Album Reviews – Queensryche’s “American Soldier”

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by Vodes

Artist: Queensryche
Album: American Soldier
Label: Atco Records/Rhino Entertainment
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Decision: 4/5 – Must have for Queensryche fans
Favorite Tunes: “If I Were King”, “Sliver”, “At 30,000 Ft”, “Man Down!”

1. The Background

This is the tenth studio album from Queensryche; technically the twelfth if you include Operation: Mindcrime II and Take Cover. The album centers around the trials, stresses, general torment and complicated decisions that a combat soldier is faced with on a daily basis. Geoff Tate, the singer and songwriter for Queensryche, wanted to musically chronicle the war and expose the feelings of guilt, hate and loss of innocence these men and women experience, from the time they enlist in the forces, through the nightmare of fighting and killing, enduring, until they return home to their family and friends. The war seems even more chilling (and meaningless) from these soldiers’ perspectives.

2. The Substance

This album is extremely intense. The intensity comes in part from the actual voices of the soldiers themselves which are peppered throughout the recording via sound bites from the interviews that Tate conducted with former soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. From the interviews, Tate weaves countless tales of fear, remorse, guilt and tragedy into some very powerful and memorable lyrics that reflect the emotional turmoil and anxiety of soldiers. The album takes you on a journey from the opening command of “On your feet!”, which starts the first song on the album called ‘Sliver’, through the soldier’s declaration that ”…bad things happen at night…” and the whispered “Wake up!” to find yourself in the “Middle of Hell”, all the way to the return home and the hope that the family of the soldier remembers him or her for who they are and not what they’ve done. Regardless of which song you listen to, the chaos of war is very palpable and apparent. The best song on the album is ‘If I Were King’. It starts off with a touching, if not unsettling, testimonial from a soldier who lost his friend on the battlefield. Geoff Tate’s lyrics and voice are particularly poignant on this song and really drive home the love-hate connection of the war and the brotherhood of soldiers.

Long time fans of Queensryche will notice that Chris DeGarmo is not on guitar for this album. I loved the style and virtuosity of DeGarmo, but I feel like Michael Wilton does a stellar job with the six-string duties. And Scott Rockenfield is still on the drums; a great percussionist and long time member of Queensryche. Musically, the album is as solid as any Queensryche album. Overall, the tone of the whole record is pretty dark, but the liner notes really bring the project into perspective and provide a context for all the stories and songs. In the liner notes, you will find the words of Brigadier General Charles M. Burke, U.S. Army (Retired), “Americans owe their freedoms to today’s soldiers. Their voices should always be heard, and this unique project is making that possible.”

3. The Decision

4/5. If you’re a big fan of Queensryche, go out and pick up this album; you’ll love it.  If you have never heard Queensryche before, I would recommend you pick up some of their earlier works, and then come back to this one. This album is solid…great vocals, guitars and drums. Plus, it tells one hell of a story!

Album Reviews – Radiohead’s “Kid A (Reissue)”

Artist: Radiohead
Album: Kid A (Collector’s Edition)
Label : Capitol
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Decision: 5/5 Amazing
Favorite Tunes: All of them.

1. Background:

It’s been a big year for reissues.  Along with the Beatles’ reissues last week, Radiohead has been staggering reissues of their entire discography all year.  These special edition reissues have been double-sized affairs with the remastered original album and extra discs with live performance, b-sides, and a DVD with video performances.

When it comes to film, I’m not a fan of collector’s edition DVDs with extra material that wasn’t included with the first release so that fans have to buy their favorite movies twice.  But when it comes to music, it actually makes sense.  Remastering technology helps give listeners a new appreciation of the music they thought they were familiar with.  And the extra material wasn’t really available when the albums were released since performances and music videos don’t often happen before an album is released.  Still, I was skeptical about the Kid A collector’s edition CDs.

Album Reviews – Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown”

For this album review, meandthestereo did something a little different (like we did with the Street Sweeper Social Club review) and handed off the album to two of our columnists. Check out Neto’s (from Texas) and meandthestereo’s (from DC) differing takes on this album!

Artist: Green Day
Album: 21st Century Breakdown
Label: Reprise
Release Date: May 15th, 2009
Decision: 1/5 OMG…This album sucks!
Favorite Tunes: “Viva La Gloria”

1. The Background

Neto says,

For a long time Green Day was one of my favorite bands. Way back before I was really into music, my fellow sixth graders and I would hang out in an empty classroom in the minutes before school started. One day someone took Green Day’s Dookie (on tape!) to school and we played it on a boom box that our teacher had in the classroom. The experience was revelatory. I took the tape home and listened to it all day. After that, as my interest in music grew and grew, I kept listening to Green Day. In middle school it was Dookie and Insomniac. In high school it was Nimrod and Warning. And then there was college. When I was starting out college International Superhits but they were mostly silent for a long time as far as studio albums went. Then in 2003 they released American Idiot. I think American Idiot is their best album since Dookie and it is a hard act to follow. This is made evident by their new album 21st Century Breakdown.

