Sunday, May 22, 2011
Music News: Set Your Goals
Saturday, May 14, 2011
New World Jive EP-Review
New World Jive’s “Greetings From…”
As I started to talk to Matt Lower about reviewing his EP, I was hesitant since I’m not incredibly familiar with World Music. I was kind of scared that I wouldn’t quite understand where it was coming from and not relate to it at all, which in my opinion is often crucial with albums. I was pleasantly surprised by the album; Matt Lower described it to me as an album describing “what it is to be human”. This sounds incredibly cheesy but the album overall is very good.
Song 1: It’s called Akulanga Lashona Lingendaba or just Akulanga for short, which means “no sun sets without its histories.” This song immediately caught my attention, with its catchy riffs, strong mature vocals from such a young male vocalist.
Song 2: Glad That I Found You: This song didn’t impress me as much. Presenting a standard chord progression, the song is not Matt Lower’s song writing at its best. With Generic Lyrics about a beautiful girl, and none of the instruments at their best compared to the rest of the album minus a spiffy guitar part and a well written piano part. The song is dull compared to the rest of the album. I wish something more original and less “A-typical” had made the album instead. Many will disagree and sing along but to me this song just doesn’t cut it. The song is ok, but is disappointing compared to the great songs on the rest of this EP.
Song 3: This is song also is just wonderful. It starts out with a very full piano part and then a vocal line that just carries through the song. It features in my opinion the best chord progression on the album. The chorus is much more driven on this album with the guitar presenting a nice overdriven tone. The piano really adds to this part of the album and should be heavily incorporated in all future albums. The vocals on this are not quite as stellar as on the first song. I think the part written, vocally, is too low to fully show off the vocalists voice, but it’s still decent just not as good as Akulanga.
Song 4: Party on the Streets of Rio- This song would be just a relaxing song with an upbeat feel. Featuring 80’s instruments, beats and synthesizers and even raw steel drums, this song heads into an entirely different realm from the rest of the album. This is much more what I expected from the album, but I feel like it does get a bit more experimental which in turn dilutes the song. The progression is much more pop oriented and less creative, but I still like the song.
Stand Out Tracks: Akulanga, Party on the Streets of Rio
Overall Score- 7/10
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Music News: Amor de Dias Album Stream
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Music News: Arcade Fire "Scenes from The Suburbs"
Resource: Hank the Pigeon
Video: Avenged Sevenfold "So Far Away"
Monday, May 9, 2011
Contest: Win Two Tickets to to the Jam for Japan
Contest Rules: You must be a registered student at Apex High School. Only one entry per person. By entering this contest you agree to all rules written and unwritten at the discretion of Lock and Key Music. Lock and Key Music reserves the right to deny any contest entrant without disclosing motivation.