Review: A Place For Owls – how we dig in the earth

The sophomore album from Denver emo band A Place For Owls is a great exploration from a group of musicians taking their time to get to the root of what makes us all human. The affectionately-titled how we dig in the earth is an album that was recorded over the course of one week at Coalesce Audio with producer Dave Wilton (A Boy & His Kite, Loud Harp), and finds the band showcasing what they are capable of creating when all the right parts click together into place. The band described their process as, ”We were digging deep into the arrangements, practicing songcraft as gardening: pressing dead seed gently into the soil, praying for rain.” By finding that other-worldly connection to music, while still continuing down the path of self-exploration, how we dig in the earth quickly becomes a defining moment for A Place For Owls.

Read More “A Place For Owls – how we dig in the earth”

Review: robbietheused – robbietheused

I’ve always felt that solo projects are a healthy form of artistic expression. Especially if the music that an artist chooses to make in the solo effort sound vastly different than anything their main band would go for. Robbietheused, the moniker of The Used’s frontman, storms onto the pop scene with a rewarding solo effort. The set was produced by longtime collaborator, John Feldmann, and he lends a trusted hand in helping Robbietheused make his pop dreams come true. When I asked the frontman about what he likes best about this genre, he quickly quipped, ”I have always loved pop music; I grew up on Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, and that kind of thing. My favorite thing about pop is just a catchy melody that you can sing along to.” By using this background as a blueprint for his pop debut, Robbietheused crafts a synth-laden world of wonders.

Read More “robbietheused – robbietheused”

Review: Taylor Swift – 1989

Taylor Swift - 1989

Can it really be your “first documented, official pop album” if you’ve already released three of the biggest pop albums in recent memory? 10 years ago this weekend, Taylor Swift delivered the answer to that question, and the answer was a decisive, resounding “Yes.”

From the vantage point of 2024, it’s almost difficult to remember any version of Taylor Swift that wasn’t a world-conquering, stadium-tour-dominating pop star. The past two years of Taylormania have so thoroughly dwarfed any other pop star achievement in my lifetime that it’s even a little difficult to think back to pre-COVID times, when it seemed like the Taylor Swift machine was maybe starting to run out of gas. As mid-decade lists pour out from every music publication out there, I expect plenty of debates about what was the quote-unquote “best song” or “best album” of the decade. When it comes to discussing the artist of the decade so far, though, there is simply no debate: it’s Taylor, then it’s 93 million miles, and then it’s everyone else.

But it wasn’t always that way, and in the Taylor Swift story, it’s album number five, 2014’s 1989, that serves as arguably the most important inflection point between phase one Taylor and the force of nature we know today. Per the narrative, Taylor Swift before 2014 was a country star who had crossed over to pop music success but never fully left her Nashville roots behind. 1989, in being her “first documented, official pop album” – the weird phrasing she used to describe the LP when she officially announced it in August 2014 – was the album that made the crossover complete, and solidified Taylor’s status as the world’s biggest musical star in the process.

Read More “Taylor Swift – 1989”

Review: 311 – Full Bloom

The fourteenth studio album from Alternative Rock legends, 311, is a strong collection of songs that longtime fans of the band are sure to enjoy, and there’s plenty of new vibes brought forth for casual fans to check out as well. Full Bloom was produced by Collin Brittain, with some additional producer credits from Scotch Ralston and Tim Pagnotta. The band described Full Bloom as “311 on steroids,” and it’s hard to not agree with this assessment. 311 goes bigger and better than they have in quite some time and delivers the right mix of nostalgia paired with artistic growth for a strong musical statement. The set was preceded with their highest charting single in 13 years, breaking into the Top 15 on Alternative radio, with lead single “You’re Gonna Get It.” The concise ten-track album features some of the band’s strongest material in years showcasing that the veteran rockers have plenty left in the tank.

Read More “311 – Full Bloom”

Review: Holy Pinto – “Death Is In The Air”

The latest single from Aymen Saleh, better known as Holy Pinto, is bursting with raw emotion and painstaking detail in the songwriting process. Bartees Strange also contributes on “Death Is In The Air” by adding some well-placed guitars and synths to the mix. The track itself tackles the theme of searching for love, complete with all of the messy details that make this emotion so complex.

