Album August Music Reviews - Week 2 Recap
The week started off with one of my favorite new listens. of Verona's brand new EP, Fall Like Roses. First off an apology to the artist, as in my original review I incorrectly tweeted the EP was self-titled. of Verona describes themselves as "Futuristic Rock" on their Twitter profile and the nomenclature is appropriate. of Verona's vocalist Mandi Perkins has an incredible voice and her powerful vocals combined with both traditional instrumentation and electronica creates the band's unique sound. My favorite tracks from Fall Like Roses include "Castles" and "The Enemy" and since it is available to download for free from of Verona's Facebook page, I can't encourage you enough to Like it and download it now to hear for yourself how great their music is.
Next up this week was a band suggested to me via Twitter. A band I'd never heard of from a label I'd never heard of, both of which I am glad I now know. The artist is School of Pisces and the release is this is a subliminal message... which ended up having an interesting story happen to it just before my review of it. According to the band's webpage, a certain major online music retailer banned the album because of the word "subliminal" in the title. If there are any subliminal messages hidden in it remains to be seen and frankly doesn't really matter, because this is a great listen. The five track EP is a challenging first listen, in a good way. There is something very different about this group, their sound and the lyrical content. It's hard to put a finger on it, but its very good. You can stream this is a subliminal message... now on School of Pisces' website and find out where you can purchase it from.
I chose the next artist based on a tweet I saw from them about a limited time preview of their forthcoming album. The preview is unfortunately now down (the album drops next month) but you can listen to some of Wizwars' best material above and even download it for free! Wizwars is among the most interesting and talented chiptune artists. I was immediately impressed with his unique take on chiptunes and his hyper performance style after seeing him perform just one time. While chiptunes or 8-bit music is an acquired taste for some, it can be extremely fun, especially for those into electronica and video games. Wizwars' new songs are extremely solid, especially the opening and closing numbers, with some of the material treading into dubstep territory. Or would that now be called chip step? Welcome to Thrash City by Wizwars will be the next level in his adventurous music style when it releases in September. Listen, if you dare. And I dare you.
This band first came to my attention via a single song on a sampler disc in Classic Rock Magazine from the UK, which is funny, since they are a Los Angeles-based band. Rival Sons plays blues-rock in the old-school vein without sounding dated. Their '09 release Before the Fire is a rockin' example that blues-rock is alive and well and that all such riffs have yet to be played. Check it out above!
The next album I picked up because of the killer song from it featured in the opening moments of the game Borderlands. And yes, I am late to the Borderlands party. :) The gritty slide guitar-infused "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" from Cage the Elephant hooked me from its first chords, and the rest of the album with its high energy, southern-blues-tinged indie rock doesn't disappoint. The self-titled debut from Cage the Elephant is a fun romp in garage rock land and I will definitely check out their recently released follow up album.
This next album goes back to 1978, but I only learned of it a couple weeks ago. The artist is Droids and the album is Star Peace. You can probably see where this is going, but, for the uninitiated, Star Wars mania swept the world starting in 1977, which included spawning a short-lived wave of what would be dubbed "Space Disco". This genre offshot went beyond the Star Wars And Other Galactic Funk disco album by Meco, and included artists like Droids, which until recently I'd been unaware of. What got my attention about this French duo was their being described as "the 70's Daft Punk". Yep, they are French and yes they play electronic dance music on synths (and most deliciously, synths of the analog variety) so the comparison holds up. Originally released in 1978, Star Peace is a little heard but certainly fun listen from the era of space-disco and thank you to whomever thought it would be a good idea to reissue the album on CD just last year. If you like what you hear above, you will enjoy the rest of this one-off release from a pair of sci-fi obsessed Frenchmen. Please enjoy this performance footage from Droids before we get to the last Album August listen for this week.
We dip back further into music history for the last never before heard listen of the week. Jimi Hendrix' name is synonymous with the word legend. I finally picked up a copy of the 2010 release West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology. This collection of rarities and unreleased material is, in a word, stunning. You have to applaud the efforts of Experience Hendrix and their posthumous releases of this type. The only complaint I have is I went with the single-disc version and frankly 15 selections of cuts from a four-disc box set just isn't enough, especially when it is this good. There are lengthy instrumental pieces and previously unheard alternate takes of Hendrix' classics. The six minute instrumental version of "Are You Experienced?" is breath taking.
If you are just tuning in, #AlbumAugust is happening nightly on Twitter, where I listen to an album I've never heard before and do a tweet review of it. Each week I recap and expand on these micro-reviews and include as many sounds as possible so you can listen along as well. We are now 14 nights and 14 albums into #AlbumAugust. If you missed it, please check out last week's recap, here. I am definitely open to suggestions for newer artists to check out as a part of this project. If you have some you would like to suggest, hit me back on Twitter!
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