Review: The Comforts - Come On In!

The Comforts - Come On In!
2009, The Comforts

Cincinnati, Ohio’s The Comforts don’t play the typical Rock N Roll game; it’s not sex, drugs, and party-party-party for this quintet, but good, old fashioned Rock music with broad appeal that saves the day. You can find them anywhere from a biker bar to church festivals, with smiles from both crowds. The Comforts’ debut album, Come On In!, reflects this aesthetic, with influences ranging from 1950’s pop to 1970’s Rock/Metal bands like Rush.

Come On In! opens with Better Reasons, a relatively straight forward Pop/Rocker with it's lineage in 1960's girl groups and pop idols like Brenda Lee. The mix on this song is a bit muddy, with the vocals sounding very restricted in the presented mix. Never Look Back runs on a guitar riff that might have been inspired by Alex Liefson. The song itself is a pleasant listen and a call for community. The vocals are shared here between Paul Lake and Frances Lynn Merke; both are competent in their parts but don’t set the world on fire. Love Around You takes on folks who have real-world responsibilities but continue to act like they are young and unfettered. The arrangement here is messy, particularly around the vocal harmonies; a case where the message is great but the delivery is unfortunately less than spectacular. Small Town Girl hearkens back to the early days of Rock N Roll and is my personal favorite from the EP. Circles Never End has an urgent, even pushy feel to it that's just a might infectious. The arrangement will get stuck in your head, although the melody line is a bit non-descript. Come On In! closes out with You're That Girl, a messy but fun romp

The Comforts stick to the sound they know best on Come On In! The EP didn't blow me away, but had a couple of good moments. I don't know what the long term prospects are for The Comforts, but it will be interesting to see where they go next.

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about The Comforts at www.myspace.com/thecomfortsrock. You can purchase a copy of Come On In! on CD or as a download at www.cdbaby.com/cd/comforts.

Review: If You Will - Above The Earth

If You Will - Above The Earth
2009, If You Will

Mahtomedi, Minnesota's If You Will is back with Above The Earth, a five-song EP that serves as a follow-up to 2007's Flight Plan. Seth Lienard (bass, vox), Aaron Rosell (drums, piano, vocals) and Stefan Swanson (guitars, vox) bring five highly personal and emotional rockers on Above The Earth, showing significant growth both musically and lyrically over their debut album. For a band where all members are currently either nineteen or twenty years old, If You Will is maturing quickly into the sort of band that not only has a lot to say but can (and play) it well. Writing primarily from both Christian and Secular perspectives, If You Will manages to create music that is magical and refuses to be pigeonholed into one genre or type.

Above The Earth opens with Satellite, a song about the divisions that carve up humanity and their real source. The song has a vaguely spiritual way but deals with war and peace and reality of the space that exists between peoples and cultures. Ragnarok finds If You Will speculating on the end times in a heavy, guitar driven tune that finds a sense of peace within its own story line. Chloroform & Games is written from the perspective of an abused child. Message-wise it's a powerful song, although the musical development of the song may have been checked a bit by an urge to get the message right, as there are a few awkward moments in the song. If You Will breaks out some serious Blues licks for Time, exhorting listeners to stop worrying about things that do not matter and live their lives. Time finds If You Will hitting on all eight cylinders with four minutes of near-perfection. Above The Earth closes out with Saboteur, a relationship song about being with someone who so completely takes over a relationship they destroy what they love. It's a powerful song; extremely well-written and lyrically dense. If You Will chose the perfect closer here; a song that could easily be a Rock hit and has elements of 1970's classic rock mixed hand-in-hand with Funk and Modern Rock.

If You Will is a special outfit. It's unusual to hear a trio these days create such a full and textured sound as these guys, and the song-writing is generally outstanding. Perhaps what is most significant is that even when If You Will misses with a song it still tends to be highly listenable (just not up to their usual standard). If I were a betting man I'd say If You Will is destined for great things. Their relatively young ages, displayed development and baseline ability speak of a long career full of significant success. For now, If You Will continues to build on a regional following that is not inconsequential while writing great songs that wend their way through a maze of secular and spiritual issues. Oh yeah, and did I mention they rock, too? Make sure you check out Above The Earth. You'll be glad you did.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about If You Will at http://www.ifyouwill.net/ or www.myspace.com/iyw. You can purchase Above The Earth as either a CD or download at www.cdbaby.com/cd/ifyouwill2.

