m Happy Just 2 Dance With U”). The opening and title track’s happy pop punk beat would make it a perfect candidate for Friday’s restaurant television commercial or the opening music to a really upbeat, goofy sitcom or cartoon (frontman Cory Morgenstern has written jingles and worked on movie soundtracks in the past). And Soular System’s old skool vibe is undeniable, whether it’s the feral guitar solos of “Journey 2 The Center Of The Mind” or the wah wah pedal on “No 2nd Thoughts”. (more…)

SHORT SCALE: CD reviews in 200 words or less

By Rachel Heisler

CD review: Daryle Stephen Ackerman, Attention to Detail (Self-released)

Rating: 1 out of 5 geetars

Hate to say it, but Daryle Stephen Ackerman’s Attention to Detail is a shining example of D.I.Y. gone wrong. As composer, arranger, performer, producer, engineer, mixer and masterer of all of the 14 songs, the Canadian musician quite clearly got so deeply involved in the project to realize the mistakes he was making along the way.

It appears that Ackerman strives to make his works energetic, but they fall short. They feel forced, mechanical and give the impression of a beginner working on his debut EP just to get something recorded. He would have been much better off to have reached out to others in the musical field – if not for advice on how to get the music and lyrics to match up perfectly when recording – at least someone there who could have told him when the songs needed a new refrain or that they lacked a stirring hook. Anyone attempting a big D.I.Y. project like this deserves a nice slap on the back, but a truly great artist knows when help is necessary, and Ackerman missed that point altogether.

And as a side note, his voice is so very strange, it sounds like Gonzo from the Muppets. Love songs sung by Gonzo? There’s something really creepy about that ….

CD review: Soundside, Seconds from Sunrise

Rating: 2 out of 5 geetars

Indie rock wore out its welcome a long time ago, so Soundside is fighting an uphill battle releasing a disk that is pretty much rooted in the genre. At leasat the group had the sense to stretch on songs like “Creeping In My Mind” and drop in a harder rock edge and even some scratching.

Even though Seconds From Sunrise was produced by Angus Cooke (The Ataris cellist), there are problems. “Stuck in A Memory” is stuck with a tedious refrain and only makes an impression when it speeds up during the verse. The guys have written songs with good beats, and they are often on the verge of busting out with a massive hook but don’t quite reach them. It’s on the songs that slow down and/or speed up that the band does its best work.

Soundside has built a strong foundation, the walls of the building are up but there’s a big hole in the roof that needs to be patched. Patch it and who knows? Soundside may be able to keep its head above water. Don’t patch it and be washed away with the rest of the indie punks who weren’t able to stay afloat.

CD review: Rose of Jericho, These City Light (Self-released)

Rating: 1 out of 5 geetars

Have you ever gone to a concert or listened to a CD where the band’s music is good, the singer has a good voice, but still there’s something that doesn’t sound right when the two are brought together? It’s an uncomfortable sound that is created when a singer joins a band where he or she doesn’t write any of the music but walks in and writes the song’s lyrics and vocal parts. No matter how hard they try, the two parts never gel … and that’s the situation with Rose of Jericho.

Singer Andrea Russie has a pretty voice, maybe not extremely original sounding, but nice; guitarist/songwriter Matt Rasmussen’s music is really promising (see “Wrong Side of the Sky”). Song intros lead you to believe a rockin’ number is about to be unleashed, but when Russie steps in the balloon deflates (see “Buried Alive”). Add to that pedestrian lyrics and you’ve got a very disappointing venture. If Russie can get involved in the song writing process more there may be hope for Rose of Jericho. Otherwise, it’s future looks kinda bleak.