Cold filtering pop and modern rock to bring you the best of past,present, and defunct bands. Reviewing and promoting the best pop and modern rock CD's with links to song samples and videos.
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Dave's Take: I hope The Fold's music career doesn't pass too quickly, as their debut CD from 2006, This Too Shall Pass, has a number of catchy songs that you just can't help singing along too. As happens a lot for me, I discovered this band searching around on purevolume where they were listed at #1 on the charts and for good reason. Tooth and Nail has a solid catalog of awesome artists like Anberlin, The Classic Crime, Mae, MXPX, lately and it looks like they have another solid one with The Fold. The first song from this album on their purevolume page, the bouncy pop rock Gravity, was immediately stuck in my head and is a great lead off song for the album. The song starts off with some appropriate lyrics to start of a record
" So Let’s start at the beginning of thisstory I was just a boy nowhere to call home"
and then bursts its way into a extremely addictive chorus that provides a good showcase for Daniel Cassidy's voice as he sings out:
"Just like gravity, what draws you to me Someone I didn’t know I needed It’s like gravity, and it’s stronger than me I need you here"
The Title Track continues with the same up-tempo beat present in Gravity and again we see that The Fold are great at writing lead-in hooks and explosive choruses such as this quickly sung chorus:
"Set set set, now you’re ready to go You couldn’t make it better if it never belonged You can take your time, figure it out This is a call to all the pain (this too shall pass)"
This song like almost all of the songs deal with having hope about getting over past hardships.
Musically I couldn't help but find a lot of similarities between them and fellow label-mates Mae. The similarity isn't bad as I like their use at times of a clean guitar sound, piano samples, and tight percussive sounding guitars and beautiful sung vocals
Personally I found the second half of the CD a little flat for me as I just didn't seem to find the same energy or strong songs that lead it off.
All in all a solid effort and if their new single "New Skeptic" is any indication they are moving forward in the right direction.
Similar Bands: Mae, Need To Breathe, Acceptance, All-American Rejects
Favorite Songs: Gravity, Title Track, Backseat Drivers, New City
Dave's Take: I found the armchair cynics on one of my favorite music discovery sites www.alternativeaddiction.com. The song that had me playing it multiple times was "Suprise Ending." A song which bears resemblances to Nickelback, Default, and Seether type sounding songs with a little darker sounding guitars over the addictive prechorus and chorus lines that have lead singer Kenn Coutu doing his best early 2000's alternative growl in the prechorus before hitting the upper register in the chorus ala singers like Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida or Anberlin's Stephen Christian.
And I want you to say (this can get better) And I know myself (I can do better) And I want to say (this can get better) Better than it's been
'Cause it feels like it’s a movie about losing Only this time it's us And we're counting on a surprise ending Only this time it never does........ come It never does............................. come
Unfortuantely most of the rest of the songs on the 7 disc EP didn't have the same attention grabbing sound that "Suprise Ending Did" withBang being the only other song that kept my attention. Still those two songs were a good find for me.
RATING: 5/10 (One great and one good song...a promising start)
BIO:
"What is up with Victoria B.C these days? The birth place of such musical heavyweights as Hot Hot Heat, Nelly Furtado, and Swollen Member has done it again. Armed with a solid repertoire of songs that are undeniably well written and passionately executed, it could be said that Island favorites Armchair Cynics are standing on the precipice of huge success...maybe it is something in the water.
With the new line-up just over a year old, Armchair Cynics has already received some high honors for their accomplishments including winning BandFEST Vancouver Island (2002) as well as picking up multiple M Power awards (Best Artist, Best Male Songwriter, and Best Producer/Engineer ) for their debut album "Coffee Shop Confessions".
Sometimes the secret to success is as simple as the right combination of personalities and talents to create a band with distinct identity, a characteristic sadly lacking in popular music today. With the Armchair Cynics, all the elements are securely in place, creating the perfect conditions for originality, and even f*%@ genius.
Front man and founding member Kenn Coutu possesses a songwriting style encompassing all the emotional lyricism of Sunny Day Real-Estate and Incubus, with a vocal delivery reminiscent of Adam Duritz. The perfect compliment to Kenn's intelligent and passionate song-writing abilities is the thoughtful guitar stylings of Adam Sutherland, whose moody guitar licks and sound phrasing fill the space within each song. Engaging the listener even further is bass player Mitsubishi, whos technique is a welcome departure from the boring, hidden bass lines of the past.Combine those elements with the charizmatic , heavy hitting beat of drummer Ryan Rae , and you have a bomb thats ready to explode.
Since signing a recording agreement with the Vancouver based record label 604 in early 2004, the Armchair Cynics are perfectly poised to start conquering the world!
The band's loyal fanbase in Victoria is going to have to get used to the idea of sharing, as this is just the start for these extraordinary musicians..."
Dave's take: I found a cool new band today on Alternative Addiction called Faber drive. They only have one full song, "Second Chance" from their upcoming album Seven Second Surgery that you can listen to right now and two 30 second snippets of other songs. Second chance is indeed the radio single and for good reason. Lyrically Second Chance sounds like an 80's ballad infused with the latest All American Rejects emo guitars while still giving a nod to the typical 80's ballad sound. It's a song that's kind of a guilty pleasure that you might not want to admit to your friends that you like to listen to it. The other two songs on their myspace page "24 Story" and "Sex and Love" are more unique sounding and up-tempo.
