Rejectionist Front - Evolve (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://rejectionistfront.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/RejectionistFront/

Written by Michael Saulman, posted by blog admin

Rejectionist Front’s successful run has thus far seen the New York City based quartet place their music with both television and film productions, share bills with iconic artists like George Clinton and Joan Baez (among others), release a critically acclaimed and popular first album, and appear on important indie collections alongside other immensely respected artists like Patti Smith, MGMT, Third Eye Blind, and Jackson Browne. They’ve brought their music to respected NYC area venues like CBGB, the Highline Ballroom, and Webster Hall They’ve worked with important production figures like Grammy winner Andy Wallace, a pivotal player on recordings from artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen and System of a Down. All of these turning points in the band’s career lead to its next logical step, the all-important second studio album, and the twelve song collection Evolve finds Rejectionist Front ascending to a new level.

Lead singer and songwriting force Michael Perlman’s musical art brings every bit of the same passion to bear that color his involvement with activist causes like Rock to Save Darfur, but there’s no soapbox raving on Evolve. The first song “Ride” is a fantastic opener revealing a specific side of the band while introducing some themes that remain album constants. The band’s songwriting embraces dynamics, like any aspiring great rock band will, and they show impressive timing in when and how they bring those moments off. Perlman has an excellent musical foil in guitarist Lincoln Prout – the six string player serves as the band’s sole guitarist, yet conjures a variety of sounds that are often the equivalent of a small guitar army. “Savior” is one of the album’s best pure hard rock tracks and illustrates some of the band’s primary strengths – they are able to marry especially effective hard rock guitar songs with memorable choruses, a generous but understated amount of melody, and a multi-faceted approach to vocals.

“All Is The Same” is a moment when that aforementioned strength reaches an inarguable peak. The meditative side of the band’s lyricism emerges vividly from these words and the musical accompaniment. Prout’s talent for bringing evocative, forceful melodies together with blazing lead work and straight forward riffing makes him a guitarist of rare distinction in the modern rock arena and bassist Tony Tino and drummer Dave Dawson are an effective rhythm section, yet versatile as well. “Sign” has a direct, highly charged riff propelling it much of the way and a real swagger that comes at listeners from the first. There’s no preamble here, no beating around the bush – Rejectionist Front wants to rock and does so convincingly in a familiar hard rock vein. The band returns to a more deliberative, nuanced musical attack with the track “Reclaim” and it shares many of the same exhortative elements that made the opener “Ride” so memorable.

“Innocent” brings together the artier aspects of the band’s musical presentation, particularly through Lincoln Prout’s often intense and even dissonant guitar work, with their talent for impactful and accessible commercial strengths like a good chorus. It’s one of Evolve’s standout efforts. “Flush” is the album’s briefest song and a perfect choice for single status thanks to its clearly commercial inclinations, yet it never unduly waters down the band’s hard rock approach. Rejectionist Front’s second studio release is a confirmation and elaboration of everything we heard with their debut and secures their status as one of the best hard rock acts maturing today.

Slow Burning Car - Defection (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.slowburningcar.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SlowBurningCar/

Written by Raymond Burris, posted by blog admin

Slow Burning Car offers up a 10-track, hard rockin’ groove fest on their 4^th record Defection.  This twin guitar, energetic group mixes grand melodies with a rough, unpolished edge that is sure to ignite a spirited little mosh-pit at one of the band’s many concerts.  With airplay on 130 stations, this Los Angeles bred quartet has made quite an impact since their inception. 

The aesthetic Slow Burning Car settles on is as follows; not too heavy but certainly not too light.  Songs toss and turn between punk-fed melodies with a lot of pop phrasings and white knuckle guitar heroics where riff and rowdiness are king.  Lead-in number “Alpha Duplicor” is a prime example, the cut settling into a meaty, drop-D groove that allows the 2^nd guitarist to add leads and insert melodic indentations.  Bassist/vocalist Troy Spiropoulos constantly pushes the riffs into action with his bouncy, clearly felt bass lines lifting up from underneath as his voice’s well-contained anger never crushes any of the melodic intentions.  “Soul Crimes” is just as loud but ups the pacing by several clicks and weaves some harmonies into the vocals.  They’ve got a cool, breezy punk vibe that culls from goodtime punkers like Pulley or even Avail.  The mix of hard and soft mainly, not the exact dynamics of those bands; that’s one of Slow Burning Car’s biggest strengths, the fact that they really only sound like themselves. 

