Review: John Moreland – Birds In The Ceiling

Adam Grundy Jul 20, 2022

On the latest effort from singer/songwriter John Moreland, called Birds in the Ceiling, he remains at his most captivating version of himself as he sings in-depth poetic verses over a vast landscape of sound. The nine-track set was produced by Matt Pence (Jason Isbell, The Breeders), whom he also collaborated on the great LP5 album. Moreland sounds like a man who’s coming fully engulfed into the sound that he has carefully crafted over the course of his musical career, and he continues to win audiences over with his transcendent vocals and brilliant guitar playing. Much like LP5, Moreland is open to musical experimentation with ambient sounds and electronic beats in the background to bring further texture to the picture he paints on Birds in the Ceiling.

Adam Grundy Jul 18, 2022

Debut albums are usually a ton of fun to write about because they come with so much newfound promise and blissful ignorance, along with their lofty expectations in being a part of something bigger than themselves. Oakrest come shining onto the scene with their debut LP, Summer Sun, that is filled with vibrant guitars, smooth vocals, and an overall marketable sound. This Toronto-based pop-punk band appear poised for the next dramatic leap forward in their sound, especially after the glimmers of hope found in their first EP from 2019, entitled Annamaria Dr. The band is comprised of Jacob Szabo on vocals, Jacob Graves on rhythm guitar, Michael Van on lead guitar, and Chris Zoubaniotis on drums. With a polished pop-punk sound that strays somewhere between Seaway and Fountains of Wayne, Oakrest are coming straight for your pop-punk hearts.

Adam Grundy Jul 12, 2022

Taking a brave and bold step away from the production boards, Paul Roessler has made an album worthy of your attention in The Turning of the Bright World. Roessler has made a name for himself by producing records for bands like Tombstones in Their Eyes, Josie Cotton, and CrowJane, among many others, and he felt the timing was perfect to make his own creative stamp on the music scene using his voice as a beacon of light inviting listeners of all ages into his headspace. On the new album that released today, Roessler shared, “Each song has its own message, even if sometimes that message could never really be explained. I like those kinds of songs a lot. The music preached to me, and I did my best to deliver what it was saying.” With a steady heartbeat of purpose filled in each song, Roessler has taken full advantage of leaving his legacy through these songs found on this latest LP.

Adam Grundy Jul 11, 2022

Recently I was able to catch up with the alternative rock/emo band, Short Fictions, shortly after they released their great new album called Every Moment of Every Day, their third LP to date. In this interview, I asked the band about what the album title means to them, the lessons they’ve learned by playing in this genre of music over the years, the band’s key musical influences, as well as a fun question on their “dream billing” to tour the world with. Every Moment of Every Day is available for purchase here.

Craig Manning Jul 7, 2022

Counting Crows will always be a band affiliated first and foremost with the 1990s. There are many good reasons for this fact, starting with the band’s 1993 debut album August & Everything After. A massive LP that spawned singles like “Mr. Jones” and “Round Here,” August remains the pinnacle of the band’s legacy. A few years back, when I saw the Crows live on a co-headlining tour with Matchbox Twenty, it was still the August songs that got the biggest response.

For me, though, I always affiliate Counting Crows instead with the mid-2000s. That’s not because I wasn’t aware enough to know about their music in the ‘90s. On the contrary, “Mr. Jones” is the first song I ever remember liking, and the band’s sound in general just makes me think of growing up. When I started really getting into music in 2003, I remember revisiting those first two Counting Crows albums—August and 1996’s Recovering the Satellites—and hearing so many songs that I recalled from my formative years. It felt like reconvening with old friends.

