Allan\'s World Music A music blog with mainly indepedent artists. Site allows sampling of various songs from many different artists everyday. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 1 0 3 3146

Articles from Allan\'s World Music

The Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour Review 2008-01-28 18:12:33 Last week I had the privilege of attending “The Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour,” and it was absolutely mind blowing. Headed by Cobra Starship, it was supported by two of my current favourites, We The Kings and Metro Station. Unfortunately, the leader singer of The Cab was ill and I didn’t get a chance to see them perform. Nonetheless the three remaining bands did pull through, and as they say “the show must go on” We The Kings opened the night off playing several songs off their self titled debut album. Their live performance was spot on as compared to their record, and not surprisingly they had a phenomenal sound. I enjoyed their live performance as much as I appreciated their cd, which is a considerable amount, but nevertheless it was not insurmountably better, in fact it was just over par. This could be in part due to the lack of lights and equipment saved up for the headliner; however I did not get the same stage presence that I’m used to receiving from su ...

High On Fire: Death Is This Communion Review 2008-01-23 15:15:51 I first heard of this band while searching for information on the Gigantour 2008. These guys are playing at the North American Gigantour along with Megadeth, In Flames, Children of Bodom, and Job For A Cowboy. Tickets for this tour came on sale last Friday. High on Fire is from Oakland, California. Their music is classified as stoner metal or doom metal. I’m not too sure what kind of music stoner metal is. Personally, I can’t enjoy metal, with the exception of Tool, while I’m high. And these guys sound nothing like Tool. These guys released their latest album, Death Is This Communion, in September of 2007. They got pretty good reviews on Metacritic. Revolver named the album the 3rd best of the year, after Ire Works by The Dillinger Escape Plan. It had also came in at 4th on Total Guitar’s “50 best guitar albums of the year” and 9th on Metal Hammer’s best of 2007 list. The sound that these guys produce is fast, throaty, and raw. Their vocals are brutal war cries and their ...

Hello Blue Roses - The Portrait Is Finished And I Have Failed To Capture Your Beauty Review 2008-01-22 16:30:41 First off I would like to say that “The Portrait Is Finished And I Have Failed To Capture Your Beauty” is one long ass album title but it definitely is one of the better album titles I’ve ever seen. Could it mean that this album isn’t quite complete or that in the eye of the beholder none of us will find the beauty in Hello, Blue Roses release? I was extremely excited for this album going so far as downloading 5 songs even though I knew I would be given an advance copy. Expectations were high to say the least. Hello, Blue Roses is a husband and wife duo between Sydney Vermont and Dan Bejar (New Pornographers, Destroyer, Swan Lake). Dan Bejar contributes the musical arrangements but this is Vermont’s show as she sings lead and writes everything lyrically. This album shows off Vermont’s vocal prowress as a former choir singer. You could fall into a trance just listening to her and ignoring everything else lyrically. Bejar occasionally adds in some voc ...

Ruby Isle Elbo.ws Cover Project: Headlights’ Cherry Tulips 2008-01-22 11:50:39 Ruby Isle has been doing a very cool project over the past few months covering every #1 song of the week. Some covers have included “Shadow Falls” by Hello Blue Roses, “Aly, Walk With Me” by The Raveonettes and more. Their latest contribution which I had been most looking forward to was “Cherry Tulips” by Headlights. I absolutely love this song so I was patiently checking out their myspace for anything new. Luckily the fellows at Kindercore e-mailed me when it was up. Yes this post does suck but it’s not what I had in store for today. Think of this post as an excuse to link to various blogs that I like and just to get away from the standard reviews. Look out for a review tonight. You can find Ruby Isle’s thoughts when completing this cover. Download Ruby Isle’s version of Cherry Tulips. Find Ruby Isle’s Planes of Baltimore MIA vs Stephen Malkus and the Jicks at YANP. Cover of Sax Rohmer #1 by the Mountain Goats @ Indie Blog Ha ...

The Magnetic Fields - Distortion Review 2008-01-18 16:45:37 Do the Magnetic Fields need an introduction? They are very well known in indie circles but if this the first time you’ve heard about them then here’s a brief summary: The Magnetic Fields are an indie pop band who’ve been around since 1990 who are known for their love songs, Stephin Merritt’s deep voice and some pretty good writing. Merritt is known as being openly gay and sometimes isn’t afraid to express it in his lyrics. I never bothered to care that he’s gay but if you didn’t know then now you do. The Magnetic Fields are known for their release of 69 Love Songs a number I would probably choose myself (because I’m apparently a perv). Anyway I’ll admit I’ve only listened to a handful of songs by the Magnetic Fields but almost every song I’ve heard and have been able to acquire, I’ve really dug. Distortion starts off with some pretty fun tracks. I laughed when I heard “Three Way” as all it contained w ...

