DIFFUSER- INJURY LOVES MELODY

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 true indie 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

SONG SAMPLES:



1. I Am




Listen






2.Tidal




Listen





3. Karma




Listen





4. Tell Her This




Listen





5. Wide Eyes (Photograph So Well)




Listen






6. Losers Of The Year




Listen







7. Leaving With A California Tilt




Listen






8. The Way That I Feel





Listen






9. Last Time I Saw Memphis




Listen






10. 35





Listen







11. I Don't Have The Nerve




Listen







BAND MEMBERS:
Tomas Costanza (guitar/vocals)
Lawrence Sullivan (bass)
Billy Alemaghides (drums)
Anthony Cangelosi (guitar)

Fan myspace page:
Buy from Amazon:

SMILE EMPTY SOUL: Vultures

Dave's Take: Smile Empty Soul which hails from Santa Clarita, California released their second official album Vultures, a few months ago. You can consider it their third album if you count Anxiety, an amazing effort which I think is their best album that featured one of their best songs "Holes", but was never officially released to the public due to issues with their label Lava. You can find it online, either for download or on EBAY, however, if you look hard enough. Though this album has some tracks I don't think it stacks up with their previous two efforts. In typical Smile Empty soul fashion their is a lot of anger, angst, and hopelessness present in the music and lyrics. The difference is that with Smile Empty Soul you are left with the feeling that they really believe what they are singing about and not just writing about it to sell a record. While most of the standout tracks are slower in tempo, "The Hit" is more of an up-tempo number which takes lyrical jabs at the music industry and landlords:

"Hey record company
do you need a hit
cause I need a hit too
to keep me from hitting you
just being in the same room with you
makes me want to get high"

It sounds a bit poppy by their standards but it is definitely one of the songs on the album that gets stuck in your head easily and having it as the lead single makes a lot of sense. "Loser" is a typical self-deprecating angst ridden Smile Empty Soul type song that many people can identify with at one time or another.

"Give me something good and I'll fuck it up
All my life I've tried but never had much luck
To be happy but I guess it's just not meant to be
I'm gonna die a loser"

"The Freaks are Coming" is possibly the best track on the album with its haunting verse structure and soft guitar picking that explodes into the crunchy chorus. In this song SES attacks parents sheltering their children too much:

"Never questioned anything about the way that you were raised
Keep your life so plain, everything the same
Every Sunday take your kids to church just like your folks did
Don't let them complain and never go insane
You're scared of the changing world round you
But you know what to do
[chorus]
So lock your doors and shut the blinds
Cause you know that the freaks are coming"

A few tracks later we get the dark but melodic "Here's to Another" that vies for the best track on the album. This song is one of their strongest lyrically as it deals with alcohol addiction. My two other favorite tracks are "Disease" and "Vultures" which musically are quite different but both deal with being fed up with world in different ways. "Disease" starts of with a very interesting rapid guitar strumming that runs into the beautiful angst ridden vocals in the chorus:

"As I hold you
I'm drowning too
I'll hide my tears
To help you through
But inside I'm screaming for some healing
Never felt so empty
And I'm telling you
It's slowly killing me
Bleeding for some meaning
I need to know there's something more to living than this horrible disease"

The CD closes with the title track "Vultures" an acoustic song which happens to be my favorite on the album. The guitar strumming is simple but lovely and goes perfectly with simple but powerful lyrics. You can hear the pain in Sean Danielsen's singing on this track as he cries

"That's why I hate the smiles and I hate the flies
That buzz around the bullshit
I can't wait to die so all the mouths
Of the vultures can be fed"

While this CD contains some of the more powerful Smile Empty Soul songs to date I still think it's their weakest effort to date. It's too bad their real second album got shelved as it puts this one too shame. Nonetheless this is another solid effort from Smile Empty Soul and is worth picking up are at least buying the better tracks.

OVERALL RATING: 7/10 (Too many mediocre tracks to give it a high rating)

SOUNDS LIKE: Saliva, Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Alice in Chains

BAND BIO: Smile Empty Soul returns stronger & smarter than ever and ready to take their rightful place as alt rocks kingpins. Equal parts hardcore, punk, metal and melodic rock, this Southern California band doesn't shy away from any topic or pull any punches. Boldly going forth lyrically where even Captain Kirk himself would fear to tread, Sean Danielsen's lyrics deal with every hot-button issue you can think of - politics, drugs, the corporate poisoning of the music industry and so much more.

