Dropkick Murphys - Going Out in Style [D - Mainstream]

Hello, it's Joseph Schultz again and today I'll be reviewing "Going Out in Style" by the Dropkick Murphys.

I still don't know anything about music so I still can't be trusted, but neither can any of MTV's 400 new channels, so really, what do you have to lose?

First I'd like to touch upon their last album, "The Meanest of Times".  Now maybe it's because I'm a bit of a wuss, but I didn't really like it all that much; it sort of felt like they were just yelling at me the whole time.  Now don't get me wrong, angry songs are cool and all, but only when you've got a real reason to be angry.  With the exception of "Loyal to No One", a song that I really liked, the whole album felt like it was being angry for the sake of being angry, which to me is just silly.

See? That's silly.  Now fortunately, "Going Out.." didn't feel like that, the songs were more varied in their sound and, uh, intensity, and it reminded me a lot of "Black-Out", which is a good thing.  Also, because I said "a lot" this is all I can think of...  Sorry...

Okay, cool, now that that is out of the way we can continue.

So, basically, here's a comparison of my feelings between this album and "The Meanest of Times".

Speaks for itself, really.  While this album felt, well, good, "The Meanest..." was kind of a letdown.  I only really liked one song on that one, but a handful of tracks really stood out to me on "Going Out..." "Climbing a Chair to Bed", "Broken Hymns" and "Take 'em Down" all really struck me as great, though that might partially come from how much I like their use of banjo and/or mandolin.

Remember, I know jack-shit about music, so it could be one or the other.

Alrighty, so in the end I suppose I really did like this album quite a lot.  Some songs were fast, others were slow, but just about all of them were pretty good.  A solid 4 out of 5, YO.

here's a fun review video to go along with this:

Cerebral Ballzy - Self Titled LP [C - Underground]

Tonight I'm reviewing Cerebral Ballzy's Self Titled LP

It's available on Williams Street records (owned by Cartoon Network's [adult swim])

This brash hardcore punk act from Brooklyn, NY gets on the ball right away.  They never really drift away from the rapid fire, almost sex pistols-esque vocal delivery.  The first song is one of the slower numbers... oh wait never mind...  They don't exactly ever slow down!  Lot's of power chord shredding and anger-filled lyrics are thrown in your face from start to finish.

"Don't Tell Me What to Do" is probably the most stand out track on this album.  It's a number than tells the tale of any daily punker's life... "Don't tell me what to do!  Not at all!  Not at all!  Don't tell me what to do!  Standing tall!  I'm standing tall!"... aside from that anthemic song there's "Junky For Her" which comes in second for my favorite song from the album.  That song thrashes hard.  If you go to this youtube page there are videos for a few of their songs...

The rest of the album is full of thrashing and pissed off vocals.  I still can't believe by looking at this guy that this voice is coming out of him.  I honestly pictured a white teenager from the UK with a red mohawk with his tone and inflection.  This album overall is a good hardcore punk album.  It's great if you're a hardcore punx...  The riffs are fun and the album goes by quick enough that it'll keep the attention of any punk fan aged 13-23.

Hey, if this is your thing then it's perfect... but for me?  It's fun energetic but overall I'd give it about a generous 3/5.  It's definitely good for a few listens as a casual punk enthusiast.  The record really makes me want to grab a skateboard, some graffiti and grind up the city.

Stay in school, kids.

here's the review video (Done in a parking lot.)

Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer [C - Mainstream]

My Name is... Not important...

Cee Lo Green is pumping some genuine soul back into the airwaves.  With a very amusing introduction we jump right into one of the best pop albums to kick off this decade.  Sounding like a mix of Michael Jackson, Prince and some Robbie Williams-esque strings...  The first actual song on the record is a solid pop number....

When we arrive at track #3 we're presented with the smash hit "FUCK YOU!", a great song.  Fairly offensive... But I feel it is very appropriate to our time and this generation.  Hey, they're just words!  Chill...  The next songs are smooth as butter, the performances are excellent and the lyrics never fall flat.

I really appreciate the generation jumps this record takes stylistically...  some things have that 1950's/60's R&B/Blues roots vibe mixed up with some hip hop beats.  A lot of the horn work and backup vocals resemble Motown/STAX favorites.  The guest vocals by Lauren Bennett and Phillip Bailey are equally impressive.

