Review: Josh Ritter – The Beast in Its Tracks

Craig Manning Mar 5, 2013

After Josh Ritter’s last couple releases, I was beginning to wonder if his music would ever connect with me again like it had in the old days. His finest albums, 2006’s The Animal Years and 2007’s The Historical Conquests of… were both loaded with terrific melodies, astounding lyrical content, and emulations of musical influences that sit directly in my wheelhouse, from Bruce Springsteen to Bob Dylan to Leonard Cohen. 2010’s slow-burning return, titled So Runs the World Away, largely sought refuge in a sunnier folk-pop vein, a la Paul Simon, but despite a few stellar stand-outs, fell short. And last year’s EP, Bringing in the Darlings, failed to connect with me on any level.

Drew Beringer Jan 22, 2013

Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?
Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

For some reason this quote from the 2000 flick High Fidelity continues to pop into my head anytime I finish listening to Tegan and Sara’s latest album Heartthrob. Now, I’m not saying that this album makes me miserable (quite the opposite really). Rather, the reason I can’t shake that quote is because Heartthrob excels at disguising its darker lyrical content with bright, up-tempo electronica flourishes. And there are a lot of electronic touches throughout Heartthrob, as Tegan and Sara trade in their guitars for keys and synthesizers. This is a full-fledged pop album and that may be shocking to some. But make no mistake: Heartthrob is undoubtedly Tegan and Sara’s best album.

But if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll realize that the duo has been inching closer and closer to this type of sound over the course of the last few Tegan and Sara records (as well as their cameos on dance tracks from EDM artists Tiesto and Morgan Page). The band has been churning out three minute pop delicacies since So Jealous and on Heartthrob, they’ve perfected it. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for this change of pace in the duo’s music and I couldn’t be happier with how Heartthrob turned out. The twin sisters have pushed themselves creatively and musically, creating something truly special. The ten-track LP was co-produced by Greg Kurstin and Mike Elizondo (two producers who’ve worked with the likes of Ke$ha, Lily Allen, Sia, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, and Maroon 5), leading to a pristine and massive sounding record. Songs like “Drove Me Wild” and single “Closer” are perfect examples – both have huge, infectious choruses that are paced by a dizzying array of vibrant keys and buzzing synth. It was a no-brainer for the sisters to work with this production team, launching Tegan and Sara’s songwriting to new heights.

AbsolutePunk Dec 23, 2012

Sometimes, an album takes you by surprise. Sure, you’ve heard tracks by the band previously and you had high enough expectations, hence you picking up the album in the first place, but you didn’t expect to be particularly taken aback by it. You certainly didn’t expect to find yourself casually raving about how *insert somewhat unknown band name here* is the “best band ever!” after only a couple of listens to the record, but hell, that’s how it happens. Modern Baseball are one of these bands. Previously, all I’d heard was a split with Marietta, released early this year, and a handful of demo tracks, and whilst they were promising, Modern Baseball hadn’t quite established themselves as protegees, more ones to watch. So, their first full length, Sports, was a record to look out for rather than a highly anticipated one. However, by Jove, it’s a lot more than that. It appears that Modern Baseball are certainly the best band you’ve never heard of.

Gregory Robson Dec 20, 2012

So this is the Hollywood effect, huh?

A half-decade ago, Boys Like Girls (BLG) were a hard-charging Boston quartet that wrote commercially accessible power-pop with tinges of punk and shared bills with the likes of Spitalfield, Punchline and All Time Low. Heck, one publication even referenced them as 2007’s version of Fall Out Boy. Yet here we are in the latter stages of 2012 and Boys Like Girls sounds distinctly distant from that framework they once laid. To put it succinctly, they sound more like Train than that of Fall Out Boy.

Whether this has anything to do with Johnson’s relocation to California and his time spent with the likes of Miley Cyrus, Victoria Justice and Hot Chelle Rae, to name a few, is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for certain, when it comes to writing pop hooks few are better than him, and Crazy World is set out to prove exactly that. Whereas 2009’s Love Drunk felt like a band trying too hard, Crazy World finds the quartet swimming in their newfound contentment and reveling in their pop gloss. Any way you slice it, there’s no denying frontman Martin Johnson’s talent for pop hooks and Crazy World is chock full.

