Local CD Reviews
“Around Hear” is a monthly feature where a stable of IE writers review albums sent to us by local musicians. If you are interested in having your CD (must have a minimum of three songs) reviewed and are Illinois-based, mail it and any other media materials to 657 A W. Lake St., Chicago IL, 60661. Everything that meets the aforementioned guidelines will be reviewed in the order received. This may take several months.
Echoing the sounds of ’80s and ’90s alt-rock like Bob Mould and Toad The Wet Sprocket, it’s hard not to bob your head to Anita‘s Are We Not Human – especially edgy, catchy tracks like “Shame” or inspiring “Born To Run”-like numbers such as “Tranquility.” It seems as if the band runs out of steam by the fifth and final track, though, as the vocals and overall perkiness of “Rafto De Ocho” begin to wear a bit thin. (www.anitamusic.com)
– Dean Ramos
After two years of building a fan base through live shows and fine-tuning their intricate pop sound in the studio, Ash Avenue offer their debut, And Then We Ignite. While you won’t find any edge, angst, or heart-wrenching emotion here, Ash Avenue do deliver plenty of pure pop pleasure. Their clean vocal melodies and harmonies combined with simple hooks and tinges of organs, mandolins, and synths produce a sound that definitely puts the “easy” into easy listening. (www.ashave.com)
– Carter Moss
Jangling Rickenbacker guitars and infectious melodies give a vintage R.E.M. feel to the 10 songs on Astral Planes’ self-titled debut. Singer/keyboardist Bjorn Bern-hardtz’s over-dubbed vocals make the cryptic lyrics even more difficult to decipher, adding to the band’s mysterious persona. “Cyprus Sands” and “Outside My Window” are high-energy tracks, and the quartet taps the early 1960s for the arrangement of “Crystal Consultant,” a song about visiting a psychic. (www.myspace.com/astralplanes)
– Terrence Flamm
With a lineup plucked from Chicago’s Welcome To Ashley and Nashville’s Pale Blue Dot, Candy Apple & The Buddies merge a Midwestern working-class appeal with Southern-streaked instrumentation on Country Record. The garage-derived folk rockers conjure the dusty grooves of Cracker on “Wreck My Motorcycle” and the insurgent underbelly of Whiskeytown during “I Can’t Stand To See Your Face,” both of which would fit perfectly within the Bloodshot Records family, or at the very least, on WXRT. (www.myspace.com/candyappleandthebuddies)
– Andy Argyrakis
Singer/guitarist B.C. Carter takes center stage with only his acoustic guitar and harmonica on the consistently engaging A Man Without A Name. Neil Young is an obvious influence, especially on the tuneful “Before You Know,” but Carter also evokes The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” with his powerful strumming on “Castles On The Water.” (www.lonellama.com)
– Terrence Flamm
Precocious and full of wonderment, Nathan Denton is the slightly off-kilter visionary this country used to breed in bunches. Stone Soup displays his storytelling over country, folk, and rock-inspired backgrounds, which suit his lyrics well. Denton is a rugged individualist who clearly does things his own way with lyrics like “I got laid off from my job at the factory/I went to the doctor, the doctor said Prozac for me” from “Government Cheese.” Also included is audio from one of Denton’s best-known projects, the Atwood Piano Drop, which is exactly what the title implies. (www.nathandenton.com)
– Mike O’Cull
On Roses Are Blue, orchestral rockers Dormlife comb Kane County ghost towns for mixed musical cues, rescuing Dan Andriano’s abandoned Tuesday weep and some fretless bass tips from a Borders jazz section. It almost works. Undermining ambition is Samuel Swanson’s frequent vocal overage. Though in contrast to the push-push, Costello-hop mar of the CD, “Making Time To Waste” approaches the brilliance of Menomena, with melodic, democratic, savant-pop detail. (www.dormlifemusic.com)
– Mike Meyer
With an incredible knack for producing genre-defining hits and re-inventing himself in the process, Felix Da Housecat makes another deft turn with the sly, soulful Virgo Blacktro & The Movie Disco (Nettwerk). The beaming, glistening “Radio” backed up to the buzzing, synth-driven “Like Something 4 Porno!” succinctly shows the new agenda of mixing Parliament and Prince with The Pet Shop Boys. (www.myspace.com/felixda housecat)
– Patrick Conlan
Final Cut‘s Tripp Six Fixx give us four versions of a single from the record M.O. The album version is a lean, aggressive mix of uptempo industrial throbbing and burning hardclash noise. The other versions play off this theme: The “(And The Truth Comes)” mix is simply an elongated version with additional drum tracking, and “(Vox Hit)” is smothered in blurry house swirl. (www.finalcutmusic.com)
– Patrick Conlan
Category: Around Hear, Columns, Monthly
