Emergency Broadcast System – S/T EP

Emergency Broadcast System opens with the wordless “A Silent March,” drifting towards the gloom and doom which permeates the dancy sludge-pop that follows. The rest of the album melds into a journey deep into Hell, filled with dance fever – but in a very good way. Each track is only distinguishable from the last while it’s playing, because afterwards you’ll only remember it as pure power, distortion, and an immensely good record, most notably for the fact that it’s a debut EP. (A note on that: it’s really a full album, even with seven tracks, as its ideas and sound flow so fluidly, and its length is about that of an average punk album.)

In a way, the band’s name is oddly fitting. The guitars, from time to time, have the interesting quality of sounding vaguely like sirens. It may be a little far out, but I get the sense that I’m listening to the soundtrack for the evacuation when the world ends. People are dying and screaming, sirens are going off, the black of night surrounds everything, and Emergency Broadcast System’s members are standing in the rubble, ripping their guitars and maybe dancing a little bit. By the ultimate track, “Death From Afar,” the landscape is desolate and the sun is just starting to rise. The guys from EBS are packing away their instruments and walking away, not looking back on the destruction. And if I’m stretching this a bit far, at least it’d make a good music video…

The point is that this is the kind of album that needs to be heard all the way through, appreciated, and focused on. It grabs you from whatever you’re doing and drags you in, beats you up, leaves you exhausted. The drums drive, the guitars wail and moan, the vocals spit and swagger appropriately, and the blood is pulsing from beginning to end. There are no breathers and no ballads because they simply aren’t necessary. This album is a screaming force to be reckoned with, and I only have one complaint: I actually prefer Emergency Broadcast Music, the address of the website, to the name Emergency Broadcast System. Ok – make it two complaints: I want more of this stuff, and there isn’t any yet.

Coffinberry – From Now on Now EP

For a town that brought us the football playing career of Jim Brown, the voice of Bart Simpson, and the original home of the American Progressive Party – not to mention such rock luminaries as Pere Ubu, the Raspberries, and Devo – Cleveland sure does get a bad rap. The Forest City-based Coffinberry and this scruffy, seven-song, 18-minute EP From Now on Now isn’t likely to alter the much-maligned town’s image in the eyes of most Americans, but the band should put a dent into to the “mistake on the lake” stigma if anyone outside of the Cuyahoga River region gets a chance to listen.

Coffinberry revels in the drunken, tripping-over-instruments power-pop sound invented by Big Star, brought into the post-punk era by The Replacements, and made into a sloppy art form by 90s lo-fi kings Pavement and (fellow Ohioans) Guided by Voices. From Now on Now is a chaotic mess, but it’s a glorious one. The pop melodies are strong, the distorted guitars razor sharp, and the vocals perfectly ragged. Despite the current wave of fashion victim, retro-rock, and neo-garage bands flooding Real World episodes and iPod commercials, Coffinberry is truer to the spirit of classic rock than most bands today. There are no weak moments on From Now on Now. It’s simply a perfectly brief garbage pile of an EP – definitely not too long and just short enough to leave the new listeners with the irresistible itch to check out the band’s back catalog.

Except for the first track, “Nightlife,” which is more slow, cathartic garbage-pail wailing and less-primitive power-pop madness, the songs are pretty interchangeable. They all bleed with the same classic formula of Who-like power chords, caveman-like drums, and alcoholiday vocals. The finest moments on the EP (“Eva,” “Seven Months Gone By,” and “Cruise Control Psycho”) reinforce the simple pleasures of authentic, messy rock and roll. And along with the current urban revival, Coffinberry may one day help the nation forget that Cleveland was the only city to default on loans since the Great Depression.

A Wilhelm Scream – Ruiner

A Wilhelm Scream plays speedy pop-punk mixed with some hardcore-ish aesthetics and a lot of emotive melody. Sound familiar? Yeah, it basically sounds like Good Riddance, H20, Propagandhi, AFI, etc. Are these guys doing anything new and exciting? Not so much, but it is ok for what it is.

The main difference between A Wilhelm Scream and the above-mentioned bands is that these other bands were doing this style of music years ago and usually with more energy and passion. A Wilhelm Scream has a more modern feel to its sound via a heavier production and a more modern emo tinge.

The vocals are the real selling point for A Wilhelm Scream, with a nice balance between melodic singing and forceful yelling. The singer never really screams, but he has a lot of drive behind his voice, really reinforcing the melodies. And the band never gets too poppy or over the top with the melodies, but it does flirt with a more radio-friendly sound. Namely, the singer tends to let up on the vocals and venture into more whiney territory during the choruses.

I’m not completely convinced that these guys aren’t just another emo/hardcore band trying to get some radio play, but they are much better than a lot of crap that is played on the radio. So from that perspective, A Wilhelm Scream is good, but for the average fan looking for something a little more original or rooted in the underground, look elsewhere.

