When the first few chords of Ingram Hill's new album, "June's Picture Show," began, I was expecting big things from this rock group I had never heard of before. Sure enough, when lead vocalist Justin Moore opened his mouth, I couldn't help but smile.
After listening to the opening track on Incubus' newest release, "A Crow Left of the Murder..." I kept skipping track to track in search of another song that rocked.
If the quality of the movie "Barbershop 2: Back In Business" is anything like its soundtrack - it would be two hours worth of just barely satisfactory entertainment. That's the grade I give the "Barbershop 2: Back In Business" soundtrack.
BLUES"Tell Me Baby," Jimmy Dawkins, Fedora Though he was born in Mississippi, Jimmy Dawkins is always associated with Chicago blues.
The newest album by local rockers 19 Wheels has greatly confused me. "Jawbreaker" is a release with good intentions, but the lack of originality on the album, as well as the overwhelming feeling that the group is made up of very talented rock musicians who are forced to play pop, keeps the band from reaching its full potential. To me, at least, this band, while talented, sounds just like all the other bands I've heard coming out with new material recently. Basically, the problem with the album is it sounds as if, deep down, 19 Wheels wants to rock hard, but something is holding them back. The music sounds good, it really does.
When it comes to music genres, survival of the fittest holds true. Creationism vs. evolution in the human race is a hot topic that leaves questions on both sides of the fence, but in music it's evident it is evolution. Floetry does for soul music what Stevie Ray Vaughan did for the blues.
JAZZ"Black Orchid," Al McKibbon, Label: Nine Yards The 85-year-old McKibbon can be heard in the background on albums such as Dizzy Gillespie's "In Paris," Thelonious Monk's "Genius of Modern Music, Vol.
Most new country folk albums are hit-or-miss. While some turn out to be complete cream, others struggle to reach the consistency of skim milk.
As I sat down about five different times to listen to Blue Star Highway's "Watching The Fight," for one reason or another, I found myself getting sidetracked.
Elementary education freshman Jana LoBello uses Christian music as a evangelizing tool. "We're called to outreach, to bring others to Christ," she said.
In a letter to me, keyboardist Joe Denslow made it clear his band has no hidden agenda with its debut album, "Believe In America." The Lansing-based quartet known as Hidden Agenda has been making music since the '80s, but has finally released its 15-track album, full of mellow melodies that will put most minds at ease or even into contemplation. Hidden Agenda does fall short in some areas, such as showing off its vocal talent as well as it could, but for the low-key music fan, the album should strike a chord.
"Flood," the 1990 classic from They Might Be Giants, saturates its listeners with 19 entertaining and quirky ditties. It's an album best known to many college folk as the CD which spawned two songs that cartoon shorts were created for on "Tiny Toon Adventures" - "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man." But "Flood" is more than just a nostalgic piece of art.
When the name Britney Spears comes up, many thoughts come to mind: naughty schoolgirl, heartbreaker of America's favorite *NSYNC babe and the newest installment of pop-culture commercialism - the Madonna kiss. Her last stints with the public haven't had anything to do with music, including posing topless and bottomless for numerous magazines like "Rolling Stone" and "Esquire." Although everyone has an opinion about how talented Miss Britney is, she's back at it again after two years with her fourth album, "In The Zone," from Jive Records.
If you've got a hankerin' for honky-tonk music, head out and walk the floor tonight with Lansing's own Honest D and the Steel Reserve.The four-piece group, which draws its sound heavily from the swinging country style of the 1930s and '40s, will perform at 9 p.m.
Let the deceased rest in peace, they say. But in the case of rapper Tupac Shakur, do you believe in "Ghosts"? On "Ghosts," the disturbing second track on "Tupac Resurrection," Tupac wants listeners to know that even though he's dead, his name will live on.
Sometimes the world is too loud, and it seems impossible to find a bit of quiet. But when night has finally settled in and darkness blankets us, there's an answer to the daily racket we all live with -
Throughout a lifetime, one can constantly teeter on the brink of despondency and normalcy. Love, life and other elements tug at a person's health and well being, much like the infamous forces of Good and Evil fight over a man's soul.
If one were to place a beatnik in a beatnik-sized blender, the moans of pain that would be audible from the victim as the device's blades tore off his or her limbs would be similar to what the Lolls' debut CD sounds like. The San Francisco duo's "Come On" album is beyond simplistic, and on several of the album's 10 tracks, the yelling of lead singer Gail Conway sounds part beatnik and part illiterate. The indie music scene is important to music, because it gives many artists without the resources of a major label a chance to shine.
Modern blues wonder Jonny Lang breaks the mold again with his new album, "Long Time Coming." Lang's third solo album hit stores Tuesday and he will be featured on "The Late Show with David Letterman" tonight. Now 22 years old and all grown up since his last release in 1998, Lang illustrates his energy even more through his jams about life and love.
Deep base notes and repetitious choruses bumping from lowriders with the windows down pegs the appeal of Ludacris' new album. "Chicken -N- Beer" retains Ludacris' popular style, liked by rap enthusiasts and others at the same time - great beats and entertaining lyrics.