The song builds momentum as it sways from the cautious opening verse, to adding in more instruments in the chorus, while Saleh’s vocals remain consistently captivating in his delivery. The single takes the listener on an epic journey of lyrical twists and turns, all with a beating heart towards Holy Pinto’s self-discovery as an artist. The epic conclusion of the song features some well-placed hand claps and an Americana sound to keep interest high in this ultra-talented songwriter. Holy Pinto is back, and he is quickly re-cementing himself as a key artist to watch.

Review: Real Friends – Blue Hour

Real Friends - Blue Hour

”Here’s to new beginnings” is a popular toast at weddings, job promotion celebrations, and retirements, and yet most bands don’t get the opportunity to experience this feeling themselves when it comes to reinvention. Real Friends are back with a slick emo-tinged pop-punk sound on Blue Hour, their fourth full-length studio effort to date, and their first LP with vocalist Cody Muraro at the helm. The 13-song album is packed with raw emotion, songs about relationships, and in many cases the theme of starting anew is prevalent. The band, whom have been around since 2010, seem to lock into a new groove on Blue Hour with a sound leaning closer to The Wonder Years and The Menzingers, rather than pop-punk bands like The Starting Line and New Found Glory. Real Friends are making the most of their opportunity to reinvent themselves on this record that is filled with depth, rich lyrical imagery, and hard-hitting tracks that demand to be taken seriously.

Read More “Real Friends – Blue Hour”

Review: Jimmy Eat World – Futures

Jimmy Eat World - Futures

It’s a sliding doors moment, the first time you hear a song that stops your heart. If you really think about it, any number of songs, at any number of moments in time, could be the one to change your life. For whatever reason, though, every music fan ends up with one: one song that, under the right mix of timing, circumstance, emotional clarity, and dumb luck, clicks onto your frequency and blows your whole fucking life apart. There will be other songs, after that one – many, many songs, if you’re lucky. But that one song – and that one band, and that one album – will always have a special place in your heart for what it did to kickstart something new inside of you.

I still remember the week that I heard Jimmy Eat World’s “Kill” for the first time. It was a rainy, gloomy October in northern Michigan, and I was an eighth-grade student slowly finding his way toward a deepening interest in music. In the preceding year, I’d even started finding songs that scratched some deep emotional itch in me – even if my not-so-evolved 13-year-old self couldn’t have expressed what it was about Snow Patrol’s “Run” or Nada Surf’s “Inside of Love” or Dashboard Confessional’s “Vindicated” that was making him ache. In other words, I liked music a whole lot, but I hadn’t yet opened myself up to the idea that it could take everything I was feeling deep down inside and set it to words and soundwaves.

The first time I heard “Kill” was on an episode of One Tree Hill, a not-so-well-written teenage soap that, at the time, was in its second season. Right away, I knew the song was special. It was one of those “stop what you’re doing, pay close attention and write down the lyrics so you can Google this later” kind of songs. (We didn’t have Shazam back then.) I just didn’t know how special it would prove to be.

Read More “Jimmy Eat World – Futures”

Review: Various Artists – Red Scare Industries: 20 Years of Dreaming and Scheming

Starting a record label isn’t for the faint of heart. So much can go wrong, really fast, if you’re not equipped with the right people around you to make it thrive. Luckily, Red Scare Industries isn’t in this category of failing labels, as they are now celebrating 20 Years of Dreaming and Scheming, the cool new compilation that features key artists like The Menzingers, Laura Jane Grace, Sludgeworth, Heart & Lung, No Trigger, and so many more great bands on this 17-track disc. Red Scare Industries has reliably introduced fans near and far to bands that they feel are worth their time, put on killer live shows, and have the musical chops to make you want to reach for that repeat button. While some various artists compilations are good for a spin or two to discover a new band every now and then, this particular collection of songs feels like a punk rock party that is sure to make you wonder just how Red Scare was able to pull this off.

