THE EP’S

1. Relient K:  Relient K Is For Karraoke. This is a cover song EP with seven tracks on it. I would like the cover of this CD/EP for a shirt as well. But the covers of Tom Petty’s Here Comes My Girl and They Might Be Giants song Doctor Worm are excellent. Justin Beiber should be proud as well because this band also on here cover his song Baby as well too. This EP is fun and we need some of that blasting us into 2012.

2. The Ready Set: Feel Good Now. I didn’t know that Warner Brothers Records released Ep’s. But the danceable hip-hop and pop sounds of The Ready Set does lead themselves to getting a hit single off of this EP with my favorite song of the year Back To Back. There are some other reat songs on here also like A Little More, Young Forever and Hollywood Dream. The Ready Set is ready to strike it big with both radio and with the dance clubs easily with this new EP.

3. Amely: The Raleigh Sessions. Currently departed from Fearless Records though they have available this fine EP have decided to released this them themselves. Victory or Hopeless Records should pay close attention to this release that is for sure. It’s very cachy to the ear.

4. Less Than Jake: Greetings From Less Than Jake. This was released by the band on their own new record label called Sleep It Off Records. The only thing is if you want these on CD you have to buy them from the band while they are on tour at one of their shows. You can get the tacks from off of Itunes as well. Simple ska jams that are easy fun to dance around with. Just five tracks but well worth the full hearing of them all. The EP comes in at around seventeen minutes total.

5. Asleep In The Downlights: Asleep In The Downlights. This is dramatic slow drifting mood pieces of songs done by Hammock/Steve Kilbey/Tim Ebandi Powels. Steve Kilbey and Tim Ebandi Powels are members of The Church. This is one of those pieces you listen to in a dark room and having this following sooth intentions of moods smother your senses with it.

6. Ten Thousand Maniace: Triangles. This EP you had to get when you saw them live. Nattalie Merchant isn’t with them any longer and has been replace by another females vocalist who sounds like a little bit like Nattalie who is Mary Ramsey. Jeff Erickson who is an original member sings on two of the new songs Cold and on Fine Line. The other three songs sound like typical arty alternative pop 10,000 Maniacs tunes.

7. Josh Carterer: The Heart Of Christmas. Smoking Popes lead vocalist first solo project has come to life for this holiday season. One of the last EP’s I got but well worth the waiting for. There are four original songs on here. Plus there is a different arrangement that sounds awesome to the Christmas religious classic Hark The Herald Angels Sing. One of the best new original songs is Conroy The Gingerbread Boy. This song would make from a new great animated Christmas story. Perhaps someone should do something about this song and make it into a movie….hmm!

8. Joe Brooks: A Reason To Swim. Here is another artist who can sell out small to medium venues who was signed to Universal Records who has gotten dropped. However Joe Brooks has released his own solo EP. Maybe Sire records should pick him up. This Crooner shows again his great talents and writing abilities on this independent EP. He makes writing a simple ballad and how a simple pop song can mean so much. Give his guy a real break already he deserves it. This EP could easily have two singles from it with the very first songs.

9. The Bobbleheads: Two Guitars, Open Fire. This pop alternative band out of San Francisco has showcased for a long while now and played through the bar scene. This is the bands second EP since it’s first debut CD release.. They do seem to show us that garage pop is still apparent and full of life. International Pop festival has seen this band play it at both Los Angeles dates and for the dates in San Francisco for the past couple of years. John Ashfield can write a good pop song with ease. Record labels like Hopeless, Hollywood and Sire Records should check this band out

10. Pop Fiction: Next Level. Here is some pop that makes you move around and want to dance with. There is some alternative edges to this work that gives them a sound to still explode with that is catchy a well too. Los Angles local that definitely shows that in Los Angeles there is still a cool vibe in the pop alternative scene. This sure isn’t no garage band. This is a produced sound that sends our speakers into a leap of fun blasts.

ALBUMS

1. Glen Campbell: Ghost on The Canvas. His is an artistic achievement from Glen Campbell. It’s so very sorry that this will be his last record. His alzhighmers disease is taking it’s effect on him. He is currently on his last and finale tour as well. This record though is something very heartfelt and personal as well. He album paints pictures and images that are true to one’s own self universal feelings. Glen Campbell will sorely be missed by many no doubt. At least though he has put out a Grammy worth getting record for his last one.

2. The Human League: Credo. Not sure what the title means, but electronic dance is definite at the bands forte and they do it very well once again with this release.

3. Tennant/Lowe: Th Most Incredible Thing. This orchestration music set to a ballet is divine. This shows that a pop alternative band, as they are The Pet Shop Boys, can make other appealing emotional orchestrated ballet music as well too. These guys are so multitalented.

4. Yellowcard: When You’re Through Thinking, say Yes. They first released the record as an alternative rock album. Here through hey have released it again and all of the songs are done acoustic. The songs are amazing taken down to their rawest form. You can here each instrument distinctively which lets the vocals harmonize over them with easy flow and understanding.

5. Simple Plan: Get Your Heart On! Yet again they give us a fun and exciting energy to an alternative pop record. They did get a lot of help on this record from such artist as Natasha Bedingfield, Rivers Cuomo, Alex Gaskarth (of All Time Low and even a rapper K’naan is featured on a song too. One of the softer tunes is Astronaut which could make for a great video as well too.

6. Fountains Of Wayne: Sky Full Of Holes. With such pop songs like A Road Song, A Dip In The Ocean, Working Man’s Hands and open track The Summer Place all lead them to easily being made into video’s of some sort. The band fill up small to medium venues across the states pretty easily. The even did an acoustic tour opening for Amie Mann as well. They might come across as a simple pop band but hey are well produced.

7. Steve Kilbey & Martin Kennedy: White Magic. This is there second collaboration release. Kennedy sets the orchestration background with interesting mood swings and Steve Kilbey croons you melodic melodies to mix everything together correctly. Even if it’s an up beat songs or a softer one, they seem to work well as a duo team ye again.

8. The Black Rabbits: Hypno Switch. The band doesn’t seem to be able to break out of Australia with this debut release. This alternative band should hook up and tour with The Church. The have really great harmonies and outstanding guitar work on this debut as well too.

9. Stephen Jerzak: Mile And Miles. Hip hop positive dance music with great added guitar, keys and solid drumming real drummer, Stephen Jerzak shows how a real hip hop dance album should sound. He might not be the young delightful Justin Beiber (thank God! – HD Ed.), but Stephen is able to hold his head up just as high with such new songs as Party Like You’e Single and She Said. Watch out dance floors here comes Stephen Jerzak.

10. Gary Numan: Dead Son Rising. With such synth songs as Resurection (instrumental opening track), Dead Man Rising and We Are The Lost Gary Numan now shows on his 16th release that he could easily score a horror film. Abe Fenton produces this newest CD. It has Nine Inch Nails heavy guitars and synth sound in lots of songs to give you 12 tracks of crushing riffs, menacing vocals and bomb bolting rippling synth moods and hisses.

Thanks to all of these great CD’s for 2011 and for all of the other fine music that was heard throughout the year I thank you for that as well. Keep the music art alive always.

(Compiled by Jonathan D. Wright)

Simple Plan at Warped Tour Ventura

THE WRIGHT STUFF “SUMMER MUSIC 2011” AND THE 2011 VAN WARPED TOUR in SAN DIEGO AND LOS ANGELES.

Looking to get yourself ready for Vans Warped Tour 2011 here in Los Angeles, find here some reviews you may want to listen to these CD’s before you go to the big show that is arriving in early August 2011. But these CD’s will keep you pumped with excitement through all of the summer till next year at least.

THE WONDER YEARS PRESENT: SUBERBIA I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing
The Wonder Years
Hopeless Records
Thirteen new songs are on here from the 6 guys of this Pop Punk band from Philadelphia. The Wonder Years don’t sprinkle sugar dust onto anything. They focus on honesty that seems stitched in tightly to their individual chest. With effortless flawless drumming, rampant grinding plucked hard fast guitars and bass driven hard thuds carve into you with delight to ones nervous system with ease. With such breakout melodic head banging songs such as Local Man Ruins Everything and My Life As A Pigeon, these fun punsters will grab your attention quickly. The record is refreshing and charged with enthusiasm even with its gnarly punk-piercing feel. Came Out Swinging is a good example of what can happens when you get into frenzy that comes with this song from immediate beginnings of it. Woke Up Older is a great guitars blazing number to listen to see the true bone of this band. Don’t worry though Campbell’s lyrical effort hits hard, employing realistic natural themes and at times even being sincere with such songs as Don’t Let Me Cave In and I’ve Given You All, The Wonder Years make it easy to listen to them as you mosh around in a pit. Your ears will find traps to enjoy that will get your self-moving to the beats and sounds from the songs Summers In PA and You Made Me Want To Be A Saint. In a sense, Suburbia is an original release with whispered messages of dealing with fears, with understanding regrets and finding a reason to live. Pop punk isn’t pretty, it’s raw and it marks the true birth of a blistering summer is ahead to enjoy.