Joey says,

I grew up with a lot of Green Day playing in the background. “Basket Case” was one of the coolest music videos I thought I had ever seen when I was in middle school. I listened to Insomniac and Nimrod constantly through middle and high school, and I still listen to these albums from time to time on my MP3 player. I never listened to Warning or American Idiot, but Green Day had already earned a spot in my ‘Top Bands’ list. With this album, they apparently attempted another rock opera. It’s not what I’m used to hearing from Green Day, and it’s now what I’d like to hear from Green Day, but I was definitely excited to listen to this album.

Album Reviews – Chickenfoot’s S/T Debut

Artist: Chickenfoot
Album: Chickenfoot
Label: Redline Entertainment
Release Date: June 5, 2009
Decision: 4/5 – Good Rock!
Favorite Tunes: “Soap on a Rope”, “My Kinda Girl”, “Oh Yeah”

1. The Background

This is the first album from the “super group” Chickenfoot. The group has been dubbed a super group because all four members have been successful either on their own, or with another group that has garnered accolades from the music industry and fans. Joe Satriani, the guitar virtuoso, fits into the former category and Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith are recognizable names from former mega-bands. At first listen, this album is pretty much what you would expect from a talent-laden foursome like C-Foot. There is a lot of screaming from Hagar and a ton of kick-ass guitar playing from Satriani. Chad Smith provides a very solid back beat and Michael Anthony provides the same unexciting and completely non-innovative bass playing for which he is famous.

Album Reviews – We Were Promised Jetpacks’ “These Four Walls”

by Neto

Artist: We Were Promised Jetpacks
Album: These Four Walls
Label: Fat Cat Records
Release Date: June 15, 2009
Decision: 3/5 Promising If Uneven Debut
Influences I Notice:  U2, Explosions in the Sky,
Favorite Tunes: “Quiet Little Voices”, “Moving Clocks Run Slow”

1.  The Album

We Were Promised Jetpacks is a band from Edinburgh, Scotland.  These Four Walls is their debut album and it is quite impressive.  Like most indie label debuts it has a very simple production but it is hidden by a very complex sound from the band.

From the very first track, “It’s Thunder and Lightning”, you can hear the repetitive beats of post-rock bands like Explosions in the Sky. Combine this with vocal stylings that remind me of Bono from U2 and you have a promising debut from a young band.

Book Reviews – Gipi’s “Garage Band”

by meandthestereo

“I’ll tell you again for the last time. The music is not important. It’s the desire for success that counts.”

Author: Gipi
Title: Garage Band
Publisher: :01 First Second
Medium: Graphic Novel
Decision: 4/5 Short, but great, read

1. About the Author

Gipi’s full name is Gianni Pacinotti. He’s an Italian cartoonist, and though he’s been producing work for quite a while, this is the first graphic novel of his that I’ve come across. In 2006, he won an Eisner award for a series called The Innocents! That will probably be the next piece of work by Gipi that I pick up.

Album Reviews – Mos Def’s “The Ecstatic”

Background

Speaking as a person with little experience listening to rap music, I can say that this is an album that can be heard by those who would not consider themselves fans of hip hop so that they can remember what hip hop is when one isn’t listening to the radio.  Mos Def has crafted an album that is complex and listenable.

I never really listened to much hip hop music other than what was played on the radio and what I picked up from friends who did.  While I have knowledge of some of the history of hip hop (Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, Public Enemy), these days radio hip hop, like most anything in the radio, is more likely to make my eyes glaze over in boredom than to invite me to explore the genre.  So it is with this non-background in hip hop that I decided to dive in on the deep side of the pool and review Mos Def’s new album The Ecstatic.  An album I figured would be like the hip hop I associate with positive things like skate tapes and Spike Lee films.

The Ecstatic is Mos Def’s fourth solo album but he is just as likely to be recognized as the actor who starred in films like Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and Be Kind Rewind. His socially conscious style of hip hop had been eclipsed by gangasta rap when he released his first album in 1998 but he has been able to achieve notoriety in the genre.