Read More “Various Artists – Red Scare Industries: 20 Years of Dreaming and Scheming”

Review: Yellowcard – Lift a Sail

Yellowcard - Lift a Sail

In the Yellowcard discography, Lift a Sail is the oddity. It’s not a pop-punk album, for one thing – not really even close. There are arena rock songs on this record, and songs inspired by ‘90s alt-rock, and songs with a whole lot of electronic flourishes, and songs that are experimental and minimalist. There are arguably zero songs that sound like the Yellowcard of old: the band with big, bright choruses, and lyrics about summertime, and triumphant electric violin solos, and rapidfire, double-time drums. And speaking of those drums, this record marks Yellowcard’s first without drummer Longineu “LP” Parsons III, whose technical acumen behind the kit was always a strong selling point for many listeners.

For all these reasons and more, Lift a Sail was a tough pill to swallow for a lot of Yellowcard fans when it arrived 10 years ago. I remember the AbsolutePunk.net forums in the days after the album came out, and the divide in the Yellowcard threads about whether it lived up to their legacy. Plenty of fans loved it, and found the departures the band made from their signature sound to be refreshing and invigorating. But another segment of listeners – if we’re being honest, a larger segment – was baffled by what they were hearing. The phrase “sell out” was definitely bandied about, as if no pop-punk band worth its salt could try on electropop flourishes without going artistically bankrupt. A lot of fans missed the pop-punk, missed the summertime vibes, missed the big choruses and the bigger drums. I definitely remember a few users saying that, if LP wasn’t going to be a part of the band’s universe anymore, then they didn’t want to be, either.

Read More “Yellowcard – Lift a Sail”

Review: October Man – “Dandelion”

October Man - "Dandelion"

I’d like to introduce everyone to a cool new indie rock band called October Man. The band features Ethan Bodner (guitar), JD Leidersdorff (guitar/vocals), Ian Neill (bass), Anthony Abboud (keys/drums), and Joey Murphy (keys/drums). Most of the band has been playing together for nearly a decade, with Neill being a recent addition. Their latest single, called “Dandelion” is a catchy blast of indie rock that would be perfect for fans of The Strokes, Cold War Kids, and the guitar groove of Franz Ferdinand.

The song opens up with a steady beat courtesy of Anthony Abboud while the dual-guitar attack embraces the groove of the track with a poise not usually seen in a band this young. Vocalist JD Leidersdoff has a great croon throughout the song and he remains as captivating as possible. October Man have created the perfect launch pad to success in the indie rock genre with this song that is sure to be added to many playlists for the foreseeable future.

Review: Hippo Campus – Flood

Over the course of music history there have been several cases of a band not being happy with the material they are creating, and then in turn deciding to scrap that material in favor of a different direction. This exact situation happened to Hippo Campus. The band were sitting in the green room of a sold-out amphitheater show at the start of the Summer of 2023 when they realized their fourth LP simply wasn’t good enough. This realization led to them re-thinking their approach to what would be the sessions for Flood, their latest studio effort that comes pouring through the speakers with the most polished, professional, and ultimately most complete version of the band to date. Hippo Campus had reportedly penned over 100 songs during the five-year span between LP3 and Flood, with only the best material making the cut for the 13-track fourth studio album. What we’re left with is a completely realized vision for the band’s music that shimmers as much as it makes their audience think about what they’ve listened to. Flood is an appropriate title in that it took a complete brainstorm of ideas all at once to see what stuck and the aftermath is a brilliant collection of songs that play off of each other in a cohesive work of art.

Read More “Hippo Campus – Flood”

Review: Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue

Black Gives Way To Blue proved that grunge was still alive and well in 2009. Alice In Chains decided to reboot themselves after the tragic death of original lead singer Layne Staley (in 2002) by beginning to play shows again in 2005 and start crafting what would be the material found on the band’s fourth studio album. Now getting the 15th anniversary vinyl re-press treatment via Craft Recordings, Black Gives Way To Blue gets another fresh makeover as audiences new and old can rediscover what made this band so legendary. The record was the first one to feature co-vocalist/guitarist William DuVall and he does a nice job of complementing the lead vocals from founding member Jerry Cantrell. The set would spawn four singles, with two of them earning Grammy nominations for Best Hard Rock Performance. Picking up the pieces after losing a band member is sadly all-too-common in the music industry, but Alice In Chains were able to honor the legacy of Staley in this vivid collection of songs that still highlight their staying power to this day.