The band's new CD. VULTURES, shows Smile Empty Soul at their brightest and best. Young men in control of their own destiny, making the record that "represents (them) 100%. We did this one OUR WAY," says Danielsen.

After reaching the heights of the music biz with their #1 smash single, "Bottom Of A Bottle," in 2004 the band went on to play over 250 shows packing venues from coast to coast with everyone from Janes Addiction to Puddle Of Mudd to The Deftones. Gold record firmly in one hand and the might of their true conviction in the other, the band's unreleased music prior to VULTURES went about ruffling some fairly important feathers at some of our country's most influential religious and corporate organizations. The lyrical content of what was to be their first single (called "Holes") caused a 30,000 piece avalanche of protest-mail that scared their label and ultimately gave Smile Empty Soul their freedom back. It was a glorious emancipation, with fire and artistic credibility fully intact.

Smile Empty Soul is now Danielsen and bassist Ryan Martin along with two new members - guitarist Mike Booth formerly of the band COLD and drummer Jake Kilmer of the band THE FLIPPER BABIES. The band is stronger than ever, and ready to reclaim the chances that should have been afforded them after their first release.Their subsequent partnership with one of the fastest growing independent labels in the industry, Bieler Bros. Records - home to Skindred, Nonpoint and others - allowed the band to create freely, with the knowledge that their record company was behind them 100%. The resulting album, VULTURES, hit stores on October 24th. The album's first single, "The Hit" manages to be both a vitriolic stomp over the corpse of their former record company experiences, as well as an anthem for rebellion against the norm, bosses, nagging partners, and screaming landlords of our day-to-day existence. It gives a voice to everyone's frustrations.

On 10/18 the band embarked upon an extended bout of roadwork behind VULTURES. Don't expect the shows to be carbon copies of the album; more than ever SMILE EMPTY SOUL is bringing their ultra- frenetic approach to their live performances.

BEST SONGS: THE HIT, LOSER, THE FREAKS ARE COMING, HERE'S TO ANOTHER, DISEASE, VULTURES

VIDEOS/SONG SAMPLES:



PRESS STANDALONE PLAYER BUTTON TO PLAY

"HERE'S TO ANOTHER" VIDEO


BAND LINKS:

http://www.myspace.com/smileemptysoulmusic
www.smileemptysoul.com
Wiki page

HONEYCUT

Dave's Take: To be honest I have only heard snippets of a number of the songs on Honeycut's "The Day I turned to glass" but I saw them live at popscene-sf up in San Francisco in between 3rd and 4th street at a show that Sugarcult was headlining. Another review I was reading describes their sound perfectly: a combination of Gnarls Barkley and the Gorillaz. The track that really caught my attention live was Shadows. It has a very intersting bass guitar line with sort of an 80's synth feel to it as well. But by and large this band plays pretty cool jazzy and soul type music. You can find their album on Amazon or Itunes.







RATING: 8/10 (Not my favorite genre of music but they are very talented)

SOUNDS LIKE: Gnarls Barkly, Gorrillaz

QUOTES ABOUT BAND:

"Honeycut will drop its debut on DJ Shadow's Quannum Projects label at the end of September: an excellent endorsement for a new group.The CD, The Day I Turned To Glass, is credibly eclectic without coming off disjointed as the band flirts with quirky hip-hop loops and balances on the edge of rock and soul." - SF Weekly

"Only occasionally do you find a group or album that manages to incorporate diverse influences into a unique sound and still remain absolutely accessible, be it to the casual radio listener or the diehard record collector... the band weaves its way through soul, funk, rock, bossa nova, and electronica without ever stopping firmly on one, instead creating something that's very much their own.... giving Honeycut an almost unclassifiable vibe about them that makes them entertaining and danceable while retaining their musical integrity." - ALLMUSIC.COM

In a 40-minute set Honeycut appealed to every aspect of an unsuspecting crowd. Mixing Davenport's glam like performance and a vocal range that was equal parts slick and resonating, Salters beat out funky high-energy sounds on three keyboards. Sevener's live drum programming made the performance of the locally popular single "Shadows" feverish, audience members dancing in their seats as easily as they would in any club." - The Owl Magazine, (live review Apple Store SF performance)



BEST TRACKS: Shadows, The DAy I Turned to Glass, Tough Kid, Butter Room




SONG SAMPLES/VIDEOS:




