The big reason behind my hiatus was school I spent a lot of the time after my last post preping for my graduation which was stressful and overwhelming. But also with work, I have taken on some new and exciting responsibilities that take more of my time. So now that I am aclimated to the new work stuff and am done with school I am back like “A Bat out of Hell”  as meatloaf would say.

I have also made some decisions about my content. While this blog will continue to focus primarily focus on FREE, Indie, and Creative Commons music. I will begin including some commercial music that I feel fits. For instance, right now I am listening to the new album from Lita Ford the 80′s rock goddess and the object of many a young man’s fantasy back in the day. When I have adaquitly formed an opinion on the album Ill post it. It might not be indie or free or what ever but it is a musical piece of work which I am reviewing anyway so why not let you know what I think.

Stay Tuned for the Lita review…. and a Review of the new one from Josh Woodward.

So this post took me A LONG TIME to write. Why you may ask? Well I’ll tell ya…  A few weeks back I wrote about Sean Wright. I talked about his Album-A-Month project and I only briefly mentioned his 26th album in 26 months “The Calling”, and believe it or not that post gave this blog legs of its own. It generated more hits than any other post I have written. Don’t think I am after hits because that is not my goal but more hits means more people are seeing the other posts and hopefully supporting other Indie Bands as well as Sean. But Going back and realizing that I never gave the album a review…I knew I had to come back to it, and review the album.

The Calling is album number 26 in as many months by Indie artist Sean Wright (He is now done with his 27th and #28 should be here in July). The Calling Starts off DARK… and I am not talking merely about using the low end of the acoustic range to give tracks an ominous feel, but the lyrics are from a place I wouldn’t want to visit. Here is what I mean. The Calling is the title track and it deals directly with a life changing event. You can hear sounds of water throughout the whole track, which eludes to how we are drawn to water, and the power that something we take for granted has over us.

The song Trust is a corner stone for the album and for this process as it signifies the beginning of new songwriting partnerships. Trust features the writings by poet, singer songwriter Reine Amodeo. The track “Could I Be a Dream” deals with some things that I often think about, which is “What if I wake up one morning and everything I know is gone?” or “What if everything I know is just a dream?”.  Could I Be a Dream has a beautifully  moving harmony and the chorus is one that will get stuck in your head and you wont mind. 

The latter part of the album sheds some of the darkness while keeping the lyrical intensity going. This album is impresses me on many different levels and every time I listen to it I am more impressed with its quality, its skill, and where it came from. 

In June 2009 Sean Release Album #27 in 27 months, it is Called Beautiful Blue. Please Check it out HERE

To get The Calling Visit Sean’s Site or Jamendo. 

Once again all of Sean’s 27 albums are licensed for free under the Creative Commons License.

AND PLEASE IF YOU LIKE THIS OR ANYTHING YOU FIND ON MY SITE SUPPORT THE ARTIST IN ANY WAY YOU CAN; ITS THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP THE MUSIC FLOWING!

So this is the Grand Finale… Kinda.. If anybody read the first post I made on here they would know that this blog began as a school project. Since that point its taken on a life of its own. So While this is the end of the part of the blog that I HAD TO DO. This blog lives on however because I really enjoy it. I’m going to post this weekend a post I have spent almost 2 weeks writing. Then I plan to take a few days off to recuperate after my finals for school (thats why I havent posted much) and then I will be back with a vengeance.

In the mean time check out some cool bands that unfortunately missed the cut:

Michou

The Wagner Logic

The Leftouts

These Bands All Rock… Please support them or at least give ‘em a listen!

Thanks

Conversionbox A.K.A Kyle

The Prefect alt rock lyric in my opinion is one that says everything you are thinking without really saying anything at all. Simple lyrics that resonate with each listener in their own way should be the goal of all Alt Rock bands and any lyricist. Soul Asylum does a phenomenal job of this in their 1992 song Runaway Train. The lyrics mean something unique to everyone who listens to it, and yet it’s made up of a simple hook with verses that you understand and can relate to.

So I was searching Jamendo looking for something to post and I decided to use album art as my catalyst to listen to an album. I came what looked like 3 guys playing live in a smokey club (Very Indie IMO), and gave it a shot. The Band is Copper Dalton, the album is Slow Carnival. 

The thing about Copper Dalton is that I can’t find anything about them. There is no link to their website, or their Myspace on Jamendo, there is no bio or album information. Simply this, the genre, Rock. I see that and I know I have to listen to it. 

Track 1 is “Slow Carnival”, it is reminiscent of Johnny Cash country. The vocal is what makes it unique, a voice that sounds ravaged by cigarettes and whisky, but is still melodic and dynamic.  The Lyrics have a definite hook that can get stuck in your head.

