Alabama Almost Shakes

Posted on April 23, 2012 by DanMiraldi

Alabama Shakes are the hip new buzz band.  Their debut record, Boys And Girls, dropped this month and they are living well, having landed an opening slot for Jack White.  Their music is vintage soul reminiscent of the classics that came out of Muscle Shoals back in the late sixties.  The singer Brittany Howard has a powerhouse voice that is one part Janis Joplin and one part Amy Winehouse.  The band plays tight and dirty.  On the whole the record is good, however, they don’t really bring anything new to the table.  They do a sound job of recreating southern soul, but they haven’t quite figured out how to make it their own.  Most of the songs are slowing grooving or mid-tempo.  The music is very likeable, especially with the opening song and single “Hold On” and Black Keys-esque “Heartbreaker”.  However, nothing really “shakes” until the bonus track “Heavy Chevy” rolls along.  The tune is hands down the best thing on the album.  It’s an all-round great blood-boiling rock and roll song complete with slamming pianos, and an explosive Keith Richards-style guitar solo at the end; plus, Brittany Howard howls like a female Little Richard.  Boys And Girls would be a better album was more music in the vein of “Heavy Chevy”.  In the end, Alabama Shakes are a good band with great potential.  Let’s see what they do with it.

Essential tracks: “Heavy Chevy” “Hold On”

 

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More Fun. With “Some Nights”

Posted on March 15, 2012 by DanMiraldi

A few weeks ago, Fun. released their sophomore album, Some Nights.  Propelled by the success of the album’s catchy first single “We Are Young”, Fun. are blowing up.  The song is prominently featured in Chevy commercials while the music video has made its way into rotation on VH1.  However, the attention is deserved.  Some Nights is an excellent record that lyrically and musically fits next to its predecessor, Aim And Ignite, but also incorporates new influences that make it more appealing to a wider audience.

The album’s musical focal point is lead-singer Nate Ruess’s golden tenor and honestly emo lyrics and story telling.  On a few songs, the band toys with auto-tune effects on the vocals.  It works sometimes with tracks like the up-tempo “It Gets Better”, where it is used a double of the lead, but in the track “Stars” it gets kind of annoying.  Ruess has one of the most beautiful voices in current popular music, so the auto-tune effect is unnecessary.  Other new tricks include hip-hop influenced beats which depart from the more straight-forward drumming of  Aim And Ignite.  In interviews, the band has sited Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark And Twisted Fantasy as influence in the way the album was produced, thus adding further context to the change up in percussion.  However, the percussion on certain tracks like the title track, “Some Nights”, is reminiscent of Graceland-era Paul Simon and Vampire Weekend’s Contra. This is mostly in the way the underlying beat sounds like more traditional African drumming instead of straight up hip-hop.  Regardless, the band makes it work.

One of the great things about Fun. is that their music is so eclectic.  Some Nights is filled with very catchy pop songs and hooks created by mashing up many styles and influences.  The harmonies on “Some Nights (Intro)” have a very Queen nature to them; whereas the next track opens with harmonies structured similarly to Kansas’s “Carry On My Wayward Son”, before the song is driven by some of the traditional African drumming I described earlier.  The ballad, “Why Am I The One”, busts into a chorus reminiscent of 1970s Elton John.  The biggest stand out on the album is “One Foot”.  It has a great hip-hop groove accented by a horn section and the verse could have been a lost Paul Simon melody reborn in 2012.

Some Nights is an enjoyable listen and one of the strongest releases of 2012.  Fun. have created an album that is accessible to their increasingly growing audience.  At the same time, Some Nights is a rich album with a lot to take in.  Essential tracks are: “One Foot”, “We Are Young” and “Why Am I The One”.

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The Return of Ringo Starr!

Posted on March 9, 2012 by DanMiraldi

With drum hits that replicate the opening of the Beatles’ song “Glass Onion”, Ringo Starr’s newest disc Ringo 2012 kicks into gear.  A stabbing guitar line follows that sounds very similar to the opening riff from “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.  It’s not a total rip off; it’s more an allusion to remind listeners of Richard Starkey’s roots – incase anyone has forgotten!  That’s been Ringo’s modus operandi for the last ten years.  In that time, he has pounded out five albums of Beatlesque material, trying to make music that fits sonically with the band’s early rock or psychedelic periods.  The first of these albums were 2003’s masterpiece Ringo Rama and 2005’s Choose Love.  Both are rock solid and stand comfortably next to any Beatle solo album.  Then, there was 2008’s Liverpool 8 which was high on filler and followed by 2010′s X & Y which was all filler.  Even the high number of high-profile special guests (which included Paul McCartney) couldn’t save it.