CLICK STANDALONE PLAYER BUTTON TO PLAY

SHADOWS VIDEO


LEAD SINGER ACOUSTIC GUITAR SOLO


BUTTER ROOM VIDEO


TOUGH KID VIDEO


BAND LINKS:
http://www.myspace.com/honeycutmusic
honeycutmusic.com

SICK PUPPIES-EP

Dave's Take: I can't quite remember the series of events that led me to find the Sick Puppies on myspace but
I'm glad I did. Their song "All the Same" was used in a touching video that displays all that is right with the human spirit.(See the video and story below). There have been over 7,000,000 views of the video! The song itself is a slow acoustic number for the most part that bursts into the emotive electric guitar driven chorus:








"I don't mind...
I don't care...
As long as you're here
Go ahead tell me you'll leave again
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's always the same"

It's just a song that maks you glad to be alive. Two of the other standout tracks from their five song EP are "My World" and "Asshole Father" which deal with lonliness in two different ways. "My World" draws the listener in both lyrically with its "heart on your sleeve" lyrics,

"Welcome to my world
where everyone I ever need
always ends up leaving me alone
another lesson burned
and I'm drowing in the ashes
kicking... screaming"

and its crunchy guitars. "Asshole father" like "All the Same" starts off with beautiful acoustic guitar plucking with the Shimon Moore melancholy singing:

"I waited for you yesterday
I waited and missed the last train
I waited to say that I’d fallen in love with your way
I waited for you yesterday
Eventually walked home in the rain
I waited to see if you felt the same for me"

Then his anger and the quick staccatto electric guitars come alive in the chorus:

"But you don’t,
and you won’t
go against your asshole father
Going broke, quitting dope for your folks why did I even bother?
Why did I?"

"Deliverance" is more of a straight ahead radio friendly rocker but it still has a great sound to it. All in all the Sick Puppies leave you panting for more with their captivating lyrics, soaring heartfelt vocals and nice balance between acoustic plucking and a more straight ahead rock sound. Oh, and as an added bonus for the guys out there they have a cute female guitar player.

BAND MEMBERS:
Shimon Moore: lead vocals, guitar
Emma Anzai: bass, backing vocals
Mark Goodwin: drums

BAND BIO:

Sick Puppies are a guitar fuelled rock three piece band who now stand on the threshold of achieving their singular goal: the global release of the album they were born to make.
The band carries an awesome presence on stage with a staggering sound fronted by the fretwork and awesome vocals of guitarist and singer Shimon Moore. Conspiring in the sonic stew that is the Sick Puppies is bassist Emma Anzai who has been justifiably dubbed “the female Flea”. Uniting the band in rock bliss is the airtight pummeling of drummer Mark Goodwin who is truly one of the hardest hitters around.

The band was born when the two greatest outcasts of Mosman High School met each other in the only safe haven either of them knew…the music room. Shimon Moore and Emma Anzai began jamming on Green Day and Rage Against The Machine songs until the urge to make their own sound took over and they began penning the loudest and most powerful songs that they could play. Just months later, the Puppies beat out 3000 other bands in a demo competition run by the only national radio network in the country. As a direct and rapid result the Puppies were thrust into the limelight, and with their first recording experience behind them.

The bands first year culminated in them being crowned the ‘Best Live Act’ at the Australian Live Music Awards. Since that time the achievements and highlights have flowed thick and fast, including tours with Good Charlotte and legendary bands Deep Purple and Midnight Oil during which many new audience members became converts and joined the ever expanding Sick Puppies fan base.

Amid the fanfare of all the Puppies achievements remained a burning desire to take their music to the next level. To that end a pact was made to take the band to the ends of the earth and back, beginning with the writing and recording of the songs that they knew would resonate with a worldwide audience. The band is currently in the United States making their record in Los Angeles, and the results speak for themselves. With a release pending later in the year, the Sick Puppies true arrival is imminent. Stay tuned…

BEST SONGS: All the Same, Asshole Father, My World

SONG SAMPLES/VIDEOS:



CLICK ON STANDALONE PLAYER BUTTON TO PLAY

ALL THE SAME STORY:

Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.

In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.

As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.

In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER! After all, If you can reach just one person...

