Indie Music

Alternative CD Reviews Artist: Satoru Title: Balancing in the Twilight Website: http://www.satorucolusa.com Style: Alternative Rock/Latin/Pop By Staff Writer L. Anne Carrington For those that like the blend of rock, pop, and world music, Satoru's second release, Balancing in the Twilight contains all of the latter, combining in a unique sound of its own; alternative sounds with innovative ideas. The name Satoru translates as the verb, "to know" or "understand;" however, it more closely related to "higher knowledge". In this case, it is quite fitting that the artist with that name has some higher knowledge of his own when it comes to the work on Balancing in the Twilight. It is a great collection of his unique pop/rock songs he created over the last ten years or so. The Cadence Revolusion describes the album as "aggressive, boisterous, confident, energetic, freewheeling, intense, passionate, rambunctious, slick, smooth, and swaggering!" The CD's tracks are reminiscent of the sounds of Beck, David Burn, and David Bowie. It has original rhythms from the opening "A Place in Heaven" to the final track, "For Every Single One of You." Balancing in the Twilight takes the listener back to the early days of art rock; it is a well-produced album with heavy Eastern influences and instrumentals so well done, layered, and haunting one can’t help but be drawn into them. Perhaps world music, alternative, and pop is not everyone's cup of tea under any other circumstances, but one listen to this album may change some minds about how we look at and understand indie music. I give this work four and a half stars out of five. It is certainly a not-miss. Artist: Chicane Theory Tilte: Lose Track of Time EP Website: http://www.chicanetheory.com Style: Alt. Rock Rating: 7.9 out of 10 By Senior Writer C.W. Ross This Midwest (Minnesota) based band is, Nicholas Roesler (guitar, vocals), Casey Virock (bass, vocals) and Jeffrey Bahr (drums, vocals). Lose Track of Time is the 6-song debut EP from Chicane Theory. The release has a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality stylistically with the music found on it. On tracks 1 and 4 ("Decision," and "Same Old, Same Old") the band goes for a light pop edge. The band shifts musical gears with Track-2 ("Fuzzy"), an all out alt. rocker filled with distortion effects. Track-3 ("Cairo") is a moody alt. rock track. On Track 5 ("Once") the band goes the soft guitar ballad route. It all ends up with the 6 minutes plus song, "Torch." This song sums up the feel of the entire release with its alternating between mild and forceful moments. Just as it sounds like the songs is about to end it springs back to life with an explosion of musical sounds. The glue that holds it all together is the lead vocals of Nicholas Roesler. He's also joined with some well-done vocal harmonies from the other band members. The band's reputation is already growing with their song, "Decision" appearing on two different compilation type releases (Rift Magazine, Broadjam). This EP offers up a nice profile of the band's sound that is headed in the right direction as long as they refrain from going too far down the musical experimenting road with the band's sound. Artist: Keram Title: Box Website: http://www.keramsongs.com Style: Alternative/Electronica/Experimental By Staff Writer L. Anne Carrington Some of you may have heard of Keram, but for those who haven't the release of the current album, Box, is an excellent way to be introduced to this versatile and talented artist. The Los Angeles-based artist displays on this release that the future of music has indeed arrived. Keram's unique voice makes the entire CD, along with the fine, original style of lyrics. The harmonies achieved by Keram blended with some shuffling instrumentation creates a sense of longing in anyone that listens and makes the album shine. There's only nine songs on the CD, but each is an original piece of work on their own. From the opening track of "Fascinating" (which is a fascinating song, by the way!) to the closing song, "Blue Valentines," Box will both draw in the listener and keep them interested in what will be next. Keram is an experimenter and pioneer; an artist the defies being classified into one genre, he follows his whims and fulfills each one. He has been described as "a one-man cultural blitzkrieg, active in music, theatre, film, philosophy, writing and publishing," and hearing Box, I cannot help but wholeheartedly agree with that statement. If your music tastes lean toward instrumental-lead rock, blending heavily with pop influences, Box is an album that is a not-miss and will speak to all types of music fans. This is just one artist you just can put in... well, a box. Artist: Running Still Title: Running Still Website: http://www.runningstillmusic.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/runningstillmusic Style: Alternative/ Rock Rating: 8.4 out of 10 By Senior Writer C.W. Ross Running Still is the self-titled debut release from this Brooklyn, NY based alt. rock quartet, Asi Meskin (vocals, acoustic guitar, keys), Ben Zwerin (bass, back vocals), Chris Higginbottom (drums, back vocals) and Raed Khazen (guitars). The band lists their musical influences as, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Radiohead, The Beatles, U2, Tears for Fears, Damien Rice, Kings of Leon, David Bowie, and Paul Simon. Running Still is filled with songs that have a heart. Asi Meskin's vocals reach out and either pull at your heart strings tenderly or crushes them with each new song. The lyrics are filled with anger, frustration and cynicism at the same time holding a hope out for the future. If his hypnotic vocals don't grab your attention then the riveting guitar work will take control of you. The guitar work ranges from melodic acoustic to electric rockers. The drum parts are like the rear driver on a ladder fire truck keeping everything going smoothly, but often going unnoticed. If there wasn't one their though like the truck that would sway wildly from side-to-side so would the music. The band spent much of 2007 in the recording studio and is looking forward to playing live again. Over