I am relieved to announce that Ringo 2012 is definitely an improvement over Liverpool 8 and X & Y.  The album is lean and mean with nine songs clocking in at 28 minutes and 55 seconds.  Two tracks are rerecorded versions of some of his lesser-known songs from the 1970s “Wings” and “Step Lightly”.  Five are new originals co-written by Ringo.  Lastly, there are two are covers.  One is Buddy Holly’s “Think It Over” and the other is Ringo’s take on the standard “Rock Island Line”.  The cover tunes have a lot of energy and are worth checking out as are the rerecorded tracks from 1970s.  Of the new originals, “Anthem” is good not great and “Samba” is forgettable.  However, the album ends strong.  The mid-tempo pop song “Wonderful” is delightful with its tasty lead guitar work.  The next song, “In Liverpool” is about Ringo’s childhood and rise to stardom.  This topic is definitely something that he has sung a lot about on recent albums, but he pulls it off once more and the power ballad comes off as one of Ringo 2012’s highlights.  The album closes with the groovin’ rocker “Slow Down” which is co-written with and features Ringo’s brother-in-law Joe Walsh on guitar.  It’s a satisfying conclusion to an album that proves Ringo Starr shouldn’t be written off.

Essential tracks are: “Wonderful”, “In Liverpool” & “Think It Over”.

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Foxy Shazam Takes You To Church!

Posted on March 1, 2012 by DanMiraldi

Holy crap!  Did someone resurrect Freddy Mercury?  No, that’s just the sound of Eric Nally, the charismatic lead vocalist of Foxy Shazam – the band that just unleashed an excellent brand new LP The Church of Rock and Roll produced by the Darkness’s Justin Hawkins.  The record borrows from 80s pop-rock and 70s glam and tastefully adapts them into a modern setting.  The album opens with a virtual rock and roll blitzkrieg going from the epic head-banging opener “Welcome to the Church of Rock and Roll” into their super-catchy single “I Like It” with this its sassy chorus of “that’s the biggest black ass I’ve ever seen and I like it” following that with the Queentastic “Holy Touch” and Pat Benatarish “Last Chance at Love”!  The pace slows with “Forever Together” and “(It’s) Too Late Baby” allowing listeners to catch their collective breaths, before they are hit with another barrage of glamtastic awesomeness that includes highlights like “I Wanna Be Yours”, “Wasted Feelings”, “The Temple” and the funky “The Streets” and closes with the power ballad “Freedom”.

The Church of Rock and Roll is ambitious album that delivers the goods.  From front to back it’s one fun good time.  Foxy Shazam have arrived and on behalf of the Rolling Clone Blogazine, I like it.

Essential tracks are “I Like It”, “Holy Touch”, “Last Chance at Love” “Wasted Feelings” and “I Wanna Be Yours”. (Yes, I know it’s half of the album.)

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Ben Kweller’s “Go Fly A Kite” Flies High

Posted on February 27, 2012 by DanMiraldi

When Ben Kweller was writing his new album, Go Fly A Kite, he was definitely mad at someone.  This is not to say that the songs have to be autobiographical, but the lyrical themes of anger, loss, betrayal and, at the end of the record, resolution are not hidden. After 2009’s country-tinged Changing Horses, he has returned to the 1970s-influenced brand of indie power-pop of his first three albums.  Country Kweller has its charm, but it’s nice to have him return to his classic sound.  What makes Ben Kweller’s records interesting is that he doesn’t write just one style of song.  With Go Fly A Kite, he writes rockers, ballads, waltzes and folky-influenced mid-tempo tunes, yet each song fits well musically next to the other.

The album opens with a kick in the teeth with the rockin’ “Mean To Me” with its gritty guitar tones and driving drums.  The song “Jealous Girl” sounds like the cousin of Kweller’s 2006 jem “Penny On A Train Track” with its triumphant sounding piano intro and big sing-along-inducing chorus.  The following track “Gossip” has the feel of something off of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band album with it’s simple waltzing piano and no frills drumming, also the way Kweller delivers the word “dowhahahown” is very Lennonesque.  The next song “Free” has some sweet 1970s country-rock harmonies in its chorus and a groovin’ guitar solo, before switching into a more pop-folk vein for “Full Circle”.  However, the best song on the record is “Time Will Save The Day” which rips to life sounding like the power-pop love child of Bob Dylan and Kurt Cobain.  The rhyme structure of the choruses is very tight and drive the song along while the chorus opens up very melodically making the song a lot of fun.  Lastly, the album comes to satisfying and bouncy up-tempo conclusion with “You Can Count On Me”.  The track brings in more rich 1970s folk-rock harmonies while Kweller delivers a message of optimism and comfort with: “When your lost and you need new eyes to see, you can count on me”.