IM ALIVE IM DREAMING
The Ready Set
Sire Records
This is not just some simple feel good pop record for a teenage thirteen year old. But also the adults who are buying this CD for their daughters are enjoying it as well. For the over protective parents they and you will also find that there are no curse words on this record at all. Jordan’s voice is charming to ones ears. Love Like Woe is a simple jolly cute memorable tune. The entire album is upbeat and lively. The songs are catchy and unique. They are easy to sing and dance too. The Ready Set is a little like Never Shout Never and electronica thrown in for stylish poise. Jordan Witzigreuter is so talented. He plays every instrument on the record, synthesizing influences into one remarkably diverse album. Other standout songs on this are Upsets And Downfalls, More Then Alive, and especially Spinning!!!

LUCKY STREET
Go Radio
Fearless Records
Lucky Street is their first full-length release. Jason Lancaster of ex-Mayday Parade has all ready established himself as poignant pop rock melodies catchy tracks lyricist. This album is no disappointment. From opener track Lucky Street, it gets you off to a strong start. This song also highlights Jason Lancaster’s vocal range and stylings. Some of the songs are vivid pop-punk with catchy rhythmic snappy vocals and fun melodies attached. For the other songs there are piano tracks that show off Lancaster’s lyrical abilities. The excellent stunning song Why I’m Home is a very stripped down song that showcases Go Radio’s main attraction: Lancaster’s voice. Lyric and vocals combined from sincerity to a warmer sound, nothing demonstrates transition like the pop-fuelled Redemption In The Verse. Softer felt track House of Hallways is the perfect catchy, yet gentle pop-rock tune. Go Radio are very good. The Truth Is is a high notable tune basking fully in its pop-punk sensibilities. So you get a true rounded record form the full CD to devour in many different ways. Enjoy it for every note.

THE JOYS OF LIVING 2008 – 2010
Sharks
Velvet Scene/Rise Records
This is a British quartet that sounds like a cross between The Jam, The Buzzcocks and The Clash. The CD is actually songs that the band has recorded between 2008 and through 2010. From amongst these are their first three EP’s and a couple of new songs included to round it out. Sweet Harness is one of the newer songs recorded on here. Sweet Harness is a mid tempo tune. It’s very melodic and rich and full of guitar. Capital Youth shows off the anarchy styles that earlier punk band gave us of days gone by but with better sound guitars and strong bass throbbing. It All Relates showcases that this ban can pound out fast and strong to jump start a mosh pit within seconds. The raw edge of this band gives them a throw ahead of simple pop punk that is more today’s standards. This will set them apart but keep them in the spotlight to see what comes next from these lads. The CD has no duds among the 14 tracks on here.

MEET THE TIDE
Windsor Drive
Windsor Drive is an emo rock band from Houston, TX. The band was formed in January 2005 in a small town in central WI, with Kipp, Owen, Jon, Dustin, and Dan. They have three records thus far. You might find yourself humming to melody lines well after you have listened to the album. These songs might come to your mind in many in sight full ways. They might seem a bit structured and a tinge unusual to here at The Vans Warped Tour this is true. But, the songs are beautiful and catchy and plenty thought provoking wondering painted scenes. If your into Coldplay, Fine China with a little bit of U2 thrown in your in for great textured to feel from this bands newest release. Instrumentation wise features electric guitar riffs, piano, and drums that add color that won’t jar you. The guitars riffs might remind you to sounding a bit like Coldplay’s Parachutes album. Meet The Tide album is consistently mellow and soothing. You will never feel compelled to skip a song. Some of the best songs are Shine, Bedridden, The Island, Slow Down and Oh Sovereign. They also have two other CD’s out as well Bridges and The Weather.

WOULD IT KILL YOU
Hello Goodbye
Wasted Summer Records
Self produced this time around. It’s a pop record but not as bouncy as the band past efforts. Growing up to a more mature garage band sound yet with great production to sound more pro. Lot more guitar work on this release. This is clearly a self-funded grand opus achievement of a great sounding record. ‘Would It Kill You? is a record about letting go, accepting and eventually celebrating the weirdness of life. If you like Panic! At The Disco you pretty much will like this album. Each of the songs on Would it Kill You? are catchy and they just make you want to smile. Since their self-titled CD back in 2004 they experimented with electronic sounds that you can dance too. Now the music has slowed down a lot! It’s really good, but acoustic guitar sounds more than synth on this release. This is a cheerful good feeling record. Some of the great songs are The Thought That Gave Me The Creeps and Finding Something To Do. The subject matter is simpler and melodies are still catchy too. This Huntington Beach band might have a newer lineup but the change is good for the record and for the band too. Some might say this is an arty type record but it’s a great leap from where they were.

KARAOKE EP
Relient K
Mono Vs. Stereo Records
Seven cover songs are done on this release with an additional seven more available on line this coming October/November to complete this record. Some of the songs covered are Here Comes My Girl originally done by Tom Petty And The Heart Breakers which songs just like Tom Petty’s rock classic exactly which sounds amazing. They do a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want To have Fun. It seems like a lot of makes want to cover this sing a lot. Relient K do a great version of it on here too. This is one of those CD’s that you want to drive along the beach with the windows down riding along on a bright sunny day. This CD will cheer you up and those around you too. You might find your own self wanting to step into a Karaoke bar and singing these songs yourself.

GET YOUR HEART ON
Simple Plan
Atlantic Records
Interesting this time is the one of the album’s ballads most notably the song Astronaut is fantastic and would make for a great video project. The rockers are more focused, falling back effortlessly with catchy three-chord power pop and pop punk fast hooks. This album expands perfect to the follow-up to 2004′s “Still Not Getting Any” because it improves and slightly on that album. Pierre Bouvier’s vocals never sounded better, and are boosted more by guest spots by Alex Gaskarth (All Time Low), Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), and Natasha Bedingfield. With songs like You Suck At Love proves Simple Plan have returned to their perfected pop punk sound. Simple Plan has been around for a decade already now and might have a Grammy award winning record on their hands with this release. Simple Plan is aging gracefully, and with a release like this it could prolong the band’s shelf life for years. Not only will these songs sound great in their live sets, they are best material thus far in their career. A natural progression in albums is expected from a band, but the amount of improvement from the previous album to this one is refreshing, as it is stunning. This album is packed with so many potential singles that a nightclub could be spinning them around and around easily in a nightclubs peaking in rotation for weeks on weeks. One of my picks for album of the year easily. Thanks you guys.

GREATINGS FROM
Less Than Jake
Digital download only from the band out of Florida just in time for release for hearing these songs done live while on tour for The Vans 2011 Warped Tour which they are one of the headliners. Fun and very energetic but the band still does this ska punk pop thing with such ease. It’s a five song EP. The new EP’s five songs are Can’t Yell Any Louder, Goodbye Mr. Personality, Harvey Wallbanger, Oldest Trick in the Book, and Life Led Out Loud. The very talented Gainesville, Florida based Ska band members are still Chris on vocals/guitar, Roger: bass/guitar, JR on saxophone, Buddy on trombone, and Vinnie is on the drums. These dudes still make this look so easy and they keep bring out great fun exciting fun. Now though they do it in their own with their own releases too. Hopefully they wont just release tracks this way but instead find there way to releasing CD’s but we will have to wait and see for that. So enjoy these new songs.

IN CONCLUSION

Summer is still a great time to start getting into bands. Blood On The Dance Floor has caught my eye this time at the Vans Warped Tour and I’m sure you’ll find out more from me later on as I get to know this band an others as they come through Los Angeles and San Diego this coming August during the Summer Vans Warped Tour 2011 see you there.

(Text by: Jonathan D. Wright – Photo by: Kenneth Morton)

Close to the area near by The Space Needle is the EMP. The EMP is Experience Music Project is a music educational experience place and exhibition and gallery facility all in one place. In this building are exhibits that you can explore the history of America popular music through state of the art interactive displays including listen to key music artist interviews from different sources. They also have an extensive collection of music memorabilia.

Within this building is another building called The Sky Church that houses a gigantic video screen that constantly pulses music video’s and music performances. In another area in the building is The Guitar Gallery. Included in this area is a Christmas tree made up of all guitars hat went from the floor of the building to the ceiling. The brown wood makes this tree really stand out with all of the dark and rich tones of the wood that each different guitar has. The Guitar Gallery follows evolution of the favorite instrument of rock ‘n’ roll. There is an exhibit hat was there called The Northwest Passage which traces the development of the Northwest music scene. Inside The Sound Lab visitors can make their own music using a variety of instruments with high tech music gear, or even go as far as making themselves a rock star on a sage too. To the Seattle scene respectfully this is the place where you can pay homage to Jim Hendrix and learn about him and his ways that made it for him to be a rock star that he truly was. An exhibit called An Evolution Of Sound is here which is a tribute to this Seattle native.

One other building here is called Sound And Vision. This is where music artist tell their stories. With 18 different listening stations your able to hear from all sorts of different artist in each field in rock music that gives you an insight to them and to there music. For example to give you some sort of idea you can here at station 11 which is called stories. Here artist ell their own stories such as Fred Foster, Holly Near, Michael Penn, George Takei, Bill Sullivan and Cowboy Jack Clement as well. While you have combed and listened through the collection of interviews and stories from over the years that music has been around, go and leave your own music experience that you have had too. You can do this in the Oral History Recording Booth. So if your looking for stories about Hip Hop, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Punk, Nuts And Bolt of the music and its scene, Producers, Music Social Struggles, Northwest, DIY, Image, Music in Science Fiction, Inspiration and Road Stories this is the place to find it all.