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Review: Blink-182 – Dogs Eating Dogs EP

Jason Tate Dec 14, 2012

It still feels strange to hear new music from Blink-182. I’m not sure what it is … maybe it’s because they’re the band that started me down a path that completely changed my life. Without having heard them, I am really not sure where I would have ended up. Or maybe it’s just because after their ‘hiatus’ I had relegated myself to not really expecting to ever hear new music from them again. So now … when I first hit play on a new Blink-182 song … I get this indescribable feeling that washes over me, almost as though I shouldn’t really be hearing this. Like it’s a dream of a dream. It’s weird.

AbsolutePunk Dec 12, 2012

When it comes to Blink-182, there’s not much the three piece hasn’t done. They’ve released a couple classic albums, released even more classic songs, become a staple in modern rock music – and everything in between. Teenagers and adults took the Internet by storm when the band announced that they were reuniting back in 2009 after a four-year hiatus. Two years later came the release of the band’s first album in eight years, Neighborhoods. However, it left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths when it was revealed that the band recorded the majority of the album separately, sending each other tracks via the Internet. While the album followed in the musical direction of the band’s untitled album, it left more to be desired, especially with the uncertainty of when we would hear more material from the band. Then in October the news broke that the band had left their longtime home at Interscope and planned to continue as independent, like many others are in these changing times in the music industry. Shortly after the announcement of the band leaving Interscope, the guys tweeted that new music would be out before the year was over: the Dogs Eating Dogs EP.

Drew Beringer Nov 12, 2012

I was 14 when I bought White Pony, the third album from Sacramento metal legends Deftones. Little did I know that this purchase on a June day would eventually change my life. I didn’t realize music could be so intricate, emotional, and devastating all in one swoop. White Pony consumed me and turned my interest in music from casual encounters to a passionate love affair. Honestly, that album is the reason I have this very job.

So why is my story relevant? It’s because I feel the same emotions I did 12 years ago when listening to Koi No Yokan, the seventh full-length from Deftones.

AbsolutePunk Nov 4, 2012

Bayside has a wealth of early material to boast about, but the band has continued to improve and impress as it has aged. The group’s most recent LP, Killing Time, proved to be one of its strongest records, as Bayside executed with excruciatingly enjoyable precision the formula we’ve grown to love it by. While fans wait patiently for another full batch of Bayside tunes, the New York natives offer up the Covers, Vol. I EP, a collection of five cover songs designed to hold fans over until new music arrives.

The one thing that Bayside does very well on this covers EP – and the EP’s strongest characteristic, in fact – is that the band does a helluva job making these songs sound like Bayside songs. Anthony Raneri’s nasally vocals and Jack O’Shea’s persistent shredding on the guitar are accounted for and produced brilliantly – just because these aren’t original tunes doesn’t mean Bayside took the easy road on this release.

Ryan Gardner Oct 23, 2012

The color red symbolizes a variety of emotions. The color represents courage and bravery yet also embodies passion, sensuality, and love. Still, notably, red marks anger and rage, even danger, warranting caution. In conjunction with all of these various symbols, it makes sense that Red is the title of Taylor Swift’s most ambitious, dynamic record yet.

Riding on the heels of three incredibly successful records, Miss Swift knows she has nothing to lose here. As a result, she doesn’t hold back anything throughout Red’s 16 tracks. Her fourth record flirts with pop sensibilities, redefines her inner-country roots, and delivers tender ballads – it has a little bit of everything. Simply put, she could not care less what anyone wants to hear; she’s bridging the “genre gap” more so than ever before and is not about to back down for a second.

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Review: All Time Low – Don’t Panic

AbsolutePunk Oct 2, 2012

There’s a fine line between imitation and innovation. All Time Low had two options: try to be the next Fall Out Boy or try to be All Time Low. They chose the latter and for that, myself along with many others worldwide are eternally happy with this decision. After the band’s breakthrough album, So Wrong It’s Right, pressure mounted on the four young men from Baltimore, Maryland to be the next big crossover act from the scene. What followed were Nothing Personal and Dirty Work, two albums that saw the band go from simply a pop-punk act to spreading its wings and diversifying its sound. Unfortunately, the attempt to write the next big radio hit was not a successful venture and All Time Low had to return to the drawing board. Although not critically as well-received as its predecessors, it showed the band had chops to transition from the Warped Tour crowd to a potentially bigger atmosphere. It was just the early stages of what sets up Don’t Panic, the band’s fifth full-length album to date.