Rivers Cuomo - Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo Review 2008-01-17 19:02:55 I go back and forth on putting out bad reviews here and there. It’s actually good for blogging to put something out negative (riles people up). I could do it for the sake of being an ass, and insulting popular things or bring to light how I didn’t really like In Rainbows all that much. It’s really about being honest (and yeah so what I still believe In Rainbows was an average effort and doesn’t match Sunset Rubdown’s Random Spirit lover) and while I should bypass being a dick for a day, usually what follows is a drought and I’ve got nothing else to write about. Anyway Rivers Cuomo is the lead singer/guitarist of Weezer. His name probably rings a bell and Weezer is a pretty popular band with tons of mainstream success. I would say I’m a casual fan of them, loved almost all of their singles and usually whatever I picked up I dug but I was in no way a serious fan. This is a compilation album of recordings that Cuomo made in 15 years from 92-07 wi ...

The Killers - Sawdust Review 2008-01-12 17:36:44 One could argue that I was a big fan of the the Killers, I actually planned to see them in the summer but decided I was better off just selling the tickets. I really liked Hot Fuss and even thought Sam’s Town was a great effort, maybe even a better effort (not from a mainstream standpoint). Anyway when Sawdust was released, I wasn’t too ecstatic about a compilation album because it usually means subpar stuff and with the Killers, if it’s not great I probably can’t step out and admit I like it (saying I like them is hard enough!). Sawdust includes 19 tracks (including the 2 bonus tracks) and it features the track Tranquilize featuring Lou Reed, a cover of Joy Divisions’ Shadowplay, some recognizable tracks that you would find on P2P networks and some unreleased stuff. For a compilation album, you have to be a pretty big fan to shell out money for it. With The Killer’s mainstream success it isn’t surprising to see this album do quite well but wit ...

Headlights, Hello Blue Roses, Hot Chip and Why? 2008-01-11 17:00:55 I love doing reviews for this blog and all as I get to hype what I really like and I feel better putting in my two cents on something. Anyway, I think this blog has another role to play and it’s to hype albums before they come out. If I could do a review before the release date I would but a lot of the time I’m not hooked up and a review will prob ably be a week or two after the release date or whenever I get the album in hand. Anyway, I think hyping upcoming releases is a great way to put out singles you really like. I don’t expect to do this often but maybe once a month to keep up on what’s hot with the music blogosphere. I actually planned this post to be on Hello, Blue Roses only but I figured I had more artists/albums to hype and I would never get done nor would I have much content left when I actually do reviews. I’ll do this about once a month I guess. I also will check out upcoming releases by the Magnetic Fields, Cat Power, Chris Walla and Jack Jo ...

Yndi Halda 2008-01-10 20:10:26 So a couple of months ago, I stumbled upon Yndi Halda, a post rock indie band from Canterbury, UK. One thing I want to know: why the hell are they not touring in Canada yet? Grr. Yndi Halda’s EP Enjoy Eternal Bliss (which is the English translation of “Yndi Halda” from Old Norse) was released online in 2006, and sold in stores by 2007. It’s funny, Enjoy Eternal Bliss is about 70 minutes long, but still considered an EP. But I digress. One could argue Yndi Halda fulfills the elements of post rock so well that their sound becomes all too conventional. The thing about post rock is sometimes you have a hard time matching bands to their tunes, unless they have some featured element that stands them out (e.g. Sigur Ros’ frontman’s falsetto, Mogwai’s unintelligible vocals…oh wait, they’re all pretty unintelligible…). I have to commend Yndi Halda, though, for some excellent riffs and ability to control the instrumentation without going overboard. Their tunes usually featu ...

Cansei de Ser Sexy - CSS! 2008-01-09 18:01:47 With many CDs just coming in right now, I’m pretty low when it comes to having new review material. So let’s talk about a band that has taken over my computer the past few weeks and I probably wish I had bothered to listen to them a lot faster. I heard of CSS numerous times and when I tried to google te band name, I could never find out what CSS stood for so it would be a hindrance in me checking them out. Thankfully I eventually made the connection (after seeing Cansei de Ser Sexy and looking it up) and now I’m an addict. Cansei de Ser Sexy translates into “tired of being sexy” from Portugese apparently from a Beyonce quote. Anyway, this band is out of Brazil so even better to have this blog more bands from other countries. What makes CSS so special? Well they are fronted by Lovefoxxx a woman of Japanese descent but their real draw is their power pop/electronic style that makes their music incredibly fun! This is definitely the type of music that could be ...