Track 6 “High Horse” feels like America, or Cat Stevens, almost folk, punctuated acoustic guitar picking, with delicate cymbal work, and a haunting organ or horn part (Its hard to tell). Lyrically it has the same stylistic writing and passion for the message.

Track 9 is melodic and driving in sections an reserved and constrained in others. The song “Widows Walk” feels like a battle, and not just a battle between dynamics of loud and soft like in any song, but rather the epic battles that happen with your brain and your heart. The instrumentals following the chorus are loud and jarring and feel to me like the argument your heart makes in  this battle, while the lyrics and the subdued music of the verses and chorus feel like the reasoning and wisdom offered by your brain. The song really invokes a feeling of internal turmoil that present with hard decisions. This song is In My Opinion a Hit.

This album is Licensed under the Creative Commons License and is available for  legal download for free from Jamendo. 

GET IT HERE!

This week the best thing I found is not my favorite thing ever but it has the most potential and is the most professional this week. Glass Waves are a 3 piece out of St. Louis made up of a group of guys who have spent years with other bands and came together in 2008 and made this album, their debut together called “One Day We’ll All Just Float Away”. A fluid musically  based style accompanied by a haunting vocal overlay this band as one to watch out for. To simply define a genre for Glass Waves is to try and “catch lighting in a bottle”, it cant be done, there are some strong pop and pop rock influences evident by their sound, but they also have a great indie rock sound with guitars that are reminiscent of the great Johnny Marr, the former guitarist of Indie forefathers “The Smiths”, and most recently of “Modest Mouse”. 

I started off by saying this isn’t one of my favorites, so you may be asking “Why on earth did you post it then?”  Well you’ll notice this is the second time I have posted an album that has not been my favorite or that has been disappointing. The reason for this is that these albums are note worthy and show signs of potential superstars. 

What drawbacks do I have with this album? Well there is only 1. I find myself so entranced by the instrumental parts of the song that the soft almost wispy vocal goes largely unnoticed. It often feels like something is missing because the vocal is fading into the background.

All that said Glass Waves have a great debut on their hands and I can assure the world that if they continue and stay with this project “The Future (for them) is so bright I gotta wear shades”.

Their album is available for free download from Frostclick.com and they are featured on the main screen of Frostwire for the time being, for free on Jamendo, and is also available for free from their website glasswavesmusic.com

This album is Licensed by the Creative Commons License

I posted that video because the second I read the title of the Debut from  The Crazy Ivans, this was the only song I could hear in my head.

That being said… Take young people and force feed them, generic passionless radio pop rock and the result will be the lost generation. These were the circumstances that bread the Sex Pistols and the Punk rock movement. The Crazy Ivans are a product of this same formula. 6 young people from the heart of Texas inundated by  ”bubble gum” and repulsed by that have started a return to  real American Punk. 

In the UK, Punk Rock is held in high regard, with names like The Sex Pistols, and The Clash, being uttered with the same reverence as royalty, and these band’s leaders, Sid Vicious, and Joe Strummer being in the company of God. But here in the U.S.; punk has become washed out and watered down, Green Day who used to be American Punk royalty, has been to reduced to bubblegum pop. This album is a brilliant reminder of Punk Rock’s glory days.

The Crazy Ivans have surpassed merely a “Punk” album, as it features some toned down acoustic piano rock, and even some thrash metal.

Their debut, “Go Back to Russia, Sucka” (Thus the Video post), has feelings of punk, and piano rock, and even metal, with good musicianship and, vocals that are reminiscent of female rock innovator Janis Joplin, this is a great debut. 

The one drawback to the album, is that the bands lack of experience writing an album. Lyrically it could be better but lyricism is not something that can be taught, its only learned by experience. So I wait anxiously for their next release but in the meantime, this album Rocks!

Downloads are available on Jamendo in MP3 format, and Licensed under the Creative Commons License.

Get it Here

How would you do if you were tasked with the job of making 1 complete album every month for 26 months? Its HARD… How do I know? Well I am in the middle of trying something like this myself. I decided to post something everyday for a week (Starting Tuesday May 25, 2009)* and I have come close to failing TWICE already. Well this is what Sean Wright is doing. He has written and recorded 27 Albums in 27 months… 

What really impresses me is Sean’s quality of recording. You would think that over the course of more than 2 years there would be one album thats not perfect but thats not true of Sean. Every album is just as good and just as heart felt as the last. 

A strong Acoustic Blues sound with a flare for the mellow dramatic, Sean puts his own spin on the things he sees around him, the good and bad in the world. 

Check it out Sean Here

Download Some of his Albums from Jamendo, and whats not there is on Last.FM

All Songs from the Album A Month Project are Free to Download Licensed under the Creative Commons License.