The Fiction – The Titus EP 7"

There are great things to be expected of a hardcore-ish band that once named an album I Told Her That I Like Living in a Box. The Fiction lives up to those expectations with this 7” offering, The Titus. The Fiction’s vocals are straight-up, sand-in-the-throat hardcore, though the music backing them usually sounds more like a garage band that can’t decide if it’s playing rock or emo.

The resulting three songs are refreshingly solid. “Maybe it’s You” is simply crazy. At first, the music sounds like some low-fi garage act backing a killer hardcore guy. Thirty seconds in, the band picks up some Grade-A ‘umph,’ and the song torches from there. Even with the wailing vocals, the song sounds surprisingly delicate in pinches. Step back and say “Damn!” for the killer riffs on “Understanding by Design,” which shine because The Fiction’s got sense enough to keep the vocals from smothering the rest of the track. The song feels unfinished, but what’s there is more than good enough to throw up metal signs for.

The surprise here is the band’s grinding cover of The Jam’s “Going Underground,” which shows that musical influence often comes from unexpected places. By the time The Fiction gets to the chorus, the song feels like an off-kilter anthem for a basement house show – the only thing missing is a group of sweating teenagers singing along at the top of their lungs.

With this 7” EP, The Fiction offers up some ass-kicking borderline hardcore. Bravo, chaps – play on, indeed.

Portugal The Man – Stables and Chairs

Portugal. The Man (yes, that is the correct way to spell the band name) is well on its way to getting some serious attention, not just because of how absurdly unique the band is, but also from how consistently strong each song from the album Waiter: “You Vultures!” is. Three of the four members call Wasilla, Alaska home, probably the last place you’d expect the next indie sensation to come from. These guys seem to enjoy being outlandish, most evident by their borderline-Sufjan knack for bizarre song and album titles. The name of the band follows suit, coming from an abstract but strangely understandable desire for having a huge scope (like a country – Portugal) while retaining a personal quality (The Man). This is only a hint of their delicious weirdness, and I know you’re already thinking these guys are pretty cool.

Like the vast range that the band name implies, the members of Portugal. The Man craft truly indefinable music that’s all over the place. From proggy guitar-stomping anthems to super-sophisticated smart rock songs to dancey keyboard grooves, it’s pretty much all here in one weird little package glazed over with the band’s own unique flavor. “Stables and Chairs” features a particularly memorable combination of nervous guitars, high, emotional vocals, and fantastic keyboard embellishments. Like early Radiohead but at the same time not at all, it’s basically my new favorite song.

Talk about idiosyncratic. If anyone is going to make Alaska the new indie trend, it’s Portugal. The Man. Keep an eye out; we have a potential band of the year here already.

This Moment – Finding a Voice in the Dark

Finding a Voice in the Dark is one of the saddest creations to emerge from recent hardcore.

From somewhere on the West Coast hails This Moment, with a terrible album in tow. You can file this under MTV2-ready hardcore that should be avoided at all costs. This is one of “those bands” who mistakenly incorporate singing. Surprise, it’s also pretty bad. I can’t decide what’s worse: the weak singing or the sloppy screams. So the vocal department should be fired, but that’s not all. The aggression sounds fabricated and derivative, I find it hard to imagine people moving for this band. The mosh attempts are downright embarrassing; try to picture the Teletubbies playing breakdowns. There’s a reason I covered this album with haste, as the most damning evidence is found in the liner notes.

“Loving you was like cutting my throat.”

“Blade, I cut myself with an insecure blade.”

“You had the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen. I wish I could swallow that pill for you.”

“Leave this dream. This dream called life. Kiss of arrows in my heart.”

I’ll stop there.

The January Taxi – Keep Quiet, They Might Hear Us

It has taken me FOREVER to do this review. Usually when I listen to an album a few times through, I have a pretty good idea of what to say in the review, but with January Taxi, the words simply were not coming to mind. Why, you ask? Keep Quiet, They Might Hear us is a middle-of-the-road snoozer.

Simply put, this album is extremely boring. There is no edge, no discernable reason this band exists. The band sort of straddles the line between moments of radio-friendly hooks and indie-minded songwriting with minimal energy or emotion.

The only song with anything resembling dynamics is “Jome.” Other than that, the album plods through very typical chord progressions, lifeless vocals, and uninteresting rhythms.

Don’t take this review the wrong way; this album is not terrible or annoying or anything, it just is in no way entertaining. People listen to music because it is emotional, dynamic, energetic, introspective, etc., but this album is none of the above.

