Archive for the ‘Track Reviews’ Category

Track Review: Joel Plaskett Emergency - “Fashionable People”

Tags: ,
August 14, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Joel Plaskett EmergencyJoel Plaskett Emergency
Ashtray Rock
“Fashionable People”

Joel Plaskett Emergency - “Fashionable People” | download

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Fashionable People,” named for the falsetto-inflected chorus line from this song, a track from 2007’s Ashtray Rock, is an entertaining romp in power pop that experiments with a variety of instrumentation styles to reach its easily listenable destination. Top it off with an entertaining video (embedded after the jump,) and you’ve got a song that sounds almost Weezerish (if I can coin a term, like all good music journalists) in its methods; however, there’s an unrestrained feel here that would place it above most recent efforts from the band Joel Plaskett undoubtedly drew some influence from.

Click to continue reading “Track Review: Joel Plaskett Emergency - “Fashionable People””

Posted in Track Reviews, Video | No Comments »

Track Review: Chris Cotton - “Going Home”

Tags:
August 12, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Chris CottonChris Cotton
The Big Sea
“Going Home”

Chris Cotton - “Going Home” | download

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Going Home” is shocking in its immediacy: a track from Chris Cotton’s latest, due out September 2nd on Little Fish Large Pond Publishing. This vintage-style piece, recalling some of the earliest recorded American folk music, is a refreshing blast from distorted guitars and whining vocals. There’s something strangely enthralling about anachronistic music, isn’t there?

Posted in Downloads, Track Reviews | No Comments »

Track Review: The Ritz - “It’s The…” from The Night of Day

Tags:
August 12, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

The Ritz - The Night of DayThe Ritz
The Night of Day
“It’s The…”

Content warning: Lyrics involve use of the ever-ominous “f” word. I don’t mind.

The Ritz - “It’s The” | download

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

My first thought, after hearing this track from the debut album from The Ritz? I was impressed, honest. The combination of bass-heavy beats with string samples and a nice use of stereo rapping (Elliott Smith influence, maybe? Likely not.) is fairly evocative and engaging. My only real complaint? The bass is mixed a bit too heavily, as it ends up slightly excessive and punchy on my well-balanced headphones (Sennheiser HD 485s, nothing too expensive,) distracting from the rest of the track, a well-mixed hip-hop introduction track.There’s nothing too adventurous about this track, but its efficient execution bodes well for the full release, due out August 19th.

Posted in Downloads, Released this Week, Track Reviews | 1 Comment »