AbsolutePunk Sep 17, 2012

There is a long running joke/discussion among my best friends about how close Mineral’s guitar licks and tone don’t stray far from that of Temple of the Dog. It’s a stretch, but it brings up the point that we often try to dice apart whole genres so much, and I often wonder why. Is it because there is a distinct sound to the music at hand? Or is it really to separate something you love from something you hate, but secretly love due to popular opinion? Is everything that’s played on the radio awful? No. Given better timing and marketing, some of underground’s most notable acts could have been bigger than they turned out to be.

AbsolutePunk Sep 4, 2012

Propagandhi never deluded itself into thinking that it was a serious name. The part 1984-esque, part Indian icon portmanteau was merely an off-the-cuff invention from a group of sixteen year olds. Starting with How to Clean Everything and Less Talk, More Rock, the theme of child’s play ran the lyrical gamut from bare ferocity to side-splitters; Chris Hannah commanded the pulpit, telling patriotic blockheads to shove flags up their asses while inviting bomb-vested rendezvous to G7 “picnics”. Those wit coated antics tapered off eventually, and a relatively more stoic behemoth kicked in by way of Death and Voivod.

Drew Beringer Aug 27, 2012

We’ve seen this movie before. Band reaches moderate success on indie label, signs to major, releases major label debut, album gets little to no push, band and major separate mutually. It’s the most predictable cycle of events since every Katherine Heigl movie ever. But the cycle’s most recent addition, Circa Survive, isn’t your typical band. Their major label debut Blue Sky Noise was a killer album – a staggering cornucopia of everything you loved from their first two albums. But let’s be real, Circa Survive is too zealous of a group to be constrained by the limitations of a major (or any) label (but it was admirable that they kicked the tires with the ol’ major try. You know, YOLO and all that garbage). So it made absolute sense when the band announced that they were going to go the DIY route with their fourth album Violent Waves.

Thomas Nassiff Aug 13, 2012

For a band as established and celebrated as Yellowcard, the decision to return from a hiatus is a weighty one. It’s not as simple as waking up, getting back into the studio, putting out a record and playing a few shows. There is a lot at stake, and the band’s legacy is part of those stakes. Putting out a bad or even a mediocre record can tarnish an otherwise sterling career, and this is something the fans consider, too. Certainly, some reunion records we could have done without – even some reunion records that have come out fairly recently. Many would rather not have their outlook on their favorite band be affected by a hasty and ill-advised reunion album – in some cases, the allure of “what could have been” might have been more satisfying than the product of the reunion.

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Review: Anchor & Braille – The Quiet Life

Drew Beringer Aug 7, 2012

It’s kind of funny that Anchor & Braille’s second album is titled The Quiet Life, since it’s anything but. While this collection of songs isn’t as in your face as Stephen Christian’s other band Anberlin, his latest effort with his side project is incredibly vibrant and varied. After proving that this project wasn’t just a retread of slower Anberlin-esque songs with his 2009 debut Felt, Christian’s eclectic musical interests is all over The Quiet Life. Reuniting with his other band’s former label Tooth & Nail, The Quiet Life takes what worked on Felt, refined it, and added in some new twists and turns to create one of the best releases Christian has ever been a part of.

Review: Josh Ritter – The Beast in Its Tracks

Review: Tegan and Sara – Heartthrob

Review: Modern Baseball – Sports

Review: Boys Like Girls – Crazy World

Review: Blink-182 – Dogs Eating Dogs EP

Review: Blink-182 – Dogs Eating Dogs

Review: Deftones – Koi No Yokan

Review: Bayside – Covers, Vol. I

Review: Taylor Swift – Red

Review: All Time Low – Don’t Panic

Review: Basement – colourmeinkindness

Review: Propagandhi – Failed States

Review: Circa Survive – Violent Waves

Review: Yellowcard – Southern Air

Review: Anchor & Braille – The Quiet Life