"ALL THE SAME"



"MY WORLD"


LINKS:
http://sickpuppies.net (BAND PAGE)
http://myspace.com/sickpuppies

My Chemical Romance- The Black Parade

DAVE's TAKE:

"I drink for the horror that I'm in
for the good guys and the bad guys
for the monsters in our bed
Three cheers for tyranny
unapolagetic apathy
cause there ain't no way that I'm coming back again
and through it all
how could you cry
for me.........
cause I don't feel bad about it
so shut your eyes
kiss me goodbye
and sleeeeeeee eee eee eep"

Never has a band made talking about death sound so good, as the above lyrics from "Sleep" do on My Chemical Romance's new album: Welcome to the Black Parade. If you're a modern rock fan then you're probably familiar with some their previous hits off their last album, "Helana" and "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)". That same sound is definitely present on this album. Like Green day, they have gone with the Rock-opera type album focusing on a central theme and borrow heavily in the sound department from arena rock bands of old. Not suprisingly, Rob Cavello who also helped produce Green Day's: American Idiot, also co-produced this album. The Queen references are so obvious that they don't need mentioning unless you've never heard of Queen before. My Chemical Romance does at least put their own modern rock twist on the sound.

Nowhere are the Quuen comparisons more obvious than on the intro song "The End" which clones Queen right down to the song structure: A slow piano intro with sing-songy lyrcis followed by an over the top bombastic chorus that sounds all too familiar to "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Now just because My Chemical Romance borrows sounds of old does not mean this is a bad album. Far from it. Like Cobra in G.I Joe pulling DNA from all of the greatest evil leaders of all time to create Serpentor, My Chemical Romance seems to extract the best of old 80's and 70's rock sounds and modernize it.

As the front cover suggests with its gothic skeleton, lyrically almost of the songs deal directly about death or dying. But the album does anything but make you depressed due to the way the songs are played.

In fact, the super catchy lead single "Welcome to the Black Parade", starts off slow and explodes into rapid pace yummy rock goodness, has some of the most upbeat lyrics:

"When you're gone we want you all to know We'll Carry on,
We'll Carry on
Though your dead and gone believe me Your memory will carry on
Carry on
We'll carry on
And in my heart I cant contain it
The anthem wont explain it" 

After that track the album treads more on the ballad side of the road with superb tracks like "I don't Love You", "Cancer" and "Sleep", whose lyrics opened up this blog and my personal favorite track on the alubm due to the guitar work. Then there are the rockabilly sounding tracks "House of Wolves" and "Mama" that have Cherry Poppin Daddies bass type rhythms. "Teenagers" is hard to describe other than I'm sure I've heard the sound used somewhere before but just can't place it.

The album rounds out with another ballady type song "Disenchanted" with the following lyrics:

"If I'm so wrong How can you listen all night long
Now will it matter after I'm gone
Because you never learn a goddamned thing

It's just a sad song, with nothing to say
About a life-long wait for a hospital stay
And if you think that I'm wrong
This never meant nothing tooooooooo you"

THe album rounds out with "Famous Last Words" perhaps the most straight-up rock sounding song on the album and some of the more positive lyrics on the album:

"I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay, I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home"


But it still ends with a bombastic chorus. So Welcome to the Black Parade definitely borrows from other bands sounds, almost unabashedly so but it works due to the great execution and consistent musical performance on each song. The lyrics are quite admittedly over-the top overkill but

OVERALL RATING: 8/10 (Heavily borrowed sounds but played extremely well)

SOUNDS LIKE: Queen( How many times do I have to repeat this), 80's rock,


BEST SONGS: Welcome to the Black Parade, I Don't Love You, Sleep, Mama, This How I Dissapear, House of Wolves, Famous Last Words

SONG/VIDEO SAMPLES:
Rolling Stone Review page (listen to all songs)



"SLEEP"


"WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE"



BAND WEBSITES:
www.myspace.com/mychemicalromance
www.mychemicalromance.com

LAST WINTER

Dave's Take: Due to time constraints I have not updated this blog in about a week, but expect some awesome bands this coming week and today. The manner through which I learned about Last Winter is a bit embarrassing. There were a couple songs I heard on MTV's Laguna Beach (yes I am probably dumber for watching that show) that I wanted to find out more about. Interestingly two of the former Blink182 boy and current Plus 44! members, Mark and Travis, are responsible for a lot of the music choices on Laguna Beach which explains why a lot of the bands they choose to use are from the modern rock genre. Well one of the bands I discovered was a band by the name of Last Winter, a relatively undiscovered, absolute gem of a band. Their music could be described loosely as "space-rock"; highly melodic atmospheric emotional sounding music. The CD Transmission Skyline starts off with a highly delayed, echoed guitar riff on the song "Girl Next Door" that instantly describes the sonic texture at work throughout the entire album even though that specific song is only available on the Japanese import. This song like a number of the songs focuses on love not realized:

