El Pintor - Interpol

I LOVE Interpol!  That being said, I'll try not to make this review too biased.  After their last album in 2010 I was honestly not looking forward to any new material.  Their self titled album Interpol was not as much as a success as I had hoped and was actually a little disappointing compared to their material before.  I listened to this album on a whim and I'm glad I did.  I feel like they really went back a bit to their roots and incorporated it into their new talents!  If I would have to describe this album very shortly I would say it is short and very, very sweet like the cupcakes girls sell at schools trying to save up money for hell knows what.  You don't know how the hell it got made but you're super glad it did!

Songs to check out:

~All The Rage Back Home: The titular song for this album, I immediately fell in love with it.  I don't know how to describe this song, you'll just have to listen to it!
~Same Town, New Story: A easy going song that has a very Interpol-ish guitar and really good lyrical representation.
~Everything Is Wrong: A fun song to listen to, harmony between all instruments make it pretty easy to listen to.

Although I think Interpol is an acquired taste, I think they really excelled at making this album more accessible to a larger crowd.  This makes me happy because I finally think Interpol is receiving the attention they deserve as a band.  They excelled at portraying their style and really showing their personality as a group in this work.  Definitely suggest this album!  If you're a fan of listening to new, unique music I think you will really enjoy this album.

"Sooo... Are you liking our music yet?"

The Place We Ran From - Tired Pony

Not the kind of music I'm used to reviewing, but we gotta spice it up every once in a while!  Tired Pony is a side project formed by many well known artists.  The bands formation was undertaken by Gary Lightbody, singer for the band Snow Patrol.  He created the band out of his appreciation of country music, while retaining an alternative rock back bone.  Although I downloaded the album because of one song, I will say it is an interesting album.  It plays through very well and it retains a constant theme that I think was enjoyable.

Check out:

~Dead American Writers, this song is the reason I downloaded the album. Love it, while it is very different from the rest of the album.
~Held In The Arms Of Your Words, a pretty good smooth track that describes the beauty of a woman, not bad at all.
~Pieces, a great track to end the album, I liked it although, to me, it does fade out at the end in a weird way.

I have mixed feelings about this album.  I don't regret listening to it but it's definitely not going to be an album I listen to again any time soon.  If you're a fan of folk rock then you might want to check this album out though.

Ps. Sorry I haven't written any reviews recently!  I've been very rushed with college life and swimming, though I think I'll have more free time now so keep on the look out for new articles!  I'm going to try to upload at least 1 review a week, wish me luck!  Thank you all for supporting me till now, I hope you've enjoyed my review thus far!  I'll keep you guys posted :)

Supermodel - Foster The People

Ever since I heard "Pumped up kicks" from foster The Peoples first album, I fell in love with this band.  Their first album, Torches, was an international success and one of the best indie albums I can suggest (highly recommend you give it a listen!).  After an extremely long tour, the band went back to the recording studio (finally) and made another great indie album, filled with fun, different music that inspires me to sing.  This great album, Supermodel, maintains a indie pop rhythm that seems mostly upbeat, while the song themes in themselves have a more negative tone.  This album is mostly described as a social critique to the capitalist society we live in, if you pay attention to the songs lyrics you can see these points raised by the band.

Interesting tracks:
~A Beginner's Guide To Destroying The Moon, a great song that makes great use of the singers falsetto voice.
~Best Friend, a track with a cooler vibe that makes great use of the singers voices again by wrapping them various times.
~Are You What You Want To Be, a semi-inspirational track that keeps an upbeat rhythm with foreign instruments.
~Goats In Trees... It's a strangely relaxing song that draws a line between depression and happiness. Just listen to it.

Overall, this album is great and I think you should definitely give it a listen if you like indie pop/alt rock (because I have no idea how to genrefy this). Although this bands masterpiece is still their debut album, this one gives this band great credit.

Bag Raiders - Bag Raiders

A dance pop duo from Australia, Bag Raiders has had a good start right off the bat.  With their first album, Bag Raiders, this fantastic duo quickly broke into success in 2010.  Charting on various boards around the world they sure put themselves in my "Watch list" for new releases.  Unfortunately it seems that they have yet to release any new material.  Honestly this isn't a bad thing, it's just the same frustration I get whenever I listen to a good, new artist...  Suffering the wait of new material!  The only kind of new material they have been releasing are remixes, which don't particularly interest me.  As far as this album goes, it's a very solid dance pop album with some good house music songs.  It has a few REALLY good songs, and some other forgettable tracks.

The main success of this album is Shooting Stars, with good reason.  The song is an upbeat, fun song that makes me want to dance along every single time.  Other good songs include Gone Away, featuring great female vocals in another song that makes the beat flow through you.  Last song I wanted to include is Snake Charmer, a house music song that keeps a nice, steady beat.