The "Lady Killer Theme (Outro)" caught me by surprise, since I didn't look at the track listing previously I wasn't prepared for what this song held...  The drumbeat came in and I thought this was going to be like an OutKast song like "BOB"  oh and just like  that the song was over?!...  Very short and no lyrics I was honestly hoping Big Boi would drop in and give us a big rap session or story/rant about society...  But nay, I was left with just that... a very upbeat instrumental.

There was a bit of a James Bond/Spy movie kind of feeling throughout the record and Joseph pointed out to me.  It is a very cool record.

Overall I would give this a very strong 4/5.  It is an excellent album.

Favorite tracks?  "Fuck You", "Bright Lights" and "It's OK"

Cee Lo has solidified himself as a pop-star,  I really enjoyed his appearance recently on American Dad the other day even though the episode was ridiculously silly and come on...  He was a freakin Hot Tub.  I'm expecting more great things in the future from mr. Thomas Callaway aka Cee Lo.

here's the review

Bad Religion - The Dissent of Man [B - Mainstream/Punk] (Guest review by Joey Schultz!)

Hello, I'm Joseph Michael Schultz and I'll be reviewing "The Dissent of Man" by Bad Religion!

I'm not a musician and I don't know anything about music, but I like the album.  Look, I even drew you a picture:

You, and you know who you are.  Now ain't that a beaut?

Really, I actually did like the album quite a lot.  Perhaps not as much as I liked "New Maps of Hell", but I still thought it was a really good record.  And for a contrast there I can show you how I felt about both albums...

This is,  uh... how I felt about "New Maps of Hell" (Not Dark Ages!):

And this is how I felt about "Dissent of Man":

I feel like that explains everything crystal clear.  There's no confusion there whatsoever.  Uh, I did like one more than the other [New Maps of Hell], but I still feel that both were really good.  They still held that kinda same feel to them, they're all really well-produced now.  The sound is really good and the tracks are actually longer than 2 minutes now...  Which is cool, as opposed to having like 17 songs on an album that's 16 minutes long, but that's a little mean so I'm not gonna do [say] that.

I think my favorite track on the whole album is "Wrong Way Kids", that's.... that's really good.  I probably can't exactly tell you why it's my favorite because I'm not a musician, I just think it sounded good.  Isn't that fair enough?  As a whole  I feel that it met my expectations well, especially since I didn't have it until 3 months after it came out because my computer was absolutely full and I couldn't put anymore music on it whatsoever.

So everybody was just telling me, "Yeah, the album was really good, you should definitely listen to it"  So as a whole I'd say it was really good.  It wasn't as good as my favorite, but if everything was as good as our favorites there wouldn't really be favorites... and the world would be boring.

I give this album 4/5

Hope you enjoy it yourself!...

here's the review video:

Bomb The Music Industry! - Vacation [B - Bonus?]

 I wrote this review about a month ago but I'm gonna go ahead and post it here now!  I need to move on to C .  I've been on B for over 2 weeks now!  Damn.

Enjoy,

Sorry, ladies and gentleman, I have no money and I am a pirate...  So I have listened to the new Bomb The Music Industry record tonight (The record comes out for real tuesday 7/26)  Save myself here, I think after further listens I'll enjoy this record a lot more but to be brutally honest i actually think that this is one of my least favorite BTMI records to date..  its very different but not in a bad way but I think this isn't the kind of record I would be able to put on regularly unless I'm going for a long drive or something...  All of the songs are well written, there are some weird rhythm choices and a few hard to follow sections of songs and a major drawback is I can't hear the vocals on half the songs so maybe I'll rate it higher after a few more listens.. (lyric sheet will be nice)  I will listen to it again probably on 26th while reading lyrics.  

  "Hurricane Waves" is my favorite song without a doubt "There's only so many days you can spend waiting for the turn.  You're gonna get bored.  There's only so many days you can spending waiting until you don't love anything anymore." those lines hit close with me and something we can all identify with, but we all have little funks at some point in our lives so "You get yourself a bottle and say 'I don't do anything anymore.'  You get yourself a bottle and say "I don't love anything anymore."...  I can wait til tomorrow.  "The Shit You Hate" is 2nd for me (There are parts where I swore I was listening to a totally different band "Vocal Coach" I would put at a solid 3rd tied with "Felt Just Like Vacation" (top notch closer!) and then everything else falls short as of now.  The really short songs are excellent musically.  

  I do think this record is for more people and will attract a wider/more mature audience than previously so that is wonderful for them.  I do believe this is a record that is meant to be listened to from start to end every listen, never skip to a specific song or single out a track to put in a mix.  Also note, the production level overall on this record stands high above previous Bomb records aside some low-mixed vocals on occasion.