Review: People - The Cliché

People - The Cliché
2009, PAS2 Productions

Have you ever listened to a band's CD and just known from the outset that they had fun making that record? That's the first impression I got listening to People's The Cliché. The Los Angeles band has been headlining top venues in LA and all along the west coast for the past two years and the buzz, which began as word of mouth rivulets, is set to explode. With production by Dave Jerden (Jane's Addiction, Alice In Chains, Mary's Danish) and Engineering by Bryan Carlstrom (Billy Idol, The Offspring), People took no chances with The Cliché; undoubtedly one of the most exciting Pop/Rock releases of the year thus far. Add to this the fact that The Cliché was bassist Gidget Gein's (Marilyn Manson) swan song and you have an EP full of great music, intrigue and not a little magic.

The Cliché opens with Song For The People, a danceable Rock song in the best 1980's tradition. Vocalist/guitarist Jimmy Young sounds like a cross between Escape Club's Trevor Steel and Corey Hart, alternately soaring and pouting through the vocal lines in a tradition with lineages in the heyday of Glam Rock. The EP's first single, The Kids, has already gotten some attention nationally for both the song and accompanying video. It's a sophisticated anthem of rebellion that smacks a bit too much of the album title, but is still enjoyable for all of that. Cheap Money plays with some tasty guitar riffs descended from Jimmy Page and takes on materialism and the culture of cities like Los Angeles. Young Luv is notable for the guitar work but the song itself didn't really make a big impression on me. The EP closes out with Tune In Turn On And Drop Out, a great Pop/Rock tune with real commercial bite. This may be the best song craft on the album and is a great closer.

People bring tremendous energy and a sense of fun to The Cliché, turning in a performance that's practically guaranteed to transform them from a regional powerhouse to a band with national name recognition. The only question is where they'll fit in a segmented media market where genres have become so insular and proprietary that few people even know what they mean anymore. People is an exciting band with a sound that's perfect for the stage, and an ability to craft big Rock songs with enough Pop sensibility to have labels lining up to speak with them. The Cliché is an incredible warning shot from People. If we're lucky, there will be more.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about People at http://www.peoplerock.us/ or www.myspace.com/peoplerock. As of publication no on-line outlets could be found to purchase The Cliché, whether digital or traditional. Keep checking People’s MySpace page for availability.

Review: Buckfast Superbee - Turn Of The Radio Age

Buckfast Superbee - Turn Of The Radio Age
2008, Walking Records

San Diego favorites Buckfast Superbee are coming for your hearts and minds on their sophomore CD, Turn Of The Radio Age. Their 2006 self-titled debut made a name for Buckfast Superbee, with song placements in Midway's MLB Slugfest (XBox & Playstation) as well as in the movie Heroes For A Day. Their debut rose to #2 on college radio charts, keeping pace with releases from the likes of Green Day and Modest Mouse. On Turn Of The Radio Age, Buckfast Superbee maintains the hard edge rock feel and delicious hooks that have made them the darlings of the aggregate SoCal Rock N Roll scene.

Turn Of The Radio Age opens with the title track, a brief prologue that mixes bleakness with beauty before crashing through into The Heavy Persuader, a driving modern rock anthem built on great hooks and a highly infectious melody. Denigration As An Art takes the three minute Pop/Punk song and raises it to the same lofty heights. Vocalist Timothy Joseph leaves it all on the CD in a song that soars and careens right into its closing notes. Buckfast Superbee takes on an almost 1980's aesthetic in Proficiency Breeds Modernization. The melody and arrangement ring true in a song about the downside (or downsize) of progress.

Gibralter examines the art of selling out, where an artists music becomes more about the meal ticket than the muse. Tilt-O-Whirl is a tremendous, high energy rocker consumed with the dichotomy of being a working/traveling musician and having a personal life. Buckfast Superbee is super tight here as always, and the song takes on a life of its own. Buckfast Superbee goes into something of a slumber in the middle of Turn Of The Radio Age before turning the lights on again with Spirit Of The Underachiever, a virulently melodic Punk rocker that will rattle around inside your brain for days. The album closes out with Pitch Vs. Rotation, starting out as a high repressed arrangement before blooming into big minor triad harmonies built over a plodding melody line. Pitch Vs. Rotation contrasts well as a slower song compared to tunes such as Automatic, By The Way Of The Valley and SPF 638.