Read More “Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue”

Review: Sophia Dashing ft. Manda Malina – “Raindrops (On Your Pillow)”

The latest single from Sophia Dashing featuring Manda Malina, called “Raindrops (On Your Pillow),” has that classic 90’s pop sound that is reminiscent of Destiny’s Child paired with TLC. The track was produced by Jason Quinones and co-written between Malina, Dashing and Quinones. The collaboration pulls off as each artist/writer shines on the track that is built for those heartfelt evenings of longing for a better relationship.

Sophia Dashing commands the song throughout her dynamic vocal performance while Manda Malina adds in some great vocal takes of her own. The song reminded me a bit of the style of TLC’s “No Scrubs” and hits its intended target more often than not. The final bars of music highlights the two vocalists trying to outshine each other through some great vocal highs that mesh well together for a crowd-pleasing pop single.

Review: Neon Trees – Sink Your Teeth

Consistency is hard to come by in the music industry. Times change, sounds change, and stylistic choices over time can evolve into something completely different than what was popular a decade ago. The great thing about music, however, is that if you can write good songs you can find sustainable success in the music business, regardless of genre. Neon Trees have been one of the most consistent pop rock bands since they debuted in 2010 with Habits, and found early success in singles like “Animal” and the karaoke favorite of “Everybody Talks.” Having now released their fifth studio album, called Sink Your Teeth, Neon Trees’ sound still feels as refreshing as ever as they return to the music scene. The band released the first taste of the new record back in June of 2023 with lead single “Favorite Daze.” As great as Neon Trees are at writing a catchy chorus, this particular single features some of the best verses of their career to date. The rest of the material that surrounds the track feels like a sonic evolution of the band that continues to showcase their staying power in the pop rock scene.

Read More “Neon Trees – Sink Your Teeth”

Review: Green Day – American Idiot

Green Day - American Idiot

When was the last time it felt like a rock album took over the whole damn world?

For the most part, rock music has not been the defining music of the past two decades. There were exceptions along the way: The Suburbs winning the Grammy for Album of the Year felt like a coronation moment for indie rock. In Rainbows started a conversation around music commerce and distribution that helped shaped the industry we’re living in now…for better and for worse. Albums like Viva La Vida and Stadium Arcadium kept rock on mainstream pop radio and seemed legitimately inescapable for months and months.

But none of those albums hit every marker of a true-blue, world-conquering, era-defining blockbuster – the type of album rock ‘n’ roll used to serve up regularly, before hip-hop and R&B and big-tent pop took its crown. No rock album has checked all those boxes since 20 years ago this weekend. Since American Idiot.

Before this album even came out, it felt seismic – and “seismic” probably wasn’t what anyone was expecting from Green Day at the time. The band had followed a path of diminishing returns (commercially, at least) ever since they’d set the world on fire 10 years previous with Dookie. That album was a bedrock pop-punk classic, an album that laid the groundwork for a sound that became the go-to music in every teenager’s bedroom during the late ‘90s and early 2000s. But Green Day themselves weren’t really part of that turn-of-the-century dominance. While bands like Blink-182 and The Offspring were carving out household name status for themselves, Green Day were making increasingly commercially unviable records, like 1997’s all-over-the-place Nimrod, or 2000’s underrated folk-meets-pop-punk gem Warning. Depending on who you ask, the Green Day that existed at the outset of 2004 were already has-beens, coasting on past glories. They already had a greatest hits album out, after all, and arguably their most enduring song was an acoustic tearjerker that you couldn’t get through any graduation ceremony without hearing at least once. While other bands were carrying the torch Green Day had lit, the Berkeley punks were somehow already elder statesmen. It felt like their chapter of the story was over.

Read More “Green Day – American Idiot”