After first listen:

75/100 -good

After second listen while reading lyrics/etc:

87/100 - great!

(Adjusted to 4/5 for I Hate Music Scoring System :P )

 How I would compare it to other BTMI records -

1. Get Warmer 99.9/100

2. Adults! 95/100

3. Scrambles 90/100

4. Goodbye Cool World 90/100

5. Vacation 87/100

6. Album Minus Band 85/100

7. Punknews Split 80/100

8. To Leave or Die 77.5/100

Bomb The Music Industry's "Vacation" came out Tuesday July 26th you can download it from their website or Quote Unquote Record's, why don't you paypal those fellas a buck or two and enjoy this sweet record, it is their finest record production wise yet...  Obviously quite a bit of time and intense effort was spent in creation.  They are on tour at the moment, they WILL be stopping by Cincinnati August 28th @ Baba Budan's in Clifton.  Go see them while you can!  No matter where you are...  Hopefully you didn't miss them :o

check these sites for more info:

http://bombthemusicindustry.tumblr.com/

http://quoteunquoterecords.com/

Feel free to share your thoughts here as well

HATERS GON HATE

Bring me The Horizon - There Is a Hell, Believe Me, I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret. [B - Unsure]

Ok, well this album is one of the more popular metal-core albums of the last year

It is... a genre that I'm always iffy on, there have rarely been bands that just grab me

with the style of growls and screams as opposed to more melodic/lighter music of course...

It is not something I frequent but I do bring myself to listen to these bands anyways because,

well it is something out there that is happening wether you like it or not...

There is obviously a lot of work and time spent on their music, it is something I doubt I'll find myself listening to again though unless I'm with friends who dig this kind of stuff.

The song "Dont Go" has some interesting arrangements and it is definitely different from the rest of the album.  The first song is one of the better ones but so much of the good vocals are just drowned out in some huge ass reverb.  It really irks me that so much of the record is just a huge production adventure and I wish it was a bit more raw but what can you do?  I've never heard any of their previous records so I really had no idea what to expect.  

I had heard the song "It Never Ends" at some point last year and I turned it off immediately because I was feeling incredibly negative and depressed at the time.  And actually, as of writing this review I'm feeling kind of the same.  Not a good thing, I've kind of stretched myself thin today.  Now, overall this album has some really cool hard rocking moments but since I'm not a huge advocate of metal core I give this record a 3/5!  So if this was a band taking a test lyrically and creatively I'd give them a C minus.  As far as technical skill goes - A minus, it is without a doubt they are as tight as they are on the album, unless their performance on yahoo was all overdubbed post-prod...  but oh well... whatever, keep on keepin on producers with your tricks and works.

Justin Bieber - My World 2.0 [B - Mainstream]

JUSTIN BIEBER - MY WORLDS! LOLZ!?

I don't really care how Justin Bieber became famous...  I really just want to say a few things.

I can understand why a lot of people just kind of blindly hate on him, he is surrounded by tons of people that are holding him up on his pedestal and keeping him purty and helping him sell his millions of records and be the object of desire to countless teenage girls.  Well yes, the general thought of this really makes me sick so I'm going to TRY to listen to this record with no bias and give a general insight to what is going on with this kid.

Ok, well he sounds like a teenage girl on most of the songs, well that is cool I guess.  The production on the songs is obviously top of the line hip-hop.  It's pretty sounding.  Not much more I can really say.  What can you expect?  This is POP music.  Everything is streamlined, tuned to the perfect pitches and the music is quantized to a fucking point.

I feel kind of sick now, I'm trying really hard not to be a negative son of a bitch but damn, I'm just not sure about this.  Ok, well he has some abilities?  Umm...  He can sing alright I guess.

This is a terrible review.

Ugh.

My world?  s?  Justin is clearly delusional, but it's all ok.

Some of the songs make me think of the Pokemon first movie soundtrack.  YaY!

I give his latest release a 2.5/5

Now that seems fair?  Right?

sorry, been a real bad week.

maybe you'll see a new post tonight or tomorrow!...

I've kind of been real sick and then real busy and not really been able to find time to put together a good blog.

Sorry to everyone >_<

Adebisi Shank - "This is the Second Album of a band called Adebisi Shank" [A-Underground]

My ears are happy and confused!

With a relentless onslaught of high octane bass guitar, pounding drums, random electronic noise bouncing left to right, some talk/wah/vocoder sounds and a guitar that sounds like it was passed down from the gods themselves,.  Adebisi Shank has put out a record that kept me guessing the entire listen.