The Album

The album is great.  The lyrics he spits out are witty.  There is none of the posturing heard on other rap albums here. He tackles subjects like the Iraq war and modern consumerism and references Mary Poppins and E.T. The beats are simple and original.  There is no sampling of whole songs here.  Most of the time Mos is satisfied rhyming accompanied two or three track beat, but when even paired with producers like Mr. Flash or The Neptunes his lyrics stand out along with the music.  My favorite tracks off this album are Life In Marvelous Times, Supermagic, and No Hay Nada Mas. In Life In Marvelous Times, Mos Def raps about growing up in the 80s in the Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bedstuy) neighborhood of New York.  He is accompanied by great production work from Mr. Flash.  Supermagic shows off some of the middle eastern influences that permeate the entire album and shows off Mos’ playful lyric work.  In No Hay Nada Mas, Mos Def does a capable job of rapping in spanish.  The beat is of hispanic influence too as it reminded me of work by Cafe Tacuba.

by Neto

The Decision (4/5)

Like I said, the album is a great listen for someone who has little experience with hip hop and an open mind.  There are some tracks that left me cold at first but grew on me (Roses) a track that never caught my attention (Pretty Dancer) but most of it was gold.  Even Casa Bey which might be the most mainstream (or Kanye-like if you will) track of the album was a good listen.  Generally, for someone more inclined to listen to Radiohead than to

The Roots, it is a good reminder of what is being missed.

  Artist: Mos Def
  Album: The Ecstatic
  Label: Downtown
  Release Date: June 9, 2009
  Decision: 4/5 A Great Listen
  Favorite Tunes: “Life In Marvelous Times”, ”Supermagic”, “No Hay Nada Mas”

 

1. Background

Speaking as a person with little experience listening to rap music, I can say that this is an album that can be heard by those who would not consider themselves fans of hip hop so that they can remember what hip hop is when one isn’t listening to the radio.  Mos Def has crafted an album that is complex and listenable.

I never really listened to much hip hop music other than what was played on the radio and what I picked up from friends who did.  While I have knowledge of some of the history of hip hop (Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, Public Enemy), current radio hip hop, like most anything on the radio, is more likely to make my eyes glaze over in boredom than to invite me to explore the genre.  So, it is with this non-background in hip hop that I decided to dive in on the deep side of the pool and review Mos Def’s new album The Ecstatic, an album I figured would be like the hip hop I associate with positive things, like skate tapes and Spike Lee films.

Album Reviews – Regina Spektor’s “Far”

by meandthestereo

  Artist: Regina Spektor
  Album: Far
  Label: Warner Bros.
  Release Date: June 23rd, 2009
  Decision: 3/5 Mediocre…Right Away
  Favorite Tunes: “Blue Lips”

 

 

1. The Background

 After three years, Regina Spektor is back! Did you miss her? When I heard this album was coming out, I was extremely interested. And, of course, it’s going to do well. So much sells these days just because of the name that’s on the plastic. Let’s take a look and see if this album is worth all the hype:

Album Reviews – Street Sweeper Social Club

For this album review, meandthestereo did something a little different and handed off the album to two of our columnists. Check out Belle’s (from the East Coast) and Renato’s (from Austin, TX) differing takes on this album!

  Artist: Street Sweeper Social Club
  Album: Street Sweeper Social Club
  Label: Warner
  Release Date: June 16th, 2009
  Decision: 3/5 Mediocre…You’ll enjoy it, but go download the singles first!
  Favorite Tunes: “100 Little Curses”

 

1. The Background

Belle says,

Street Sweeper Social Club is Tom Morello and Boots Riley.  There is a great video on youtube of both of them describing the origins of the band. Boots Riley says that these songs are, “anthems for the revolution.”  Morello says that they both, “go to a lot of rallies.”  Both musicians agree that they are tired of boring, peaceful protest songs.  Also, they were wanting to create choruses that people can latch onto easily.

They are “outspoken policial activists” (via wikipedia) to put it mildly.  Morello formed the organization “Axis of Justice” to bring people together for social justice. I thought the organization’s website was very informative; what better way to directly address issues of social justice.  You can hear Boots Riley’s perspective on different issues during an episode of Politically Incorrect on Youtube. So, upon investigation via the internet, Morello and Riley are actually very articulately bringing together social justice and catchy music.

and Renato adds,

As has been said by Belle, Boots Riley and Tom Morello are the primary members of Street Sweeper Social Club.  Boots Riley, member of The Coup and outspoken political activist (but who isn’t this day and age?) teamed up with Morello to form a side project that just about sounds like Rage Against the  Machine.

Album Reviews – Marnie Stern: “This Is It…”

Artist: Marnie Stern
Album: This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That
Label: Kill Rock Stars
Release Date: October 7th, 2008
Decision: 3/5 Mediocre…After a While
Favorite Tunes: “Prime”, “Ruler”

1. The Background

Whoa, this album will wake you up! New York City musician Marnie Stern has released her 2nd album on Kill Rock Stars (a while back mind you, I’m a bit late) and she definitely has my attention. Trying to disregard the extremely long name of this album, I sat down and listened to these 12 short tracks for about a month before thinking about writing a review for it. A note of interest: Marnie Stern did all the guitar tracks for this. Amazing!