Rejectionist Front - Evolve (2017)

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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)

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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. 

Dust of Days - Analog Mind Bender (2017)

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Written by Frank McClure, posted by blog admin

Analog Mind Bender, four years in the making, reaffirms the potential exhibited on the band’s first two releases 2012’s Thomas & Grace followed by the 2013 EP Ethers and Embers. The twelve song collection makes the case that Frank Lettieri Jr.’s songwriting has benefitted from a quantum leap forward that’s allowed the band to expand its sonic palette into previously unimaginable realms. This isn’t a band content to memorize a couple of successful formulas and then milk them for an indeterminate time. Instead, Dust of Days aims to leave behind lasting work that entertains while making enduring statements about the life behind the work and the times in which we live. The production gives it an impetus it might otherwise lack and gives each of the four players a platform from which their talents and contributions to the band’s music can be rightly appreciated. Analog Mind Bender is a powerful release all around.

The album begins on a high note thanks to the buoyant energy lifting “Analog Mind Bender” off the ground. It’s an effective title song for multiple reasons but one key factor in its effectiveness is how it gives listeners, in retrospect, a template for what they can expect from much of the album. There’s some delicious mischief in that as well because if you lock into this song’s lightly melodic push as indicative of the band’s work as a whole, you’re in for a surprise. That tweaking of expectations commences, really, with the next song. The title song doesn’t prepare you for the aggression and seething intensity of “Aurora” – few songs on Analog Mind Bender are nearly as abrasive and muscular. Lettieri’s swing between spoken vocals and straight singing further sets it apart from the first song. “Mustang” delivers yet another stylistic turn, this one much sharper than the one preceding it. This performance shows their talent for invoking atmospherics and Lettieri drives it all home with an achingly emotive vocal.

“My Dear” mines similar territory but has, if possible, even more emphasis on atmospherics than what we hear in the aforementioned tune. It certainly builds to stronger, far more outright crescendos than the sometimes diffuse “Mustang” and the guitar playing from Jim McGee and Mike Virok brings a lot to the final result. “Death Vibrations” is a hard-hitting rock song half masqueraded as a punk rock tune and Lettieri gives the fine lyrics a particularly punchy reading. Some of the guitar work in this song is quite tuneful while still retaining an aggressive, jagged edge. “Porcelain” takes the direction in both “Mustang” and “My Dear” and offers us Analog Mind Bender’s most dramatic and thoughtful song yet. The fact that Lettieri and his cohorts are able to invoke such feeling and color within a relatively brief space of time is nothing short of miraculous during this performance. “The Shore” and “Ghosts” end the album with more surprises. The first song is carried by piano, strings, and Lettieri’s voice manifesting yet another side for listeners. The intimacy and naked vulnerability of the song is astonishing considering some of the bluster preceding it. Analog Mind Bender’s final track, “Ghosts”, is easily the album’s most structurally experimental moment as the song is split into two very different halves that, nonetheless, possess themes and imagery that neatly dovetail into one another. The four year wait has been worth it. Dust of Days are continuing their near inevitable ascent to the upper echelon of modern rock acts with the release of this album  and we can rest assured there’s more to come.  

Swirl - Ditch Day Soundtrack (2017)

Photography: Neil Zlozower

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The power and precision of Southern California’s four piece Swirl has the sort of recognizable swing long missing from young, modern hard rock. Iconic bands of this ilk were always expert in delivering the hard-hitting punch required for this style, but they also specialized in a familiar swing that gives the song real strength and sway. It has become a bit of a lost art. Swirl, however, has a natural feel for this style that comes through quite clearly in the three songs included on the Ditch Day movie soundtrack. The tracks come from the band’s recent self-titled effort and are an ideal fit for a movie that has attracted a lot of popularity and notice from numerous quarters. The core of the band, guitarist Duane “DT” Jones and drummer Brian “Bam Bam” Jones, are augmented by vocalist Alfred Ramirez and bassist Shane Carlson. The quartet packs superb instrumental prowess in a package with palpable rock and roll attitude, but their lyrical content distinguishes them a little further. The three songs included on the Ditch Day soundtrack have familiar and intelligently chosen imagery, passages of pure virtuosity, and enough energy for three bands.

The first of the three numbers, “Spell”, draws lyrically from the genre’s long tradition but gets over in a fresh, thrilling way thanks to some subtle twists and how well Ramirez embodies every line. The rhythm section really jumps out at listeners thanks to Bam Bam and Carlson’s sharply honed chemistry and the tight focus they bring to their playing. Duane Jones shares the same focus. His guitar attack isn’t afraid to show off some flourish, but it likewise commands a great deal of fundamentally mastery that keeps the track grounded. “Rise Up”, the band’s most recent single, has an exhortative quality that defines a lot of great rock and roll and the band deserves props for putting it out there in a way that doesn’t overtly personalize it but, instead, relates it to the band’s large and ever-growing audience. Duane “DT” Jones brings the same combination of flair and fundamentals that filled the first track, but there’s never a gratuitous moment in what he does. Instead, there’s always reason behind his rock and roll madness and numerous passage sing with convincing melodic moments.

“We Are Alive” puts an exclamation point on the aforementioned song’s message. Swirl really has quite a talent for zeroing in on what hard rock audiences want and are hungry for. This song, as part of an EP release, would make an effective closer and works just as well in its role here. It summarizes the band and all their best attributes with the same concision and lean muscularity that sets them apart from the pack. Ditch Day and the band benefit greatly from the mutual association. This is big screen hard rock/metal that hits hard and leaves you wanting more.

Grade: A

YOUTUBE video for "Rise Up" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_RhbgL5Cv0  

WATCH NOW: http://thefilmditch.com/watch-now/

Written by: Bradley Johnson