their short time the band has already built up a reputation as a must see live band. Running Still offers up loads of good music that has a familiar sound yet with new elements added in that move their sound forward making it both fresh and unique. Artist: This Holiday Life Title: The Beginning of the End of the World Website: http://www.thisholidaylife.com Style: Alternative/Indie/Rock By Staff Writer L. Anne Carrington San Diego’s This Holiday Life was formed in 2003 and have been releasing their work on a regular basis that has won them accolades such as “Best Pop Band” at the San Diego Music Awards. This group is not the every day indie band; actually, when I first got this CD in my hands, I wondered at first if this was just another goofy group. I suppose that is what I get for judging a CD by its cover, because the content inside is quite a pleasant surprise; these are just one example of a group of musicians who want to turn out the best quality work possible and find an audience to hear it. Featuring lead vocalist Scott Anderson, bassist Bobby Anderson, guitarist Joe Freeman, and drummer Mark Nagel, they have created tunes that takes the listener back to the 90’s…..and perhaps sooner than that. Tracks such as the opener, “A Yes, Not A No” blends pop with soul; “Mission Control to My Heart,” brings back those Gen X days, “Undercover” is astounding with its blend of guitars. There’s the Beach Boys-flavored “Animal,” and “Motivation,” which combines early 80’s soul with the band’s own original flavor added in. Of all the tracks, however, “Friendly Fire,” is the album’s strongest selection, with guitar interplay, mixing in impeccable backbeats and melody. This Holiday Life uses inspiration strikes their fancy to their advantage by turning out such great music, something that doesn’t come along on a regular basis. If you like pop music with a twist, then this band will be the best discovery yet. Artist: Late Model Humans Title: War of the Worlds Website: http://www.latemodelhumans.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/latemodelhuman CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/lmhumans3 Style: Alternative / Indie / Rock Rating: 8.2 out of 10 By Senior Writer C.W. Ross Late Model Humans is a band that's not afraid to walk down their own musical path. On their latest release War of the Worlds the band's songs range from talking about being in Paris on the Eiffel Tower making love to sitting on a bed in a seedy hotel room with a shotgun lying across your body. The songs are set against everything from all out rockers like, "That Texas Girl, "Real, Real Man" and "Sweet Agony" to the country folk ballads, "Tennessee Boy (It's All Over)", and "Honey Belle." You'll also find some retro-sounding moments in several of the songs along with an island rock number, "Invisible Prison." It's the guitar parts that drive the songs along with drumbeats that both mark time and control the tempo of each song. The vocals are solid and hold their own against the strong instrumentation found in the songs. This band has a lot to say and does it well in the songs found on, War of the Worlds. If you like your rock mixed with some Americana and retro ala bands like, The Kinks, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The Clash then you need to add this CD to your music collection. Artist: Kuwahara Title: Roam Arrow Website: http://www.myspace.com/kuwaharasongs Style: Alternative/ Pop/Rock Rating: 7.95 out of 10 By Senior Writer C.W. Ross Kuwahara is, Mike McCarthy (vocals, guitar), Sylvan Maloney (guitar, vocals), Dave Miller (bass, vocals), and Cory Flanigan (drums). Roam Arrow is the band's debut release. On it you'll find a sound that brings to mind bands from the past like The Kinks, Cheap Trick, and The Byrds. The band blends moments of psychedelia like in the song, "Black Light Fashion" along with power pop tracks, "Monterey," and "Romero." The band's music also has an underlying early punk rock swagger that runs throughout the release. One unique thing I found on this release that really caught my attention was the way the band ended the songs. While most bands are content with just a simple stop dead type-ending Kuwahara really put in some extra effort to make sure that the songs end with a bang. Roam Arrow is a really solid effort from the band that should help to get their music out to the masses. Artist: Blood Red Sun Title: A Nation of Saviors Website: http://www.myspace.com/bloodredsun Style: Alternative/Rock Lineup: Jason Nadeau (vocals, guitar), Justin La Vallee (guitar, vocals), Matthew La Fontaine (bass), Jessica Corchia (drums) Rating: 8.9 out of 10 By Senior Writer C.W. Ross Are you old enough to remember the days before American Idol and teen pop queens started to appear on the scene and ruin the musical landscape? Then you'll appreciate the band Blood Red Sun and their debut release A Nation of Saviors. The band's music takes the social conscious of bands like The Clash an U2 and mixes it with guitar driven songs, with the goal of taking socially relevant music to the masses. As band lead singer Jason Nadeau says, "Our culture says 'if you're unhappy, numb it out'. The role of the artist in society is to go to the places that most people are not willing to go and return with a map of the human experience that people can use to find a way out." This band is all about standing up, learning for your self and moving the world forward in a positive direction. To that effect the songs found on A Nation of Saviors take on the dishonest media, lemmings like actions of some people believing everything they hear instead of checking it out themselves to make sure that it's true. As the title suggest it's up to all of us to do our part. One of the band's tenants is, "You need to have an army to support a single word. If you don't scream, people don't hear you." The band puts those messages against songs that run for the most part in the alternative rock vein although songs like, "All at Once", and "Easier" have a bit of a The Clash punk edge to them. If you're tired of the normal musical pabulum then get Blood Red Sun's A Nation of Saviors and start your revolution.