Demorama Reviews for February 2002
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A
THOUSAND FALLING SKIES MP3
Demos cyberjiz@aol.com
www.mp3.com/fallingskies
A Thousand Falling Skies are Naugatuck, Connecticut's contribution to the world of Hardcore/Metal. There's some nice chugging of the guitars here accompanied by the stereotypical growling shriek vocals and machinegun percussion that you hear a lot of with this sort of band. This might be nice accompanied by a mosh pit in a crowded club (beer in hand), but other wise it kind of left me cold. I gotta say I enjoyed the guitar work though. (Conrad Teves)
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7
MONTHS info@7months.com www.7months.com Active
Mind Productions 877-302-3382 I
see no need to do a review of this band because, according to their
bio, "7 MONTHS is an L.A. based band combining progressive time
signatures, complex progressions with SELLABLE COMMERCIALIZED MELODIES
[emphasis added by your humble reviewer] that Kick some serious Ass,
but will also stand the test of time." Ha.
Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha, Ha ha ha! Ohhhhh, AHHHHHHH HAHA
HAHA HA HA HA HAHA HA!!!!! OH GOD HA HA HAHAAHA MY GUT! OH, HAH
HAHAHAHAHA OOH! I THINK I PULLED SOMETHING!!!!!!! Gasp! Air! I NEED
AIR!! Gasp! But
seriously now. I am listening to The Beatles Let It Be as I write this
review to remind myself that there was such a thing as a commercially
successful band that continued to try to push boundaries. For a modern
analogy, there's a band called U2 that these morons might have heard
of. Not that these guys are, or ever will be, commercially successful
beyond a very tight circle of fans (If it happens, I will hang
myself). I
will give these guys something for the effort, though. The production
on the CD is excellent, the musicians are quite competent, and the
singer doesn't sound horrifying. It's too bad that they are satisfied
producing some of the lamest '80's style glam rock I've ever heard.
And don't even get me started on the lyrics. I guess if they are
shooting for "sellable commercialized melodies," perhaps
they are on the right track given the proliferation of "classic
rock" and "'80's" formats on radio stations around the
country and the subsequent dumbing down of the listening audience. Oh
my God, these guys just might be able to quit their day jobs. Perhaps
I'm not giving these bores enough credit. It's a brilliant scheme,
really, the more I think about it. Maybe they do, in fact, deserve
recognition for marketing themselves for that particular (and
disturbingly large) demographic that still thinks Bon Jovi deserves
regular airplay. I mean, they've got the wanna-be heartthrob lead
singer (a Mr. Joe Booe) shirtless in most of the publicity shots
showing off his shaved chest and flexing his delts and abs as he
strains into the microphone, and the rest of the guys look tough and
appropriately coifed. I mean really now, who can look at the above
picture (they gave Demorama a poster of it, too) and NOT take these
guys seriously? These guys are bona-fide rock stars! I mean, what
better reason to start a band than to play unimaginative and
uninspired music for profit? And man, think of all the skank-whores
that Booe guy must score! ROCK ON FELLAS!
(Mike Mitchelson)
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ATTILA
AND DAVE PROJECT: Lifeline PO
Box 3221, San Leandro, CA, 94578-0221 aadp@musician.net
510-278-1751
A
very interesting name. The cover was a little bit of the schmaltzy
late 80's spacey computer graphics vision of loneliness. But the
songs. Man. The songs. Excellent arrangements. Excellent uses of the
various instruments that any moderate prog band should be using. The
keys. The smooth "brown" sounds of the guitars.
Lead Singer Attila has that "Puff the Magic Dragon"
folky smoky (as in THAT kind of smoke) laidback mellowness. It's adult
music that moves along soothingly.