Adam Grundy Jul 6, 2022

Coming off of the release of their Roadrunner Records’ debut LP, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence, Daryl Palumbo and his bandmates in Glassjaw clearly were fed up with their partnership with Roadrunner, going very far in interviews to explain their disdain for their record label. The band entered 2001 secretly recording the follow up to their debut with producer Ross Robinson (The Cure, Slipknot), and would eventually shop the finished product called Worship and Tribute to several major labels before deciding to sign with Warner Bros. Records. When I first heard the new album, I can remember a certain buzz surrounding several punk websites and forums about this band named Glassjaw who were changing the post-hardcore game. This buzz and hype were certainly warranted with songs like “Ape Dos Mil,” “Cosmopolitan Bloodloss,” and “Pink Roses.” The energy was frenetic, the band sounded larger than life, and there was something immediately special about this group of musicians willing to put their best foot forward to avoid the sophomore slump. Worship and Tribute would debut at #82 on the Billboard 200, largely due to positive word of mouth and critical reception, and Glassjaw would find themselves on several key touring stints with festivals like Ozzfest, The Warped Tour, as well as partnering with Sparta, Hot Water Music, and a US headlining trek in October/November of the same year. Glassjaw were undeniable and they were coming straight for all of their doubters.

Adam Grundy Jul 1, 2022

The second full-length record from Patterns In Traffic is a lush, dreamy, and picturesque musical landscape through the lens of self-discovery. The band is the solo moniker of Kyle Simons, who wrote, performed, mixed, and mastered the entire LP by himself, which only speaks to his incredible dedication to his craft. The latest effort, entitled Lights and Reflections, is a nice mix of emo-tinged anthems that drift somewhere between Mae, early Jimmy Eat World, paired with the pop polish of Owl City. The promotional cycle for this record was prefaced by two EPs 2020’s Reflections and 2021’s Lights which have been combined with three additional brand-new songs to make the full artistic statement in Lights and Reflections. Patterns In Traffic are on the right course as Simons’ musical journey unfolds majestically from start to finish.

Adam Grundy Jun 28, 2022

It’s understandable if you weren’t able to fully connect or get into Coheed and Cambria before. Their dense stories about space odysseys and prog-tinged rock may have been a bit intimidating for casual fans to fully immerse themselves in. Luckily for fans who’d be willing to give Coheed another shot, Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind is easily their most accessible set of songs in the past decade, and would be a perfect re-launching point to dive back into the world that this band has created. And for the longtime fans who have been along for the ride since the beginning, there’s so much to enjoy on this new record that should reinvigorate interest in the space rockers for the foreseeable future. The new record was co-produced by guitarist, lead vocalist and band leader Claudio Sanchez, as well as Zakk Cervini (Blink-182, Simple Plan, Bring Me The Horizon) whose contribution helps Coheed and Cambria find the perfect balance between their trademark sound, paired with vibrant pop elements. While making an effort to expand upon the universe created in The Amory Wars story arc, Coheed have simultaneously made their best album in quite some time that demands your immediate attention.

Adam Grundy Jun 27, 2022

Living Things was the fifth studio album from rap-rockers Linkin Park and would find the band doing further experimentation with their sound, and would become their fourth straight record to debut at the top of the Billboard 200. The set was co-produced by Mike Shinoda and veteran Rick Rubin, whom had previously collaborated on Minutes to Midnight and their expansive A Thousand Suns records. In a lot of ways, this album is usually the one I reach for the most when I’m looking for a quick encapsulation of everything Linkin Park did in their storied discography in a singular record. For casual fans of Linkin Park, many state that Living Things is one of their favorites, if not the favorite in their collection, and it’s easy to see why so many would gravitate to the sound they went for here. It’s very accessible, doesn’t include any filler, and delivers more often than not in a rewarding and consistent listening experience.

Adam Grundy Jun 23, 2022

I’m not quite sure when my fondness for a band called The Used started. I seem to remember hearing about a hyped band, from an article in Alternative Press, where producer and Goldfinger founder John Feldman was gushing over this band that he helped get signed to a major label. The Used were comprised of lead singer Bert McCracken, bassist Jeph Howard, drummer Branden Steineckert and guitarist Quinn Allman, and their incredible band chemistry was able to capture early and inescapable magic on their self-titled debut. The first track that I ever heard from The Used was “A Box Full of Sharp Objects” from a Warped Tour compilation, and it became increasingly evident to me that this band demanded to be taken seriously. The lead single from their debut LP was an abrasive, wall of sound effort that captured a punk rock spirit paired with screamo vocals that many other bands would emulate later in our scene. The Used would go on to sell over a million copies in the United States and cement the band’s legacy as one of the emo/punk scene’s primary front-runners.

