Alternative Rock music reviews

No lead, oh that hurts; but these guys know how to make a song work. So, they get two stars for that. They get another star for originality---but I like the clean version. These tunes have a flow and they know when to pause and the drummer knows when things need to pick up and the vocals are harrowing. A solid effort but no lead, just metal-pedals and feedback-reverb. This is great, superb board music and song #4 Spitshine, will work at any fraternity party; and with strobe lights.No lead no rock but it moves and you can bang against something or someone. Buy this.

saliva is now the new next big band and this is one hell of a start. josey scott has one beautiful voice. the music is quite mixed. mostly on the heavy side but there is a mix of styles from punk to metal and some rap/hip hop influenced metal but always melodic and always good. i think saliva truly stand on their own as far as style. nobody sounds like them and they sound like no one. there are obvious influences but i think they mix it up well.

Saliva has been signed by Island Def Jam, and their new album, "Every Six Seconds", is scheduled to come out March 20, 2001! This is a really talented band, and they're going to be huge, so get this CD now!

I love Neil's compositions. I find him incredibly talented. A fan of slowdive and, especially mojave 3, I knew I was in for a treat!... And was not disappointed. It's different than his other songs with mojave ( and of course than the wall of sounds of slowdive), more intimate, simpler, but exceptional. It is nice to hear yet another side of Neil Halstead. I always love his voice also. The lyrics are intimate and deep. For me all the songs are withstanding many listenings.
It's so different from his other works, though, that I would expect some folks not to follow him in such simple music.

Un superbe album. Je le recommande fortement. Tr�s belles m�lodies, un album pour ''road trip''. Tr�s paisible, cet album vous fera certainement passer un tr�s bon moment.

This is, quite possibly, the most beautiful album I've ever heard. While there is nothing here that is past tense in any way, this album still takes me back to the early 70's and reminds me how I felt before I learned life can sometimes deal you something other than Aces & Queens.

If you like dense melodies, clean rythem with a little melancholy thrown in on the side from time to time. You'll love this album. There's not even one track that gets less than 5 stars.

If you're a Meshuggah-Dillinger Escape Plan-Strapping Young Lad fan looking for something that's in the same vein but a bit different, Burnt by the Sun may be the answer to your prayers. It's open to debate whether this album, their debut full-length, is their best release, as you can't go wrong with
any of them, but there's still no doubt that it's a convincing statement of this band's brilliance. Striking a balance between the full-speed sensory overload of BBTS's debut EP and the precision-metal attack of last year's masterful "The Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good," "Soundtrack" could be
viewed as a transitional album from a growing band, but it's much, much more than that. It's a stunning, creative classic in its own right, a full-length debut that immediately positioned BBTS as one of modern heavy music's leading bands.

Upon first listening to this album, what immediately comes to mind is just how utterly abrasive it is. Dispensing with any traces of melody or traditional song structure, "Soundtrack" is sonically violent enough to make ears bleed. The songs on here are pretty short, generally clocking in around the three-minute mark, but there's plenty of action packed in, as
each piece twists, writhes, and winds its way to its conclusion, with plenty of jarring tempo shifts lying in wait along the way. At times, "Soundtrack" sounds as though it could rend the very fabric of the atmosphere, and that's about the highest compliment that can be assigned to an album of its ilk. The album's frightening, oppressive mood is broken only by the closing track, the peaceful classical guitar etude "Rebecca." You might like this song, and you might not, but if you don't at least it's at the end of the
disc so you can hit the "skip" button and pretend it doesn't exist.

Leading the charge is Michael Olender, aptly described in the liner notes as the band's "vocal machine." Mike is easily one of the most skilled and innovative vocalists in all of heavy music, equipped with a throaty howl that makes him sound sort of like a deranged mental patient who's been
gargling with gravel. Even better yet, he's backed by the guitar pyrotechnics of John Adubato and Chris Rascio, an astoundingly skilled duo who mix their pounding chunks of riffage with plenty of dizzying fretboard wankery. Beneath the dense layers of guitar noise, the drumming of Dave
Witte can occasionally be buried somewhat, but a few extra listens should suffice to appreciate the added complexity that he brings to the band's sound.

So, that about sums it up. If you're looking for some crazed, offensive, scare-the-hell-out-of-everyone-you-know music, "Soundtrack" will more than fit the bill. And make sure to get BBTS's other releases as well. It seems these guys are going to be around a while.

Listining to my teacher and not being bored at all!Every song rocks the hell out of you leaving you asking where the f*ck your ears went?!By far a topnotch release by bbts. Own it!