Right now you will find the largest exhibit of one of punk rocks biggest bands Nirvana. This is the world’s most extensive exhibition of memorabilia celebrating the music and history of Seattle grunge luminaries Nirvana. He exhibit features rare and unseen artifacts and photography from the band, their crews and from their families.

One last thing is The Sound Lab. His is where you can discover what your musical talents are. Everyone can rock out in sound lab no previous skill required is this places motto. You can band real drums and scratch like a real dj or sing play guitar just about everything you ever needed is right here to figure ou what your music talents really are.

To find out more about this place or to make a donation is support of this great music place check out www.empsfm.org I am truly thankful to everyone there who showed me he place and where to find such great exhibits. This place totally rocks. This isn’t just for kids but for adults too.

(by Jonathan D. Wright)

1. MY DINOSAUR LIFE by Motion City Soundtrack on Sony Music. Only playing two dates on this years past Vans Warped Tour I still haven’t see this band come back around for a full USA headlining tour for this release. This marks the bands first major record label release. “I’ve been a good little Worker Bee,” sings Justin Pierre and he’s not kidding. Plus it is the open track for the CD. Motion City Soundtrack has spent the past decade climbing the ranks of the emo-rock pop underground. With the release of My Dinosaur Life, the band strikes a radio-ready CD filled with melody. This may trigger their long-awaited breakthrough. One track Stand Too Close, sounds a bit like Weezer could of done it. With the song Pulp Fiction, it’s close to sounding live Eve Six. The track I like though has the most unique title of any song ever made called @!#?@!. I really enjoy the lyric from this song in the chorus “You All Need To Go Away You Mother Fuckers, You All Need To Leave Me And My Sensitive Home Boys Alone “ Also on the creative side the CD has this fun arty drawing of a your Dinosaur having the time of his life which would make for a great movie or video. The CD is infectious, melody driven and with catchy relatable lyrics. More than just one single can be found on here. Outstanding and addictive. Humming right along.

2. A LITTLE MESSED UP by The Dollyrots on Black Heart Records. Joan Jett has found a pop punk band that’s all been playing great tours opening for Social Distortion and on The Vans Warped Tour a couple of times. Plus even Drew Carry must like them as well to be so far the only band to ever play on the national show The price Is Right. With the Dollyrots, it’s definitely their charm given from Kelly, Luis and Chris. A Little Messed Up packs a potent punch from start to finish, broadening the Dollyrots scope in message and music. From beginning to the end it is filled with songs that stick in your head. The songs tend to discuss love and life’s pleasures With 2010’s release, it marks for the band it’s third album from the California Alt-Pop/Punks. With A Little Messed Up it comes into play because it points to the idea that imperfections are all around and a natural part of human existence. No one’s perfect. Kelly might be a female but she sure shows even us guys that this life can be fun too. The band have a live show coming up on February 2nd 2011 in Hollywood at The Troubador.

3. THE MORNING AFTER / THE NIGHT BEFORE by James on Mercury Records. Originally released as two individual singles, the two EP’s are now as one CD and it works for this project very well. Choruses are explosive as they are optimistic. But the darker side of James has now been revealed but creatively released that falls within the other upbeat material on this CD. The Night Before, is the brighter of the two albums. With the song Dr. Hellier, it shows how futuristic the band has ever sounded. James has always been a band captured in the moment. Yet the wordless chanting in the song Dr. Hellier truly as a heated hook is of weirder sorts, that have come out of James past catalog. Hero is a song reminder to love your brother no matter what. The song Crazy is joyful but thought provoking with lyrics as: “I’m not crazy I’m just laughing at myself.” This goes to show you that Tim Booth’s writing is still spinning inside his deep insight and intelligence thoughts. English literature should come so easy in the words that Tim used to describe things. If The Night Before is crowd pleased ready, The Morning After is more a mysterious side of the package. Possibly a dream state or a dead state feeling. Check these lyric’s out “there’s a vulture at the end of my bed it’s 5:00 am, it thinks I’m dead” pairing it with piano chords to set up the refrain “I forgive you.” This is only comparison to other past James songs as Sound. James diversity shows when guitarist Larry Gott gets out his slide to play some unsettling blues as Tim Booth sings about a violent drunk who wakes up one morning not remembering that he beat his wife. James gloom is kept to a minimum. This lets the pop nuggets like Make For This City, Lookaway and Tell Her So have just the amount of danceable backbone, with a breezy melody to show James being upbeat. The Morning After The Night Before doesn’t throw dynamite, it has though cast James into a diverse light. The Morning After is somber, restrained without melancholy. The Night Before is more pop. The hint of drama holds up well intertwined within all of the material here. Longtime band mates Jim Glennie, Larry Gott, David Baynton-Power, and Andy Diagram recognize when to step away up backing Tim when need be but they work off of each other when they are a whole unit. The Morning After The Night Before reminds us that James is still getting better than you ever thought that they could. This shows that James are still great artistically. They have now explored working with a chorus and changing up their musical style with this CD.

4. SKIN TIGHT by Liv Kristine on Napalm Records. When listening to Skin Tight you might feel it deep within you while it’s working under your skin. This might be just the right pathway to get your heart. It is a down-to-earth album, absolutely very real feelings were put into it. Liv Kristine is being personal just enabling to reach into your inner soul as you the only listener. Some of the songs talk about childhood like the songs One Of Them and Wonders. The most interesting songs are Boy At The Window and The Rarest Flower that make us lookout into the masses and observe them in everyday ways. Madonna should take a listen to this CD to better express her self. The one thing that this CD does look at is Love and how it is seen through children. It shows what true love is toward all things relationships, nature and love for every human being. This helps us to be able to completely accept all love. Hopefully the CD will open everyone’s heart to innocence to find the true meaning of loving humanity equally for all to be in love. To love each other no matter what.

5. UNSEEN MUSIC UNHEARD WORDS by Steve Kilbey & Martin Kennedy on Second Motion Records. Steve Kilbey, front man of legendary atmospheric rockers The Church has joined forces with Martin Kennedy instrumentalists to create an album made in heavens space of pure lightness.. Unseen Music Unheard Words combines gentle melodic pop with Kilbey’s silk voice and lyrical know-how. It is a deep album full of unexpected twists and turns which makea it more interesting. Here you will find Steve Kilbey’s breathy vocals, bass and harmonies meshing with guitars and keyboard sprinklings with other combined instrumentations from Martin Kennedy through lavish arrangements and orchestration. One of the most elegant and simple instrumental rock albums to date. Heavenly clouds you will find that are not of this material world but only where Steve and Martin will take you if you close your eyes. Listen deeply. Steve Kilbey & Martin Kennedy present Unseen Music Unheard Words by two Australian fellows. Steve Kilbey, of The Church, silky evocative voice seductively narrates dreamy lyrics over Martin Kennedy’s cool atmospheric song structures. Steve Kilbey once again has released an eclectic brilliant CD. His resonant, dreamy vocals are accompanied by sublime, soothing and mystifying music sound-scapes. The album is a typical Steve Kilbey one that will take many times to permeate into your psyche the full-blown luster and splendor of this experience of a place. My favorite song on here is the spiritual mystical All Is One and other songs as My Will Be Yours and Eyes Ahead are great too. Steve Kilbey is one of rock’s finest vocalists frequently using his voice as an instrument to the music even so on here. Take a good listen with burning incense and close your eyes. Kick way back and let go. They will have a new album out early in 2011.

6. MICHAEL by Michael Jackson on Epic Records. This is the first and im sure not the last posthumous releases from Jackson. Presented here are ten tracks that were in various stages of development but never finished to the superstar’s famously standards. Instead, collaborators including Akon, Teddy Riley, Lenny Kravitz, 50 Cent and the producer of the record took demos and nearly completed songs and finished them up them up. Shockingly better than might be expected. It is economical and listenable. Hold My Hand is an Akon song with Michael’s flavoring. Lenny Kravitz brings his A-game to the song Another Day. The most captivating tracks are those that feel less manhandled. Monster with it’s dance-floor feel is best to be used on just that. Great harmonies can be heard like orchestral string arrangements on the song Best of Joy. Michael Jackson’s heavenly airiness vocals can be heard on The Way You Love Me. The closer is an acoustic song called Much Too Soon that is very touching. Michael’s leftovers have sparkle. But was this Much Too Soon to be released?

7. FREE TIME by Shonen Knife on Good Charamel Records. From Japan with 16 records under their belts, Shonen Knife has released a full length English singing record. The three girl punk pop band remind you of what The Beatle’s first visit was like filled with simple ness and excitement all at the same time. The commercial songs they this band has like Star, An Old Stationary Shop, Rock ‘N’ Roll Cake, Capybara and Moonstar Jellyfish it will be easy for this band to make commercial video for al of these songs and easily have a hit on their hands. They have all ready sold out Space Land in Silver Lake and The Echo in Los Angles. They even toured The USA for this record. Maybe The Vans Warped Tour should give this band a try out. If you like soft punk pop this band hits it right at you but from a female band which is highly entertaining. KXLU and KROQ should play their songs on its radio shows. Go-Go’s watch out here comes Shonen Knife.