When Faber Drive decided to submit a song to Vancouver radio station 99.3 The Fox's battle of the bands last year, their goal wasn't to win the contest. They weren't even sure they were good enough to enter. In fact, when frontman Faber brought his band's CD to the station on the deadline day for submissions, he came close to giving up and going back home.
"I actually got back in my car and pulled away," he says. "Then I decided to go back, so I turned the car around and I got up in the office just before it closed and handed in the disc." It was the best move of the band's career. The station chose the song, "Sex and Love," as one of the 20 best submissions out of more than 500, then played the song on the radio in a head to head contest against the other qualifiers. Soon, Faber Drive (then called simply Faber) were in the top 10, and, after live competitions at local clubs, they won 1st place and were voted the best band in Vancouver.
It's easy to see why. "Sex and Love" is the kind of song that's equally enthralling whether blasting from car speakers, an iPod, a home stereo or a concert PA. A sinuous blend of bobbing basslines, passionate singing and "ba-ba-baaa" background vocals, the cut is pretty representative of the rest of Faber Drive's debut album "SEVEN SECOND SURGERY" (Universal Republic Records).
The first single "Second Chance" builds from a mid-paced tug-and-release verse into an exultant refrain that encapsulates the regret and frustration of backing out of a relationship prematurely: "Instead of holding you, I was holding out/ I should have let you in, but I let you down." And "Tongue Tied (Little Good Luck)" is a dynamic rock ballad about trying in vain to say the right thing at the right time. As "tongue-tied" as Faber is in the song, his yearning anxiety is matched with romantic optimism."We like to put hope into people," says drummer Red Bull. "We don't want to be one of those bands that has no message."
One of the most poignant messages on "SEVEN SECOND SURGERY" comes in "Sleepless (Never Let Her Go)." Initially, the track started as a self-loathing confession to a loved one, but Faber felt the message wasn't powerful enough, so he and the band rewrote the song about the horrors of domestic abuse. "It's from the child's point of view," says Faber. "It means a lot to us because it's a real issue. My parents used to fight a lot when I was growing up. They were never abusive, but it was hard, so I can imagine how painful it must be for kids from abusive families."
Before forming Faber in 2004, Faber taught guitar and drum lessons in Mission, British Columbia and wrote and recorded on the side. His first drum student was Red Bull, who took instruction for three years until he and Faber decided to form a band. "I remember when I first started telling people, my own brother said, 'Dude, you're crazy. He sucks,'" remembers Faber with a smirk. "And I said, 'I know but soon that’ll change. Just watch. He's really consistent and a hard worker.' And now, Red's by far one of the best drummers in Vancouver."
Around the same time as Faber started jamming with Red, the singer hooked up with Hinder producers Brian Howes and Joey Moi, who were blown away by Faber's acoustic demos. So, Howes asked if he could co-write with Faber and Moi offered to start preproduction. Then, Faber filled in the gaps in the band's lineup. Faber's brother recommended guitarist David Hinsley, whose aggressive playing style gives the band's tunes extra intensity. But at first, Faber wasn't impressed by Hinsley's performance.
"We jammed for maybe 10 minutes, and I said, 'Okay, I don't think you're really what I'm looking for,'" recalls Faber. "I walked out, and my brother called me and said, 'Dude, what are you doing, man? You gotta try him one more time.' So, I went over to Hinsley's house a couple nights later, and we jammed from seven ‘til two in the morning, and it was amazing, we totally hit it off."
Bassist Jeremy "Krikit" Liddle was last to join. Faber and Red saw Liddle performing onstage at an Easter Sunday church service and were impressed by his range and tone. So, Faber went up to him after the service and gave the bassist his phone number. "He didn't realize I was trying to get him to play bass for us," Faber says. "He thought I was trying to get him to come back to church more often. He was gonna stop going because he had started drinking and didn't feel it was right to be playing bass in church when he was partying at night. When he realized I wasn't from the church, he was stoked."
The band jammed with Liddle three days before the band's first gig. The bassist learned all of the songs quickly and pulled them off without hesitation. It was an auspicious beginning. Since then, Faber Drive toured Canada with MxPx, Hedley, Hurst and opened for Nickelback in Victoria before an audience of 10,000. "It was pretty amazing to play in a place that big and hear the crowd screaming your lyrics back at you," Faber said.
Faber Drive wrote "SEVEN SECOND SURGERY" over the past three years. Some tracks were penned in the back of a refurbished '70s school bus they took on tour with Hedley, others were crafted with Howes at Moi's studio. They recorded their first track with Moi, "Cement Head," in 2004 and over the next three years, returned numerous times to track the rest of the album. After winning the Fox Seeds competition, they changed their name to Faber Drive to avoid potential legal issues. One of the names they considered before electing Faber Drive was Seven Second Surgery, but they decided it made a better album title than band name.