If you enjoy dance pop and house music, this is a good, entertaining album that you might want to give a listen to.  If it isn't your music preference, at least give a listen to "Shooting Stars".  It's an amazing song and it was what brought me to the album in the first place.  Hope you guys enjoy!

From Chaos - 311

311 is a band that, in my opinion, needs more recognition in the music industry.  This band is like a Red Hot Chili Peppers in the sense that their music is original, very different and enjoyable.  They are considered a mix between alternative rock, reggae rock and rap rock. "But Chris, this just sounds like a bunch of different genres that should never be together!"  Bro.  Are you kidding me right now.  I have never seen such a great mix of unlikely genres perfected by a band like 311 has!  This melting pot of genres is usually called "White boy reggae" and is usually attributed to 311's creation, along with other bands like, of course, Sublime.  This is one of the reasons why I hold 311 in such high regards.  The other is because they make awesome music!  After having downloaded their discography I can say that From Chaos is my favorite album so far.  The songs on this album are just so well made and fun, you really don't want to stop listening to it!

Songs that stand out are:  You get worked, a song that works mostly in the rap rock genre in a fun beat.  Another song is I Told Myself, a cool song that talks about how the singer can't believe he's still going after someone that betrayed him before.  Now, my favorite two songs by 311:  I'll Be Here A While and Amber.  These two songs are some of the most relaxing songs you may ever hear, practically made so you could listen to them while watching the sun set on the horizon with sand in your toes. While The first is a bit more upbeat, it still holds the secret element that makes people snap their fingers and bob their heads. Amber on the other hand is practically the definition of relaxation.  While it still holds anchors itself to rock, it definitely pulls in some great reggae elements.

Basically, this is a really good album, I enjoyed it a lot and I know that most others that enjoy exploring rock genres will also like it.  But if you don't feel like getting into the white boy reggae genre, I suggest you get 311 Greatest hits.  It's a great album that goes through most of 311's chalky history of albums and gets most of the golden nuggets out. It was the first album I heard by 311 and the door that peaked my interest for the band.  You can use it as an introductory level, if you like it, keep searching for their other albums!

A great introduction to 311 as a whole.

I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love - My Chemical Romance

After having reviewed their latest album (Which you can see here) I felt compelled to listen to the only other album of My Chemical Romance I hadn't heard, their debut album.  I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is a very pure album, constantly playing the chords that made the famous emo-punk band who they were.  This, however, can be tiresome.  To me, this album was a bit too repetitive, constantly playing the same themes and all the songs sharing the same vibe (wow such an eloquent way to use my words I know).  I can see how this album must have started MCR on the way to fame in the emo underground, but it didn't really catch my attention.

Some noteworthy songs from the album include:  Vampires Will Never Hurt You, a slightly screamo song with some good, heavy transitions.  Headfirst For Halos, an upbeat rock song that takes a rest between choruses, my personal favorite from this album.  Lastly, This Is The Best Day Ever, another upbeat song that leans more to its emo side while staying pretty rock'd-out.

It pisses me off that I have only given My Chemical Romance negative reviews when they have such amazing albums.  As I had said before, this is not a bad band, not by a long shot.  All bands have albums that lack things or are not as good as our favorites, this being a clear example of it.  If you are a big fan of MCR or emo-punk then I suggest you give this album a listen, because it really isn't that bad, it just isn't one of my personal favorites.  If you aren't really a fan of emo-punk or you don't even know what it is, you should probably ignore this album.

Hesitation Marks - Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails was a hidden gem to me, since I first heard their song "Only" (I hate vevo but I couldn't find the video anywhere else) I was hooked.  But that was when I had no internet connection, and no way of listening to NiN, so I forgot...  Until a friend of mine, Alejandra, started to talk to me about them ("Duuuude check out this song").  I have had the privilege of hearing almost every one of their CDs since then.  Hesitation Marks is a very recent album released in 2013 that really made an impression on me.  While it remains true to its roots of industrial rock and Alt rock, it also feels much more organized. 

Real good tracks in this album, starting of with Copy of A, a song about existentialism (good example of industrial music while keeping it nice and clean) in a upbeat, industrialist rhythm.  Another good one is All Time Low a song with a kind of cow-boyish guitar and a relaxed pace.  Also, Various Methods of Escape, a song that pulls more towards Trent's other collaborations, like How To Destroy Angels.  My personal favorite from this album is Came Back Haunted, a song that talks of an unknown haunting apparition that leaves the singer scared.  I love this song for its slightly creepy tone and cool lyrics that weave a mysterious story.

