Showing posts with label Self Release. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Self Release. Show all posts

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Electric Revolution

This is the debut Ep by Kenosha, Wisconsin band Electric Revolution. This was released earlier this year in 2014, and my friend Justin did a review here. I thought I would review this because it's an EP and the points he brought up were points I thought I could shed light upon.
  1. Helpless: This opens the album up. I like that this has a hint of Draw The Line in there, and the tones are pretty cool. But the thing is, in today's day and age this might as well be a cover/tribute band with their sound. The vocalist sings ok, but nothing that amazes me. It probably hurts the songs more. Also the song structure isn't interesting. I'm picking up Yngwie 80'a vocalist flavor here, but is rather listen to him. Malmsteen's much more interesting. 
  2. I'm Just Like You: This could pass as a Stone Temple Pilot track. You know, if Scott was afraid of singing out of tune so he doesn't try to hit pitches.
  3. Hero: Hey, I didn't know the Pilots teamed up with Scott Stap, you know after he had his voice removed. This guy can't sing enough power into his songs.
  4. The Love I Have: This song sounds like a Stray Cats song, and honestly is probably my favorite track here. I'm not saying it's good, just saying it's a nice little surprise. The vocals here remind me of Jerry Only. This actually could be a song off one of the Only led Misfits albums. Kind of Rockabilly flavorings here.
  5. Brand New Day: There isn't anything I'ven't said earlier that I could say here. Maybe the slower parts that are heavier are cooler, but nothing that is great.
  6. Gonna Make You Sweat: Justin mentioned jazzy drums, so I was looking forward to this track. The past two or three days I've been tampering with tones and listening to Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, The Ventures, The Shadows and other kind of things that would be jazz or surf music. Well, there isn't anything overtly jazzy here, this sounds just like an Aerosmith track, or maybe a Guns N Roses track. I know what he meant, but my hope was just a mis-communication.
Overall I have to give this EP a 4/10. These guys are a straight Steel Panther the thing is they aren't youthful and they probably won't ever change their sound. Also if they don't change a little tiny bit on their debut album I won't probably even take a chance listening to it. Sorry, if you want to check them out go on Spotify before you put up $5 for this ep. There isn't anything slightly revolutionary about this band.

Monday, March 17, 2014

J.S. - Justin Stockton

This review as to go up on the 2nd of this month but things happen and I wanted to let this linger a little longer before I do any review. So this is the first Ep by my friend Justin Stockton, and was released independently on my label. Now usually I don't like reviewing anything I've touched, but I can give this a go. This is the first release that he's done with acoustic guitar. I want to say this was recorded and released on February 17th, 2014 and the only thing I did was fix digital distortion, and also resize the artwork and convert the mono to stereo. So I didn't contribute in anyway to the material so I can review this. Oh yeah, he also reviewed my album I did. Which by that way, was his best to date. And the first review of anything I've ever done so, yeah life's good.
  1. Mary Ann: This opens the EP with a country feeling. It actually sounds like a song that I could imagine being something in the vein of Robert Johnson. Now it's not one of his songs, but very influenced and inspired by. I like that it's only about 1.5 minutes, because the thing about blues is lots of time it can drag on and on and on and on and... you get the point. This song is straight forward and doesn't stay past its welcome. It's also a great way to open this new flavor to incorporate in his material. Also he sings within his range. My only complaint is the vox be clearer, but I can't complain to much because I run into that problem sometimes too.
  2. Good Night: Now I talked to him about this song and he told me its dear to his heart. There is a religious aspect in there and this is the deepest he's gotten ever. Thought that chords aren't that drastically different from the prior track, this is the style and I enjoy it. Oh, question Justin is the progression Am-F#m-DMaj. Just wondering if I can hear correctly.
  3. Jack: This sounds very similar to Mary Ann, but I think it's a solid track. There is a type of just tongue-n-cheek aspect that I think he did a good job at, but there were certain slips. This reminds me of possibly a cover of a song off Folsom Prison.
  4. Gettin' The Blues: This is a good song, just needs to be a little more fleshed out. I think that if he added a guitar solo in there it may have been better, but it's a good track.
Overall I have to give this a 6/10. Now this is by far the best thing he's done yet, it's showed maturation, and is showing artistic growth, which is necessary as a musician. I can't damn him because some of the ideas could have been furthered, this is only his third release. I still make mistakes and fuck up, but he is definatly growing and glad I know him. He's on the right path, also look forward to that album I'm producing for him. PS, click _here_ to go and get a copy yourself. 

