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Archive for October 2009
I get it. Around 75% of my visitors and readers are friends of mine, or at least people that know me or follow me on twitter or something. With that reasoning behind me, I think I’ll try doing a new thing where I start posting segments about local bands in Nashville that I feel are worth a damn. If you live in Nashville (if you’re reading this review then you more than likely do), or especially if you don’t live in Nashville and are a random visitor to the site, then you should definitely check out these unknown bands. The first I will mention is a band called H-Beam. Their album was just released and it’s pretty awesome.
H-Beam is the Frank Zappa/Mike Patton fix that you’ve been needing for the past 5 years. Their music is spastic, eccentric, non-sensical, and terribly amusing to the point where you find yourself chuckling in your car-seat while on a business call. Their debut album, Useful Box Of Hair, has the Dune Review Seal-Of-Approval and is certainly something to check out. When I say its a mix between Zappa and Patton, I mean just that. But in NO way is that a bad thing in this situation. I’ve heard bands influenced by Zappa and Patton before, and it sounded like absolute garbage. When bands try to pull it off it sounds tried and unoriginal, but H-Beam pulls it off so well that it makes you wish Frank was still alive so that he and Patton could do a double-album together.
Don’t be fooled; I’m not just going to be praising this album or this act out of bias or favor, there are things about this album that I am not too fond of. The vocals are spread out so much in stereo sometimes that the alignment seems off, out of personal preference I’d enjoy more snare, and other simple things that all come from me being overly critical. These minor complaints, however, are not enough to dislike the music. It’s not a major label act; it’s two guys from Nashville creating a monster of an album with a low budget, so don’t get excited thinking that it’s a production masterpiece. The album sounds amazing for what it is, and The Dune Review feels you should give it a listen.
Head over to their official WEBSITE, or check them out on their MYSPACE in order to grab a listen. You’re welcome.
Brand New came on the scene alongside bands like Thrice, Taking Back Sunday, The Used, and all the other acts that blew up around the same time as Fuse TV and Hot Topic. After their album Deja Entendu, I didn’t think too much of them and I honestly didn’t really expect to hear of them again. Though they were more original than the other screamo/post-hardcore bullshit coming out at that time, I kinda expected them to fall through the cracks with everyone else. To my amazement, they put out the album The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me, which, if you haven’t heard it, you should go download it immediately. That album blew my fucking mind.
Daisy seems to pick up shortly where The Devil And God left off, though this effort is not nearly as poignant. Daisy is a good album, but compared to their previous, it just doesn’t do the band justice. Through several front-to-back listens, I found myself becoming almost bored (though it honestly may just be coming from the comparison). The songs are more than decent, but I can’t help but feel a lack of passion in the writing. This almost feels like they tried too hard to keep writing in order to avoid the road.
One thing that is very noticeably different on this album is the overall vintage feel it has. It opens and closes with a female opera singer belting out notes behind old-school, mono vinyl effects, giving the listener phonographic images. Throughout the entire album, the production gives you this feel, however modernized it may be. The vocals peak (on purpose) at times and the overall feel of most songs bring you back to a time before radio. This album is good, but for Brand New, it’s borderline mediocre. Fans of the band will love it, but for me, it will only get so many rotations in my iPod. I give it a 3 out of 5 stars. ***