Monday, May 31, 2010

Tunsi - Inner-Cept

No matter how you find Tunsi's music, you have to admit he's the real deal. A step beyond indie, he's a true do-it-yourself artist. His newest album Inner-Ceptis a display of his unique hip-hop style built from the ground up, totally solo. Tunsi writes and produces everything himself. It's his sixth disc and he's paid his dues and definitely earned some skills. At first you might be distracted by the raw, homemade sound, but give it a chance. Let your ears adjust to the grit and you'll get a dose of hip-hop chops.
It doesn't take long to see Tunsi's got rhymes galore. He raps...MORE

Friday, May 21, 2010

Smash Corps - Premeditated

Smash Corps slam out of the gate on Premeditated, no holds barred, no prisoners taken. Their style of modern murderous metal with a dash of punk attitude assaults and charms equally. The Chicago-based quintet is aggressive and booming without forgetting the tasty blues-metal riffs and rhythmic mischief that draws even careful listeners in. They manage to keep this level of quality and power through almost all the album. Like the cover art, the lyrics are harsh, offensive, funny, and obscene. Lead vocalist Tim Smith roars about money, failure, success, drugs, alcohol, sex, and violence in a half-rap singing style reminiscent of old Biohazard. He rhymes like Run-DMC and screams like...MORE

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Blld - Materia Prima

Progressive rock aces Blld play with so much intensity on Materia Prima you might need an intermission to collect your wits. It's like experimental rock concentrate, hours of artistry boiled down to just 20 minutes of potent fusion syrup. This album is not easy listening. In fact, this style might call for a new label along the lines of “tough listening.” That's not a put-down at all, it's a way of saying Materia Prima is decidedly not smooth background music. Layers of atmospheric sounds, off-kilter grooves, and bizarre melodies intertwine like a long-unattended garden growing out of control. It challenges the listener and pushes buttons and boundaries.

Blld is a duo project from experienced progressive rockers Markus Reuter and 05ric, aka Ric Byer. Both musicians have been out there making exciting new sounds for some time, and have teamed...More

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Ramzi - Color

Four years ago Ramzi left his workaday life in California and settled in NYC to try his luck as a singer-songwriter. Fueled by dreams of a life less ordinary (“living life from the heart,” as he puts it in the song “Breaking Free”) he sewed his heart on his sleeve and went to work. The fruit of that love and labor is his debut album Color. It's a decent first effort despite some drippy clichés and uninspired filler. All 12 tracks are listenable and a couple are pretty darn good.

As a songwriter Ramzi has a story-teller's sensibility. In “Breaking Free” he recounts...More