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Tag: Music Review

  • AFI: Fainting Spells Review

    crash love

    Every week I’m going to try and review a track that a signed band or artist is giving anyway for free. More and more artists are using this as a promotional tool in advance of a major release, all for your email address being added to their mailing list.

    That’s exactly what AFI (A Fire Inside) have done ahead of the release of their new new album Crash Love which is being released on September 29 in the United States.

    What do I know about AFI? Absolutely nothing

    Looking at the band’s bio on their site, I’m shocked that they have been together 18 years and this will be their eighth studio album. The Bay Area band went to number one with their last album DecemberUnderground and sold nearly 200000 units in its first week, not bad going at all.. Why haven’t we heard more of these guys on this side of the Atlantic or have I been asleep?

    afi

    Back to the track at hand ‘Fainting Spells’, starts with acoustic guitar and vocals reminiscent of Brian Moloko of Placebo and Morten Harket from Aha.

    Full electric kicks in for the chorus, in a rock style that wouldn’t be out of place alongside Lost Prophets but the track has a little something more than your average punkrock song as the track moves between acoustic and full rock through verse chorus verse. Some clever programming provides an interesting breakdown.

    The Morten Harket influence ? Melody in the pre chorus isn’t that unlike Aha’s Stay On These Roads (which I haste to add isn’t something I would hold against them.. 2 thumbs up!)

    Free Music – always good! Great Free Music – Even Better!

    I’ll be checking out the album.

    Download Fainting Spells for Free from http://www.veronicasawyer.com

    Check out:
    www.afireinside.net
    www.myspace.com/afi

    Images from the band’s website

  • Mark Conway: Steal The First Light Review

    markconway

    I did this for MusicReviewUnsigned when I get a direct link I will update.

    Mark Conway’s debut EP ‘Steal The First Light’ has just been released. Quite a nice little package it is too!

    What starts like it could be just another guy singing with a guitar turns into something quite sparkling, once the chorus starts on ‘Nothing Left To Do’, the fantastic layered harmonies take over.

    Conway’s vocal style is quite similar to John Mayer, not a bad thing, the upbeat ‘What I’ve been living for’ shows it off nicely.

    ‘Untold’ is a track, in the modern Americana/folk vein, not unlike something from the Dawson’s Creek soundtrack. Truthfully this song is good enough to have been on that soundtrack.

    Title track ‘Steal the First Light’, sees Conway back with his guitar. Vocals and Guitar let each other breathe in this track, allowing truthful lyrics to come to the fore.

    The uptempo ‘Gypsy Girl’ closes the EP. You can’t really ask for more from a debut. It’s well recorded and produced and the balance of where each track is, is just perfect.

    www.myspace.com/markconwaymusic

    5.5 out of 6

  • Rob Smith: Throwing It All Away Review

    rob smith

    When artist asks if you would like to review their album for your blog, it’s a bit of a kick but you also wonder if they are slightly cocky?

    Rob Smith has every right to be cocky. ‘Throwing It All Away’ is Rob’s debut and was released in 2008. He wears his influences on his sleeve, The Stone Roses, Oasis, the heros of 90’s Britpop and for a change its nice to see an artist more popular abroad than in his own native land.

    The album kicks off with an instrumental track called ‘The Jam’, nice introduction. Recorded and Produced by Colin Whelan, Conor O’Brien and Smith himself, its well recorded and mixed but occasionally the vocal levels could have been higher in the mix.

    Smith fits right into the Britpop genre, his voice is actually a nice surprise. ‘Soul Shaker’ seems to melt all Smith’s influences into his own perfect four minutes of swagger. Smith is consistent in his songwriting, with a nice variety of song structures throughout this debut.

    Standout tracks would be, along with ‘Soul Shaker’, ‘When Your Feet Were Dancing’. Honourable mention must also go to ‘Lasagne’, a hidden track at the end of the album where Smith shows off his sense of humour. Good ending!

    www.myspace.com/robsmithireland

    5 out of 6

    This also appeared on MusicReviewUnsigned Direct link HERE

  • Wishbone: Butterfly Review

    wishbone

    I did this for MusicReviewUnsigned when I get a direct link I will update.

    Butterfly is the debut album from Wishbone, a Dublin based rock act who are together since 2008. The band blend classic rock sounds with some grunge-ier elements.

    The album kicks off with ‘Waste’ an uptempo number, it’s good clean recording but it would help if the vocals were higher in the mix. Drop/Open tuning feature in ‘Tumbleweed’. A track that I think needs a little more direction instead of meandering along.

    Nineties grunge is quite apparent in ‘Blindman’, three tracks in and I think maybe a slight change in distorted guitar sound is needed. The band know how to work their vocal harmonies, as on ‘When Reality Becomes a Dream’, it maybe something they need to bring to the fore of their music a little more.

    The band have self produced their debut, perhaps an external producer would have added an extra sparkle. Putting an album out with the band is less than a year together is a bit of a gamble, although two have of the band have previously played together in other bands, it doesn’t really give time to build a following.

    The second half of the album pretty much follows as the first half did. The band are no doubt good musicians, I think the help of an outside producer on this album would have given the band an extra hand up the ladder.

    http://www.myspace.com/wishboneband

    http://wishboneband.webs.com/

    4 out of 6