It's like something you could hear being played at a reasonably
responsible apartment party. If
they weren't 27 years late in their prog rock grooves, they would
totally rule. (Foster W)
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BELISARIUS:
Mariovo www.peoplesound.com www.matchboxrecordings.co.uk gorsim@hotmail.com I
listened to this EP twice, not because it was so spectacular that I
couldn't help myself, but because I couldn't quite get a handle on a
verbal description of the music. I thought at first I would say,
"Think of a humorless Jonathon Richmond singing power-ballads
with a decent art-rock band," but then on some of the tracks the
singer, Goran Simonovski, has a throaty Colin Hay sound (Yes, Hay is
the Men At Work guy). And the music -– It's got some saxophone and a
little bouzouki to go with the standard rock hardware, and the chick
singing backup, Jelena Gjurgjevik, belts it out just fine, too.
So...Hmmm. The
fact that I listened to it twice is a very strong indicator that the
music doesn't suck. I could see it kinda growin' on me, and I'm not
quite sure how I feel about that. I need to determine if it's an
expansion of my musical tastes or a decline in expectations. At any
rate, Belisarius is worth checking out. (Mike Mitchelson)
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BLUE
STAR TATTOO: Lovesick Robot BlueStarTattoo85@aol.com Fifteen.
Bloody FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. That is the age of one Daniel Anderson,
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DIMMERSWITCH:
How Beautiful We Are EP Swsmusic@mindspring.com www.dimmerswitch.net Dimmerswitch
comes off as a dark and gloomy 80's pop band but with a 90's edge. The
music on this EP is very reminiscent to that of the band Live. All the
songs are full of clean and chime-like guitar sounds during the
verses, but burst into edgy distortion during the chorus sections. The
production values are top notch and are really shown off with the
vocals. The overlap of dual vocal tracks sound spectacular. The tracks
are distinct enough from each other so you can hear them both
independently, while they compliment each other at the same time.
There are two-standout songs, "Balance" and
"Photosynthesis," but my biggest complaint is that all the
songs on the EP sound too similar. The tracks are decent but too much
of a good thing can leave you with an upset stomach. (mayerle)
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DOWNRIGHT:
Over The Line Info@downrightband.com www.downrightband.com 714-501-5546 Downright
is just another metal band out of California. They have de-tuned their
guitars and I think they may be angry. Downright wears their
influences proudly on their sleeves. You can hear Metallica, Helmet,
and Soundgarden all over their CD, “Over The Line.” The guitar
intro to "Waking Up" is very similar to Testament's
"The Ballad," which, I have to admit, is pretty cool. I
couldn't get anything past track 4 to play on any CD player so this
review is limited to those few tracks. The songwriting demonstrated
here is, at times, average at best. And beyond those times, there is
nothing special here. The musicianship is decent but not spectacular.
Downright needs to develop their own style and sound, because
listening to this album is not much better than hearing a decent cover
band. (mayerle)
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JAMIE
GREEN: 5 Song CD www.jamiegreenmusic.com bananagrn@aol.com 818-985-0107 Wow.
What a voice. This is modern R&B written by an
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THE
HAMPTONS: Lovers in Life www.hamptons.org.uk Lush,
straight-up pop that really reminds me of the softer side of Badfinger.
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THE
JERRYS MP3
Demos jerry@itsthejerrys.com
www.itsthejerrys.com
It
seems fairly clear that the Chicago based one-man-production The
Jerrys, a self-described Brit-pop band, are (is) trying very hard to
follow in the path of such bands as The Beatles, The Zombies, and Bad
Finger. At this point I
have to say the result is more style than substance.
The Jerrys actually sound a lot like many of those American
bands that hopped on the British Invasion bandwagon back in the 60's.
Their (his) heart seems to be in the right place, even if the
music comes across more as Brit-pop shtick, rather than actual
Brit-pop. Superficially,
this sounds pleasant enough, but I think they'd (he'd) do better to
get some distance from their influences.
A nice alternate name for the band might be Pronoun Trouble.