“The Orb” uses punk as a foundation but messes with some new wave, FX-dabbed vocal harmonies in the chorus.  It’s an unusual track from the beginning.  Drummer Adam Idell smashes out the intro solo with a syncopated, madman fill and the tune goes tumbling into down tuned riffs and angry, rhythmic vocal jabs.  They combine at least three different elements of genre and mash them up into a seamless barrage of sound.  “Devil in the Room” has got the kind of pop punk smarts that could easily land these guys a record deal with Epitaph; it’s no-nonsense and harder than the stuff that radio plays.  “The Sunday Derby” might stop for some catchy lyrical turns of phrase but this song feels like some twisted, gussied up version of really rocked-out 90s indie that is sandwiched in by another couple chord rocker, “You Can’t Stay Here.”  “Bedtime” is a fine acoustic guitar ditty, a sort of couplet alongside the equally sublime “Chrysanthemum.”  Just when you think the record is going to settle into a singular vibe, the band again pitches a curve in the form of “Polar Warden,” a psychedelic rock piece with a tapestry of loops, sound FX, molten bass riffs and sporadic vocals floating like vapor from your stereo speakers.  “Clouds” brings the album home with some epic, skyward guitar riffing, overcast drumming and stormy low-end yielding an emotionally stirring hard rocker that couldn’t have found better placement as a final number. 

Defection is really in its own league as an album.  It’s fresh, original and pretty rocking with a challenging songwriting approach that skips across several rock genres.  You can tell the band really enjoy and get down on their sound and this plays out to the listener’s advantage while listening to the record.  This album rocks hard and is a lot of fun; well-worth a buy for rock, punk, indie, grunge, and even hardcore fans. 

Black Note Graffiti - Volume 2: Without Nothing I'm You (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://blacknotegraffiti.com/

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Written by David Shouse, posted by blog admin

The second album from Ann Arbor, Michigan based four (recently expanding to five) piece Black Note Graffiti, Volume 2: Without Nothing I’m You reaffirms the strengths of their 2013 debut while showing the advancement, primarily as songwriter, that’s occurred since the band first emerged. Their sound is best described as a mix of subterranean hard rock/metal riffing coupled with unexpected melodicism and alternative rock theatrics. Volume 2 is guided, in a significant way, but the vocal prowess of guitarist and singer Ricardo Ortiz. He’s equally convincing on the more straight ahead rock numbers and more elaborate, atmospheric tracks and brings dramatic weight to the band’s fine lyrics that further elevate them. They are winning an audience despite the diminished commercial stature currently enjoyed by guitar driven music thanks to the overwhelming, careening passion in their performances and the immense likeability of their vocals and overall sound.

It’s a sound with many faces. On the first song, “No Love Lost”, Black Note Graffiti comes swinging out of their corner and connects with listeners in a number of ways. Their talent for constructing memorable choruses is only equaled by their talents for building a song towards those climatic moments, but the body of this song is muscular and clichéd tight as a white-knuckled fist. Ortiz delivers his first show-stopping vocal with the track “Such is Art”. It’s the audience’s first beginning to end evidence, as well, of the quantum leaps the band’s songwriting has taken over the last four years. Much of this, naturally, can be lain at the feet of their growth as individuals, but there’s little question that the band’s live experiences garnered since the 2013 debut have made them a tighter musical unit with more songwriting focus than ever before. “Castles” effectively mixes metal and alternative rock tropes in another textbook example of how to use dynamics in this style and a punchy chorus that stands out on an album full of them. “False Start” lives up to its title in some mildly unfortunate ways – the song never seems to really get going and its slightly disjointed musical attack shifts gears too often to establish itself. It benefits, however, from a quality lyric and vocal courtesy of Ortiz.

“Shadows” begins rather artfully with a different approach to percussion than we’ve heard before on Volume 2 and some appropriately considered, even eloquent guitar melodies being sketched out deeper in the mix. The band soon shifts into a more customary mode of attack and the stomping design of the arrangement manages to remain light-footed and airy despite its aggressive pulse. “Natural” is one of the most convincing hard rock/metal moments on Volume 2 and they even find a hard-hitting swing for this song missing from earlier and later efforts alike. It’s a strictly alternative rock vibe, however, they muster for the urgent and brawling finale “Send Off”. If Black Note Graffiti wanted to end Volume 2 on a rousing, fire-breathing note then they have succeeded in a big way. It puts an exclamation point on this eleven song collection in bold ink and solidifies, along with their recent recruiting of second singer Gabrielle Bryant, this outfit’s intent to be around for many years to come.