"A seven second surgery is a quick fix," Faber explains. "A lot of bands come and go so fast, so this is a sarcastic way of saying that if you think that's what we are, fine, but we're gonna be around for a while."
With irresistible melodies, churning rhythms and thought provoking lyrics, songs like "Second Chance," "Sleepless (Never Let Her Go," and "You'll Make It" (about the world's struggle for self-improvement) invite comparisons to some of Faber Drive's favorite bands - U2, The Police, Def Leppard. But while some of the musical elements are familiar, "SEVEN SECOND SURGERY" is refreshing, expressive and life-affirming.
"Our music is everything to us," Faber says, “and through it we really want to make a difference and promote hope and say that we understand that life can be hard and unfair, but you can make it better if you so choose.”
Dave's Take:Today's band Diffuser is a lost modern rock treasure from early 2001. These New York natives released a second album after which got a little bit more corporate attention than this album but that album also got lost in the punk-pop shuffle even though their sound was clearly different from the Sum 41 and Blink182's of the world, at least on this first album. They have indie rock stylings with real rock sensibilities with the ability to create an addicting pop tune. The production is great as well, as the masterful Don gilmore (Linkin park, Eve 6, Lit, etc) worked his magic on this album. The true magic in this album was the overlapping of melody with discordance. Unfortunately this band decided to call it quits after their second album. Another review from the web sums up this album perfectly
" Browsing through your dictionary of innovative rock bands you can find Diffuser somewhere between pop culture and dissonance. Their major label debut Injury Loves Melody is a trademark of the band's ability to write honest, angular pieces of pure imaginative music while upholding strong conviction in their delivery. This album will take you on an emotional roller coaster through confusion, angst, and heartbreak."
"I am" and "Tidal" start the album off and set the trademark sound for the album: Very intriguing quick paces lyrics such as these from Tidal:
"Drink me like a dixie cup And throw me out with all the used love You think you might finally had enough I don't think you're ordinary Hopefully not temporary Quicksand is the water i am treading Here come the shakes Nothing is faded Another tidal wave of love has crashed on me" are backed by a combination of of one dissonant rhythm guitar accompanied and one melodic solo guitar always blending together perfectly. The third track on the album was the first and only single "Karma" a perfect modern rock by the numbers song where the lead singer says
"Sometimes you get you what you want sometimes you get need but you always get what you deserve"
"Tell her This" is one of two ballad type songs on the album with its slow verses and interesting lyrics
"Tell her this I don't dare to twist I ran through a confident fist Tell her that The gypsy was real December is what makes the toe cramps and stomachaches Hard to heal And it don't mean a thing If you can't try to be But you're always expecting from me Tell her this I'll never be rich And Christmas was always a bitch" "Losers of the Year" takes a a few listens to truly appreciate its trueindie sounding goodness with its slow whispering choruses
"Made some bad mistakes Those are the breaks I got a patriot high With some symbolic quakes Can't see the sun spots, through the domestic haze Can't hide the makeup, cause you never can see, never can breathe"
which then bursts into a full angst ridden shout: "Want out We all want out" over surprisingly good sounding discordant guitars :
"Leaving with a California Tilt" which is about a girl leaving for California as the obvious title suggests has one of the cooler choruses on the album in terms of pure guitar work which works with the rather simple lyrics.
If I could pick one song on the album that represents how great Diffuser is both from a lyrical and musical perspective it would be "The way That I feel." Check out these cool lyrics:
Raising stakes in the race, selling out so you don't get sold Something for nothing hasn't been left for me Tear away everything and I'm wearing memories Take a chance on a chance, try leapfrog with a unicorn Figure out when to shout when you sit on a corporate thorn I bet you sleep tight every night wondering If the one you've become is what you hated The more i gave, the more you take Why can't you stay?
Chorus What should I do (my time is wasted) Now that we're through (my time is wasted) One thing is true the way that I feel for youuuuuuu
Yea! have a drink on the fink 'till we kill off the disco fad Fuzzy dice mixed with ice, give it up for the other man I'm getting cold shakes from the state that I'm in Your getting colder, I'm getting older Stop the landslide The more i gave, the more you take"
The album rounds out with "Last Time I saw Memphis" "35" and "I Don't have the Nerve" definitely have that indie rock feel to them.
Diffuser came out with a second album called "Making the Grade" which had much more of a pop-rock sound to it but did not come close to matching this amazing debut.
MY RATING: 8/10 (Some songs are skippable but most grow on you the more you listen)
SOUNDS LIKE: SUGARCULT, MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK, ANBERLIN, BLINK 182, THURSDAY
Dave's Take: I hope The Fold's music career doesn't pass too quickly, as their debut CD from 2006, This Too Shall Pass, has a number of catchy songs that you just can't help singing along too. As happens a lot for me, I discovered this band searching around on purevolume where they were listed at #1 on the charts and for good reason. Tooth and Nail has a solid catalog of awesome artists like Anberlin, The Classic Crime, Mae, MXPX, lately and it looks like they have another solid one with The Fold. The first song from this album on their purevolume page, the bouncy pop rock Gravity, was immediately stuck in my head and is a great lead off song for the album. The song starts off with some appropriate lyrics to start of a record