8. A BEST OF US…FOR THE REST OF US by Reel Big Fish on Rock Ridge Records. From out of Orange Couty, CA Reel Big Fish has taught us something with this two CD set release. Now that the band has taken on the role of owning their songs, it’s not the re-recording of their past hits on this two CD set, but the acoustic recordings of their songs that are on here to why this ska band made the top picks list for 2010. I never knew that ska songs could be broken down and recorded acoustic. Other ska bands should pay close attention to this. Maybe now we will find ska bands performing acoustic in coffee houses.

9. MEMPHIS BLUES by Cyndi Lauper on Mercer Street records. Cyndi has re-invented herself yet again. She got help on this album from Charlie Mussel White, Allen Toussanri, B.B. King, Johnny Lang and some help from Ann Peebles. But with her doing her own songs Down So Low, Don’t Cry No More and the great song Romance In The Dark (which would make for a great video and nice single), Cyndi Lauper has found her should in blues. She has seemed to let go and become very professional at this stage in her career. This is such a deep and artistic flowing record this time. Nice to see her challenge herself and what an outcome it has been. Creative yet very stylish that is way in depth to ones heart and mind through sensitive blues music. Wow.

10. OF MEN AND ANGELS by The Rocket Summer on Island Records. Brice Avary is such a great artist. He is also a good producer for himself at least so far (other producer credits coming?). On Of Men And Angels, Bryce Avary delivers his best record yet. Mixing classic pop rock with spirituality. This fifteen song collection is fun and thought provoking. The song Roses kicks things off with the topic of faith. Faith is introduced in the song and is a recurring theme throughout this CD. The song I Want Something To Live For will have you shouting its catchy chorus. The tempo slows with the variable autobiographical song called Walls. Another track Japanese Exchange Student is a very serious piece on here. And the album eventually concludes with the song Light. Light is one of the strongest selections on the CD. With Of Men And Angels, melodies and simple joys await you. They takes it’s listener to a simple place, where faith is all that matters, and a happy song can save your day. Bryce is brilliant at doing and writing songs like these. So some seriousness and fun awaits for you from this CD. Enjoy it as I did and possibly you will be up lifted from it like I was.

Oh there were plenty of other CD’s that came out this year not mentioned here. But this is just my picks and maybe not yours. Give these a listen for the reasons I mentioned and you’ll at least understand why I chose them.

1. LOVESTRUCK by Breathe Electric.

Grant Harris might be this artist real name but when performing Breathe Electric was the only unsigned band that performed on the entire Vans Warped Tour. Breathe Electric is definitely not your generic dance/power-pop/electronica band. The EP opens with high-energy. The opening title track sustains the energy and excitement that it begins with. Singer Grant Harris’ voice is unique puts Breathe Electric’s music above all of the other generic pop bands. Grant is powerful and he stamina is constant throughout this entire project. Grant shows many different ways to show off his talents on this EP. Lyric wise the Ep is filled with songs about love and girls. The differences in each songs mood and tempo seem to be enough to keep the album from becoming monotonous sound wise to keep you dancing right along. Each song is exciting and just a warning: you might find yourself singing along as well. A song that sticks out is Electronic Lover. This Particular song slows down the pace of the album in a good way. The music is still high energy but Grant is able to show of his song writing abilities with this one. If you like to dance, you will enjoy this EP. Breathe Electric has a lot of potential to gain more friends and becoming well-known. This could be obtained if Breathe Electric tried the dance club circuit market and get everyone dancing around. You will be surprised by this album as it will be worth playing more than once

2. STUCK ON REPEAT by Stereo Skyline.

I think their kind of music is the boy band of this generation. The Japanese edition of their 2010 album includes four bonus tracks. You could say that this is kind of like Emo but with Pop guitar sound, added with cutesy lyrics and the singer has a sweet voice. The CD is full of feel good songs. They also have the catchy hooks and cutesy sounds that make girls croon easily too. Being signed to Columbia Records/Sony should help this band to move more smoothly along into the pop genre as well. Don’t be surprised if you catch them appearing on this years Vans Warped Tour (Junior Year) #17 touring across our entire nation this coming summer. The song Tongue Tied has all ready been made into a music video.

3. DO OVERS AND SECOND CHANCES by Go Radio.

Fearless records always seems to find the next refreshing pop rock bands. Armed having an impressive collection of honest, melodic songs, this is the second EP released from this band. Go Radio is an exciting band to emerge from Florida. Do Overs And Second Chances features seven songs of heartbreak and redemption. It’s the vocals that caught my attention with its real emotion backing it. Very strong heartfelt Dreaming Gets Drastic is the opener, but listen to the closing ballad Goodnight Moon. It is an epic closing ballad that displays lead vocalist Lancaster’s vocal talents. Embracing you is a real emotion in every note. Go Radio’s EP Do Overs And Second Chances was released April 20th, 2010.

4. GUARANTEED TO DISAGREE by We Are The In Crowd.

Hopeless is another record label to break the next punk pop band. They have found yet another one. First off they got Will Pugh from Cartel to sing the bridge on the song Never Be What You Want. The male and female dynamic vocals together is enriching for the music alternative scene to show diversity. They do sound like paramour but that’s not a bad thing. As far as sound goes they’re a fun catchy pop rock band. They also have a hint of New Found Glory mixed within their sound as well. They have some great potential to come up with some catchy songs. This is a good CD/EP for a new up and coming band. Great start out release.

5. FACE FRONT by Ivy League on Skull Candy Records.

Yet another Orange County Ska band has emerged onto the music scene with a great EP. The EP is well produced including a cool live track called Rest Of Your Life. Rest Of Your Life really needs to be on a studio album as a regular track.. Releasing a live recording on an EP is original and helped this EP to stand out. The sound the band has is a cross between Sublime meeting The Clash with a more modern combination twist thrown in for good measure. If you like punk and ska mixed with american reggae, you’ll dig this band and the laid back music that they make. Bob Marley would be proud of this stuff.

6. HELLO WORLD by Amely.

Amely is a quartet of four lads based out of Orlando, Florida. Fearless Records has found another a power pop punk all American four male group that’s going to make you slammed and move around with great ease. The rock Amely makes is high spirited that tends to make everyone bounce around with them. However, their power pop style is catchy and yet fun too. The young crowd can et excited with them and your car will like going over bumps and up and down hills with them playing loud in your car. You might need new shocks after listening to this new band.

7. ERIC’S MARINE by Zeke Duhon.

Based out of Oklahoma, you can find most of his music from Itunes. This 16 year old all ready shows great wisdom and uses it to work out contemplations throughout his lyrics and music. You might find similarities to The Rocket Summer and Never Shout Never in the music from Zeke Duhon. So this EP is five songs long. The songs deal with Hope and through that it will tug at your heart. Zeke writes his own perception on life through his own experiences in some of the songs. In other songs, Zeke as they observer, looks through other people experiences around him to write what they feel in their perspective of living is very interesting. Zeke does show off that he can rock out a fun song too with the opener of the EP Job Are For People Who Can Fish. Escaping you will find yourself doing right off the bat with this tune. The other great song is Paper Cut. Paper Cut is kind of melancholy but because it is examining a relationships and all of it flaws makes for a great subject matter to write a song around it. One of the most powerful tracks on here is the heart felt Your Hit Song. The compositions that Zeke writes for us on here lets us wonder around in his world. The songs move and effect us even when making difficult choices. Like Charles Dicken’s ghost characters in A Christmas Carol, Zeke creates an experience around us to make us feel. Relationships should be looked at this way by stepping around them and looking in on them to get a closer perspective before reacting upon those feelings we are actually dealing with. What’s next from this teenager will truly be amazing I am sure of it.

8. THE WONDER by Backseat Goodbye.

Backseat Goodbye is really Chad Sugg a 23 years old solo artist from Murfreesboro Tennessee. Interesting enough some of the songs on here were produced by Ace Enders formally of The Early November. The song The Breakfast Club might make you want to go back to High School but its not about the movie of the same name. It make you appreciate that times you had with your friends back when you were in High School and remembering all of that growing up teenage stuff. Another really great track on this project is The Great Unknown. This song represents how nothing is ever certain. It is also a song about appreciating everything that is simple or appreciating how complex things might be.

9. FANTASTICA BASTIDAS by Fantastica Bastidas.

This is what Sub pop alternative grunge did. It’s created an outlet for artistic bands to use their garage to explore different style of grungs punk and alternative sounds and mix them all up. This Los Angeles band does this rather well. If you like arty punk sub pop bands that you might hear on KLXU these guys take the cake. With such songs as Holy Spirit and Hue I don’t understand why this band isn’t played on KROQ. Rodney On The Rock should check this band out himself sometime. This band I would say is really hip to making unusual guitar sounds and making them work well with a bass and drums. Sometimes with male lead vocals and sometimes with female lead vocals as well too. Fantastica Bastidas is very interesting and way up to date in their scene. Silver Lake has all ready accepted them greatly here in Los Angels, plus they have gotten played on local radio and so should check them out too.