Self Against City – Telling Secrets To Strangers Review 2008-01-08 00:17:22 Sacramento, home of the Kings, and less notably the birthplace of a little known band, Self Against City. The Californian 5 piece is currently signed to Drive Thru Records, sharing the same label with the likes of Hellogoodbye and New Found Glory. Needless to say, Self Against City have proven their music can outshine even their mainstream counterparts, with pure solid music. Not particularly the most innovative of sounds, or the most talented, Self Against City have done what more or less many bands have attempted, except they’ve done it exceedingly well. Creating a slightly emo pop rock sound, Self Against City released Telling Secrets To Strangers early in 2007, and have created an easily enjoyable album from start to finish. The songs throughout the album are similar in nature, taking the more placid approach to mainstream pop rock music, as opposed to its upbeat counterpart. The vocals are fairly typical, but perfectly match the simple music that’s being played. The instrumen ...

Children of Bodom: Set to tour with Megadeth and In Flames on the Gigantour 2008 2008-01-06 23:09:03 Children of Bodom is a power metal band from Espoo, Finland. Their music ranges from heavy metal to melodic death metal to power metal. I first discovered these guys while downloading a bunch of Iron Maiden stuff. Apparently they did a bunch of Iron Maiden covers and their versions are a lot faster and heavier. The band got its name from the Lake Bodom murders and a lot of their music is about war, death, the grim reaper, personal struggles, and, of course, the Lake Bodom murders. Couple of my favorite songs from them are The Final Countdown and Lake Bodom. There’s quite a lot of nice guitar riffs in there. I also really like their version of Iron Maiden’s Powerslave and Aces High. Children of Bodom are set to tour this summer with Megadeth, In Flames, Job For A Cowboy and High On Fire for the Gigantour 2008. The tour will run from April to May of this year. More information about this tour is expected to be released shortly. I haven’t heard of Job For A Cowboy and High On Fire ... Children

Murder Mystery - Are You Ready For The Heartache Cause Here It Comes 2008-01-05 17:06:25 Murder Mystery is a indie pop rock band from New York. I actually remember visiting Murder Mystery’s site a few months ago and enjoyed a few tracks. For whatever reason I didn’t feel inclined to post about them like I feel I should today. This time around I was able to hear “Are You Ready For The Heartache Cause Here It Comes” and it has left me pretty impressed. Called as a mix of influences such as the Magnetic Fields, Pavement, Television and Buddy Holly, I could only vouch about Buddy Holly and the Magnetic Fields as artists I’ve listened to previously. Putting on my own spin, I definitely agree with the Magnetic Fields comparison. Like Stephen Merritt, Jeremy Coleman has that sort of deep singing voice while utilizing a seemingly “untrained” voice. I would say they are the National of pop rock as the lyrics seems to me emphasized much more due to Jeremy’s outspoken voice. This makes Murder Mystery stand out from other pop rock acts ...

múm - Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy 2008-01-03 14:00:59 múm, a post-rock/electronica band from Iceland, released Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy in September 2007, which has proven to be a definite shift in their career. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this album, considering their lead vocalist left the band. What would happen to múm once the soft, breathy childlike (and almost creepily so) voice of Kristin Anna Valtysdottir disappeared? Usually, we find bands going to shit once core members leave—Pink Floyd are a prime example. Roger Waters was able to uphold the band after Syd Barrett left due to his experimental genius that was way beyond his time, but once he left, David Gilmour went too mainstream with the band that it sounded cheesy. In múm’s case, I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy was. For those who were creeped out by Valtysdottir’s vocals in the first place, let thou be relieved. Her key role in the band is replaced by a choir of female and male vocalists, but rather than using vocals ...

Hillcrest Road - Life After Liftoff 2007-12-31 20:45:03 Hillcrest Road, a five piece band from Milwaukee, is the latest pop-rock sensation to command my attention. Their debut album, Life After Liftoff is a blend of traditional pop-rock sounds, mixed with a soulful voice, and a genuinely uplifting feel. Certainly a band that’s ready to take on the mainstream, their debut album was a pleasant surprise and a great way to cap 2007. Having never before heard of Hillcrest Road, I was excited to see how they compared with the bands that were currently in line for a review. Life After Liftoff was excellent off the first listen, and not surprisingly, I was more than happy to give them my final review of the year. Hillcrest Road have taken the genre of pop-rock head on, and developed a sound that really solidifies them as the next generation. They have done an excellent job of retaining the fundamentals of the genre, but have also implemented an alternative feel to their sound. Their soulful influence is what puts them ahead of the pack, in what h ...