Album Reviews!

Well, I was waiting for the next 311 album to be my first album review, but it looks like it's not coming out anytime soon. If anyone wants to check out any of the music I review, just let me know and I'll share! B-)

Aug 8 update: (yes it's true, if I'm not with griff I don't have a lot to blog about, but I try. :-D )

Shiny Toy Guns - We are Pilots

Payce clued my into this group and I really like them. I think it's because they sound like an 80's techno-pop/new wave band or something. They're a dude/chick duo as far as singers, and I like that, it seems to work for them. The song "You are the one" is really catchy and I can listen to it over and over - "you'll never be alone again, you're more than in my head, you're more!" They claim to be from LA, but I think they might be Swedish, maybe that's why Payce likes them. They're opening at the big X96 show coming up in SLC, but there aren't any other bands I'd care to see, I don't believe, so I doubt I'd go. Le Disko is another catchy tune on this album, though beware, she does use a bad word once *GASP!!!* It's very techno-inspired but I like it (no, I'm not a big techno fan). "Starts with one" is a good song, as is "Don't cry out" and several others, this is a good album, lots of good tunes. Their sound is very different from any of the bands I've reviewed so far and that's a good thing, definitely need to break up the Rock with something a bit different sometimes and shiny Toy guns fits the bill. I'd give this a strong 8 out of 10 as I can listen to the whole album and maybe skip one or two sings is all, that's pretty strong. Here's the video for "you are the one" (you'll have to go to Youtube, they didn't allow embedding on this one): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxbWaMzsnJo

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August 6 update:

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Don't you fake it.

I can't remember where I first heard these guys, maybe at Buckle? This is another of those bands that has sprung up out of the Pop/Punk genre pioneered by the likes of Green Day and Blink 182. I know that Reece says "Pop/Punk" is an oxymoron, and he's right - the whole precept of punk was anti-establishment - The Clash, The Ramones, Social Distortion, the Sex Pistols, etc, are probably rolling over in their graves (if they're dead) at the concept of Pop/Punk, but whatever, we've turned everything into a suburban/shopping mall/giant waterpark product at this point, so it is what it is (is there a more generic statement than that? I want to scream anytime I hear someone at work say that. Anyway...) This album is OK. It has a couple of redeemable songs on it, I would say there are other things I'd rather listen to but if one or two of the songs hits my ears on the iPod, I don't mind... The song "Damn Regret" (is this going to make my blog pg-13???? hahahahaha) is actually pretty decent. See the video here (from the Vans Warped Tour)



They have a song called "Face Down" that seemed pretty good but I think it's about spousal abuse, so...not a fan. I would give these guys like a 5 out of 10, it's just getting a bit too generic. Maybe they just caught me on a bad day, but that's all they're getting today. And if I'm going to listen to a band scream, there are other bands I like better - Finch for one. Maybe I'll go back and review one of their old albums that Reece clued me into.

By the way, if you've never checked out http://www.rhapsody.com/ for your mp3 purchases, let me highly recommend it right now! You can listen to entire albums before purchasing, not just the 30-second blurbs you get on iTunes. AND, their mp3's now work on your iPods! The price is $9.99 per album, which is pretty good. Check it out! B-)
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August 4 update:

Silversun Pickups - Carnavas.

Paul turned me onto these guys with their fairly popular song called "Lazy Eye" which is one of the best songs on the album! So, I gave this album several listens. It's very different from anything else I've been listening to lately and I needed to see if I really like the whole album. They go through several different sounds on the album which I kinda like, keeps it from being boring. I would say these guys kinda sound like The Smashing Pumkins on Siamese Dream (not their later albums that I didn't like). The sound is fairly mellow with flashes of violence, for lack of a better term. The music tends to be more upbeat than the vocals done in the minor key a lot. So it's kinda like the music and vocals are at odds but it works. Track #2 "Well thought out Twinkles," track #4 "Little Lover's So Polite," #7 "Lazy Eye," and #8 "Rusted Wheel" are my favorites.

If you're looking for something a little different, give these guys a listen, you just might like 'em! I'd say 7 out of 10 - it's good but maybe takes a little getting used to for some. They'd be a good opening act for Incubus or someone (can anyone out there make this happen? I want to see Incubus in concert again...)

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SO, the first review will be for an album I just discovered from Rise Against called "The Sufferer and the Witness." Funny thing is I heard the song that led me to this album on Guitar Hero, it's a song you can buy in the store once you've rocked the socks off enough people in the game. The song I heard (and can play like a rockstar ;-) is Prayer of the Refugee - it's a rocker! The whole album pretty much rocks. I would put it in the post-grunge rock genre, but definitely not whiney like some of this genre can be,. The best tracks are #3 - Ready to Fall, and #6 the above mentioned Prayer of the Refugee. However, I like nearly the whole album and that is rare anymore. So, since music is SO varied, I'll be using a 10 point scale - 1 being "worse than Bargain Bin quality" and 10 being - "go see these guys in concert any time they're in town (even travel to see them!)" I'd give this album a solid 7 - it needs more than 2 great songs to get above that, but the rest of the album is definitely not crap. It did go straight on my shuffle for working out, and it did make a play list on my car iPod, so that's not bad!