"Just say you love me, just say you love me. I'll always be here waiting. You were always so much more than the girl next door. Just sew your arms around me know"

The lyrics are rather simplistic but they emotion and skill with which they are sung makes for up it. Just two songs later we get crunchier guitars on one of the signature tracks both lyrically and musically "Starlight Drive"

"Ignorant and dreaming on Starlight Drive. Ignorance is bliss now so let it go"

The next track is the beautiful "chasing light" with quick staccato guitar chords. What really makes this track is the vocal range displayed in the chorus "now I've given up. Wouldn't you. We gave it time but you took over. You'd say we wasted our time I gave you mine you left me nothing" "Summer in Illinois" is one of the weaker tracks but it gives way to "Vela to Norma" which is one of the harder rock songs on the album. The lyrics match the sonic mood of the album on this song as the lead singer Cameron sings:

"cascades burn as they light the way to open hearts. celestial eyes unfold. map the stars from left to right, miracle my eyes stay closed and i wait for so long a brilliant fading spinning off into the amber sky a gentle sting above horizons"

"Don't Forget to Write" is an acoustic song that I think anyone would like even if they didn't like the musical stylings used in the other songs. This is the song that I heard on Laguna beach and it fit in perfectly for the scene they used with the bittersweet vocals and lyrics:

"Im barely alive. Though miles may come between us. You're always and forever on my mind. When you go dont forget to write. You're the best that ever happened, I never would imagine you would change my life"

The balladish "December" once again uses imagery of the sky in the lyrics:

"The sky fell between my Young and careless eyes
Braiding myself in The red December sky
I remember Last December
Memories never change "

Maybe Tomorrow, For all Times, and Autograph round out this amazing CD. Their sound isn't completely original but then again who is nowadays? I can't remember hearing a CD with such a prominent atmospheric space like quality to it that was done so well. What matters most is that the sound is amazing and present on every single song on the album.



SOUNDS LIKE: Mae, Story of the Year, Switchfoot, Forty Percent, Pulse Ultra

CD Rating: 9/10 ( About as perfect as you can get for a first CD)

BEST SONGS: Girl Next Door, Chasing Daylight, Starlight Drive, Vela to Norma, Don't Forget to Write, December, For All times

SONG SAMPLES/WEBSITES:





CLICK STANDALONE PLAYER TO PLAY

All 14 Full songs all available at www.purevolume.com/lastwinter

Myspace page: www.myspace.com/lastwinter

BAND MEMBERS:
:: Fro ::..Guitar..
:: Josh ::..Guitar..
:: Cameron ::..Vocals..
:: Chris ::..Drums..
:: Bo ::..Bass

BAND WEBSITE: www.Lastwinter.com

NEVERTHELESS

Dave's take: I'm really on a Christian music kick as of late as today we take at a look at
another very new band from that genre: NEVERTHELESS. It's suprising that their label is Flickr records instead of Tooth and Nail, home to many Christian rock themed bands. The first track of their first album, Live Like We Are Alive, "The Real" is a song of despair yet also one of hope as Lead singer Josh Person proclaims:

"So it is sometimes That I feel this life Is far beyond repair But I know that You are there tonight (Tonight I won’t give up) Keep on breathing Don’t you let this take you down Don’t stop believing"

The song itself starts off with instantly memorable upbeat quick paced guitar transitions. This leads way to very subtle mellow verses and back into a similar guitar laden chorus. However the problem is that the CD starts off with the best track and seems to go steadily downhill form there. Thematically though it represents this album to a tee. Most of the songs are about God helping one get through life despite hurt and heartache. Another standout track following this theme is "Live We're Alive"

"So here I stand. I’m ready for anything. Just a man, but I’m giving everything. We’re here only for a second and then we’re gone when we least expect it. So do more than surviveLet’s live like we’re alive!"


All in all a decent effort from a band following a familiar formula. It's too bad the second half of the album fell a little bit flat for me.

