album reviews
Reviews of albums old and new from iconic artists and up and coming musicians alike.
The Sex Pistols — A Cheap Holiday in Other People's Misery
A bullet of AURAL TERRORISM. The sound of ANGER and DISILLUSIONMENT. A HAND GRENADE thrown at the MUSIC ESTABLISHMENT. Wait a second. This is just bad rock ‘n’ roll. You lied to me through the medium of canon.
By Sam Flintlock7 years ago in Beat
Worst Rock Albums of All Time. Top Story - July 2017.
Music is an art genre that is very "hit or miss," and nothing proves this better than the music career of legendary artists in the rock industry. Most of the time, when we think of major bands, we think of the great songs they've performed.
By Rowan Marley7 years ago in Beat
Ellie Goulding
Ellie Goulding used to be one of my two “current” artists. (For those who don’t know, I generally only get really into two bands or artists at once. It used to be Ellie Goulding and Rise Against in my mid teenage years.) That’s because Ellie used to be a good artist. Actually, she might still be a good artist, but she seems to want to hide her talent.
By Daniel Triumph7 years ago in Beat
Why You Need to Listen to GL
Growing up, 80s music was played religiously at home. Admittedly, I didn't enjoy it too much during my younger years. However, towards my later teen years, I really began to realise how crucial this era was for music as a whole. A favourite artist of mine is Paul Hardcastle, who dominated the 80s with tracks such as "19" and "Rainforest." He is the one who made me realise what good music was. The way he could manipulate the synth sound was second to none.
By Duane Louis7 years ago in Beat
Kanye West 'Graduation' Review
Opening Opinion: 9.5 My hype for this album was very high. It’s kind of a hard feeling to describe. I had heard enough singles from the album to know that it was dope. However what wasn’t apparent to me is this going to be his best album, or not. Graduation certainly lives up to that hype….and it’s my favorite rap album ever.
By Matthew Sullivan7 years ago in Beat
Dry the River and Faith
Dry the River was a short lived band. I have yet to run into anyone who knows them, which is disappointing considering just how perfect their album "Shallow Bed" is. I discovered this album a few years ago, however, initially only ever listened to the acoustic version. Finally transitioned to the non-acoustic, and this album as a whole has changed my life.
By Cherith Brook7 years ago in Beat
Kids and Young Adults of the 90s Are Seeing a Musical Rebirth
Those of us who lived our teenage years or young adult years in the 90s have been in a musical drought for quite some time. If your experience has been anything like my own, then in recent years you’ve often complained about the lack of “real music” on the radio these days. Many of us have gotten so tired of mumble rap and one hit R&B wonders, that we’ve retreated into our collective musical shells resorting to coveted playlists of the music we miss so much. What happened to the art of the slow jam, slow dancing in the basement of somebody’s house party under low light? Where did all of the music go that made you want to “Fight The Power” and take it to “the man,” or made it okay for men to tell women that “I’ll Always Love You” without it being called “simpin” or being “thirsty”? If you’re tired of all of the “b*tch,” “ho,” “thot,” and “trick” music, tired of the “popping bottles,” “counting money,” “driving a [insert ridiculously expensive car here]” type of music, then I have some absolutely great news for you. REAL MUSIC IS BACK BABY! If you didn’t already know, these artists have either dropped new music or have promised new music is on the way, YOU GONE LEARN TODAY!
By Kya Cooper7 years ago in Beat
Documentary 2 + 2.5 Review
The Documentary 2 Opening Opinion 9.9/10 The Documentary 2.5 Opening Opinion 10/10 Okay, so this is technically a double in depth review… but let me kill two birds with one stone. These albums really blew me away. In October of 2015, I knew The Game was dropping a sequel to his former best album, The Documentary. What I didn’t know, is that he was dropping another album right after that… like a week after that. First I’ll talk about 2, then 2.5.
By Matthew Sullivan7 years ago in Beat
Drake Albums
8)What a Time to Be Alive (84) Drake’s collaboration with Future is his worst album and it's just a collection of songs that aren't really about much of nothing special. Still catchy tho. If you like Future you won’t mind these songs. Top Tracks: Jumpman, Big Rings, Digital Dash.
By Matthew Sullivan7 years ago in Beat
Despise You/Coke Bust Split 7" Review
For those so far uninitiated, "powerviolence" is a hyper aggressive style of music taking its main cues from 80s hardcore punk, grindcore, and, oddly enough, certain styles of progressive rock. This means short songs at blinding speeds, blast beats, sludgy breakdowns and tempos that can shift on a dime. Half the fun of powerviolence, coming from an admitted superfan of the genre, is the twists and turns you get while listening to each 30 second burst of high-speed noise; you might think that you may be only getting two or three riffs per song with those kinds of lengths but in 30 seconds it's easy to get blindsided by a half a dozen different riffs that don't even share a similar tempo.
By Charles Spitzner7 years ago in Beat
Circle—Making Rounds Around The Square
Screaming is a national art in Finland. They even have a men's choir (30 members strong) that shouts everything from pop hits to national anthems. But then Finland is also the country with the strongest Tango musical line after Argentina. You also have everything in between. So it might be no wonder that the newest Circle album, Terminal (one of the 52 they made, although some accounts say it is over 60!) includes almost any modern rock style imaginable (screams included, of course). No tango though, a shame, I think they could have fitted it in!
By Ljubinko Zivkovic7 years ago in Beat
The Carousels—The Boat To West Coast
Let’s start with a simple introduction this time around. The Carousels are a band from Scotland and Sail Me Home St. Clair is their second album. Looking at the album cover, you’d expect a ton of whiskey flowing around and a bunch of sea shanties. The whiskey might have been flowing around in jugs but sea shanties are nowhere to be found. You see, The Carousels sound like one of the better 70s style country rock bands from the West Coast with all these gentle strumming guitars, pedal steels, and ever-expanding harmonies. Scottish weather is not exactly known for too many sunny, balmy days but you wouldn’t guess it by listening to this album.
By Ljubinko Zivkovic7 years ago in Beat