Adam Grundy Jun 22, 2022

Recently I was able to catch up with lead vocalist, Angel Marshal, of the Latin-infused alternative rock band called Los Saints. In this interview, I asked him about the band’s core influences that they put into their new EP called Welcome To Confusion, how the band does the majority of their songwriting, as well as a fun question about the albums that shaped who Los Saints are as musicians.

Adam Grundy Jun 21, 2022

The creative circumstances surrounding Our Lady Peace and their fifth studio album, Gravity, were tumultuous to say the least. Longtime guitarist Mike Turner was having creative differences with lead singer and band leader Raine Maida, and although he appears on nearly half of the songs on this record, Turner would eventually be replaced by Steve Mazur by the time the album was released. Maida was quoted in interviews by saying, “I don’t know if Mike was born to be a guitar player. The studio was a tough place for him and we were working too hard to make up for it – we felt like we were cheating ourselves. Four albums is way too fucking long to put up with that. I’m sure he’ll do great things, just not with six-stringed instruments.” Out of this conflict, however, would come some of the band’s best material since their landmark Clumsy record. Gravity was front-loaded with superb singles like “Somewhere Out There,” where the lyrics in the chorus inspired the record title, and crowd favorite, “Innocent.” By the time the promotional cycle had ended, Gravity would go on to sell over half a million copies in the U.S. alone.

Adam Grundy Jun 17, 2022

In this industry, you only get so many chances to make an impact on the music community and leave your legacy. After being at the tip of every tongue of concert promoters and music publications this past year, is it really any surprise that Bartees Strange would live up to the hype on his sophomore effort, Farm To Table? Coming off of ultra-successful touring stints with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Car Seat Headrest, Courtney Barnett, and Lucy Dacus, it became increasingly evident that he was ready for this moment. In fact, Bartees Strange called his own shot by making it his goal to be signed to the legendary indie label 4AD, and he would add that to his list of worthy accomplishments. He gave us a glimpse of his unique sound on his debut called Live Forever, but Farm To Table seems more fully realized, immediate, and artistically brilliant all over the record. Bartees Strange tackles worldly themes like the current political climate, relationships (both personally and professionally), and still leaves enough space to put his unique stamp on this period of time. The clear front-runner for album of the year has arrived, and it’s okay to be strange.

Adam Grundy Jun 16, 2022

Recently, I was able to catch up with AJ Perdomo and Matt Kennedy of The Dangerous Summer for a Zoom call to discuss everything that went into the band’s upcoming full-length record. I asked the band about their new partnership with Rude Records, including some insight on the type of deal they signed, and we also chatted about the band’s legacy and what they feel they can still contribute to the music scene at this stage in their careers. The Dangerous Summer are scheduled to release their second single from the new album on June 17th, with the LP scheduled to be released this August.

Adam Grundy Jun 15, 2022

At some point you just have to acknowledge true artists and musical geniuses for what they are. Twenty One Pilots have always been ones to break the mold of blurring genre lines by tinkering with emo, pop-punk, rap, and synth-based rock to make a sound that is ultimately unique to them. Their MTV Unplugged performance is another example of what Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun are capable of creating on the fly, as they invited the audience to participate in the creation of these songs. To quote Joseph on his closing line from the show, “We are Twenty One Pilots, and so are you.” By incorporating audience participation into the final recordings from the show, this statement has never been more accurate.

Review: John Moreland – Birds In The Ceiling

Review: Oakrest – Summer Sun

Review: Paul Roessler – The Turning Of The Bright World

Interview: Short Fictions

Review: Counting Crows – Hard Candy

Review: Glassjaw – Worship and Tribute

Review: Patterns In Traffic – Lights and Reflections

Review: Coheed and Cambria – Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind

Review: Linkin Park – Living Things

Review: The Used – The Used

Interview: Los Saints

Review: Our Lady Peace – Gravity

Review: Bartees Strange – Farm To Table

Interview: The Dangerous Summer

Review: Twenty One Pilots – MTV Unplugged