Saturday, August 24, 2013

The End Is The Beginning Is The End

Why.....yes, that is a title from a Smashing Pumpkins song back in 1997. It was featured on the Batman Forever soundtrack.

Well folks, summer is drawing to a close, and with it - so is this blog.  As I have said in the last post, it's been a lot of fun getting to hear all the artists and news, and concerts.  Who knows, with the internship I'm going to down in TN, maybe I can fix the over-processed problem myself.

In any case, I have some last minute business to attend to.  At the end of my last post I promised the fans of Cinderella and Foo Fighters some good news.  Cinderella fans, you are up first...



Album Cover
Tom Keifer, former frontman for Cinderella in the 80's, has gone solo!  His debut album is called "The Way Life Goes", and features a more bluesy-rock sound. He's been doing well for himself lately too! He's already been featured on David Letterman, and is currently scheduled to play Atlantic City on Sept. 6th with Halestorm.

At times the album mimics Foo Fighters, and other times it mimics Tom Petty.  So if you like them, you might like this.  Personally I'm a little torn on this one.  The instrumentation is really good, and the music is solid. It has a nice "All-American" sound quality to it.  However, much like Ben Affleck being cast as Batman, I'm just not sure that Keifer's voice fits the blues feel he's going for. Don't misunderstand me, as long as he stays in the lower register - he's fine. It's when he goes for the high ones that things get sketchy.
Tom Keifer

On a scale of 1 to 10... I would give this one a solid 8.  The music is great, the balance of slow to fast songs is dead on, and in my humble opinion - this would make a great road trip album!  You can get your own opinion of Tom Keifer's album by visiting his website, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

Now for the Foo Fighters freaks (like me)...

I haven't heard a lot of information on this yet, and I am sure that everyone is on edge about it like I am too.  There is no title to be known yet, only an expected year of release - 2014.  In an interview, Grohl explained that the Foos will be recording this album in a way that's never been done before.  Considering the many different recording techniques they've already used, Lord knows what could be next.

Foo Fighters
Who knows... maybe if my internship works out well enough, I can be the man behind the board for that record (Mama always said I should have goals).

Well gang, that's it!  In the words of Fall Out Boy "Thanks for the memories".



Sunday, August 18, 2013

The Beginning Of The End

Ladies and Gentlemen (all 5 of you that actually read this) it been a fun ride!

I've made it my mission on this blog to uncover the rock music that  is out there.  It's been my job to bring attention to up and coming artists, bring some well known rockers back to the forefront, and reveal the other side of the music industry beyond the over-processed pop-garbage that exists on the radio.

Speaking of radio... I have spent a lot of my summer listening to what the radio has to offer, and I am less than impressed. It seems to me that there is an identity crisis in modern bands.  Case in point - Imagine Dragons.  This band can not seem to find a sound to stick with.  First they are folk, then they are techno, then they are Coldplay... I don't get it.  Whatever happened to the concept of a "signature sound"?  Please don't even get me started on the over-processed, loop-driven crap that all the other "rock" stations are playing... it sickens me to think that people think that is Rock.  Call me old fashioned, but I miss the good-old-days when Rock was Rock, and Alternative was for everything that was a little experimental.  Now it's all lumped together like some horrible blob-like beast of Reason beats, and quantized MIDI patterns.

That said, I leave the mission to you, my audience. This post will be one of my last.  I am taking an internship with a recording studio, where I can make a real difference in the industry from the inside out.  Thank you for all those who have read any of the posts I have made in the last 3 years.

Before I call it quits, I have a few more bands I need to bring to light.  The first is Deathpoint.


Deathpoint
These guys are proof that you should never judge a book by it's cover.  Honestly, when I first heard the name "Deathpoint" the only thing I could think of was a cheesy, Swedish-metal, 80's wanna be band.  I was dreadfully wrong.

Hailing from Hamilton, Canada, these guys bring some true passion and talent to the stage... and they are just getting started!  Vocally I would compare them to System Of A Down, where as the musicality of the group is a classic Metal sound, complete with driving double kick pattern.  In particular, the song "Thirty Stitches" has a really long intro, much like Angels vs. Airwaves, if they were a metal act.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to my ears was the clarity in the growl. Let me clarify by saying that I love a good growl, but it's rare when you can actually understand what the growler is saying!

Sinister Album Cover
You can catch the group on their Canadian tour with chick-rockers, Kittie, if you live in the northern area of the U.S. Their album, Sinister is due out soon, but no exact date has been given yet. For now you can check the guys out by visiting their SoundCloud site, Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace pages.


Don't cry too many tears yet.. there is still one more post coming.  If you are a fan of Cinderella, you may like the next one.  If you are a Foo Fighters junkie (like me) then you are definitely going to want to read the next (last) post.

Until then...