There isn't to much to say about this except? It's realy , truly, beyond words can discribe heavy! Best songs ? 2.soundtrack to the worse movie ever

4. Boston tea bag party

8. famke

Just buy it for thos 3 tracks...Alright?!

Ghoti Hook was one heck of a band. This CD was probably one of their best. It was just awesome punk music (some serious, some funny). Banana man was good, but this CD definately tops it. I would highly recommend it to anybody.

Ghoti Hook. This is the best punk CD I have ever listened to. Hooks, riffs galore, it's intellegent, original, and funny. Great vocals, tight drums and original guitar and bass come together in a way rarely seen on a first album. I own hundreds of CD's, but this is one i still listen to often - even after owning it for several years. Not something I can say about 99% of the other CD's I own.

The most surprising thing about Sumo Surprise is that it was Ghoti Hook's first album. When this came out, very few punk bands demonstrated the technical skill they seemed to throw around so casually. MxPx, apparently considered by some to be a superior band, were still floundering with their first two releases, and even with Life In General still did not reach the level of musicianship that Ghoti Hook nailed their first shot.

These guys comprise one of the best bands to come down the pike in the last 10 years. This album is great fun, both lyrically and instrumentally. Still one of my favorites.

For the PWEI virigins, this is something that you have not heard before. It is a combination of rap and rock blended flawlessly into a medley of British quirkiness. Every song has a hook and none of them are forgetable. There is no filler on this album, every single song could be a single by itself. The music itself is not a specific genre, rather it draws from eclectic einfluences. Part of it is rap, part of it is rock, part of it is industrial, and part of it is metal. Samples weave in and out of the double vocal delivery, sang to the backdrop of drum machine Dr. Nightmare.
Threre is no way that I can explain the music, ultimately you have to experience it yourself.

This album ranks with De La Soul's first and Beasties' Paul's Boutique... and "Pump up the Volume" as a sampling Masterpiece. It's from an era where music could, if it was good enough, make you feel like you were bouncing between satellites, maybe high on something yet discovered. A brilliant album for the dawn of home satellites or for the end of the world... whatever. PWEI says "bring it on" full speed and with vigor. What a shame all the sampling lawyers had to step into this great musical genre, in which PWEI hit the hardest. They're just amazing. Their "Cure for Sanity" is probably as good, but takes repeated listens to grasp. "This is the Day" grabs your labels and shakes from the first listen, first beat.

White boy Brit rap melded with a hard rock/punkish edge(almost Run DMCish with heavier emphasis on the riffage), loaded with pop cult samples,party philosophy, and a must hear recounting of James Brown's legendary police chase. Buy this and dance until your can falls off, cracker.

This is a great CD when you're feeling mellow or slightly sad. Nonetheless, the lyrics still have bite, which keeps it one step above the rest. It doesn't push, but is very subtle and understated. For this reason it lives on as a classic, after all the other fads of music have passed on by. You have to hear it.

After hearing Tindersticks' debut album, I thought there was no way that the band could equal or surpass that masterpiece with any subsequent album. When I bought this sometime later, I maintained that opinion until I sat down and really listened to it.
Tindersticks II continues in the same vein mined by the first album: sadness, loneliness, confusion, and alienation abound.
Though I do not care for the whispery style of a couple of the cuts which make them hard to decipher, Tindersticks II is packed with the kind of morose, bittersweet, and melancholy songs that might have some ready to take the gas pipe, but that put me into an attitude of introspection and calm reflection on the vagaries of love and life. The "duende" in the music is palpable and that "duende" is what makes this such a masterful and unforgettable recording. And Stuart Staples' deep, rich and sensitive voice is the perfect vehicle for communicating that "duende".
My favorites include the spare and somber Tiny Tears with its lonely, soulful organ, the driving Snowy In F# Minor (so reminiscent of Arthur Lee), the instrumentals Vertrauen II and III, the spirited Talk to Me, the regretful No More Affairs, the lilting She's Gone, and the mournful Mistakes.
Also important is a fine duet featuring Stuart Staples and Carla Torgerson on Travelling Light, a tale of separation and recrimination.
Tindersticks II is a powerful recording that has earned a spot in my heavy rotation. I highly recommend this CD to any music fans who like a touch of darkness in their music. The only negative is the lack of lyrics with the liner notes. Check it out, Tindersticks won't disappoint you.