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Exquisite Corpse- EP - Warpaint

this is a band that formed in 2004 in Los Angeles. I remember listening to the first I heard Elephants. That song, along with the video, remind me of those late "Summer Nights". The ones where I listened to Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. It also gives me that good feeling that I got from, this will sound ironic, summer school. I felt like that was a new family for me. It was fun, but it stinks getting up. I do kind of miss it though. Enough info crap and back to the review. This is for realz holmes and now to the review. PS I'll fix the album cover later. Doing this on my iPod. Also note to self this was uploaded at 12:37pm
  1. Stars: This song starts out with a feeling that reminds me of the Foo Fighters. With the exception that it's a girl singer. The song in particular that comes to mind is The Pretender off the 2007 album, whose name I can't think of but if you knew those Foos you know what I'm talking about. The drums and bass through the entire track remind me of that. The song then changes a little way into it and it turns into a Zeppelin sounding guitar with vocals from girls. The second half of this song remind me of that breakdown of the lie version of Since I've Been Loving You {7/10}.
  2. Elephants: The video to this song is a welcoming one. I love it so much. This has like a magical feeling to it to where it's hard to explain. I don't really know how I can explain it. This is a very psychedelic song and has awesome guitar finger picks. The distortion to the guitar and vocals is awesome. The drums an the bass are so clear. The drums are sick and they just add to the song. This song is so clean and clear and easy to hear everything. There is a part where the girl's voice sound like its underwater. At that same part the guitar cuts out and it's just bass and drums going with her voice. The part where the song slows down and then just ha this feel of building up. Orgasm, because it goes back to the beginning. {10/10}
  3. Billie Holiday: This song is ok. I don't think that it's the best song on this album, but I do think that it is neat. This song is an acoustic song, that with headphones, sounds better and more pretty. The drums in this song are a little quieter in this than the last track, but they still are sick sounding. This drummer on the Ep is really cool style of drumming, at least I think. This song is a love song and could be a love song that I could see someone having in a movie after the lead lost their love interest. There is this synth that sounds like strings. In the ending they have one of those two different people singing two different things. That is followed by two acoustic part that was in the whole song an is goes into like a distorted underwater sound kind of. Then is goes to the fade, and tw0 track fades in and his this cool feel that it comes back in. This is a really cool song {8/10}
  4. Beetles: This song reminds me of Elephants, but it doesn't. This is a cool sounding song like Elephants but it has a more clear almost Undistorted feel to it. The bass and drums are more loud than the guitar. The song goes into a breakdown and during this breakdown the song has this type of pretty arpeggios that are accompanied by drums and bass. That ends and it's sole guitar playing what sounds like Greensleeves. After that a synth comes and gives it this more emotional feel to it. Then come the drums and after that the vocals. That part kind of reminds me of the breakdown in Since I've Been Loving You off the legendary live album The Song Remains The Same. After that it goes into this other kind of sounding Led Zeppelin feel. They pull it off like pros. I really enjoyed this song {9.7/10}
  5. Burgundy: This song starts with sole bass and drums and then the vocals. There is the guitar that sounds like it is waiting in the background waiting to attack. This song seems like it is a tiger, so to say, and is waiting to attack. This song progressively gets louder and faster. It has this slow fade in feel to it. The most of the track sound like it is still fading in. This is really cool and I like that that the way it was produced. The instrumentation impresses me like a mofo. I can't believe I enjoyed this so much. This is a really sick song. The song then sounds like it begins to fade out to acoustic arpeggios. {9/10}
Over all I would have to give this album a 8.6/10. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I would suggest this album to anyone who in interested. This is a good Ep, and from what I understand the album is better. Can't wait to do that one. I think that this is neat, especially since I poked out the Led in there. Ha ha ha ha… I am hoping to get this, one day, on Vinyl and CD too, if that make that. That would be sick. Oh yeah one last thing I'm doing one tomorrow but after today the daily reviews is going to end and I will upload them as I feel. But the weekend ones will still be there. I'm hoping for, excluding the weekends, three a week. So yeah, that's it