Music Reviews
Cal Callison – Sun, 10/28/2007 – 11:35pm
Andrew Rider – Fri, 10/26/2007 – 4:15pm
Jeffrey Krause – Sat, 10/06/2007 – 10:38am
Cal Callison – Mon, 09/17/2007 – 12:04am
Cal Callison – Sat, 09/08/2007 – 9:40pm
I am just going to step out and say it. Colors, the newest CD of original material from Between the Buried and Me, is flat out amazing. Looking at 2007 back in January I saw very little worth buying from the hardcore scene. It all just seemed so bland. New bands rehashing what bands before them had done, but without the same commitment. Old bands rehashing exactly what they’d done on previous CDs with no signs of growth as musicians or songwriters. There were a few bright spots though, Life in Your Way being one of them and this new Between the Buried and Me being another.
Blue Duck Records has released their fifth record in the form of Paralis’ “The Pros and Cons of Redemption”. I went by the name of the band and imagined that their sound would probably be something along the lines of the new wave of “emo” bands hitting the airwaves these days. I was somewhat disappointed to find that while this is probably the sound that the band was going for, they don’t pull it off very well. I believe this probably due to two problems.
When Jars of Clay released their self-titled debut in 1995 few people would have predicted that the band would still be going strong twelve years later. They have kept going, even as their popularity dropped from the insane fervor that drove the self-titled album to platinum sales. Yet the albums they release continue to be amazingly strong. Even a band as consistent as Jars of Clay will have a few duds in their catalog. Live Monsters is definitely a stumble and a weak way to follow-up their hit Good Monsters.
June is a bit of a step off the beaten path for Victory Records, their Chicago hometown label. While their debut Speak Any Faster followed closely in the footsteps of emo punk poster bands, their latest release, Make it Blur, is a surprisingly versatile and well crafted pop record.
PJ Harvey is simply brilliant. Having garnered something of a cult following over the 15+ years since her first release, 1992's "Demonstrations", PJ Harvey is known for both the straight forwardness she displays in her music, as well as the broader, more experimental stroke she sometimes paints with. With "The Peel Sessions", she focuses more on the former, and the result is near-perfection.
Upon my first initial listening to Olympia's "Emergencies" cd, I didn't want to like them. It's edgy without being "too" edgy, polished without sounding overtly so, and melodic as all get out. Having toured with the likes of As Cities Burn as well as making The Alternative Press "100 Bands To Know in 2007" list, it's hard to deny that Olympia isn't becoming a band to be reckoned with.
With three....yep, count 'em, three releases hitting the same day from Victory Records, what could be better? Well......almost anything. 