10. GET INTO THE LOVE by Justin Tyler.

19 years of age, Justin Tyler has sold many a copies of his debut EP Wake Up Call delivering it himself all over the country. Formerly of the band Nextdoor, Jason Tyler is based out of the Long Beach CA. Justin is now a member of the band Explosion. Judging what’s heard here on this latest Get Into The Love new solo EP, Jason Tyler’s solo career is taking of faster than being in bands. A massively talented singer/songwriter, Jason Tyler’s EP was produced by Justin Powell (The Cab, A Thorn For Every Heart). Justin Tyler knows delivers tunes with pop perfection. Watch out Jonas Brothers. The new EP opens with Turn It Up, a pop party style song yet infectious so it will remain in your head for days. The song Bliss shows Justin Tyler’s personal style of writing a memorable touching song. Queen Of Hearts is a pop rocker, and it will get the crowd swaying and singing along. DQ is an upbeat tune. Press Play should be on commercial radio with its anthem appeal chorus and catchy lyrics style. What he should do is make a solo album and call it Pres Play. Justin plays the instruments and well as all of the vocals on here. Get Into The Love is truly the musical answer to what love on the stereo should be in a pop fun way. KISS FM should pay close attention to this artist solo career.

A couple of others that I also listened too this year that put out an EP were The Hit and Striking Back. They didn’t make the top 10 but were very close and alternates most of the year with barely dropping off the top 10 picks list recently. Wow what a year for EP’s and The Unsigned Artist with five of them being out of the ten.

When it comes to Jason Falkner I am biased. This is a harrowing task to review one of my favorite artists. Now that Jason spends most of his time producing, with all ready finishing records with Daniel Johnston, Anne Soldaat and put out his own album All Quiet On The Noise Floor, he only plays a handful of shows with most of them being in Japan. An L.A. show has become something of a sacred thing to see and hear him play. I wasn’t surprise that Saturday’s sold-out show at Spaceland was as packed to standing room only.

Opener act Nico Stai pulled primed the crowd with his alternative rock music including a cover of The Psychedelic Furs A Ghost In You to the crowd’s approval.

Jason hit the stage to a loud crowd of applause. He started with the opening song of Honey from his sophomore album Can You Still Feel. Jason hit all of the high notes with ease through out the evening’s performance. The set was chock full of goodies off his new album, which is currently only available as a Japanese import.

The songs Emotion Machine, Evangeline and Counting Sheep seemed familiar to the audience members. Jason also did Be Bop Deluxe cover Jet Silver And The Dolls Of Venus and did My Home Is Not A House from his days with The Grays. He also pulled out a hear felt performance of Hectified from his 1996 debut Author Unknown. Then he also played The Plan from his sophomore release. A great show not to ever miss when Jason is in town. Rumor has it that Jason might be doing a show at The Echo in December sometime so watch for it.

SHOW REVIEW, Cobalt Café, Canoga Park, CA

KNOCK OUT, BROKE AND DOWN, BLIND AWAKENING, THE RIADS, STREET THREAT. MIDDLE CLASS MINORITIES  – August 29, 2010

MIDDLE CLASS MINORITIES opened the show with pulse racing punk songs. The song they played were about two and a half minutes each and done really fast. You knew they were going to be a fast paced band because by the time their thirty minute set was over they had played over a dozen songs. Some of the best songs they did were Skank Skank, Fuck The Red & Blue Lights and No Way. They are from Panorama City area.

STREET THREAT played second on the show. Out of Los Angeles and mixed with afro American, white and latin members, the diversity shows in the bands strength and stamina. The do fast quick raw yet commercial punk like in the style of early Bad Religion. Definitely not pop punk but more street since punk. The bass player kind of stood back away from the audience in almost the corner of the stage. Possibly listening to his amp the whole time to hear himself. But the rest of the three guys play fierce and strong with maturity.  Some of the best songs in tonight show were Us Against The World, I Do What I Want, Street Threat and the very cool Mind Riot, which could make for a cool video for the band.

THE RAIDS were next. They are on the boarder of Hollywood and Los Angels. The style of punk they ply is fun circle pit rampaging thrash around exciting punk. Maybe it’s their youthfulness or cleverness that gets your attention first. The songs are quick and to the point. Radio friendly at times but effective to keep the crowd moving along with. This is one of those bands that you might want to have play at your back yard BBQ just to get the crow charged up. Some of their best songs were: King Of The Hill, Sick Of The Media, Personal Abuse. Will most likely book these guys again. They are a lot of fun. These guys should be looked over from Epitaph, Fat Wreck and Hopeless Records.

BLIND AWAKENING is from Woodland Hills area in The San Fernando Valley. They play commercial punk pop songs that are ready for Fearless Records to be looking at. The band is very young but all ready have a great sound tot hem. They have catchy melodies and hooks that get a crowd feeling happy. They have a little diversity with two singers in the band that can both lead too.  With songs like I Walk Alone and Lights Out they are all ready finding their audience is starting to come familiar with their sons and starting to sing along.  These guys are the type of band that all the teen girls would love. They would fit well on The Vans Warped Tour really well. Would be great to give this band a chance against any other pop punk band for a song duel contest.

BROKE AND DOWN came out all the way from Riverside to open up for Knock Out for this show. They have played at The Cobalt Café before so this was a good homecoming show for them to appear on.  It’s been a while since having this band here so the core line up changed a little but still a very strong group. They play instruments maturely and professional with ease. They Ska sound they have is friendly that makes you want to dance around with. With performing such songs as Summer, Done With You, I Walk Alone (which would make for a cool music video), Lights Out, Falling Down, Can’t Live With You and Someone New this band is ready to make a album. So any producers around looking to work with a ska laid back down to earth band let these guys know.

KNOCK OUT has out currently two CD’s for downloading released through Epitaph Records and produced by one of the guys from Voo Doo Glowskulls. Knock Out for the fall is on going to be on tour in Europe. They will be back this winter. They are currently writing new songs for their third CD. Lead vocalist Jared crooned the crowd over which got the audience slamming around and making a mash pit. They performed a 40 minute set of 11 songs that included: Generator, One Night In Paris France, Only Escape, Moving On, Sound System, Fade Away, Curtains Up, Another Wasted Night and Sooner Or Later. They might be coming back around to playing a show in December for a sort of Christmas show at The Cobalt Café. More info to be determined so watch for it.

THE PRETENDERS LIVE CD/DVD REVIEW

The latest release from this iconic rock band is The Pretenders Live In London. It is available through Strobosonic & EI Music (www.strobosonic.com). This is a DVD where it sets the back right in front of the crowd with no barriers. So no special equipment was used to film the show either. This plain and simple in your face event. Most concerts use lighting effect, crane devices with the band behind a barrier and even at time are above the crowd in order for film camera’s to capture the band in the live setting. Here though it is all at the ground level. It’s like seeing a band in an old dive bar and playing really hard fast with the noise blasting. This show contains 24 songs all together and has a companion CD that goes along with it that has most of the show on it recorded to play in your car. But it’s this special performance in your face and minimal production that lets the songs stand out for them selves. This DVD live performance shows what it’s really like to see a band in a small venue though way to popular for this kind of thing and still pulling it all off without a hitch. This is a rue must have for both Pretenders fans and for those who enjoy going to small venue shows to see their favorite bands take them over selling out. Some of the bands best of songs are featured on here so enjoy it and have a good time kicking back with it.

SHONEN KNIFE – Live At The Mohawk Place 2009

This ultimate live DVD has been release from Good Charamel Records. This captures the three-girl punk band live concert on their first visit to The United States. Even though having a big influence here in the USA from doing a great cover of The Carpenters Top Of The World hit and with 16 albums (several of them imports from Japan), it is no wonder that they have finally arrived here in The USA to play some shows. The DVD features 17 songs that the band does quickly and harmoniously. Some of the songs featured on this release give you example of the bands overall pup and garage punk styles mixed with a commercial flair. Some of the best songs are Giant Kitty, Fruits And Vegetables, Flying jelly Attack, Banana Chips, Barnacle, Super Group and the infamous I Want To Eat Chocolbars. The songs also show off lyric wise the bands since of humor too. The band as a group reminds you of the charming first visit of The Beatles when they got here into the USA. You might find yourself slamming around the living room floor so be careful of rug burns while doing so with this bands DVD.

Vans Warped Tour: End of Summer Heats Up
August 10, 2010
Chula Vista, CA

Pretty much near the boarder of California and Mexico. 83 bands to choose from, nearing the end of the 2010 summer Vans Warp Tour Sweet Sixteenth show. Weather a little hot and some light shade was to be found. It didn’t seem overly crowded and that could be because it was on a weekday with some schools starting to go back into session all ready. I found it easier to get closer to some of the smaller stages. .

IVY LEAGUE I saw first. They are from Costa Mesa. Currently they have a debut CD called Face Front. They play ska punk songs with a mix of guitar riffs and bouncy bass lines. They did one song playing the drums except that the drums were trashcans. Some of the catchy tunes were: Let It Burn, Rest Of Your Life, Hold On, Face Front, The Only Escape and The Other Side.

