Magneta Lane | A Review Of Gambling With God

Magneta Lane, a band heavily influenced by such classics as The Pretenders, Sonic Youth and The Kinks, has come out with a new album Gambling With God. The album features a number of finely executed tracks, so much so you may think the band hails from some nook in down town Montreal or played their way through the dive bars in and around New York City. This threesome is in fact from Toronto Ontario and Gambling with God as their third album is quite the album. As you listen to their new album you can hear a number of influences and they coalesce in a way that brings about a sense of the band’s appreciation of both the new and old. Magneta Lane falls into the notable and incendiary category of sibling/relative rock acts such as The Ramones, Oasis and more recently the Kings of Leon. Perhaps a blessing or a curse, having band members with the same blood often brings about interesting results. The contrast of on stage symmetry and off stage squabbling is never lost on the devotee or casual onlooker. If Magneta Lane becomes more successful such stories surrounding them may become more available.

Gambling with God is a more clear-cut brand of Alt-Rock, filled with a casual sense of lyrical storytelling. The vocals delivered by lead singer Lexi Valentine are at some points reminiscent of Zooey Deschanel of She & Him, that is, if Zooey had any vocal edge at all. The melodies are relatively simplistic, and while the execution is precise, they lack much originality. That being the only negative issue of the album, Gambling with God is no gamble at all (hold for applause). With a solid collection of tracks this album is by far the best female-only rock album of the year. Key tracks, House Of Mirrors, September Came, Bloody French and All The Red Feelings.

Pearl Jam | A Review of Backspacer

As Pearl Jam’s ninth studio album Backspacer, it’s not like you say the band members are new to the music game. They are in fact one of the most influential artists of a certain musical era which changed many lives and formed many musical tastes. The era of course is Grunge, a musical style that overflowed with dark introspective lyrics accompanied by harrowing guitar riffs. It was the theme of a generation desperately trying to escape the overwhelmingly vapid 80’s culture. And Pearl Jam was right in the center of it along with Alice In Chains and of course Nirvana. But out of these three only one really remains and that is Pearl Jam. The other lead singers are now long dead and only Vedder remains. Layne Staley (Alice In Chains), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) and Eddie Vedder all had and have very distinct voices, and collectively they became the golden standard for Alt-Rock vocals. Emulators abound but few have come close. That brings us to Backspacer.

It’s hard to think some of the songs off of Backspacer would work without the unmistakable deep quaking voice of Vedder. His execution and lyrical influence still holds strong, in this the first Pearl Jam album to have Vedder as the sole lyric writer since 1994 with Vitalogy. To say that every song off of this album is good would be a step too far. Though, the misses heard on the album are easily forgivable. The subtle brilliance of other, more formidable tracks make up for the slack. You see, Pearl Jam has lost the wonderfully raw and dark feeling in their songs of years gone by, and that once strong sense of existential doom has been replaced with a more lyrically sunny overtone. After listening to Backspacer you will realize one thing about today’s Pearl Jam. What they have lost in edge, they gained back in wisdom. They may not be as dark as they once were but songs like Unthought Known and The End affirm that they can still make music with heart that is exceptionally put together and also uplifting. Key tracks off of Backspacer, The Fixer, Unthought Known and The End.

Backspacer comes out on September 20th

Track List:
1. Gonna See My Friend
2. Got Some
3. The Fixer
4. Johnny Guitar
5. Just Breath
6. Amongst The Waves
7. Unthought Known
8. Supersonic
9. Speed Of Sound
10. Force Of Nature
11. The End

Skint & Demoralised | A Review of Love, And Other Catastrophes

Originality and Appeal, these are the elements that we look for here at Indie Blog Shot and Skint & Demoralised has it in spades. The band’s front man Matt Abbott of the West Yorkshire area, began his career as a writer and performer of poetry. After some of his poetry was heard by the producer MiNI dOG via Abbott’s MySpace page, the two began to work together in creating one of the most original albums to ‘not’ come out in years. Love, And Other Catastrophes has been delayed in its release for quite some time and has been in the works since early 2007. Abbott’s album does not come out until early 2010, but some have had the fortune to hear it in its entirety. The album itself jumps between strictly spoken word poetry interludes and a hybrid poetry interlaced with varying styles of background music, making the album a wonderfully exotic mess. Abbott’s misanthropic lyrical content accompanied by his incredibly thick accent creates an extraordinary experience for the listener. With lines like, “Are we always going to be single, we drink what we like, think what we like, go out for a dance and mingle”, in the track It’s Only Been A Week with Abbott’s accent in lead the song becomes instantly memorable. Lyrics such as these fill Love, And Other Catastrophes, it’s originality and subversive appeal are unquestionable. Key tracks off of this album are, You Probably Don’t Even Realise When You Do The Things I Love The Most, Only Lust Ignores Violence, A Few Quiet Drinks (The Long Night That Lies Ahead) and It’s Only Been A Week.

Track List for Love, And Other Catastrophes
1. Let’s Get Lost
2. LS11 OES
3. The Thrill Of Thirty Seconds
4. You Probably Don’t Even Realise When You Do The Things I Love The Most
5. Only Lust Ignores Violence
6. This Song Is Definitely About You
7. A Few Quiet Drinks (The Long Night That Lies Ahead)
8. Three More Days (Voluntary Confinement Intro)
9. It’s Only Been A Week
10. Red Lipstick
11. One Way Avenue Blues
12. Failing To See The Attraction
13. Withdrawal Symptoms

Hockey | Mind Chaos | Good Bands Grow in Portland

Hockey, a new band out of Portland Oregon, home base for M. Ward, Blitzen Trapper other bands that have made a splash over the past 12 months. What Hockey offers to its listeners is an eclectic mix of folk, rock and pop. So much so you may think this album has multiple personality disorder (see track #8). It’s hard to nail down their brand of music, at one point you feel like you are enjoying a long lost Strokes song with Work, while during the next track Song Away, you think you are listening to a Springsteen cover. All of this just adds to the experience of Mind Chaos, the first full length album Hockey has released, due out September 28th. As mentioned before, Hockey has a musical flavor not unlike artists such as Bruce Springsteen, The Strokes and maybe even a little Beck, but that doesn’t mean this album is without its own innovations. For the most part this album takes and infuses a great deal of Funk into the styles of those artists. Some tracks are hit and miss on Mind Chaos, but that is no reason to relegate the band to the crap album bin that seemed to be filling up over the month of August. In fact, this album was a pleasant surprise, filled with well put together pop numbers and heartfelt songs that would fall more into the category of folk rock while others end up being more Beck-centric. And with a name like Hockey you know that this band is in it for a fight. With similar bands floating around Hockey needs to deliver a devastating blow with its release of Mind Chaos. Key Tracks off of the album are, Too Fake, Learn To Lose, Work, Song Away and Preacher.

Track List For Mind Chaos:
1. Too Fake
2. 3am Spanish
3. Learn To Lose
4. Work
5. Song Away
6. Curse This City
7. Wanna Be Black
8. Four Holy Photos
9. Preacher
10. Put The Game Down

Blitzen Trapper | Black River Killer EP

Blitzen Tapper had what some might call a brake out year over the past 12 months, appearing on Rolling Stones Best New Albums of 08’ with Furr at #13. And making it into the back grown music of popular TV shows, that being said, Blitzen Trapper does not have another album close on the horizon. But what they have released, and have been selling privately after their concerts, is the Black River Killer EP. The title track being the only one from the Furr album the other six are sweet sweet B-Sides. What these songs offer is a type of extension directly related to Furr, a curious side note worth the $4 cost from their label subpop’s website in Mp3.