Has it really been ten years? Almost. What is sure is the fact this record is one of the most underrated, underapreciated and flat-out overlooked record our time. Music this beautiful, haunting, at times overbearingly depressing will always dwell far beneath the public eye, and while elitist, is part of what gives Tindersticks their charm. Very much like the mysterious gentleman or lady in the rear of the bar, down, yet dapper and collected, on the verge of tears, this music at first can seem quite unaproachable. For those of us who allowed ourselves to be immersed in the layers of somberness and calculated, delicate orhestrations, this has proven to be one of the most constantly rewarding records of our generation. Somewhere between Leonard Cohen's dense tales of loss, hope and regret, Isaac Hayes 70's soul string and horn arrangements and Miles Davis' penchant for coolness and restraint, this is soul music not borne out of troubled times in the 60's south, this is soul music for the insecure urbanites wallowing in a sea of self-doubt,prescription drugs and dark uptown bars right before closing time. Never again did the Tindersticks ever sound so glum, so brilliant and so on top of a world that was never quite ready for them, or just not willing to accept in them a part of themselves they would rather keep buried deep in the shadows of their subconcious past, a place the Tindersticks and their fans know all too well.

This was Stereolab at its peak. A synthesis of sexy 60's pop culture noise, Neu-esque drone rock, and Jean Jacques Perrey's space age pop, with a 90's indie rock bend. This cd was my intro to stereolab in 1993 and it is their most memorable and rewarding in the end.
"Tone Burst" is a perfect example of a kind of cheeky 60's french pop thing with its droney vintage analog bleeps and Laetitia Sadier's sexy vocals gliding over the background in a manner that even touches upon "The Gift" by the VU. " Pack Yr Romantic mind" has that bossa thing going on for the first time in Stereolab's sound. "Im going out of my way" is an upbeat 60's rave up that ends with this cool experimental analog noise. "Jenny ondioline" is like a homage to NEU! clocking around 17 minutes of Sonic Youth-y, shoegazer-ish drone rock. If you can find it, there is a limited edition single for Jenny Ondioline that has a 3:51 edit of Jenny O and 3 rockin B-sides, most notably "French Disko", which later appeared in another version on Switched on Vol 2 on Drag City Records.
Any way you look at it this period of Sterolab was my favorite, and this cd is a great introduction to Sterolab's genius. It may even be the best, most consistent snapshot we'll ever see from Stereolab.

I just feel a fondness and simplicity with sound and ideology that seems more integrated on this album. "To compose, Decompose, and recompose...de ma paresse". PAUSE is an incredibly blissful indulgence in sound and lyricism, haunting the texture of historic knowledge with emotion (just my take). Warm analogue music, ironically categorized as electronica/avant garde. If you don't know Stereolab, you are missing out!

If Stereolab made videogames instead of music, this would be Mario 2. It's the oddball, the one that doesn't fit right in snugly with the others (even in its own time frame). But it's up there with the best of them.
Following Peng's humble melodies, this is the only Stereolab album that actually sounds like the nineties. As with Peng, the music is heavily distorted (grainier, but mixed more professionally), but on this album, even the vocals get distorted and we even get to hear the two of them raise their voices from time to time, if only seldom. Much of this album focuses on white noise that builds up as songs continue on, rather than have a crescendo (some songs have great crescendos too, though). Jenny Ondioline (part of which comes from the "Exploding Head Movie" b-side) is an 18 minute track comprised of likely no more than five chords--it is the buildup of white noise that keeps this song interesting, and it really is a great song.
If you're a Stereolab fan who hasn't yet heard this album, but has heard everything else, you are bound to be shocked. It's loud, it's noisy, it's so...nineties. Songs like "Golden Ball" and "Our Trinitone Blast" will dispel your idea of Stereolab being constantly boppy and overtly happy. There are some really dark tracks on this album! The last track, "Lock-Groove Lullaby" is probably the darkest on the album.
I love Stereolab and I love this album. It's not as good as Mars Audiac Quintet, but what is? Every single song on this is great music to just space out to and contemplate the day. It's weird, it's amusing, it's frightening, and it's the ballsiest move by this groop in the first half of their career. Give it a spin. This one's worth checking out, Stereolab fan or not.

There is something so very wrong with the world when Weird Al Yankovic and Puff Daddy (on much the same level of musical talent) make millions and more in the music industry and a talented band like RO gets nothing. I am a huge fan of these guys and probably saw 30+ shows over a period of 4-5 years and I'm deeply saddened that they broke up. They have such an original sound, an odd fusion of funk/ska/rap/rock you name it, they're so good it makes my teeth sweat. Sadly, this means nothing in the cookie cutter world of modern music, it's a matter of who can scream the loudest (though Dave Gutter could shriek...) or who's the skankiest of them all (hello Spears and Aguilera!), not a matter of actual talent. Our music is lowest common denominator, what will hypnotize the largest amount of people into buying...bleh. Love Underground, Girl Germs, Iron Boots, Long Division, the list could go on. The band had incredible range, a lead singer with some serious mojo and a great presence.