LEFT ALONE, I went to see next, were from Los Angeles. They played punk fast tunes. Currently Left Alone have a few CD’s on Hell Cat Records. With the songs being about two to three minutes each, they did several songs in the 30 minute set. The crowd got slamming around with the punk songs and bounced danced around when they performed some ska tunes. A couple of the songs were Four Weeks and Short Stories.

From Riverside, VOODOO GLOW SKULLS played cool Ska songs to get the crowd moving. They even did some Spanish songs: El Cu Guy and La Llorona. However, the English songs got the crowd moving much more and sang along to such songs as California Street Music and DD Don’t Like Ska. With more than a few CD’s, I don’t see why this band wasn’t playing on one of the bigger stages.

Kind of in front of a home crowd audience, KNOCK OUT felt at home and had fun playing. Maybe they were relaxed knowing that people they knew were there to see them. You could tell the band appreciated the great sound that they had for such a small stage. They were so laid back that lead vocalist Jared broke down and took his shades off to see the audience. They have two CD’s being re-issued on Skunk Records and are working on a third new album. They featured one of the new songs called Another Wasted Night.. They played a cool cover of Sound System by Operation Ivy too. With performing songs like Only Escape, Same Ole Thing, One Night In Paris and Moving On, the crowd stomped up the ground with a circle pit of fun.

Locals FIGHT FAIR took the stage to a huge crowd. Possibly not feeling well from a stop over on the tour in Las Vegas the night before, Lead vocalist Alex Bigman told me that he wasn’t feeling like himself backstage. But I couldn’t get near the sage when Fight Fair went on because it was so crowded to see them. The band looked energized and animated without showing any wears at all. I watched them perform California Girls and California Kicks. They will be going on tour soon with Breath Electric but won’t be playing any dates locally with Breath Electric (at Chain Reaction or at The Whiskey this coming Fall). The newest release they have out now is California Kicks. These pop punks throw down some fun jams and get the crowd kicked up high in good spirits. They even fooled me from when I saw caught them back stage. Now that they are on stage…wow what a performance.

VANS WARPED TOUR
Pomona Fair Grounds
August 11th, 2010
Pomona CA,

Now being my fourth day to see the Vans Warp Tour, coming back through Southern California was a hot day. They use some parking pavement and the infield of where the horses race for the ground area for this big huge show. Shade was scarce and water was three dollars a bottle. It wasn’t one hundred degree’s but it felt close to that though. So dusty dirt and dry grass didn’t make things easier to breath or to walk on. Watch out for the potholes of mud spring up when ever they wanted too as well. Just take advantage of the whole parking lot instead and keep everything on the pavement that would work better. I felt sorry for those using wheel chairs electric or not.

AM TAXI are currently touring in support of Virgin Records release of We Don’t Stand A Chance. Some punk mixed with alternative pop added in with a dash of hard edge and you get a sence of the bands sound. The keyboard player during a song came out from off the stage and went into the audience to sell the bands CD. This was a cleaver move on the bands behalf, funny thing was they sold a lot of CD’s this way. The songs are catchy and memorable but they keep fun part in the melody lines. While you want to follow the melody, the other instruments lend themselves to fill out the whole sound easier. The bands sound doesn’t overtake you but instead it enthralls you to get more involved with it to enjoy it. The cool songs in the bands set were: Woodpecker, Reckless Ways, Champagne Toast, Paper Covers Rock, Fed Up, Dead Street and The Mistake. I had never heard about this band before, but these Chicago kids knew how to get the audience attention. They concluded the set with a cool rock version of Paint It Black as well too.

REEL BIG FISH are no strangers to playing the hot days of the Vans Warped Tour. They have currently jumped away from Jive records to release it’s own bands greatest hits CD. Now that they have left the recording contracts from Jive records they have gone onto Rock Ridge Records and have put out an independent CD of hits. Included in the new package of the double CD set is an acoustic set of songs by the band as well. They didn’t play any acoustic songs in this set but they did play a lot of the band’s hits. Some of the songs in the set were: She Has A Girlfriend Now, Take On Me, Sell Out and Everything Sucks. Catch them live on a current headlining US Fall tour with it’s first show starting on Saturday 9/18/2010 Anaheim, CA at The Grove of Anaheim.

EVERCLEAR from Portland Oregon jumped onto the tour at this point. These alternative rockers are currently on tour showing off it’s newer younger members. They are playing songs that are on In A Different Light CD. Some classics are on this CD that are familiar to the audience but that have been re-recorded with the new band. Art still leads and holds his own as the front man of this everlasting band project of his. The band played several crowd radio favorites Santa Monica, AM Radio, Everything to Everyone, I Will Buy You A New Life, Fire Maple Song, Rock Star, Wonderful and very popular crowd sing to Father Of Mine. Hope as soon as the new CD gets released that they come back for a full USA tour.

THE ROCKET SUMMER got the crowd singing along with ease. Of Men And Angels is the current CD the band has out. They played a solid set to a huge crowd. With four CD’s out I don’t see why this band isn’t playing a main stage by now. But Bryce Avary entertains us even if he plays all the instruments for one song too. Brice is so talented and keeps giving us great songs to hum along too. The set Bryce and his band did featured memorable performances of his newest hit Walls and many others. He is one artist worth every penny to see him live or on CD.

ANTI-FLAG set the standard of political punk the old fashioned way that makes the audience slam around like crazy fiendish animals in heat. The circle pit got bigger and wider with each song the band played. Even though getting really raunchy and dirty, the band played a strong heavy punk set. Anti-Flag are currently out touring in support of it’s current CD called The People Or The Gun. Some of the songs they did were The Economy Is Suffering Let It Die, We Are The One, The Old Guard and You Are Fired. Anti-Flag might be from the east coast but the can dazzle up a music hurricane storm of might fight punk style anywhere. Slamming great time with these guys.

(Article and Pix by Jonathan D. Wright)

Motion City Soundtrack

VANS WARPED TOUR 2010:  SUMMER HAS BEGUN

Starting June 25, 2010 in Carson and Ventura on June 27, 2010 ninety one bands were available to hear from 11:00AM till 8:30PM. So fine it’s not exactly falling right on June 21^st,which is the official first day of summer for 2010,  but it’s pretty dang close enough. Kids are just out of school for the summer and first thing for summer break is to go to The Vans Warped Tour for about $35.00 per ticket per person. This year however, it started in Carson instead of ending in Carson So now San Diego and Pomona will be near the end of The Vans Warped Tour in hot August. So let the fun begin.

Now it’s time to figure out how many of the 91 bands I have a chance to see within these two June dates of this massive show.  There were 8 different stages with an average of 9 bands on them performing at different intervals of time. Each band set was about 30 minutes or so. Two of those stages had 16 bands on each of them throughout the day with about 20 minutes per each performance. Now you can see how hard it is to get to see what bands you really want to catch a set of. So being able to go both days of this huge event, made possible by MSO Publicity team  (thanks to Mitch Snyder and crew), I managed to see a bundle of bands.

Only performing these first two dates of this show were Motion City Soundtrack and the Bouncing Souls. These two bands I was not going to miss a full set of. Motion City Sound Track has just released My Dinosaur Life. There is an advisory language version and a clean version of this CD out. Lead vocalist Justin Pierre, when performing, sings his lyrics like they were written and not done by clean standard corrected lyric like the bands newest CD has on it. The newer songs went over well live. In the set they included doing Her Words Destroy My Planet which got the crowd bouncing around an singing along. They also did Disappear and Delirium from their newest record. It does not appear to be a lack of momentum from his band and not stopping anytime soon.  As a matter of fact they are now signed to a big record company (Sony/Columbia records), and sill show their love an support to the fans. They even had a signing session during the day for autographs and pictures too (I missed that opportunity …oh well).

The Bouncing Souls are currently touring for a good reason. They mark this tour as an anniversary for being in the music business for the past 20 yeas. During this past year to signify this, there were different singles released . Now available on one CD is all of those hard to find vinyl singles. All 7 of them are on the new CD. The New CD is called Ghost On The Boardwalk.  Some of the songs that were performed live from the new record were Bad Ass and Never Say Die When You’re Young. The crowd did get a favorite old classic heard of East Coast F U done for them. So all in all fun, just like these guys always gives you.

Breathe Electric and their keyboard jams hiphop songs were a great plus to this all punk, alternative and metal. The current release EP/CD out right now is called Lovestruck. You can’t help yourself to not move along up and down or bounce with this set of songs. Bad Girl I wanted to hear and they did play it, but they didn’t invite Steve Jerzak to come on stage to do the song together like on the album. The rest of the up beat set of songs were a great up lift though.

Fight Fair played enthusiastic up beat pop punk with flair. The chicks liked their shirts off and muscles bouncing all over the place. They played songs from their two CD Settle The Score and California Kicks. The guys stoke their instruments like bruits and pound beats into you like a fast packed bare assed spanking. The fun and excitement this band brings is a charm to any event. Some of the fast punk songs played were Brain Freeze, California Girls, San Diego, For The Win. Game On, Pop Rocks, Sexy Fancy Money and California Kicks. They will be playing at The San Diego Warped Tour so go check them out on their home turf.