Buckfast Superbee shines on the harder-edge; Punker tunes on Turn Of The Radio Age, and falters a bit on the slow material (with the exception of Pitch Vs. Rotation). Buckfast Superbee is ready for prime time as a Rock band, but it would be nice to hear them bring the energy that drives them through the faster and harder material into the down-tempo material. Buckfast Superbee will succeed as they are, but if they can make that transition no one will stop them.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Buckfast Superbee at http://www.buckfastsuperbee.com/ or www.myspace.com/buckfastsuperbee. You can purchase Turn Of The Radio Age as either a CD or download at www.cdbaby.com/cd/buckfastsuperbee2.

Review: Willy Porter - How To Rob A Bank

Willy Porter - How To Rob A Bank
2009, Weasel Records

Willy Porter is one of those musicians who mostly avoided the pitfalls of pop success by refusing to play the marketing game and staying true the maverick nature of his muse. As a performer and songwriter, however, Porter is so talented that even refusing to go along with the mores of the moment he occasionally nails popular tastes to the wall and clips a chart or two. Porter's greatest adulation and respect have always come from fellow musicians; folks who really know and understand what it takes to craft the sort of elemental songs that make up Porter's catalog. Willy Porter's latest CD, How To Rob A Bank, is an intelligently stylistic album formed from the raw clay of Americana, Folk and Blues. You'll hear names like Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie brought up when talking about Willy Porter. The comparisons are apropos.

How To Rob A Bank opens with Learning The Language, a down-tempo Country/Folk tune about emotional maturity. The arrangement here is superb, matching a lyrical acumen that's distinctive ("Yeah I'm learnin', pain comes too quick and wisdom comes too slow"). Colored Lights has a very restrained feel to it, and the lush arrangement gives the whole song a very distant feel, like an experience through a looking glass. I Didn't Bring It Up is a song about starting over. The sense of movement in the song matches the sense of dislocation upon losing a long term relationship, yet the vocal harmonies solidify and ease the listener (and presumably the protagonist).

Hard Place extols the costs of war as scene across three generations. The chorus here is something of a dream-come-true, based in Blues and Folk. Wide Open Mind reminds me a bit of early work of The Black Crowes. Porter's creation is offered in a delicious Blues/Rock arrangement that will stick with you for days. Porter thoroughly outdoes himself on How To Rob A Bank. The song is topical, sounding like a blueprint for the Bernie Madoff scandal; Porter has crafted an intelligent and accessible diatribe against greed and human nature using wit, artistic tenor and a panache that would please fans of Arlo Guthrie. Similarly on Psychic Vampire, Porter captures the essence of someone we've all known at some point in our lives in song. How To Rob A Bank closes out with Barefoot Reel, a down-tempo tune with a melody you could buy a decent loft apartment in lower Manhattan with.

Willy Porter is a distinctive talent; an outsider so good and so true to who he is that the center gravitates toward him. How To Rob A Bank is Porter's best work to date. Expect How To Rob A Bank to dominate year end lists in critical circles, and garner Porter a lot of exposure along the way. This is a special album; a Wildy's World Certified Desert Island Disc. Make sure you check it out.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Willy Porter at www.willyporter.com or www.myspace.com/willyporter. You can purchase a copy of How To Rob A Bank at Amazon.com, or download the album from iTunes.

Review: Alan Semerdjian - The Big Beauty

Alan Semerdjian - The Big Beauty
2009, Alan Arts Music

Alan Semerdjian has created a circle with his music where life feeds art and art feeds life. As the front man for New York City band Surreal for most of the 1990’s, Semerdjian toured the East Coast of the United State many times over, sharing the stage with a who’s who of bands and artists and writing music that still gets used periodically for television and movies. These days, Semerdjian is on his own, playing a quirky brand of Alt-Pop mixed with Americana. And I wouldn’t say he’s entirely on his own, as Semerdjian collaborates with an impressive list of friends (including Jen Chapin, Daniel Carter, Nick Gianni and Chris Barron (Spin Doctors)). Semerdjian’s latest release, The Big Beauty, encompasses all of the melodic and lyric charms fans have become accustomed to in a slightly more refined package. The Big Beauty is produced by Rilo Kiley's Michael Bloom, and features Franz Nicholay (Hold Steady), Chris Kuffner (Ingrid Michaelson, Regina Spektor), Dave Diamond (Zen Trickers) and Philip A. Jimenez (Wheatus) among others.