Best of luck to the guys in RO from the kid in the Yankee hat at every show on the east coast. Cheers.

I've been listening to RO for about four years now and have yet to hear a band to rival their sound. Viva Nueva will stand as their going away album as the band broke up at the end of 2002, they will be missed. This album offers listeners a look at the growth Rustic has undergone in their eight years together. "C'Mon" remains their first major label single and MTV video but the driving beat of "Combustable" holds a place as my favorite song on the album and one of my favorite RO songs in general. If you can track them down, check out some of Rustic's earlier stuff or catch a show by the two new bands formed by former members, Paranoid Social Club and Roctopus. To sum up, get this album, get other Rustic Overtones albums and zone out to great music.

Viva Rustic!

When I first heard "C'Mon" on WEQX in Vermont, I remember thinking, "Wow, these guys are good, I should get this". I did and if you do too, you won't be disappointed! The reason I'm writing this review at 12:30am instead of going to bed is because this is a truly unique, musically versatile CD. It delivers enough great songs to be a `best of' collection, unlike the normal 3 good songs that should have waited for a few more before the CD was made. Go ahead. Add it to the cart now so I can go to bed...

I got this CD for $1.95 on a clearance rack, and I can tell you it wasn't worth even that little of money. Frankly, I was completely unimpressed with this album. The guitar playing was OK, nothing amazing, but the lyrics were the most boring words I have ever heard. I have to agree with Jason, the only other reviewer who gave this less than 5 stars. Do the other reviewers not care what the band is singing? Unless AM Radio comes up with a lot more creativity, I don't think they're going anywhere soon. I wouldn't waste your money on this tasteless, boring album, but hey almost all the other reviewers gave it 5 stars so maybe it's just me who cares about what the band is saying.

There have been many times in the past where I'll use this site to explore similar artists to ones that I know and love, and take a chance on unfamiliar artists if I can find the CD for a cheap enough price. This was the case with the band, AM Radio and their debut "Radioactive". Comparisons of this band were made by other reviewers to the excellent band, Rooney, and unanimous 5 star reviews made me believe that this band would blow me away. So it was an utmost shock to me that this release was just incredibly bland. I've certainly heard worse, but there is nothing going on with this album that makes me agree with everyone else. The songs are horribly simplistic, the hooks aren't impressive, the vocals are weak and trite, and the lyrics don't even reach Blink-182 level (another band that I'm not entirely fond of). I'm not going to let this rare occasion keep me from taking chances on discovering new bands based on others' positive feedback, but it's certainly going to make me download select tracks before making another blind purchase. I'm predicting that this band will not make another record, and will land in the heap of mediocre and rightfully forgotten bands like Nerf Herder and Loud Lucy (in other words, the $1 bin at your local CD store).

I totally loved this entire CD! Few bands come along with cds that you can honestly say every last song is great. Its got an awesome mix of rock, alternative and even a little indie all rolled into one. Weezer even calls itself a mega fan of Am radio. One downside about this kickass band is the are ulterly impossible to find online for tour dates and more info. But we can all change that! BUY the CD, it rocks!
~~AM Radio lover~~~

Primus seems to split so many opinions.

My own is that this is a weird recording by a bunch of guys who are seriously into what they are doing. How many other bands could put out stuff like John the Fisherman and Groundhog Day. This is great stuff in terms of being challenging listening, it certainly won't ever make an appearance on an easy listening station!

Bass heavy as you would expect - though the drums are also prominent and the production is fine, no problems with the fact that this is a live offering. All Primus fans should buy this, the reason I give it only three stars is that it is hard for the newcomer to get into. Perhaps one of the studio albums would be a better intro to this interesting band. Otherwise you may feel like you've wandered into a party where everyone is talking a different language to you!

Certainly different.

I'm not a primus fan obviously, or at least a "true" fan by any means. But, I do have a liking for this album. John the Fisherman is my favorite Song on this, and I only like the live version of it on this album. Didn't like it on the other album, frizzle fry I think it was, could be wrong. Vocals are so funny, the minute I turn on the album, I can't but laugh at claypool's vocals. They CAN'T be taken seriously, this band has a big joking manner. But a serious note about the band is the bass playing of Claypool which most people know him by. I give the other members credit too of course, they play good music. Overall, 3 stars for me. Not a primus fanatic.

Energy. What a great vibe. The audience on this live album is having a time of their lives. The chemistry is just as good as it gets on this record. One reviewer called this a "challenging" listen. To find it "challenging" would mean to ignore the feeling - to ignore the feeling is to cease living. This album is so charged they'll just come and get you, you don't have to do a thing.