Artist vs Poet are a young band with pop alternative rock songs that get you to move. One of their fun songs is He’s Just Not Me which is starting to catch a buzz with the live audience. The most recent new CD they have is called Favorite Fix. They also played the title track off of this current release as well. During the quick set some songs were also included from their debut self titled CD Artist vs Poet. But the newest song that really stands out is Damn Rough. Damn Rough got the crowd into a bouncing frenzy. Watch these kids go far. The young girls love these guys. Some of the younger dudes dig them too. Fearless Records has a sure thing on their hands with Artist vs Poet.

The Rocket Summer are currently on the entire Warped Tour this year. They pack a massive crowd and yet are featured on medium to small stages. So you get a whole lot of screaming girls and fans singing along with Bryce Avery. Just like all of Bryce Avery’s albums, during the live set Bryce goes and plays and switches instruments during the set including playing the drums too. You get more than your monies worth from every show that he does. He played several song from his newest CD Of Men And Angels. The Angel and wife in his life takes care of the merchandise booth for Bryce while he is on tour and makes her approachable to give Bryce your very own messages via her to him. Some of the new songs that went over well were You Gotta Believe, Walls and Hills And Valleys. Looking forward to catching him again in August in San Diego and in Pomona California for sure. But I hope he comes back and does a whole headlining tour for the new record sometime soon.

Knock Out was one of the punk bands that played some ska too. They are from Riverside and know how to relax and just have a fun time. They are currently signed to Skunk Records and are being produced by The Voodoo Glow Skulls. They are currently working on a third album. They featured one of the new songs called Another Wasted Night. Being local and being influenced by bands they played a cool cover of DJ’s by Sublime and Sound System by Operation Ivy. They played one of their oldest songs call Curtains Up.  But with songs like Only Escape, Same Ole Thing, One Night In Paris and Moving On the friendly crowd stomped up the ground with a circle ska pit having fun dancing around. Come check out this band at San Diego Warped tour. Or they will be performing at The Cobalt Café on August 29^th with some other ska and punk bands.

Sum 41 rocked out the Vans Warped Tour. They drew a large crowd and yet were featured just on a medium small stage. Beside performing a cool cover of Paint It Black, the best song got a slamming two circle pits ragging with the song Underclass Hero. These guys knew how to exhaust a large group. Looking forward to watching them again.

Spark The Rescue are a high strong pop punk band filled with hooks in their songs. The energetic is strong and makes you move along to them. Fearless Records has yet a competing band to Artist vs Poet with these guys. Sparks The Rescue currently have out a new CD called Eyes To The Sun. With the song My Heart Radio, this audience was still humming this tune well after their set was through.

Depending on what bands you watched, each gives you a short glimpse of what is possible if you get to see a full set of the bands again when they come on a full headlining tour.

Everclear

EVERCLEAR
THE SHAKERS
ADAM SIZEMORE
THE VIPER ROOM
July 25, 2010

This was supposed to be a benefit show with Everclear headlining at The John Anson Ford Theatre, but the benefit was canceled.  So the show was moved to The Viper Room. The place was packed with standing room only. It was getting really hot in the venue, I couldn’t feel any air conditioning and the bands were getting drenched in sweat too.

First up Adam Sizemore and his bunch of players. They did some really cool blues numbers lounge style with a little rock and pop flavor added to them.  The best song in their set was a song called Slow. The title might have been Slow but this wasn’t exactly a slow song. The song actually was talking about taking things like love slowly. They did a cool Smokey Robinson cover as well.

The Shakers were up next. They have an EP out and are getting a buzz going for them in the local Hollywood Sunset music scene. They mix hard blues and hard rock together. The sexy female led vocalist also entertains you..

Tonight’s real headliners were Everclear all the way from Portland Oregon. They are currently getting ready to release a new CD called In A Different Light on 429 Records this fall. I thought for sure they would have done at least the two newest songs At The End Of The Day or Here Comes The Darkness but they didn’t do either. They didn’t even mention the new album or when it was being released. The crowd seemed to be easily pleased to just having them play their own tunes. For example when the audience was asked for their well known version of Brown Eyed Girl or an Everclear song, the audience yelled for an Everclear song. So the band did an acoustic version of their song Strawberry instead, to a great ovation. Other songs in this twenty or so songs of almost one hour and a half set included: A M Radio, Wonderful, Everything To Everyone, I’ll Buy You A New Life, Heroin Girl and a Zed Leppelin cover with two chicks pulled out of the audience to sing it. They ended tonight’s encore with their big hit Santa Monica.

This could have been a warm up show for them before heading onto the end of The Vans Warped tour. Everclear is supposed to appear on the old punk stage or the oldies remembered stage on August 11^th in Pomona.  Hope they come back and tour for their new record soon. The Viper room tonight was sold out.

And thus ends my report from the heat of summer. Have fun with those California kicks!

Locals from Panorama City Black Diamond were next. During the set they played a couple of cool cover songs. The band Kreator would of liked the cover of Pleasure To Kill from the album Pleasure to Kill performed with youthful harshness that Black Diamond gives out. They also did another Kreator song Tormentor from the album Endless Pain and the audience really liked it. Other original songs Black Diamond performed were No Mercy, Hell and DTS.

From Los Angeles came a cool female front band Diseased Beyond Death. It’s really cool to see one metal chick but Diseased Beyond Death has three in it. They play strong hard metal including deep thrashing vocals. Their backbeat is a young male drummer who punishes us with his hard enthusiastic drumming. The set from them included To Protect & Serve (which would make a great cover title for an album), Rogue, Satan Doesn’t Forgive, Haunting (which would make from a great video and a great album cover title), Underneath Corruption and Bitch (which would also make for a good title for an album). They show great talent with their instrument and raw beauty was an extra bonus. After the set was done, back stage and outside found out that the girls are nice and have a lot of humor.

Out of Glendale Headlining the show was HEXEN. Hexen are currently getting ready for a national tour. Here tonight they performed several songs from their debut CD State Of Insurgency. In respect to DIO they played all of the set rough and hard. Metal done right is this band’s and they live right up to it. Slamming riffs and hard drumming as well. As a matter of fact, the drummer played so hard that one of the pieces of equipment broke off the drum set and will have to be replaced before the tour kicks off at The Whiskey in Hollywood on July 9, 2010 and running all the way through till August 8th with Rattlehead. There is even more still to come from this metal taking control of it’s destiny to rock on. One of the show stop numbers was definitely their best song State Of Insurgency. Ask for this song on radio and or drive with it blasting. Hexen are currently signed to Old School Metal Records. Bigger record labels should sign this band and hurry before someone starts a bidding war on them.

Co-headlining tonight’s show enthusiastic fast gunners with slick fast riffs and bouncing backbeat was Cerote from Los Angeles. They mix up punk thrash and metal into a wall of blasting raw energy racing like a fast blazing furious fire. The songs are short and right to the point. Enthusiasm that caused a ruckus that threw the crowd into a frenzy circle pit with every song they played. They even did a cool cover of Milk by S.O.D from Speak English Or Die album. Other songs they performed were Time Bomb, Step Back, Leave Me Alone, Better Days, Just Don’t, One Of A Kind and Execution Mad. DIO is resting comfortable now because this metal show was over. Keep all the metal and thrash coming for DIO’s sake.

June 13, 2010
The Cobalt Café
Fallen Figure headlined the show but there were only a couple of girlfriends and a few of the other bands members that played that stayed to see them. About 10 people were left on hand to see them play. Fallen Figure were very late to this show, they said, due to traffic. They performed several new songs from their self released CD that will be out later sometime this summer.

Opening up the show though was Velosity. This three piece holds together strongly. They make it look seamless as a very cohesive entity that these young guys are. Great riffs from off of the guitar and fast finger playing which was all from their lead vocalist. A harsh fast bass keeps up with the drums that are shattering you with heavy thrusting pulse. Some of the songs they played were 211, Spiritual Encounter, Thrash Metal and Deadly Ritual.

Never Ending Plague were up second. They made sure to show that the effectiveness of their sound (Plague) will never end in your thoughts afterwards. The songs they play are catchy and penetrating. They come across as a large band menacing you to bow down to them. Tonight though the crowd wouldn’t budge for these guys. Their amazement was in the great performance of their songs. Never Ending is a good Plague in this case. The music is gritty and deep sharp. Some of their best songs were Catty Pp Pills, No Hero’s Can Save Us and Wookie Paradise.

The Waterloo Massacre were third. They are a young group of talented musicians that play their instrument profoundly professional. Maybe it’s their youth that keep them playing this rough dark metal but as individuals they are showing strong abilities. These kids can teach us adults a few riff and guitar and bass licks. Their song Scares Tell My Story would make a great video. Great songs in their set were Sleep, Ill Bring You Agony and Elder Misanthropy.

