The Gilman

Bob Schneider – Lovely Creatures

Defining Bob Schneider’s musical style can be a challenge for the average listener because of his broad taste.  Schneider started his music career in Texas as a member of a funk/rap group, although his mother, an opera singer, also influenced him.  In his September release, “Lovely Creatures”, Bob Schneider composes memorable, radio friendly songs such as : 40 Dogs (Romeo & Juliet), while his intro song Trash exposes his relaxed and coffee-house vibe.  In Tarantula, Schneider even makes mediocre attempts at Latin music with the use of horns.  Healso includes catchy southern riffs in a personal favorite Realness of Space.  “Lovely Creatures” , a folk album at heart, stays true to his genre while exploring uncharted waters to make a refreshing, melodic album.

Ryan Mullican

“Now I’ve find a place to call my own” simply put by lead singer Nic Cester in the song “Goodbye Hollywood” JET’s third album “Shaka Rock” has hit the spot. JET a band from Melbourne, Austrailia released their lastest album August 25, and showcased some of the songs on it at Merriwhether this August during Virgin Fest 2009. JET has always been a band with strong classic rock influences, trademark riffs, and of course the occasional tambourine beat. In this third effort JET seems to have managed to find a balance with the raw energy of their first album “Get Born” which sold about 3.5 million copies, and the complexity of their second album “Shine On”. “Shaka Rock” showcases what JET is made of; real 21st century music with a 20th century feel, that “you might just get carpel tunnel from air “guitaring” to.” However it is not just carpal tunnel that these songs provoke. From first hand experience I can say that JET’s music has no trouble igniting a good ol’ most pit. The Aussies truly deliver such music with tracks like “She’s a Genius”, and “Black Hearts on Fire”, both of which were featured on primetime T.V this fall with “She’s a Genius” appearing in CBS’s NCIS, and “Black Hearts on Fire” used for the music of a Budweiser beer commercial. Besides these tracks, in this album JET dishes out a couple of solid ballads, “Seventeen”, and “Goodbye Hollywood”. In essence, it is clear that JET had fun with “Shaka Rock” and still succeeded in developing a new fusion of their first two albums, and a sound that they can “call their own”. In addition to the tracks mentioned above definitely check out “Start the Show.” Actually, just check out the entire album.

Frank Marzella

“Tell me all of your good reasons /Tell me every word you say/I've given you all of the seasons/Running through the night and day”. As lead vocalist and songwriter, Andrew Stockdale, sings this in the chorus of the title track of Wolfmother’s sophomore effort, Cosmic Egg, it’s easy to tell that Wolfmother has the ability to combine powerful lyrics with even more powerful guitar riffs and solos. After achieving their national success, Wolfmother went on a brief hiatus to look for new members and find their new sound. Well, the time off shows that it did not go wasted in Cosmic Egg. Taking the good parts of their self-titled debut, Wolfmother channels the styles of classic rockers AC/DC and Led Zeppelin as well adding in styles of more contemporary artists like The White Stripes and Kings of Leon. The album kicks off with the hard-rock one-two punch of “California Queen” and “New Moon Rising” (two of my favorites of the album) and continues until you get to the 8th track, “Far Away”. For the rest of the album(sans “Pilgrim”), you get a new and sensitive side of Wolfmother with their take on power ballads. Aside from a couple boring tracks(mostly from the latter half of the album), Wolfmother keeps you pumped and excited for a solid 53 minutes and easy A- on the album grading scale. Standout tracks(if you can only spend a few bucks on iTunes) are “California Queen”, “New Moon Rising”, “Far Away”, “10,000 Feet”, and of course “Cosmic Egg”.


Alex Fang

I fell in love with The Strokes, and more importantly Julian Casablancas, in fifth grade when a friend played for me the still classic track “12:51” off of Room on Fire. When I delved deeper into their catalogue, I felt right at home along with garage rock roughness of the instruments and the vocal spectrum that is Julian Casablancas. Fast-forward to 2009, when an older, more mature Casablancas releases his first solo album amidst a lull in the Strokes creative process following the hard to love First Impressions of Earth. His album, Phrazes for the Young, borrows its title from a work by Oscar Wilde, and finds Casablancas abandoning his grungy roots in favor for the increasingly popular synth and electronica scene. The transition comes at a price, I’m afraid; the somber flame of Casablanca’s personality has been replaced by remarkably processed lyrics and a leading man perhaps too liberal with instrumental solos. The first track begins with a cheerless Casablancas droning in a depression over the grind of guitar and a drum machine-esque back beat. As the refrain kicks in we hear the first, of many, synthesizer appearance, making the emotion in the verse hard to believe. The song can’t be saved by a lack luster guitar riff over his continuous murmur. The album follows along these lines, with the next track “Left & Right in the Dark” starting electronic before bringing in the more familiar elements of an echoed guitar, and has Casablancas shifting between his slurred whine to a falsetto. The album peaks over the course of the following two songs, starting with the unabashed flurry of keyboards and quirky beats in the lead single “11th Dimension”. If you were dissatisfied with his recent performance on Letterman, than put your fears at ease. This song epitomizes the feel that Casablancas no doubt was looking for: a perfect equilibrium of his more traditional rock persona and his newfound infatuation with the rising synth-pop scene. “4 Chords of the Apocalypse” hits like a slow burning bluesy ballad with just the slightest touch of modernity, and when he raises his voice in the chorus in a more characteristic garble of words, I felt the still present Strokes vibe that I had, at first expected in the album. The final of the middle three tracks is “Ludlow St.”, a dark, deceptively upbeat song that bops along with Casablancas almost drunkenly crooning to the titular street. The last tracks on the album start with the worst: “Rivers of Brakelights”. Honestly, I have no idea what he tried to accomplish with this song. It is at turns droning, annoying and just repetitive to the point that I have to change after only thirty second of agony. There is a hope for redemption in the ballad “Glass” that plays to the ethereal notes that he hits the chorus to sweep the listener away. The final track “Tourist” buzzes over an electronic arpeggio that grows old, not inspiring much, if any, emotion from the listener. On the whole, that is my main complaint with the album; it has no impact or lasting appeal. I already find myself growing tired of my favorite tracks. The clean cut hospital feel of the album is disenchanting to say the least. I grew up on the rebellious, swaggering image of a chaotic Julian Casablancas, and now, he seems to have lost that very spark that made the Strokes so great.


Nick Cortezi