OVERALL RATING: 5/10 (An album good for buying the single tracks)

SOUNDS LIKE: Mae, Further Seems Forever, Needtobreathe, Sanctus Real

Reviews better than mine:
http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?p=4761938
http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/cdreviews/LiveLikeWereAlive.asp
http://www.drivenfaroff.com/2006/09/18/neverthess-live-like-were-alive/
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/reviews/2006/livelikewerealive.html
http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=4797




BEST SONGS:

1. The Real
2. Live Like We are Alive
3. Time
4. Patience and Devotion

SONG SAMPLES/VIDEOS:



Tracks

01. The Real	Listen: [rm]
02. Patience And Devotion	Listen: [rm]
03. Time	Listen: [rm]
04. Live Like We're Alive	Listen: [rm]
05. Lover	Listen: [rm]
06. Losing Innocence	Listen: [rm]
07. Let It Fall	Listen: [rm]
08. Perfect Chemistry	Listen: [rm]
09. It's Me	Listen: [rm]
10. O'Child	Listen: [rm]

CLICK ON STANDALONE PLAYER TO PLAY


"THe REAL" VIDEO:



BAND LINKS:
http://www.myspace.com/neverthelessband
neverthelessmusic.com
www.purevolume.com/neverthelesstn
Amazon page

HELLOGOODBYE

DAVE's TAKE: Normally I wouldn't put a CD on here on the strength of one moderately decent song but HELLOGOODBYE's "Here in your arms" is a very catchy electro-pop song with the emphasis on the electronic portion. Even the video is awesomely hilarious. If nothing else the song will have you dancing to it and would be a good part of any dance mix. Unfortunately the rest of the album, sans a few tracks, sounds very different and is nowhere near as catchy. This album definitely harkens back to the electro-power-pop days of the 80's when "New Wave" was dominating the airwaves albiet infused with a bit of modern emo spice. "Here in Your Arms" may be enough to propel this group to another CD but I don't see enough standout material on Zombies! Aliens! Vampires Dinsoaurs! to have any reason to believe that HELLOGOODBYE is headed for any kind of signifigant stardom.

SOUNDS LIKE: Panic at the Disco, Motion City Soundtrack, 80's new wave

OVERALL RATING: 5/10 (Not enough standout tracks for me)

SPOTLIGHT REVIEW:

From Tony Pascarella at absolutepunk.net

Hellogoodbye seems set on recalling the glory days of 80’s new wave fifteen to twenty years too late to be relevant. The genre’s window of fame died out before many of their rabid fans were even born, yet Forrest Kline and friends want to suck that musical teat dry with their first full album. Their debut EP, the Hellogoodbye EP, has soared beyond 85,000 units with their appearances on the MTVU tour, Warped Tour, and MTV. They are currently the band bridging the independent-to-mainstream gap on Drive-Thru Records, and Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! is a bit of an experiment for Hellogoodbye’s debut full-length.

Danceable beats and random spurts of distorted noise highlight the album’s opener, “All Of Your Love.” Hellogoodbye presents naïve relationship-based lyrics (as we grew to expect from their debut EP) that ultimately shift the focus onto the flagrant overproduction because the song lyrically won’t do much for listeners. “Here (In Your Arms)” is the lead single, but unfortunately it fails to stand on its own two feet. With lyrical gems such as “I like where you sleep/When you sleep next to me/I like where you sleep/Here,” it will give previous fans cause to question whether Hellogoodbye might just be a one-EP wonder. Musically, you will still want to throw a dance party and include this song, but just hope no one actually cares about the incredibly one-dimensional lyrics. “All Time Lows” opens with a keyboard intro reminiscent of Motion City Soundtrack’s latest album, spurring the Hellogoodbye dance craze. This song doesn’t plod along, and sounds like it would be right at home on the Hellogoodbye EP; I consider it a standout on this subpar album.

Switching back to the terrible, the band offers up “Stuck To You.” It is perhaps one of the few songs in which differentiation between instruments is possible, but Forrest’s vocals are appalling and almost unlistenable. There is enough distortion already, but he sings in a high pitch for part of the song (while being accented by lower instrumental parts), and the final product sounds atrocious. Hellogoodbye can pull off the songs when they don’t overproduce them or distort them to some sort of unintelligible alien language known only to 13-year old girls.