A lot of NiN's records feel as if Trent Reznor (Main vocals, band's founder) just experimented with a lot of loud, Industrial sounds and techy music and put it on an album, but in Hesitation Marks you can see how far Trent has come as an experienced music writer and artist.  This album is the result of years in the business and love for the job, especially when you see how Trent has evolved as an artist, a musician and as a person.

The evolution of a crazy talented and handsome mo-fo

Bankrupt! - Phoenix

Phoenix is a band of constant hits, that always gets 2 or 3 big songs per album.  This album is almost the exception.  Although the album cover looks like a pattern that belongs on a tomato red tourist's shirt, this is another Phoenix album with some of the strange and pleasing synth-sounds that made Phoenix famous.  Bankrupt! is the album that bands usually do when slowing down successfully, or even last album material.  This doesn't mean that it's exempt of good music, but it is lacking in the kind of originality and fun music that made this amazing French band famous.

The big hit that mostly got the album rolling commercially is Entertainment, a song that uses Asiatic kinds of instruments and noises, slightly portraying the Phoenix spirit, all the while complementing itself with great vocals.  Another song is, my personal favorite right now, The Real Thing, a song that takes twists and turns, all the while remaining fun and pleasing.  The last song that I liked a lot was Bourgeois, a song that takes about a gullible middle class in a soft, up-beat tone.

All in all, I think that this isn't Phoenix's best album, but it's not their worst.  This kind of album is what I like to call a "closer album". After a band has had a lot of commercial success, they usually drop 1 or 2 albums that aren't quite as successful, and sometimes, just flat out bad.  Sometimes, afterwards they do an album tour in the hopes to boost its album sales, throw a greatest hits album and retire. I'm not saying it always happens, but it is quite common in the music industry.  I'm not saying they should just up and retire, I'm just accepting the probability before it breaks my heart, like it has before... (Fall out boy, My chemical Romance...)

Melophobia - Cage The Elephant

Here we go again, Cage The Elephant!  After doing my review for their first album, which you can find here, I was inspired to download their latest album.  Melophobia, released in October of 2013 is an alternative rock album in which Cage The Elephant does more than just write music.  As front man Matthew Shultz said, the band's focus was to "remain transparent and remain honest".  This is most notable in the well written and honest lyrics that make you feel closer to the singer as you hear his pains and experiences.  I feel that this makes the album a more personal listening experience, complementing an already harmonic set of instruments.

The song where we can most clearly hear the "honest" lyrics is Telescope, a song that speaks of the singers internal battles with loneliness.  Also, a song of conformism that is well written is Take It Or Leave It, also containing a catchy guitar and vocals, wrapped together by a fun rhythmic beat.  The indisputable hit of this album is Come A Little Closer, a song that uses varying vocal styles and great instrumental harmony to make a soft-fast paced song.  Finally, Cigarette Daydreams.  I absolutely love this song, especially because of the vocals, as you can really feel the song from the singers point-of-view.

This is a short album, comprised of only 10 songs and going on for only about half an hour, this is an album that you will catch yourself playing on repeat.  The songs had great replay value for me, and I've already heard it quite a few times.  The vocals tend to stand out in this album as opposed to their other works and the instruments have remained consistently good and creative.  Def worth a hear and a re-hear, as this is an album that gets better with every listen (something something wine). Hope you can check it out, and I hope you guys like it as well!

Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray - Seether

Today I want to talk about something that many bands seem to fail, genre transition.  Sometimes they do it to appeal to a broader audience, other times they do it to change from the usual.  Whatever the reason, Seether decided to try this out in this album, Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray.  Saying this, I cannot think of another band that has successfully accomplished this as well as Seether has.  A South African band, Seether planted its roots in the Alternative-metal genre.  They began commercial success and got some great hits in their first albums, but this album takes it all and pushes it forward.  Rather than transitioning completely, they decided to adopt various elements from other genres, creating a new and exciting listening experience, moving closer to the Alternative side with Metal undertones.

Some examples of this great musical combination are:  Here And Now, putting together the classic metal guitar with one that sounds slightly indie (it works, trust me) and even some soft piano at the end.  No Resolution, putting solid metal choruses in a soft-alternative rock song, including a nice tambourine in the metal segments (yes it works, you gotta trust me).  The most drastic example of musical morphing in this album is Country Song, a song with strong (you guessed it) Country music elements, while still instilling their own style.  The song that I can safely say that payed homage the best to their starting roots I must say is Fur Cue, a consistently strong alt-metal songs with a sweet vocal chorus.

Although the album has some forgettable tracks, it has a great repertoire of songs that deserve a listen.  It should also be an example to other bands that want to branch out to other genres (I'm looking at you, My Chemical Romance).  The album in itself brings beautiful memories from the first time I heard it, making this review all the more fun to do!  I hope you enjoy it!