Album Reviews
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Album Review: Artificial Agent-Brain Grenade (Score=100% )
By Alexis Simpson We first saw this band perform when opening for Steel Panther. Since then, we’ve spotted Derek enjoying rock shows at venues such as Small’s and Royal Oak Music Theatre. Also, you may have spotted his brother on Instagram with a deluge of photos of his new bride-Congrats! They released their new CD a few months ago, so we wanted to see what it was all about and relay our first impression of the album. Members Derek Jendza Mike Elgert Brad Jendza Karl Crafton https://twitter.com/ArtificialAgen1 https://www.facebook.com/artificialagentdetroit REVIEW 1. Master Blaster: Catchy and simple with great guitar work! 🙂 2. Brain Grenade: Fuzzy sounding, slower tempo song about love gone bad. Strong instrumental intro and…
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Album Review: Stars In Stereo Self Titled Album (Score=82%)
By Alexis Simpson We stumbled across the band “Stars In Stereo” when they opened for Drowning Pool and Flyleaf at St. Andrew’s Hall earlier this year. New female-fronted rock bands are fairly rare, and we wanted to support and share today’s new release of Stars In Stereo. Click HERE to stream. This is a good first effort from Stars In Stereo-a step in the right direction. The group is radio-friendly, marketable, and the AP Mag/Warped audience will latch on quickly. Here is my first impression/track by track review! Let us know what you think of the album. Members: Bec Hollcraft – Vocals Jordan McGraw – Lead Guitar Justin Siegel –…
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Album Review-Jamaican Queens-Wordfood (Score-111%)
Genre-Alt/Indie Rock, INdie Electronic, Indie Pop, Neo-Psychedelia My biggest critique of this album is that I wish there were a few more tracks. MORE! I WANT MORE! Jamaican Queens, when not touring, are out on the town checking out fellow Detroit musicians’ sets. (Read their Twitter HERE, it’s entertaining:) Their sound is indeed their own, and makes me proud that a group from the Detroit are is putting out something so original, moody, smart and stylish. Here is my first impression review: 1. Water-I love this song. I can’t really imagine liking another song so much this year. I proclaim this the Song of the Year woo woo, and I…
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Album Review: Ghost Vapors “The Valley of Ashes” (Score=91%)
By Alexis Simpson Ghost Vapors is a musical project formed by Brad Jendza and Steve Swanson. Brad was kind enough to send me a copy of their album, The Valley of Ashes, and I am quite pleased that he did. Overall, I really enjoyed the album and added it to my mass of music that I listen to on a daily basis. Furthermore, Brad Jendza is a joy to watch live so I’m always open to listening to his musical projects. Great original work! Here is my first impressions track by track review. Find it on iTunes HERE 1. Hang Up Your Guns-Any song that talks about “choking on mastodons”…
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Album Review: The Rose Cult “Welcome to the Rose Cult” (Score=100%)
By Alexis Simpson The Rose Cult band reached out to me to check out some of their new material, and I’m so glad I did! They too, like my current obsession, Jamaican Queens, possess that crazy-cool Detroit vibe that makes me want to head downtown and vibe with the city. I love their sound, and want to help spread the word about what they are doing. Check out my first impressions review of their album Welcome to the Rose Cult. There was absolutely NOTHING to not like about this album. I’m gonna buy it. Check out the streaming album here: http://christopherpratt.bandcamp.com. Genre: Psychedelia Andrew Maslowskly – Lead/Vocals C.N. Pratt – Rhythm/Vocals…
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Album Review: Hell Or Highwater Premiere New Album, “Begin Again” (SCORE 86%)
Hell Or Highwater was in Detroit January 25th, when they opened for The Darkness. We got the chance to preview their new album, Begin Again, and wanted to share our first impressions of each track. For those that don’t know, Hell or Highwater was founded by Brandon Saller, the drummer/vocalist for Cali rock band, Atreyu. You can preview the album on Revolver’s site: http://www.revolvermag.com/news/exclusive-hell-or-highwater-premiere-new-album-begin-again.html You can order the album here! 1. Gimme Love-Sold opener. Love song about a guy who loves a girl. Nothing not to like. Simple. 2. Hail Mary-This song is also directed at a girl, except the love has gone wrong. I like this one a little better…
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Review: Bassnectar in 2012 (Score 91%)
Last week we were supposed to attend the Bassnectar show in Detroit, but got assigned to cover Madonna last minute so we figured we would take photos after the Madonna show. Security wouldn’t let us bring our cam in that late so we were bummed, but judging from all the drunk people outside of the Fillmore and in the lobby, a good time was had by all. So instead of photos from the show, we made a Spotify playlist of all of Bassnectar’s 2012 released tracks on Spotify and wrote down our first impressions of each song. Also, congrats to Bassnectar for being listed on Rolling Stone’s list of “The…
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Album Review: Aaron Lewis “The Road” (Score 90% )
Aaron Lewis, frontman of Staind has made a significant impact in the alternative rock space. All signs point towards a successfully leap into the country realm as well. His 2011 debut EP made it to spot #1 of the Billboard’s Country Sales Chart. Debut single “Country Boy” went gold and earned him multiple award nominations. His new album The Road is scheduled to be released on November 13th. In fact, Aaron Lewis credits Kid Rock with helping him to re-explore country music back when he first toured with Kid Rock in 1999. Perhaps this calls for a Kid Rock collaboration in the future?! We had the opportunity to preview the new…
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Album Review: Larry and His Flask “Hobo’s Lament” (Score 92%)
By Mitch Planamento At first glance, the cover of Larry and His Flask’s six songs EP, Hobo’s Lament, looks like Jack Nichloson is flipping you off—which would be hilarious if it was actually him. Moving past that, half of this six song EP is made up of older songs (“Closed Doors”, “My Name is Cancer” and “Swing”). Although it would be preferable to have more than half the songs be new, the older songs do add to this overall wonderful work of intense prose hopped up on speed, dreams and ironically played music. LAHF do not disappoint with their consistent style of smoking strings plucked to the point of breaking,…
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Check Out Slightly Stoopid! (Concert Photos & Album Review) Score 81%
Slightly Stoopid drew us in when they opened for 311. They played a long set that impressed the laid back and fun-loving Detroit crowd. They are a groovy group of white boy reggae masters with an impressive backup band. Their performance made us want to check out their new album. Here are our first Impressions of Top of the World and concert photos from their performance last month. One of the band members was making eyes at me, can you guess who?:) 1. Top of the World-Solid intro song 2. Don’t Stop-Makes me want to go back to Jamaica. 3. Devil’s Door-Muffled sound, good bass line 4. Serious Man-Nice bouncy…