(Conrad Teves)
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PHILIP
KANE: Media Gurls EP phil@kapps.demon.co.uk Four
self-loathing tracks about getting it, having it, losing it, and
ultimately
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MICK
KUBIAK: Here Comes Spring 51
McDougal St, PMB #279, NY, NY, 10012 An
interesting display of stylistic influences.
The first song is PJ
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LINGO:
9 Song CD www.lingorules.com lingorocks@yahoo.com 612-822-3941 Terrifically
recorded local hard rock disc.
Busy, busy, busy drumwork.
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LIQUID
DAYDREAM: From a Drift to a Glide PO
Box 753, Wicasset, ME, 04578 Booking:
207-841-1246 www.liquiddaydream.com
cmuccino@clinic.net
This
band is a strange bastard child cross between Pearl Jam and
Candlestick. That's the line. Either you will like that sound, or you
will not. Pearl Jam sound with Candlestick awkwardness. The singer guy
sounds like Eddie Vedder before he learned how to growl. I would bet
that he hears this all of the freaking time, and if I were him, it
would annoy me to no end. The songs are Pearl Jam songs. The songs
have the Pearl Jam guitar tricks. At one point, they put in an
interlude which is an outtake of the beginning of "Ten" and
then start "Even Flow," before changing it just enough to
make it not "Even Flow." I have a theory about it. This
album contains the songs that Pearl Jam wrote before they
"broke." Somehow they were magically recorded using today's
state of the art equipment, before there was a producer that said,
"No, you shouldn't do that song, it's dumb." The sounds are
good, but it's totally derivative.
But . . . This is where it gets tricky.
Is the band good? The answer is yes. This band is good. Their
album is good. But goddammit it is derivative. Do you see the crux
here? Do you see how this tears me up? I
really liked "Ten" when I was in high school. For a while
there I would have bought an album of Eddie Vedder farting. In fact, I
think I did. It's called Vitalogy. Anyway. When I started listening to
this cd, and I wanted to hate it because it was totally derivative.
Totally. And then another part of me says, but you can pretend can't
you? Just pretend. Pretend that you found this long lost recording.
Pretend that it's Pearl Jam. And so I did. And works on the same level
for the same reasons that "Ten" worked. I'll loan this cd to
my brother and tell him it sounds like Pearl Jam. And he'll probably
like it too for the same reason. And he'll probably loan it to someone
else and tell them the same thing. Liquid Daydream will probably be
able to get away with it because it is good. Personally I would have
liked to hear a talented and good band do something a little more
original than add a harmonica part to Pearl Jam songs. (FosterW)
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MARTHA'S
KITCHEN: Women Trouble www.marthaskitchenband.com 619-223-5309 theshrew@aol.com Hey!
Cool! A band with a gimmick! Once in a while the old lady Martha sets
up a portable kitchen right on stage with the band and cooks
quesadillas! Oy.
What to say, what to say. When I first started listening to
"Women Trouble," I thought Martha's Kitchen might be a band
that would be fun to see live after you've had a few too many beers,
and in that inebriated state you'd think they're really great and
you'd buy their CD as you stumble out the door only to put it in the
player a couple days later (completely sober) and say, "What the
HELL was I thinking?" But after listening (or barely tolerating,
rather) a couple more songs on the CD, I can't even give them that.
It's mostly the front man, the guitarist and singer Jerry "Hot
Rod" DeMink. When he opens his mouth, Martha's Kitchen sucks ass.