In the end, Go Fly A Kite doesn’t let Kweller fans down.  It’s more complex than what listeners might hear the first time they give it a spin.  As of now, it is the best record I’ve heard in 2012.  I think buying the whole album is a worthy investment, but if you’re a single-song buyer, the essentials are:  “Time Will Save The Day”, “Jealous Girl” “Mean To Me” and “Free”.

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The Jim Ivins Band Return With New EP

Posted on February 26, 2012 by DanMiraldi

This month, the Virginia-based Jim Ivins Band released their new EP Everything We Wanted.  It’s an 8-song collection of very accessible acoustic-driven pop-rock tunes reminiscent of a blend between the Goo Goo Dolls, John Mayer’s Room For Squares and Sherwood’s A Different Light.  Although a few of these songs such as “Run” and “Rollercoaster” appeared on Ivins’ 2007 solo album 99 Cent Dreams, the versions on Everything We Wanted sound more polished. Overall, the EP’s production is great and the songs are filled with hooks that explode into large radio-ready choruses.  Highlights are the title track as well as the openers “Run” and “The Sight of Fire”.  The lyrics are heartfelt without being sappy, in “The Sight of Fire” Ivins sings: “You burn your bridges, because you like the sight of fire” – who hasn’t met that person?  Anyway, Everything We Wanted is a very likeable record ideal for a long drive on sunny day.

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RCB’s Top Records of 2011! The year’s best LPs in review . . .

Posted on January 1, 2012 by DanMiraldi

Here you have it . . .

The Rolling Clone Blogazine’s Best LP Releases of 2011

1. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

1.) The reunion of Dave Grohl with Nirvana’s Nevermind producer, Butch Vig plus a guest appearance by Chris Novoselic didn’t hurt this record’s chances. More importantly, this record is made up of great songs from start to finish. Wasting Light is definitely the best album the Foo Fighters have made in the last ten years if not their career.

 

 

2. The Kills – Blood Pressures

2.) Check of the RCB review here. Blood Pressures is a great dirty rock n roll record that doesn’t let up.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Wild Flag- Wild Flag

3.) Wild Flag’s debut is a fun post-punk meets pop album. Think of Blondie’s Parallel Lines with more girl-power bite!

 

 

 

 

 

4. The Black Keys – El Camino

4.) See the full review here.  The Black Keys continue to grow and explore new musical avenues without losing track of their identity. This record is solid all the way through and includes the gem “Little Black Submarine” which is probably one of the best songs released this year.

 

 

 

5. Blink-182 – Neighborhoods

5. The first new album from the reunited Blink-182 is in itself a reason for celebration. The fact that this album is also excellent is just icing on the cake. The album picks up where the band left off in 2003, but moves forward with great songs like “Ghost On The Dancefloor” and keeps old fans happy with throwbacks like “After Midnight.”

 

 

 

The 2011 Honorable Mentions:

6. Sleeper Agent – Celebrasion

6.) Sleeper Agent’s debut album is a refreshing breath of fun. The songs are power-pop and each track flows nicely into next without the record getting boring. Trust me, it’s solid. Check out great party jams like “Be My Monster” and “Shuga Cane.”

 

 

 

7. Angels & Airwaves – Love Pt. 2

7.) See my full review here. The second great album from Tom DeLonge this year!

 

 

 

 

 

8. Cage The Elephant – Thank You Happy Birthday

8.) The magic wasn’t just in the radio singles like “Shake Me Down” and “Aberdeen”. Cage The Elephant’s sophomore album is filled with a lot of 1990’s throwback glory with tracks like “2024” and “It’s Always Something”.

 

 

 

 

9. Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You

9.) See the full review here. Despite a shift in personnel, the Red Hot Chili Peppers carry on and gracefully find a new groove with their latest record, I’m With You. They also are going to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012!

 

 

 

 

10. The Strokes – Angles

10.) The return of the Strokes! Need I say more . . . Check out “Under Cover of Darkness”, “Machu Picchu”, “Taken For A Fool” and “Life Is Simple In The Moonlight”!

I can’t wait to see what 2012 has to offer!

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A Joyride with the Black Keys’ El Camino

Posted on December 29, 2011 by DanMiraldi

The boys from Akron are back. This month, the Black Keys unveiled their follow up to their 2010 critically acclaimed Brothers. It’s called El Camino and it’s awesome. This time around, the Keys reteam with Danger Mouse, their producer on 2008’s Attack & Release as well as their 2010 hit single “Tighten Up”. Where as Brothers was a darker soul/blues album, its successor is much poppier and upbeat while the guitar tones have more of that Jack White “Icky Thump”-era bite.