You won’t need your MTV decoder ring to see the difference when you get to “Homewrecker” and the acoustic-tinged “Oh, It Is Love.” While many heard the “Homewrecker” demo ages ago, the band’s official release of the song marks a turning point for Hellogoodbye. Straightforward songs with mushy hooks that glint in the sunlight are the band’s strong point. “Oh It Is Love” has a bit too much of a cutesy feel to it, but instrumentally it shows a side of the band we have rarely seen. I would liken it to an experimental track (“Jesse Buy Nothing…Go To Prom Anyways” from the EP) with a completely unexpected music style. The final five songs of the album are a mixed bag of tricks. Only “Touchdown Turnaround” is memorable, and “Two Weeks in Hawaii” turned out downright boring. “Figures A and B” reminds me a little bit of a bloated, synth-happy Relient K.

Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! is a definite mixed bag of tricks. It surely is not the worst album out this year, but the music could be much, much better. It lacks a handful of true standout tracks, and that may hurt Hellogoodbye in the end. Drive-Thru will push to get the band on MTV and I anticipate them being successful. If the band can pick up more fans with the new album than they will lose, they can deem it a success. Frankly, this album will not rocket Hellogoodbye to the superstardom they so desire (and from the EP seemed destined for). When they decide to focus a bit more on instrumentation over digitization, I am confident they can write a record to please both sides of the aisle. Until then, Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! is one of my major disappointments of 2006."

BEST SONGS: Here In Your Arms, Touchdown Turnaround, Figures A and B, All Time Lows

SONG SAMPLES/VIDEOS:



CLICK STANDALONE PLAYER TO PLAY





"HERE IN YOUR ARMS"

LINKS:
www.myspace.com/hellogoodbye
http://www.hellogoodbye.net/
Amazon link

SIZE 14

Dave's Take:

Today I bring you a defunct band that went by the name of Size 14 and came out with one self titled CD in 1997. The only reason I happened to hear about these guys was one in of life's random events that comes your way. Back in the preinternet days I just happened to be listening to a "Cage match" on a raido station and these guys won for about a week with the only track you've proably ever heard from them: the hilarious "Claire Daine's Poster" that Bowling for Soup attempted unsuccessfully attempted to cover ( see the video below). Their songs are funny and nonsensical sort of in the vain of Bloodhound Gang but without the sexual innuendoes or references instead choosing to make fun of other things such as death metal rocker's in "Death Metal Steve" where they switch to a funny death metal riff at one point in the song. In the awesome pop-punk "Rollin in the 510" they make fun of thier car. The only song with major sexual overtones is the funny "Sleepin in the Wet Spot." The fast up-tempo "Shane", "People get really drunk in Las Vegas" and the semi-ballad "Superbabe 2000" about "a punk rock Sharon Stone" which has a sweet wah-wah guitar chorus round out the first half of the album. The second half of the album falls a little bit flat but I'm suprised these guys didn't get more attention back in the day when pop-punk was just starting to get heavy airplay. All in all a CD with a unmber of fun highly listenable tracks.

SIMILAR BANDS: WHEATUS, WEEZER, BLINK 182, MXPX

RATING: 6/10 (Second half of the disc falls flat)

BAND BIO: With punk-inspired guitar-poppin' antics, Hollywood-based SIZE 14 put out their debut CD in 1997. Named after the singer's shoe size, SIZE 14 - Linus (lead vocals, guitar), Kevin Danczak (guitar), Robt Ptak (bass, background vocals), Dave Armstrong (drums) - became infamous a few years back for their humorous yet honest account of "Claire Danes Poster."

BEST SONGS: Claire Daine's Poster, Rollin in the 510, Superbabe 2000, Death Metal Steve

VIDEOS/SONG SAMPLES:

1 Claire Danes Poster

3:00


2 Sleeping in the Wet Spot

3:20



3 Shane



3:16



4 Superbabe 2000

4:21


5 Rollin' in the 5-1-0

3:14



6 People Get Really Drunk in las Vegas

3:01


7 Agostino


8 Death Metal Steve

3:54


9 Let's Rob a Bank


3:14


10 Earthquake


3:46


11 Formula Guy

2:20


12 Prototype


3:55


13 I Touched Her Ass

4:07


14 Jimmy Whalen

2:59






CLICK STANDALONE PLAYER TO PLAY (ONLY CLAIRE' DAINES POSTER IS FROM CD)



BOWLING FOR SOUP TRYING TO COVER SIZE 14's CLAIRE DAINE's POSTER




LINKS:

www.myspace.com/sizefourteen

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