Jonny Lives!, The Frank
and Joe Show, Priestess, The Colour, Super No One, Instrumental Quarter,
and Let's Be Active
with Zane Ewton
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Jonny Lives! - Get Steady
 
Jonny Lives! is the combination of past
musical lives that descended on New York to share the same space as The
Strokes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Get Steady demonstrates a band with the
same NYC attitude that everyone else in the world hasn't been able to tap
in to. That attitude can create brilliance or just idiots with guitars.
Jonny Lives! resides somewhere in the middle.
New York seems to breed the brooding heartthrobs.
Music publications have slathered praise on how sexy this band is. The
songs are actually better than that. Think of them as a thinking man's
All-American Rejects.
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The - Submarine Bus
The collected talents that come together
to make The Frank & Joe Show are some obviously accomplished musicians.
The percussion on Submarine Bus is specifically mighty tasty.
It doesn't bode well when the percussion
is the highlight of your record though. The band utilizes some jazz stylings
and classy guitar playing paired with lyrics about cholesterol medication
and howling.
Submarine Bus is music for a new
generation of Grateful Dead Heads. Never gets excited; never really goes
anywhere.
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.
Priestess - Hello Master
Who knew Canada could produce some decent
metal? Priestess hearkens back to the early days of metal. They take a
few riffs from AC/DC and Sabbath; add some fuzz and a little cowbell.
What you basically get is a rock band for
anyone annoyed by the arty pretensions of Queens of the Stone Age. Comparisons
to QOTSA are inevitable but Priestess holds their own with their debut
Hello Master.
There's a good bunch of songs here that
are strutting, shimmying, air guitar-inducing rock and roll tracks. That's
never a bad thing.
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The Colour - Devil's Got A Holda Me
If Franz Ferdinand knew anything about
the blues they might sound a little like The Colour. Devil's Got A Holda
Me is a little four track sample of The Colour.
The band strays from sounding like The
Strokes over to Creedence Clearwater Revival, sometimes in the same song.
That's actually way better then it should be. "Until we're high" is a highlight
and hopefully points towards future offerings from this band.
As a rock band from Nashville, they've
got some work ahead of them to make Nashville more than just the city that
killed country music.
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.
Super No One - Food for Coral
Tim Bolin and Ken Koskela were part of
one of VH1's best unsigned bands. Toss in Chip Znuff on bass and Super
No One is theoretically a pop-rock juggernaut primed for the big time.
Food for Coral is a nice little
record that unfortunately doesn't equal the sum of its parts. Musically
the record is smooth and appealing. Bolin and Koskela split songwriting
duties. They may as well be the same person as it is impossible to distinguish
between the two.
Each song is put together well and nothing
stands out as filler. Nor does anything stand out as memorable. The songwriting
talent is obvious though, hopefully Bolin and Koskela have a few more gems
in them the next time around.
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Instrumental Quarter - Traffic Jam
Instrumental Quarter begins every song
with the instruments slowly weaving and meandering. Sparse is the word
as the songs simmer on a slow burn for minutes before breaking into a plodding
funk bass riff or repetitive guitar line.
Most of the record is quite pretty and
better than your average background music. However, the formula for each
song is exactly the same and makes for a dull and repetitive listen after
the first two tracks.
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.
Let's Be Active - Keep the Fuzz Off
My Buzz
Sometimes you get it. Sometimes you don't.
Keep the Fuzz off My Buzz is destined to be worshipped by a few
and spurned by many.
Frank Zappa was unconventional (to say
the very least) but at least you knew he was doing something. This feels
like the arty frat boys are trying to show off for their ironic friends
in art class.
It's never very funny and rarely gets anywhere
musically. Keep the Fuzz off My Buzz is just a hard listen.
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