Die-hard Black Keys “fans” might be turned off by the slickness of El Camino’s production, but haters can go jump off a bridge. The Black Keys are no longer that little band playing clubs and recording on analog tape machines in their basements. As they head off on their first headlining arena tour, they are deservedly one of the biggest and best bands in America. On El Camino, the band experiments with new things like multi-layered harmonies, bells and a greater usage of organs and synths. However, the Black Keys sound has always been defined by Dan Auerbach howling blues vocals, dirty-garage guitar and Patrick Carney’s straightforward, but hard-hitting drumming. These elements are still at the record’s core. Therefore, the Black Keys signature sound is still there as the band explores new territory.

As to the essential tracks: the opening song “Lonely Boy” is classic Black Keys and one of the catchiest things they’ve ever written. “Gold On The Ceiling” and “Money Maker” are a lot of fun too. However, the biggest gem of El Camino is “Little Black Submarine”. It’s starts off as a quiet unassuming folk song and blows up into garage-blues ecstasy. It’s their answer to “Stairway To Heaven” and the guitar solo will smoke your eyelids off and leave your speakers steaming.

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A Very Pleasant She & Him Christmas

Posted on November 30, 2011 by DanMiraldi

Sorry Justin Bieber – of the Christmas records out this year I recommend checking out She & Him’s A Very She & Him Christmas. Unlike many other competing seasonal albums, this one doesn’t suffer from over-production. The vibe is one where you are relaxing by the fire, drinking eggnog while your friends Matt Ward and Zooey Deschanel serenade you with some of their favorite holiday tunes. The instrumentation stays tastefully understated: sparse guitars, light percussion and some BrianWilson-inspired harmonies thrown in for accents. The mood remains warm as Zooey’s honey sweet voice croons out some of the best tunes in the Christmas canon, “The Christmas Waltz,” “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” “The Christmas Song” and so on. They even dig out an obscure Beach Boys holiday gem, “Christmas Day” as well as their better-known “Little Saint Nick” – although, the latter doesn’t compete the original. A minor problem is that the record stays very chilled-out and doesn’t really change gears very often. However, She & Him’s solid takes on “Sleigh Ride” and on Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” provide nice momentary changes in tempos and are the record’s peppiest songs.

All in all, A Very She & Him Christmas is a very pleasant holiday album. Essential tracks to add to your seasonal playlist are the album’s opener, “The Christmas Waltz” and “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” as well as Matt and Zooey’s vocal duets on “Sleigh Ride” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”.

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Prolific Tom DeLonge Unleashes Killer New Angels & Airwaves Disc

Posted on November 18, 2011 by DanMiraldi

Props to Tom DeLonge! He has been a busy dude. A month after releasing the excellent new Blink-182 album (see the RCB review of their single “Up All Night” here), he presents listeners with a solid new Angels & Airwaves album, Love Pt. 2. If you didn’t get last year’s free download of Love Pt. 1, both parts are packaged together if you buy the physical CD.

With Love Pt. 2, the bottom line is if you like Angels & Airwaves, you’ll be pleased with this record. In some respects, Angels & Airwaves are like AC/DC where listeners can expect a very consistent sound from record to record. Angels & Airwaves’ music continues to fuse 1980’s U2-ish musical soundscapes with synthesizers and punk rock. And like AC/DC, some albums are better than others. Love Pt. 2 is one of the Angels & Airwaves best records and is probably their best record since their fabulous 2006 debut, We Don’t Need To Whisper. 2007’s I-Empire had some standout songs, but the disc was ultimately weighed down by the long extended techno-beat synth intros that killed the record’s momentum at points. Love Pt. 1 was a strong album, but Love Pt. 2 is better. There is more “meat” to the music. DeLonge and co. keep the synthy intros in check and the album rocks harder. DeLonge and guitarist David Kennedy pull tricks from their experience in Box Car Racer and make the guitars a little heavier with a punkish punch, enhancing the records momentum without distracting from the bands key identifying sonic elements. The track “Inertia” is a prime example of this. Also, there is an overall sense of romantic optimism in the album’s lyrics, making Love Pt. 2 more uplifting than its predecessor.

Overall, Angel’s & Airwaves fall into the category of an “albums band” versus a “singles band.” Each track flows into the next to create one complete listening experience. Therefore, the best way to appreciate the band is to listen to their records all the way through (not on shuffle!). However, for you single song purchasers, the biggest highlights are the opening three songs “Saturday Love”, “Surrender” and the Muse-like single “Anxiety” as well as “Behold A Pale Horse.” Check this record out; it’s in the running for being one of Rolling Clone Blogazine’s top five records for 2011.

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