The Heatseekers are a good
little rock band. Their garagey sound is noisy and full of energy. They have a
sound that mixes early 80's punk and the new school garage feel. Think
Descendents meets The Hives. It's fast, it's fun, and it rocks. It can also, at
times, be repetitive. My favorite cuts are the rockibilly infused sound of "New
(Old) Sound" and the beat heavy "Brand New Year". You can
get copies on Amazon.com or the official
Ohev Records website. (Eddie Fleisher)
The Hold Steady's self-titled
record starts off sounding pretty good. That is, until, the vocals begin. The
music is an old punk feel, with a little fancier guitars. The vocals are
basically all spoken. It gets old after a few tracks. Reading the lyrics is
actually more entertaining than hearing them. I'd suggest that the band find a
singer, and the vocalist go write a book. Separately, these would be
interesting, but together they just blur. (Eddie Fleisher)
I was recently talking with another music writer, and this
individual mentioned that his job more or less consisted of finding new ways to
say “competent but uninspired”. That’s pretty much what I’m faced with in
reviewing this two song demo from Ironhead. The band is tight, the songs are
alright, the vocals are kind of bland. Ironhead is yet another in the seemingly
endless stream of bands following in the footsteps of Zeke, Speeddealer, and
Nashville Pussy. Nothing wrong with that, but Ironhead don’t bring
anything distinctive to the table. Visit the band's
website for more info. (Bob Ignizio)
There’s always
a few bands like Plasma kicking around on any scene. They’re the guys who
worship artists like Frank Zappa, Kings X and Rush, and in general place a
high value on musicianship. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself,
but it’s a delicate balancing act to play complex musical compositions while
still delivering good songs with heart and soul. Plasma doesn’t quite pull
it off. For starters, the music sounds sterile, and for all the funk
influence that seeps into the band, there’s not much real soul here. I’m
not saying the band isn’t passionate about their music; I’m sure they are.
But it feels like they place too much emphasis on getting everything “perfect”,
which drains a lot of the energy and spontaneity out of the material. The
band tries their best to write melodic hooks, but none of them really lodged in
my brain. Overall, it’s just kind of boring to me. For more info on
the band, including how to get this CD, visit their
website.
The Heatseekers are a good
little rock band. Their garagey sound is noisy and full of energy. They have a
sound that mixes early 80's punk and the new school garage feel. Think
Descendents meets The Hives. It's fast, it's fun, and it rocks. It can also, at
times, be repetitive. My favorite cuts are the rockibilly infused sound of "New
(Old) Sound" and the beat heavy "Brand New Year". You can
get copies on 
The Hold Steady's self-titled
record starts off sounding pretty good. That is, until, the vocals begin. The
music is an old punk feel, with a little fancier guitars. The vocals are
basically all spoken. It gets old after a few tracks. Reading the lyrics is
actually more entertaining than hearing them. I'd suggest that the band find a
singer, and the vocalist go write a book. Separately, these would be
interesting, but together they just blur. (Eddie Fleisher)
I was recently talking with another music writer, and this
individual mentioned that his job more or less consisted of finding new ways to
say “competent but uninspired”. That’s pretty much what I’m faced with in
reviewing this two song demo from Ironhead. The band is tight, the songs are
alright, the vocals are kind of bland. Ironhead is yet another in the seemingly
endless stream of bands following in the footsteps of Zeke, Speeddealer, and
Nashville Pussy. Nothing wrong with that, but Ironhead don’t bring
anything distinctive to the table. Visit the band's
There’s always
a few bands like Plasma kicking around on any scene. They’re the guys who
worship artists like Frank Zappa, Kings X and Rush, and in general place a
high value on musicianship. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself,
but it’s a delicate balancing act to play complex musical compositions while
still delivering good songs with heart and soul. Plasma doesn’t quite pull
it off. For starters, the music sounds sterile, and for all the funk
influence that seeps into the band, there’s not much real soul here. I’m
not saying the band isn’t passionate about their music; I’m sure they are.
But it feels like they place too much emphasis on getting everything “perfect”,
which drains a lot of the energy and spontaneity out of the material. The
band tries their best to write melodic hooks, but none of them really lodged in
my brain. Overall, it’s just kind of boring to me. For more info on
the band, including how to get this CD, visit their
