Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

For a debut album, Dirty Sexy Knights in Paris is a great start. Audiovent studied writing melody, catchy hooks, and using sound experimentation while writing this album, and it shows.  The musicianship is fantastic and lead singer Jason Boyd is every bit as talented as his older brother, Brandon (Incubus). ...

Sometimes in the music business it all comes down to who you know. If you have the right connections, chances are you'll be a hit in a month's time. But what about those who actually have talent and can't find their way into the mainstream to share their passion and ...

Six guys from Indiana who seem to be shouldering the long-anticipated Cure revival all by themselves on their debut 6-track EP. Robert Smith's monolithic (or is it monotone-ish?) whine notwithstanding, Brazil rumbles up a distinctive goth pop for all the faithful Cure-rators: moody tunes with gobs of reverberating echoes, deadened ...

Just when you thought those good old-fashioned feel good chick songs were traded in for the whole Britney Spears era, Brooke Ramel comes along to give us hope. In a time where talent is very overlooked for image and image is distorted, she stands strong and lets us all know ...

Singing is something that's so great to hear. When a person is actually good at it, that is. And over the years we have been subjected to many singers who have either just blown us away, make us sick, or made us wonder how they even got a record deal ...

There used to be a time when being different was too outlandish for the world to handle. It just wasn't welcome and anyone who fit this label was automatically shunned. But thankfully, we as a people have evolved (somewhat) and so has our acquired taste for life, love and music. ...

There are some guys who were born to lead. Jimi Hendrix was a sideman for Ike Turner, The Isley Brothers, Curtis Knight (who?) And a couple of other acts, but it was obvious he needed to front his own thing. John Fogerty, a quiet force of nature, quietly wrested control ...

The name "Sturgis" brings the immediate association of leather-clad bikers, wild women, beer guzzling contests, and the like. That's why it's somewhat disconcerting to learn that Frank Harris, the creator of FANTASYLAND hails from the South Dakota Black Hills. It seems somewhat unlikely, given the gentle keyboard noodling of the ...

Another Harry Potter movie and another John Williams soundtrack to bring the film to life. The second film based on the wildly popular children's series is arguably better than the first, and the correlation extends to the soundtrack for "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." Where the score to ...

There was a time when DAY IN DAY OUT would have been big stuff. You could have walked into any student union on any college campus and you would have found a couple of guys like Hayman Hartman, their guitar cases open at their feet, playing tunes like "Allison" and ...

The first 411 that HOT ACTION COP is gonna be great is the band's name. It sounds like one of those Japanese comic book names that bears absolutely no relationship to the story line. Yeah, yeah, I know, a cool name has nothing to do with anything but sometimes you ...

I say this with complete sincerity. This album is great. It has a great R&B/Soul feel to it. The Jazzys draw from many different kinds of music, making this a very eclectic album. The second song, El Medio, is even sung in Spanish. I can’t believe this album; it is ...

I was surprised recently to learn that a long-time friend of mine has an affinity for New Age Music. This guy is not your stereotypical New Age music fan, not at all. For one thing, he's a guy.  I always think of New Age music in terms of something that ...

I never got The Smiths. I liked a couple of their joints --- "How Soon Is Now?," "What Difference Does It Make" --- but it was because of guitarist Johnny Marr's guitar riffs than Morrissey's angst-laden wailing. Just me. I hate whiners. Accordingly, when The Great Schism occurred and Morrissey ...

Even though most of the music heard on the radio today mostly sounds the same this can be turned into a good thing. Good music isn't very hard to come by nowadays since ground breaking new artists are being found everywhere you turn. But singer/songwriters are becoming more and more ...

It used to be very rare for me to listen to album and just sit there thinking, "What the hell is this"? But nowadays I find myself doing so more often than I would like. I truly believe that no one should ever compromise his or her sound or style ...

"You've got nothing to say, and that scares me…" And so reads the last line from "Message Beneath Contempt," one shot fired among an endless array of sonic artillery geared to reduce radicalist movements to rubble. A raised ire leads to raised voices, arms, fists, and of course, plenty of ...

Robin Mink is an interesting study. While her first love is performing, she is perhaps better known as an abstract painter working with watercolors and mixed media. While she is perhaps more prolific as a painter than as a songwriter, she recently moved from Arizona to Nashville, TN with the ...

Okay, here's one for the jackpot. What do Black Sabbath, bells, bagpipes, and Beg The Bug Records have in common? Ah, you're scratching yer head thinking, huh, what exactly does that mean? Well in this case, it means the ol' masters come alive again for yet another rebirth only this ...

With their first major-level release, “All These Dreams,” SEV seems to be set on trying to find a creative crease between the various folds of hip-hop, and rock music.This disc is a little jaded and undirected, though intriguing at times.    Title track and first single ‘All These Dreams’ portrays a ...

When we last left Shy they were a dazed and confused ship without a shore; The crashing wave of Grunge and Alternative quickly wiped out a once burgeoning generation of followers, successfully downing the fair haired Pop Metal prototypes and setting them adrift in a sea of dread; Denizens of ...

The only words to describe this album are "simply brilliant." This album absolutely blows away their previous album, Agaetis Byrjun. Hailing from Iceland, Sigur Rós has the ability to be one of the prominent bands of this decade, despite their lack of mainstream exposure. Their creativity is genius and their ...

The major obstacle here, of course, is that when you're discussing bands who sound a lot like King Crimson, it's usually described in such a tedious verse (with lots of insider technical terms and sinewy verbiage) to provide the necessary smoke 'n vapors that artrockers need to distance themselves from ...

For those familiar with her prior work as "Ihriel" from occult experimentalists, Peccatum, you will find the mystery and intrigue remaining firmly implanted on her solo project as Star Of Ash.  The airy, aural moments serve as early indicators, like a beckoning wind against the sensual pale flesh of youthful ...

The obligatory change-of-direction, interim 6-track EP. You know, the moody, chin-scratching object released as a stopgap before these socio-Swedes haul-ass on a full-length feature later this year.  The kickoff title track is a monstrous call-to-arms, raging with a get-down horn section that sounds like a workers' party mix of Rocket ...