It's not just his voice, it's his attitude. From what I could gather
from the music (and NOT the pages of info sent with the CD telling
legendary tales of "Hot Rod" jumping on tables, dancing on
bars, and doing a headstand and playing a solo at the same time) the
band is trying to be a hard driving blues/R&B package. And there
are a couple of decent songs on the CD. Those would be the ones
"Hot Rod" isn't singing or tearing up the place with his
guitar. DeMink is so busy trying to be "Hot Rod" that he
seems to have forgotten about what it is to be a blues musician. It's
one of those intangibles, I guess, impossible to describe, but anyone
who really appreciates blues music can hear when somebody doesn't have
it. When DeMink shouts to his "brothers" in the band in one
of the songs, I burst out laughing, and it has nothing to do with the
fact that Jerry is white and his band-mates are black -- he could have
been shouting to an all-white cast of Eric Clapton, Kim Wilson, and
Charlie Watts -- it was just that it sounded so bad coming from him,
so insincere and glib. It's not the old lady Martha cooking onstage
that's the gimmick after all. It's DeMink himself as the "Hot
Rod." The man can play; sure he can play, but I'd have to say
that Pat Boone sounds more legit doing his heavy metal covers. (Mike
Mitchelson)
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MIGGS:
Anyway 415-290-2463 miggs@selfishmusic.com Miggs
is a good pop/rock band with an ambitious plan to gain national
exposure. I won't bore you with the details, other than to say I
wouldn't be terribly surprised to see them get some of that exposure,
because they are a good band and completely inoffensive to anyone's
ears. They don't have an edgy sound that might drive away a producer
looking for a really marketable band. They don't have any lyrics that
might be difficult to grasp on the first listen, and they certainly
don't do anything different. That would be a bad thing to do. Good
luck, guys. (Mike Mitchelson)
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MILO:
Even If You Knew The Language 919-960-8829
or 919-967-7907 milo_music@hotmail.com www.miloband.com I
am often stopped on the street by people who, when not asking me for "Oh,
it's great. I hang out with the jettest of the jet-set, my editor can
kill Case
in point: Milo. I slip the CD into the
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PABLO:
Bitches and Machines pablo@sursumcorda.com 612-384-7202 There’s huge lots mucho good to say about “Bitches and Machines,” the dynamite sophomore effort from Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter Pablo. Pegged by some as a “Folk artist with a post-punk sensibility,” I prefer to describe Pablo as “Some guy with a guitar who, lyrically and experimentally, makes the rest of the CD’s currently in my CD player sound like shit. And I don’t listen to shit.” This CD grabbed my attention right from the start, when the ending to the initial track, “Rebecca,” made me laugh out loud with surprise at Pablo’s slyness. Track 9, “Seed Dude,” is hilarious filler. Other tracks such as the title track and “Firecracker” show his ability to craft a memorable tune or two. Also noteworthy here is the strong production, which highlights a creatively tracked and paced CD. But what impressed me the most about Pablo is his interesting lyrical work: “Rebecca/I never liked your name/That’s why I changed it for this song,” or “My father is a giant/I can provoke him…I know how to hurt him/But what profit is there in conquering the dead and dying.” Creative, unusual and eclectic, “Bitches and Machines” is a treat for sore ears. (Deneen Gannon)
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THE
PRESERVATION SOCIETY: The Preservation Society. mcguire9@msn.com 612-282-1565 I
guess what they're trying to preserve is admirable: kinda late
'60s-early
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PUPPET:
The 10-96 Chronicles 6591
Elmdale, Cleveland, OH, 44130 216-676-8247
216-832-4530
www.puppet1.com
You
know how "boy bands" are prefabricated to appeal to a
certain market segment? And there's the argument that some
"hardcore bands" are prefabricated to appeal to the other
market segment? After these "prefabricated" bands have been exposed
to the population through corporate controlled radio stations, there
will be smaller groups in both categories that will spring up across
the country. These 2nd and 3rd generation trend bands have probably
assembled themselves as a "legitimate" group (meaning they
didn't go to mass auditions hoping to have the right "look")
but the music they play is exactly the same music, down to the
breakdowns, because it worked for Blackhateparkmudicide or similarly
for Ohcrazybacktown. It's a proven product. The only thing remaining
is the deep corporate expense accounts to pay for the necessary media
blitz to market it correctly. But
I know enough to know that the people in those groups have more or
less put their heads into a noose. The deep corporate account is not
being "given" to them. Only those in this game who are very
wily and very clever will come out the other side with the cars and
houses in the Hollywood Hills. The rest will have their asses worked
off and when they are burnt and done, they will be paying off their
advances for the rest of their lives. I
wrote all this because it concerns me. Puppet is probably one of those
bands. If they haven't signed a "deal" of some sort or
another they probably will be doing so soon. They want to be the most
powerful heavy metal band of the new millennium. Good luck. The music
is typical nu metal schlock, this time played by amateurs. Sci-fi
quasi-religious dialogue loops attached to damn near techno drum beats
and buzz saw (as in annoying) guitar sounds drone away while a very
angry cookie monster yarrgls incomprehensibly into the microphone for
vocals. Yawn. I've heard "core" bands doing similar tricks
that have been able to keep my attention. Or at least not make me want
to puke. Maybe they've only been playing their instruments for 6
months or something. That might at least clear things up. Otherwise .