The Big Beauty opens with Your Love, a distinctive melody wrapped in gorgeous harmonies and an Americana-Pop arrangement you won't be able to get out of your brain. This leads into I Can't Tell You How; strong active Americana-Rock that reminds me of what you might hear if Ron Hawkins were ever to jam with the likes of Blue Rodeo. Semerdjian has a couple of WOW moments on The Big Beauty, and the first one arrives three songs in. Bad Dreams is an amazing take on loving someone who is perhaps not emotionally stable. Lyrically, musically and vocally this song is flawless. You Can Run finds Semerdjian taking a Chris Isaak turn with a beautiful yet melancholy tale.

Hole In Your Home is highly textured in arrangement and equally emotive. The two distinctly percussive natures (one literal, the other emotional) come together to create a powerful moment in song. The sometimes shadowing and sometimes juxtaposed natures of these two rhythms seem to echo relationships as the members fall in and out of sync repeatedly over time. Semerdjian rips off the roof on Everything (She's Still The Best). Fans of early Skydiggers/Cash Brothers will listen to this with distinct joy. Semerdjian dishes out a bit of sleight of hand here, opening with a prologue that speaks to his Armenian heritage before slowly transitioning into a driving folk/country arrangement that won't allow you to sit still. Stephanie is a love song that takes a disastrous turn. Keep your game face on, as the lyrics will get a smile out of your before they're done.

Melody combines elements of Jazz, Funk and Blues in a tune that is alternately pensive and busy (perhaps at times too much so). This is a great listen, but does border on becoming too muddy at moments. When There Was Something Wrong With You is the other real WOW moment on The Big Beauty. Semerdjian has crafted an arrangement you won't want to end. This is true ear candy. AM Radio changes pace with a full, multi-layered sound wrapped around an unforgettable melody that's very much down tempo.

Alan Semerdjian has one of those voices you could listen to all day. Take care you don't get so into his voice that you miss on out on the wonderful musicianship, distinctive lyrical style and songwriting that comprise The Big Beauty. Alan Semerdjian has been a critical favorite for a long time, and carries a lot of respect from fellow musicians, but its baffling how he hasn't broken through into the social conscience of a music scene crying for talent like this. The Big Beauty is required listening from an essentially talent. Make sure you spend some time with Alan Semerdjian soon.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Alan Semerdjian at http://www.alanarts.com/, http://www.alansemerdjian.com/ or www.myspace.com/semerdjian. The Big Beauty hits the street on September 1, 2009. You can purchase a copy of The Big Beauty at www.cdbaby.com/cd/semerdjian2, or you can download the album from iTunes.

Review: Golden Bloom - Fan The Flames

Golden Bloom - Fan The Flames
2009, The Sleepy West

Shawn Fogel is, for all intents and purposes, Golden Bloom. The next time you catch Golden Bloom live there will be a traditional band on stage, but on Fan The Flames (August 18, 2009), Golden Bloom's latest CD, Fogel played all instruments and sang all vocals. Fan The Flames finds Fogel turning his songwriter's eye outward, breaking from his past full of relationship songs to tunes about the world around him. Produced by Peter Katis (The National, Interpol), Fan The Flames sets up Golden Bloom for a very good 2009.

Fan The Flames opens with E.H.M., a bit of guitar power-pop at its finest. This is a great tune for commercial radio, playable at Country, Americana and Pop/Rock outlets. Fan The Flames seems to deal with human nature, greed and a desire to set things to rights. Doomsday Devises is a whimsical and vaguely disturbing tune about using ultimate measures to gain your means. She Leaves Me Poetry is a gorgeous song about a relationship you can't live without but which you can not survive. Fogel shows a distinctive talent for lyrics here; prodigious enough to match his penchant for unmistakable and infectious melodies.

Dead Petals takes on a Beatles/McCartney-esque feel, with a melody the lads from Liverpool would be happy to have written. If You Believe is a delicious bit of Americana/Pop that will get stuck in your brain and stay there. My favorite song on the disc (at the moment) is Theme For An Adventure At Sea. There's something about the melody and the driving nature of the song that makes it difficult to get out of your head. Be sure also to check out The Mountainside Says and the last track, called Untitled.

Golden Bloom isn't the sort of project that is likely to get a lot of popular radio play, but that may simply be a sign of the high quality of the music on Fan The Flames. Like Wilco before them, Golden Bloom creates a sound that is accessible and poppy without selling out their vision of what the music should be. Fan The Flames is a significant release, worthy of your attention and time.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Golden Bloom at www.myspace.com/thegoldenbloom or http://www.goldenbloom.net/. Fan The Flames hits the street on August 18, 2009. Keep checking Golden Bloom’s website for more information.