Amanda Ray - Mirrored Images
Monday, January 28, 2008
http://www.myspace.com/amandaraymusic
Our friends at Atlanta Music Radio sent Amanda Ray our way, and I am very glad they did. Her album Mirrored Images is an excellent mix of many styles of music meshed together topped by her unique vocal styling. When listening you can hear influence from all different genres weaving in and out which is a very welcome breath of fresh air.
From the first bar of the first song "Ripple Junction", I could tell I was going to get along great with Amanda Ray. The beat is chill and jamming at the same time while her voice comes in smooth and clear over the top. The line "Time became a string, only good for remembering things" stuck out to me immediately. The next song "Body of Gold" is a complete change in direction, a slow jam with a slow vocal melody. My favorite track, "Hang On", has a fairly standard rock set up instrumentally, and Amanda shows great vocal presence in a deep sultry voice in the beginning of the track. By the end her vocals are being panned and chopped all over the place remnant of Radioheads "Everything in its Right Place". The flow of this album is great, after a rocking jam like "Hang on" we are blessed with an almost R&B "Must Be Love" that comes in soft with less words and more melody. The title track, "Mirrored Images", is definitely one of the best tracks on the album, this is Amanda Ray at her very best in her very own style. Her voice powerfully floats over the music and seeks its way into the deepest parts of your mind. I am really fond of the song "Torn" because of the minimalist view used. There is some light synth and Amanda Ray on vocals and that is it, but it feels just as thick as any of the other songs on the album. The album finishes out with a very spacey "When You're Gone" and rootsy "Wounded".
Amanda Ray showcases her vocal presence throughout the album singing anywhere from low serious tones to belting out a beautiful high octave stream of audible deliciousness.
Labels: AlbumReviews
posted by Conqueror @ 3:41 AM,
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We Die Alone, Kill LeBaron, Vitriol, Sound the Surrender, Atilla @ The 7 Venue 01-25-08
We Die Alone
Kill LeBaron
Vitriol
Sound the Surrender
Atilla
After looking forward to it all week it is finally Friday and finally time to go to the Sound the Surrender CD release. I had been trying to get one of the guitarists, Marty Eason, hyped about the show all week and now it was time to see if it paid off. There was a good line up of bands this evening, with a total of five metal bands. In an unusual course of events, Bret and I actually showed up on time for an event. As soon as we showed up we spotted the people we were familiar with and got the run down of how things were going for the evening. We talked to the sound guy, Justin, to make sure it was ok to set up our recording equipment near the sound board which he agreed to. Being that this venue is an old movie theater, we were directed upstairs to the projection room located above the sound booth that was perfect for filming. The guys running the venue were very laid back and extremely gracious even though we were not performing with the bands that evening. We even got free wristbands and the pleasure of sitting in on the venue band meeting to get the complete rundown and rules for the evening. It was very encouraging to us to be treated as such and I spoked with several people that had heard of O Team Press prior to this even.
The first band on stage this evening was “We Die Alone”. Being the first band to play at a show can sometimes be nerve racking because one of two things can happen, you can set the standard for the evening or you can totally bomb and set the sub-standard for the evening. These guys definitely set the standard. One thing I noticed while this band was warming up and getting on stage is that they were really young. This is inspiring to see many young musicians out there chasing the dream and composing art. “We Die Alone” had a good sound and pretty entertaining music, the actual sound quality was a bit muffled, these kids need bigger amps to blast a venue this size. Although they are a younger group, they showed confidence and presence on stage that usually takes a while for a band to build. The heavy kick/double bass and thump of the bass guitar in this venue was very good and could be heard clearly through the music which is important at a metal show. The guitar work was not anything that blew my mind, but was constant with the rest of the music coming from the other members and had a nice sound to it. “We Die Alone” is not a band that is going to blow you away and make you wonder how they got as good as they did, but they are a band that will hold it down and make your body move with every song. This band has a lot of time ahead of them and it will be interesting to see how the skill level progresses over the years.
Second to take the stage was a band that I knew nothing about previous to the show, however the vocalist introduced them as “cowboy metal”. The vocalist of the band definitely reflected this wearing tight blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and cowboy boots. I thought to myself, “ok they have a style now let’s see if they are any good.” When the music started it sounded to me like just another metal band. The stage presence was really not there, the music was fairly generic and easy to listen to, and I couldn’t stop looking at the singers too tight jeans. Don’t get me wrong this band was still a lot better than most stuff I hear on the radio and television, but I think these guys have a lot of work to do as a band to get their sound and show on point. The crowd was feeling the music though and reflected it through a good bit of slam dancing during the songs and cheers after the songs. If these guys keep working at it, they have the talent to completely rock a crowd that is into their music.
While filming above the sound board I had talked to and spent some time with a few of the guys in the third band, Vitriol. Mainly the drummer and guitarist had taken time to talk to me before their set. The change out of band equipment went very quickly this night and I was impressed with the bands ability to not get distracted by the crowd after a show. I really enjoy Vitriol’s music, lyrics, and show on stage. These guys were really into their music and you could tell by their energy on stage. The drummer had some very cool dreads and they were flying everywhere during the show. The vocalist had a very strong voice that could be heard over the rest of the music and had a very intense scream to go along with the jams. About halfway through the set I noticed that the guitarist looked a lot like Mitch Kramer from the movie “Dazed and Confused”. This made me laugh but definitely did not take anything away from the skill level of the guitarist as he ripped up and down the guitar in wide metal stance. I enjoyed every song this band played and I will be on the lookout for other shows this band plays around the Atlanta area.