James Combs – Nice Dream if You Can Get It

James Combs opens Nice Dream if You Can Get It with the breezy, irresistible “OK it’s Sunday.” Starting off your fourth album with such a terrific song – Lou Reed and Paul Simon would blush with humility at the track’s greatness – is ambitious and risky. The album’s other 11 songs generally maintain a high level of writing and delivery and include a few more treasures, but “OK it’s Sunday” is the LP’s masterpiece.

The only way to fully appreciate “OK it’s Sunday” is to listen to it, again and again, and then save the effort and just press “Repeat Track.” Imagine a rich male/female duet with vowels breathed sensuously over strings and light beats that recall The Velvet Underground’s “Sunday Morning.” When Combs limits the instrumental element to declare, “Men are ruled by lust / Women are ruled by passion,” Tears For Fears’ “Woman in Chains” instantly comes to mind. He later switches his philosophy on gender motivation, and Erin Shawn Hawkins’ vocals combine with his to make “OK it’s Sunday” that rare song that transcends moods and seasons.

“My Darling Enemy” crunches at a faster pace with a questionable play and pause style. The song’s redemption comes in its final minute with lush trip-hop strings and beats. Combs’ captivating falsetto duets with Hawkins continue on catchy, quieter affairs like the acoustically driven “Soft as Vapor,” the gentle tale of frustration that is “Low Go Getter,” and the album’s Simon and Garfunkel-esque title track. Hawkins’ pleading, passionate singing dominates “Low Go Getter” and demonstrates Combs’ ability to select the ideal collaborators for performance of his original compositions.

Still, Combs’ melodies drag on a few times with uninspiring choruses like those on “Lazy Son,” the psychedelic “Alive and Smiling,” and the subdued “Belle Epoch.” The whistling on “Belle Epoch” smoothly evokes the lonely west, but that’s not enough to push the song past mediocre.

Still, the album ends on a high note – literally – with the chilled-out, swinging “Burning Car.” There is some filler among the dozen tracks Combs chose to include on Nice Dream if You Can Get It, but overall, he has crafted an album that leaves most of the competition behind and occasionally penetrates the sphere of musical perfection.

Immortal Lee County Killers – These Bones Will Rise to Love You Again

There was a time not too long ago that you could count on the Immortal Lee County Killers for manic, trashy punk-blues with distorted vocals. However, the group’s latest release, These Bones Will Rise to Love You Again, is a wholy different animal – one that’s sleeker and more toned than anything the band has done before. The lineup has changed yet again to include Jeff Goodwin on keyboards, but it doesn’t seem like this is the root of the style shift. Perhaps the Immortal Lee County Killers just got tired of the whole grungy blues thing, or maybe it’s an intentional move to be more commercial, but regardless of the reasons, the result is one fans may or may not be fond of.

These Bones Will Rise to Love You Again starts off a bit dryly with a trio of so-so tracks including “Turn on the Panther,” “Revolution Summer” (yes, a cover of Pussy Galore), and “Blues.” These songs just lack the Immortal Lee County Killers’ normal oomph. The opening number sounds more like radio-ready rock, while “Blues” just rambles along with little of the sound you would expect from the title. “Boom Boom” has a nice chugging guitar intro and quickly picks up steam to become something a bit more reminiscent of what fans expect from the band.

Oddly enough, it’s the slower, more standard blues and gospel numbers on These Bones Will Rise to Love You Again that really shine. “Stitched in Sin” is front porch-style blues with a fairly spare sound and lethargic vocals that perfectly fit the style. The final track, “No More My Lord,” is presented a capella like a chain gang spiritual. Although still a departure from the punk-blues of previous releases, this pair of songs sounds like a more natural progression for a band like the Immortal Lee County Killers than some of the seemingly watered-down rock tunes on the rest of the album.

These Bones Will Rise to Love You Again is a hard album to be objective about simply due to the style shift. Some fans of the band’s previous efforts may find this new twist to be one in the wrong direction, while others may see this as just the next level for an already great band. Personally, I don’t find the music here bad in any obvious way – it just isn’t as striking as the group’s first two albums. Whether this disc gets an all-around thumbs up from other fans remains to be seen, but I for one hope the Immortal Lee County Killers regain that gritty edge for their next release.

Darker My Love – Summer is Here EP

This little three-song teaser from Darker My Love gives a glimpse into what this fledgling band has in store for its first full-length.

Drawing inspiration from the once-again growing LA noisy pysch-rock scene, the band is quite a jump from what band members Tim Presley (formally of Nerve Agents) and Andy Outbreak (formally of the Distillers and Nerve Agents) are used to playing.

Grittier and trippier than the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on “Summer is Here,” drawing from the power of the Stooges on “Hellium Heels,” and Spacemen 3 on “Catch,” Darker My Love has the potential to shoot to the top on what seems to be at times a watered down genre/scene.

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