. . ummm . . . well . . . nice poster. I hope that they are paying for
all of their marketing expenses up front. I hate to see people getting
ripped off while the are reaching for the golden fleece. (FosterW)
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SAMMIE
AND THE CZECH MATES: Does She...? Lube
up because Sammie's here and his hymn, "Does She" could
possibly be the catchiest song about butt sex ever. I blindly picked
this demo to review and didn't catch on to the ass reference (brown
star) on the cover until listening to the title song. It is sly enough
to get stocked on the shelves of Wal Mart. At first I thought this was
just a silly attempt at perverted humor, but then I remembered how
many references my mainstream Dr. Dre CD's have to “ass fucking”
and I, quite frankly, got excited. “Does She” is a simple 80's pop
song ala The Cars. It has a great guitar melody and cool 80's
synthesizer. The lyrics of the verses are also sung in that new wave,
robotic style. Call me sick, but I found humor in lines like, "Go
go Sammie go, rump riding in overdrive." This demo also includes
another funny song called "Some Boys" which is about getting
a bar of soap as a gift and learning how to be clean. Another nice
touch is that the CD includes karaoke versions of both songs so you
can sing along if you would like. Sammie didn't send any literature
with his submission so I made an unsuccessful attempt to find more
information about him on the internet. There is nothing phenomenal
about the mysterious Sammie but maybe this display will help him get
the ass he is looking for. (mayerle)
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THE
SCREWDRIVERS. PO
Box 135 Enfield,
CT, 06083-0135 www.thescrewdrivers.com
Honest.
Good. Rock. It's so nice to hear a band that doesn't make a lot of
pretenses. This is what they are. Here is what they do. Good
production. Technically proficient. Right on with the phrasing and
tempos. Nice touches with the backing vocals. The music is familiar,
but as you listen to it carefully, you'll be pleasantly surprised by
the smooth complexity of the bass lines. The instrumentations come in
with just the right touch. And they have a trick that other bands
could learn. Their songs are not "all the same." It's the
same band, even the same sounds, but the songs are different. Third
song, "Me on top" sports some of the more brilliant lo-fi
production ideas that I've heard on any album in a long long time. You
just have to hear it. So
here's what it is. Pounding drummer. Talented bass player. Good guitar
player. Nice touches with the occasional additional instrument.
Excellent singer and motivated songwriting. Honest. Good. Rock. I'm
keeping this one, and you should get a copy too.
(FosterW)
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SURGERY
7 online
submission http://www.mp3.com/surgery7 Well,
it's industrial techno stuff. Suffice it to say that it is not a genre HEAVEN
17: Shares a preoccupation with syntho-sounds and vague political BLINK
182: Supposedly not as ca-ca-oriented, though the band's e-mail to SUM
41: Seems to share this band's concern with "conformity." In
this case, SPACEMEN
3: Not really psychedelic enough. There's more of a murky, MC5:
Has a similar appreciation for the word "fuck," but not much
else. FRONT
242: BINGO.
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