Next on stage was “Sound the Surrender”, it was their CD release. We received a copy of the CD earlier in the week and which gave me some time to get familiar with the music. The CD is very good and very well put together, but that review will be coming at a later time. Being somewhat familiar with the music I was excited to see how the band would perform the songs. I had seen Sound the Surrender before at another venue and enjoyed the show they put on there and expected to enjoy this show, I was not disappointed. The music that Sound the Surrender plays is far more advanced than all of the other bands that played that night so I did not expect a perfect set even if the members of the band did. Right at the beginning there was not enough lead guitar for the drummer to hear so the song had to be stopped and the lead turned up. After that the songs were all started and completed without stopping. That is a big accomplishment for a band playing that level of music. There were a few noticeable mix ups by the band which I’m sure were only noticed by a few in the crowd that had heard the music before. Someone in the crowd that had never heard Sound the Surrender play before would not have noticed the small mistakes made by this band. The lead and rhythm guitar were tearing up the guitar necks of their instruments the entire show, as the bass player and drummer held down the rhythm for the other two to play off of. I was very impressed how much the skill level of the band members had increased since the last time I saw them. The only thing Sound the Surrender has left to do is perfect their music for live shows so the crowds mind can then be blown away properly.
Last on stage was Atilla. I have seen this band perform two or three times before and have always enjoyed seeing them play. Unfortunately something happened one day and one of the members of the band sent out a very unfriendly message to their fans. I do not know who or why it was done but telling your fans to fuck off isn’t exactly the best way to do business. There have been apologies handed out due to this incident but that does not change the way I think about the maturity of this band. Therefore all I will say about the Atilla performance is that it lived up to the rest of the performances I have seen by them which was good. Audibly Atilla sounded better than the rest of the groups, this is just something that comes by spending time with your gear and with your band, tweaking over and over until everyone can hear everyone else.
- Oriax aka Steven Mosley
Labels: ShowReviews
posted by oriax @ 3:40 AM,
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Song of the Week v.1.28.08
The Mars Volta - Goliath
From their album being released tomorrow, The Bedlam in Goliath, is this weeks song of the week. The semi title track Goliath is about as good as it gets from The Mars Volta as far as I am concerned. Its a traditional TMV track heavy with spaced out guitar solos, Cedric preaching, latin ryhthms, lots of percussion and horns and keys. The 3:50 mark is when shit really starts to pick up and get my internal clock pumping. I really have enjoyed the last two TMV albums but I do not feel they had stepped it back up to the level of awesomeness that was De-loused in the Comatorium until now. I am STOKED for the album release and I am sure it will be on repeat for many a day.
Labels: Song of the Week
posted by Conqueror @ 2:34 AM,
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Song of the Week v.1.21.08
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sound the Surrender - Returning
This past weekend some friends of mine decided to write and record some new music, which I can understand, sometimes you just get that itch. They posted up a rough mix of the song on the O Team Press forums and it blew people away. This song is filled with guitar shredding goodness and machine gun double bass but not from your average kiddie metal band. Though these guys are all 18 years old as of this blog, the caliber of music they are playing is many many years ahead of them.
Definitely looking forward to an album from Sound the Surrender here in '08.
Labels: Song of the Week
posted by Conqueror @ 4:38 AM,
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Elliott Rubin - Love & Daggers
Monday, January 14, 2008
Elliott Rubin's debut solo album Love & Daggers is an hour long journey of truth speaking poetry over rock music. After several listens this album started to grow on me more and more, after many more listens I feel like I've known Elliott for years. Elliott plays most of the guitar and bass on this album and had some help from friends to complete the line up.
The first track "Willy Mays" is again what I look for in an opening song, it introduces the rest of the album overall with some hype. The next song is my personal favorite, "My Ticket Out". I first heard this song on the RedRoom 104's myspace before the album was released. I had no idea who Elliott Rubin was at that time or what he was up to, but I definitely was digging this track. The music is smooth, the vocals float over the top nicely making the song very moody. Following that the album gets into the more singer/songwriter side of E.R. "Dawsonville" starts off with some off kilter keys work, done by Greg Case, bringing an almost saloon feel to the track, which is a really nice touch. "MLK" comes across as a smooth acoustic jam then suddenly you are jerked into the chorus professing that "we'll change, we'll get the ball rolling", some good words to remember. The entire song is uplifting and preaches motivation. Another personal favorite is the track "Thursday", the music is smooth the whole way through while E.R. sings about the woes of making it to every next day. The final three songs are some of the most rocking on the album. "God Honest Truth" comes in blasting with the god honest truth and E.R. lets the vocals rip along with crunchy guitars and big drums. The same comes with "Gift" and "Spent" could be the most rhythmic song on the album, the drums and guitar are rocking hard while E.R., as in the opening track, goes from soft vocals to emotional screaming.
