Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

We are given the definition of Afterparty Babies by Cadence Weapon a few minutes into Do I Miss My Friends?, the opening track of his brilliant sophomore effort. Weapon, it turns out, is an afterparty baby, the end product of a conception occasioned by a drug and/or ...

For the first three songs of Cadia, I continually waited for Zach Efron to come in and accompany one of the...sisters on their self-titled debut CD, thinking this was the new Christian version "High School Musical: Vacation Bible School". But, happily for me, sadly for some, Efron never showed. ...

It sounds like Cairo" couldn't wait to let you hear the latest that they have to offer. Unlike the usual Prog formula of a three to five minute album opening intro instrumental section, Bret Douglas jumps right in the his vocals at the start of, The Underground." The remainder of, ...

As I like to do ever so often, I screened this album on several people before writing this review.  This is possibly because I like to show off my pre-release goods at every possible occasion or because I can’t think for myself.  Assuming it’s the first, I was pleased as ...

The title doesn't quite fit the intensity within. Sure, they're said to have "cleaned" it up a little since the early EP's but that says nothing about the show of instrumental force taking place here - nothing short of an off the dial outburst of propulsive percussion, pit riffs and ...

This band is insanely talented with their instruments! I was impressed from the beginning with the trumpets and electric guitar, somehow working together. Aside from TSO I had never heard that work before! They can slide and trill, and the drummer is a lot of fun to hear as well. ...

"Play With Your Head's" a titillating combination of light-hearted Pop melodies delivered with adult sincerity and child-like exuberance making for a complete record bred of spontaneous eccentricities, sharp angle turns and adult contemporary staying power. The handiwork of Mike Viola, singer, songwriter, sleep deprived performer ...

"Gore Obsessed." like that's news? What can be said about Cannibal Corpse that hasn't been said over and again? Leaders in the Death community for ten years strong, their brand of unholy, uncompromising and unparalleled filth have led the charge for generations of evil ...

Places by Canoe was initially a real conundrum for me. I didn’t like it at first (it’s not the type of thing I regularly listen to) yet I was so impressed with how well it was done --- conceptualized, written, played, produced --- that I have had ...

Right from the opening seconds of the new Canvas Solaris, CD Cortical Tectonics, it’s pretty obvious that they’re not making music for the faint of heart. The band jumps right into the math-metal on Berserker Hypothesis, with wildly intricate rhythms attacking from every direction. The first  comparison that came to ...

Isn’t it odd how you sometimes takeaway a lasting impression of an album that has little to do with the reality? Last year, I reviewed the Cortical Tectonics disc from Canvas Solaris, and when I received their new, Atomized Dream, album, I put it in the CD player thinking that ...

This time, it's not about Santana. Carlos Santana Plays Blues at Montreaux 2004 is, pure and simple, about the love of the Blues. Legendary bluesmen Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Bobby Parker and Buddy Guy are introduced by and join Carlos Santana on stage to crank out some killer jams and blues ...

Does the world need another girl-pop icon in the age of Britney, Christina, Jessica and Mandy? MCA Records certainly thought they had found one in Dublin born Carly Hennessy. At the age of nine Carly was playing Cossette in Les Miserables in Europe and had signed with ...

Carly Simon has always produced pretty good songs – never terribly great, but pretty good. Be it You’re so Vain or her version of Mockingbird, Simon has a knack for bringing a pleasant smile to a listener’s face. She’s taken some risks throughout her nearly 40 years in the recording ...

Karaoke singer gets hold of recording equipment so that she can self-harmonize, and put the thoughts rambling around her head down on tape. And that’s pretty much what Carol Martini’s The Rose in the Boxcar sounds like. The lyrics are trite, clichéd, the vocals are wavering and probably better suited ...

Did you miss Carole King last time she came through town?  Haven't quite caught up replacing your records and tapes with c.d.'s and MP3's? Or are you the type to turn the radio up whenever you hear "I feel the EARTH- MOOOOOVE under my feet".  Well, if you are in ...

A complex image of intensified representational sight and sound devices mixed into a journal (a journey) of computerized graphics, poetry, paintings, drawings and music. All composed within a twenty-eight-page, two CD book of metaphoric melopoeia (the melody of poems), THE LISTENER requires and deserves… your attention! A good description of ...

At only thirteen years of age Aaron Carter has managed to become a true teeny bopper pop star. Originally from Tampa Florida, Aaron was born on December 7th, 1987, twin to sister Angel. Aaron's singing career began at age seven, when he and some friends formed a band called Dead ...

Hailing from the US Gulf Coast, Castor Troy recently made their first big dent in the music scene with their Rock Ridge Records EP, Patience Above.  Their oddly compelling name might trigger a tiny tickle of familiarity in the very back of your brain, especially if you saw the 1997 Nicholas Cage/John Travolta flick, "Face Off."  The bad guy in that movie ...

CATCH AND RELEASE was a chick flick that was released and few caught. I'm not sure what it was about; I consider a chick flick to be the first half of HOSTEL, every minute of …ALL THE MARBLES, you know what I mean. The genre is kind of lost on ...

I'll first go on record as saying I agree wholeheartedly with the final statement of the press release-"classic Cathedral moments… perhaps the most well-rounded album of their careers." Okay, that sounds like me-dance around the definite, skirt slightly to the side, and throw around the "perhaps" or "potentially" and all ...

Light Longing is an ethereal journey into the beauty of progressive classical music. For anyone who thinks violins are boring, this album will prove you wrong. It leaves you mesmerized by the peace and serenity an excellent violinist can give. The melodic pop feel of the album only adds to ...

It's lucky the first song's got a catchy enough chorus cause by about the sixteenth time around I'd be getting plenty bored with it. It's called "People Fall Down" and it's a yammering, stammering, drunken stupor of an opening track that does nothing to suggest edge of your seat excitement, ...

My notes on my first exposure to NO VERTIGO by Cavedoll included the following snotty comment: “(a) somewhat slavish imitation of Talking Heads and Tom-Tom Club.” Don’t get me wrong: I like both of those bands, schizophrenic acrimony notwithstanding between the two. But…but…NO VERTIGO is a bit ...

Singer Celine Dion seems to have accomplished the unthinkable -- securing herself a position as a bankable, Streisand-like diva for a new generation. Few women have managed to capture and sustain the spotlight as long as Dion. Testing her fans loyalty, she took a hiatus from making hits and instead, ...