Fourth up were Disease Beyond Death. A special thank you to Trimortis for lending this band their equipment for tonight’s show. It was great to see them in attendance in support of this band too. Disease Beyond Death is a female fronted band that has played before at this venue. They came across more relaxed and it showed nicely. They were having fun tonight thrashing up the stage and getting the crowd to rumble around in the pit area. Satan Doesn’t Forgive would make a great video Also their song To Protect And Serve would make for a cool video as well. Other songs in their set were Without Faith, Underneath Corruption and Haunting.

Opening up right before Fallen Figure was Harlequin. This is a four piece all girl metal band. The youthfulness of these girls shows off in their strength . They play hard and gained respect right away from the metal rockers that were present tonight. The guys might like the girls individual beauty but as a unit they are mighty. Strong song and plenty of entertaining moments from performances from each of the bands members instrument gained the audiences awe lookers who were also in the back of the room just sitting watching as well. Some of their songs were Edison, Zombie Ritual and Cobra.

All of these bands are all unsigned. Some of them have demo’s and Fallen Figure’s new self release CD Devival which will be out soon.

APRIL WRIGHT STUFF 2010

NEWS:
Lowen & Navarro, Eric Lowen & Dan Navarro, after more than 20 Years as songwriters and group have broken up. Dan Navarro, cousin to guitarist Dan Navarro, is now going solo and is working with a new back-up band too. Rumor is that Dan is now recording his first record as well. But, We Belong was a big hit for them in 1984 due to the success of it by Pat Benetar moving it up the charts. Dan in later years added a latin verse to it as well. These Los Angeles band rock-folk pop singers songwriters were signed to Mercury Records at one time. While on Mercury records they released three albums Walking On A Wire, Broken Moon and Pendulum. With the deeper emotional record of Pendulum the band went and released more studio records on smaller labels. Those albums were Scratch At The Door, All The Time In The World, Learning To Fall, Hogging The Covers and also a Christmas album At Long Last. They have been Lowen & Navarro since 1987 and just celebrated 20 years together. As well as studio albums out, Lowen & Navarro have three live CD’s recorded which are Live Wire, Live Radio and 3 For The Road. On March 17th, 2004 Eric Lowen was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Shortly after this diagnosis the band also made three live DVD’s Live At Kulak’s (available through ALS and the proceeds go to help those with ALS), Carry On Together and Pieces Of Time Spent. They were still able to tour through the end of 2008. 2009 found them doing fewer and further apart shows due to Eric’s health. At this point Dan Navarro started playing out solo. Lowen & Navarro to their credit also wrote songs that The Bangles also recorded. These guys will be missed. www.myspace.com/lownav

FILMS:
Sabrina Stevenson is finally married and has settled down. On January 16th 2010 at The Independent Theater Downtown Los Angeles was the premier of Love Songs OF A Third Grade Teacher. While keeping a diary while trying to find a husband, the movie also looks at patients and the meaning of God in a way. Sabrina, a catholic school third grade teach and a lead vocalist of an alternative garage punk pop band in her 30’s running out of time tries to balance here life while seeking to find her soul mate husband to try and have a family with. Everything seems to get pushed aside while this search keep Sabrina focused more than anything else in her life. She keeps asking God why and for hope while writing everything down in here diary about her dates and feeling on the subject. This comedy of errors keeps happening in the most peculiar ways. There are plenty of Third Grade Teachers’ songs spanning over their 5 albums in the soundtrack. The band as a whole makes it into a couple scenes as well too during this film. It’s a funny quirky pop culture indie art film. Currently the movie is playing in the festival market. But ask for it on HBO or Showtime and try and get it from your local provider of cable service. Find it on rental or buy it when it comes out.

SHOWS:
25 Years Remembering Ricky Nelson. This was done at The Canyon Club in Agura Hills California Friday March 5, 2010. The Nelson twins broke away for their usual rock and roll show to pay tribute to Dad a legend in music and show business. Even though now 25 years since the fatal plain crash losing Ricky Nelson, Gunter and Mathew have brought back that free loving nice kind soul given in Ricky Nelson music back to us. Jeff Backster was a special guest on this show playing slide guitar. Brother Ben helped sing on Garden Party and with the dark hair of his Dad it resembled Ricky’s look back in 1971 when he play Madison Square Garden and got booed off of the stage by 21,000 thousand who this Garden Party was written about. They used a full band on stage and used footage of The Ozzy And Harriot Show on screens. Some home footage was used to show to help introduce songs performed in tonight’s set. Some cool interviews of those who Ricky had influenced on spoke on film such as James Burton and Sir Paul McCartney and a host of others. This show lasted a good two hours with plenty of Ricky’s hits performed like Hello Mary Lou , Lonesome Town, Stood Up, My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It, I’m Walkin, Fools Rush In, I Believe What You Say, I Got A Feelin’, Waitin” In School and Milk Cow Blues. They introduced Travelin’ Man as being the first concept video. It was shown on The Ozzy And Harriot Show. I agree this concept video set the ways for MTV to do. Ozzy Nelson was way ahead of his time and now Ricky Nelson had the first ever music video in the 1950’s. The show ended with a new song called Just Once More. It hasn’t been produced onto a record yet. The song talks about that if you had a last fivr minutes with someone what would you tell that loved one if you got that chance again. Like Father Like Sons by Mathew Gunnar Nelson is available at www.TheNelsonBrothers.com, or possibly find it released on Stone Canyon Records. A lot of the Nelson kids were in attendance for this show.

CD:
HEXEN are from Glendale California. They perform straight hard metal rock with flashes of thrash for getting the music a little heavier and faster when they want to emphasize something. Solid hard-pounding and even great tempo’s and to this bands commercial flair. State Of Insurgency is about war and its implications. The album covers such subjects in war matters. The war songs that stick out are Mutiny And Betrayal, Desolate Horizons, Knee Deep In The Dead, Seditions In Peacetime and State Of Insurgency. The song State Of Insurgency would make a great video to support our working hard war forces. Hexen is one of Los Angeles-based quartets that was formed in 2003, with an agenda aimed at revitalizing the classic Rock of ’80s metal and thrash. Hexen are way ahead of the metal curve with production and the orchestration arrangements that are presented on this release State Of Insurgency. Hexen’s is due it’s dues with this release. The band members might have changed some but for this CD’s sake they are Andre Hartoonian (vocals/bass), Ronny Dorian (guitar), James Lopez (guitar), and Carlos Cruz (drums). They currently have found a CD home with Old School Metal Records. But, are currently looking to step up their game to pursue a bigger record label and distribution deal. They currently have enough material for two more CD’s. www.myspace.com/hexen They will be performing at The Cobalt Café in Canoga Park on May 16th 2010 all ages Metal show $8.00 per ticket.

EP:
The Wrecking Ball is a new release from The Great Valley. They write three minute pop quickies. These catchy sound punches joy right at your dancing feet. They might also be booked as a religious pop band but they have an alternative pop style. These five songs make you want to bounce around into a frenzy. The Great Valley sounds similar to All Time Low and an early version of The Starting Line. They have an anthem song on their hands that pull the audience listener closer and closer with the song Get Up. Plenty of happy thoughts will come to thought well after hearing this short quick EP. The Great Valley are from Wilmington, Delaware area.

RADIO:
Go check out Stickam.com/Breal and also check out Brealtv.com

INTRODUCING:
DEVIATION
This new band has thrash forwardness metal rawness easily right at hand. A little maturity and producing and this band is capable of metal bruit style. There young youthful anticipation and playing metal quick is interesting to hear and to watch them pull it all off live is quite something. Here is a short interview for you to get to know DEVIATION.

What’s the metal scene like in Sante Fe Springs/Norwalk CA area?

Deviation: It’s mostly hardcore, but we’re trying to keep the true metal spirit alive.

What makes your band stand out from other bands in the metal genre?

Deviation: Our songs contain a lot of melodic structure. The guitarists in our band switch off solos so you can say we have two lead guitars.

How did your band come together?

Deviation: Four born metalheads decided we wanted to bring the true sounds of metal back on the scene. With non-stop listening to Megadeth, old school Metallica, and Black Sabbath we want to reignite the flame that’s slowly burning out due to “untraditional” metal, so we picked up instruments and started playing.

Who is in your band and what ages and what instruments do they play in your band?

Deviation: There’s Christian Ordonez, 15 years old lead singer and guitarist.
Joe V., 15 years old and guitarist. Antoni Zavala, 16 years old and drummer.
Gil Valles, 15 years old and bassist.

Where did you get your name DEVIATION from and what does it mean?

Deviation: We wanted to be called “Deviants” but it sounds too punk, so we just added the suffix “ion” to make it sound more metal.

What is the meaning behind your song Rampage?

Deviation: We tried to capture the feeling of being in the front line of a war, if you listened to it you can get the feeling.

What is your meaning behind your song Spiritual Rites?

Deviation: It is about being stalked by your personal demons and being possessed by your personal desires.

When is your EP/Demo/CD due out?

Deviation: We are currently working on a sample demo just to be heard, but we’re supposed to have a full on master recorded demo by mid-june.

Deviation will be playing again at The Cobalt Café in Canoga Park CA on May 16th with HEXEN. So come check them out. You can also check out Deviation at http://www.myspace.com/deviation6/stream/atom.xml

Until next time keep the music coming.