The production on this album is thick, it sounds like singer songwriter music was hooked up with a full band to fill it out and they did a good job. The mixing and mastering is solid, only a few times did some things remind me that this album did not come from a major label system, which is impressive in itself. The length of the album is a bit much for my attention span, I would cut a few of the filler songs and keep 10 or so of the most solid, saving the rest for a b-sides release. It takes an enormous amount of effort to piece together an album and for this to be Elliott Rubins debut, I am impressed. Being a musician I understand all that goes into creating a work of art like this and I give my kudos to all those that were involved.
- Bret Phillips
Labels: AlbumReviews
posted by Conqueror @ 5:00 AM,
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Song of the Week v.1.14.08
Brazilian Girls - Talk to the Bomb
The title track of their second album, Talk to the Bomb, is one of my favorites. It begins with some moody bass, drums, keys improv. The bass lines are always funky, the drum over this track are tight and jazzy, and the keys come and go with some crazy effects coming at you from all angles. It is also one of the only songs on the album where Sabina Sciubba uses more power in her voice later in the song belting out "talk to the bomb, it has never been easy".
Labels: Song of the Week
posted by Conqueror @ 4:01 AM,
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Best of '07 - Battles "Mirrored"
Monday, January 7, 2008
Best of '07
Battles - Mirrored
www.myspace.com/battlestheband
A+++
Battles takes standard blues based rock and transforms it into a gigantic explosion of heavy rhythms meshed with spaced out vocals and looping riffs. Battles is four people playing up to six or seven instruments at any given time. Iam Williams(from Don Cabellero) and Tyondai Braxton are on keyboards, guitars and vocals, backed up by the pounding kick drum of John Stanier(from Helmet), and David Konopka just to thicken up the sound some more.
The opening track "Race In" is an overwhelming array of percussion being played by all instruments. Battles is very unique in the way that they play their instruments, you see a guitar and keyboard but you hear looped noises topped with running scales from the keys. This track is so much bigger than anything they did as Battles prior to this album and is a great introduction for what is to come. Following Race In is "Atlas", their first single(at just over 7 minutes). Here we get to experience Braxtons vocals for the first time. He does not lead the music in the normal vocalist/front man sense, instead he manipulates his vocals via a laptop and blends the melodies into the music as if it were any other instrument. This is really incredible to see live while simultaneously playing keyboard and guitar with either hand.
"Tonto" starts of with a soft looping guitar piece and the song slowly builds up. The lead guitar line gives a sort of early western cowboy and indian feel to compliment the name, or vice versa. Braxtons vocals are not even words on this track but sit on top of the music as if it was meant to be. One of the best breakdowns, especially live, is in the middle of this track and shortly after they let the song die out for over two minutes.
The track "Rainbow" seems to have a melody that climbs forever. Every note raises up and up one after another until the circus-esque breakdown shortly after the two minute mark. The first time I faced the breakdown I got chills on my spine, the snare is so clean and the rest of the music is so spaced apart and airy that it sound enormous.
Not two months after the first time that I saw Battles, they came back to the same venue. There were maybe 200 people at the first show so I figured we could grab some food before the show started and be fine...I was mistaken. This next show was sold out and when we walked to the door and found out I could hear Battles destroying the song "Tij" from outside. It had me crunk and sad all at once, I didn't know what to do with myself and wanted to freak out. By far one of my favorite songs on the album, Tij takes you through more build ups and circus-esque twists and turns over a fairly simple looped guitar riff.
The album finishes off with "Race Out", a dedication of sorts to all of the music you have just heard on the album. The recording of this is great because each instrument and sound being heard appears to be coming from a different location in the audible space you are hearing.
Battles Mirrored was my favorite album of 2007 from the first listen all the way through the year beating out quite a few other really great albums. The production quality is high, the skill level is high, the creativity is unmatched, and the music is as raw as it comes. I have listened to this album more times than I can count, and to be honest, I am still hearing things I haven't heard before, which to me is a sign of a great album.
- Bret Phillips
Labels: AlbumReviews
posted by Conqueror @ 12:05 AM,
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Best of '07 - Lennox
Breakthrough Artist
Lennox: www.myspace.com/lennoxrock
Being a musician and having the opportunity to see many bands in the Atlanta area gives one a good idea of the good and bad metal around town. This year one of my biggest joys and surprises at a concert is when I saw Lennox for the first time. During that specific show 13 Day Mission played 2nd, and the other bands before and after us were kind of disappointing. Finally it was time for the last band of the night, Lennox. I had been waiting for some heavy music to hear all that evening seeing as the other bands playing that night all failed to make me jam to their music at all. As soon as the show started I was very happy with the style of music and the skill level of the musicians. The showmanship on stage was very good as well, making the crowd want to bump to every beat. As readers might remember form the review of that show, the bass player hurt his knee during the set and decided to play the rest of the show sitting down with his back against the wall. Pretty damn hardcore if you ask me.
Lennox I salute you for keeping it real and shredding your instruments.
- Oriax
posted by oriax @ 12:04 AM,
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