Not being familiar with this band at all, I was immediately thrown back in my chair when the first song "International Dreamboat" started.  Everything is pushed to the front, IN YOUR FACE experimental rock and roll and it doesn't lose a beat the entire record.  It does mellow out a bit later on actually...  as I was looking at at the track listing I saw "(-_-)" as one of the song titles and I uttered quite a chuckle.  By the time that you get to the song your face has been totally melted, you get a nice little slower jam with a lot of what sounds like electronic drum patches and some random sounds that just sound goofy.

As the album continues on, it gets weirder and weirder... but not a bad weird...  There are some really awesome mallet? sounds and the guitar has some wicked riffs and delays and all kinds of other stuff going on.  Damn son, this guy must have a buttload of pedals and from a picture of his pedalboard, this is confirmed!  This is definitely a band I would love to see perform live and see them pump out these insane sounds.

With all of the mix of experimental rock, funk, and electronica, mind blowing tempo changes and start/stops...  This album rocks very hard...  even though it isn't really my cup of tea...  But I'll keep this band in my collection for road trips.  You should really go check this out right away... and you can listen for free at this site:

http://adebisishank.bandcamp.com/

I give this record a 4.5/5

Nothing bad about this band or this album, now go check it out!

Here's a dumb video version:

Here is a good video of them live!:

Tomorrow's review will be:

My World 2.0 - by Justin Bieber

I'm just kidding! (or am I?! you guys gotta give me suggestions!)

If you have any suggestions for an underground band or artist that has a record released in the last year (Starting with the letter B!  please leave a comment here or send me an e-mail with a bandcamp link or any way I can check the album out!  If not I will pick the record myself.  Thank you very much!

Arctic Monkeys - "Suck It And See" [A-Mainstream]

Hello all,

I don't know how to make music reviews but I'm certainly going to try.

Today's review is of the new Arctic Monkey's record "Suck It And See"

So I've been listening to the Arctic Monkeys since late 2006.  I've pretty much enjoyed every album they've released since then... They are probably one of my favorite British Indie/Pop Rock 'imports'...  They've recently released a record called "Suck it and See", Now despite what this says it sounds like you've stumped into the hustler catalog.  But actually, this is a very solid, cohesive album from start to finish.  For anyone who is familiar with the band, you will notice a return of a lot of the old classic jangly fender guitars and high energy, tight as you can get percussion.  

Now the one main thing that seems to be different about this album is the lead singer Alex's vocals are a lot smoother and less of that thick, edgy cockney accent that listeners have grown used to.  This album feels like overall a more mellowed Monkeys but still the energy is there and I do deem this quite worth listening to, no matter what genre of music you are into.

My favorite song on the record has to be "Don't Sit Down Because I Moved Your Chair" The thing that really shines on this album is Alex's vocals.  The lyrics are still great as usual.  If you've never listened to the arctic monkeys before I would recommend listening to the 2 previous major label releases to get a vibe and it will help you build up to this record a bit easier...

I GIVE THIS RECORD A 4/5.  

Now this is pretty generous, it is my first review

Future reviews might not be so nice!...

Here is the video version of my review:

Here is a video of the song "Don't Sit Down.."

Tomorrow's review will be:

This is the Second Album of a band called Adebisi Shank - by Adebisi Shank

If you have any suggestions for a mainstream band or artist that has a record released in the last year (Starting with the letter B!  please leave a comment here or send me an e-mail with a bandcamp link or any way I can check the album out!  If not I will pick the record myself.  Thank you very much!

Welcome to this thing of mine

Well here is a music reviewing blog of sorts.

Each day I will review a mainstream band's album then the next day an album by an underground band.

The reviews will go A-Z so 1 mainstream "A" then next underground "A" then mainstream "B" and so on and so forth.  I would like to keep these reviews and albums current so preferred they be released within the last year or so.

Rating system -
If I determine the album to be a good one I will give it a score of 1 to 5!  Half points are allowed.
If I think it is no good then I give it 1 or 2 middle fingers on how much utter disdain I feel towards the POS.

How the albums will be chosen:

The albums will be chosen by you!  The blog reader or casual browser.  So for tonight (8/3) I will have you choose an underground band starting with the letter A and I will pick one and review that record for tomorrow (8/4/11)

Today's review is of The Arctic Monkeys' new record "Suck It and See" for mainstream.

Let's have some fun.