The Truth About Music

"What's hot, what's not, and whats next in pop music"

Harris’ Album of the Month: Under a Killer Blue Sky by Jupiter Sunrise

By Harris posted January 31, 2009 at 23:59

What does it take to be album of the month? You don’t have to have a killer sound, or hit singles, or radio play. Of course those things help to draw attention to your album, but the only thing that matters is having great songs strung together in what we call an album. The first ever album of the month goes to an older album that got less recognition than it should of. Jupiter Sunrise, a band from Los Angeles released Under a Killer Blue Sky in 2004 and were one of the bands that was helped immensely by Myspace. Although this album was the last work the band would release it should be remembered as an excellent record. The album itself to me is a masterpiece of modern day rock. It combines awesome hit singles and great anthems, slow ballads and great b-sides. Among my favorite songs are “Josie’s [...] Continue...
Harris’ Song of the Week: The Freshmen by Mustard Plug and The Verve Pipe

By Harris posted January 31, 2009 at 01:27

I know what you’re already thinking, why do I have a song of the week, yet their are two different artists listed. This phenomenon can be explained with simple mathematics: Great Song + Band A + Band B = A classic song. Although the song of the week is usually the newest, hippest, trendy song, this weeks pays tribute to a song written in 1996 by The Verve Pipe. This song was first introduced to me by the other band of note. Mustard Plug, a third wave ska band from Michigan covered this song in 1998, in a way that was really their own. They were able to infuse horns and very upbeat lyrics into a song that is truly a somber ballad. It is interesting how two bands can have their own takes on the same song and come out with two completely different sounds. The Verve Pipe wrote [...] Continue...
Semi Precious Weapons Bring Modern Day Glam Rock Into Focus

By Harris posted January 29, 2009 at 07:32

Inserting an album into my computer has always been fun. I anxiously await the notification that my new CD is ready for listening and dive right in. Usually I have a pretty good idea what to expect. I know the tell tale signs, an album cover featuring the cover black is an alternative or emo record, an album cover featuring red or pink is a huge pop star, and a black and white album cover usually symbolizes a heavy rock band (or at least one that is trying to appear that way). All this brings me to the latest release from New York based Semi Precious Weapons, “We Love You.” This album cover features yellow, red, bleach blonde and a very punk rock looking microphone. The first thing I noticed about this band in general is there killer riffs. Right from the first song “Taste,” they’re groove and guitar playing [...] Continue...
The Truth About Music Turns 3,000!!

By Harris posted January 28, 2009 at 19:00

It seems like every month now we are getting to celebrate another birthday for The Truth About Music. It has been exactly one month since we hit 2,000 hits and when I woke up this morning we had reached 3,000! What does that mean? It means that we got 1,000 hits in just one month and with your help, have continued to grow this blog within the music community. Thanks so much for all of your help. On a side note, I am now writing for Buzzine, an online entertainment magazine. The folks there are really cool, and I have really enjoyed working with them so far. Most of my articles will be posted in both places but if you get a chance definitely check out their website, it’s pretty awesome. So once again thanks for all your help and support and let’s hope that even sooner than next month [...] Continue...
Axl Rose Proves Music Business Theory Correct

By Harris posted January 28, 2009 at 01:19

For a long time now I have been saying that touring is what makes a band, and moving into the future, touring will be the only way bands will survive. With a dying record industry, it will only be a matter of time before artists all but abandon their record labels and look for salvation in the arms of booking agents, promoters and venue manager. In this ever changing world bands are going to new lengths to make sure there records are heard, from setting up bubbles in crowded cities, to staging monumental world tours. One thing is clear, as Axl Rose has helped demonstrate, not touring is the most costly thing any artist can do. Very few artists have the pull with a record label to say “we’ve decided not to tour in support of our new album,” unfortunately Axl Rose is one of them. As we all know [...] Continue...
A Winter of Ska in New Haven: A story of two lead singers named Barrett

By Harris posted January 24, 2009 at 16:40

How often do two bands that have helped to define a genre of music play the same club in the same 30-day period? From my experience the answer is almost never. December and January provided a wealth of opportunity for ska fans in Connecticut to get their skank on at Toad’s Place, a historic rock venue in New Haven. Of course when you think of third wave ska no two groups have been more influential than Reel Big Fish and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, that is what we were all ready for. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ended their long hiatus in 2008 to play the “Hometown Throw Down,” a yearly concert series held in and around Boston, Massachusetts. Reports were that tickets on secondary markets were selling for upwards of $1,000 and that this might be a one time shot to see the super group re-unite. A year passed and [...] Continue...
New Poll!!

By Harris posted January 23, 2009 at 13:15

Hey everyone, there is a new poll up on the right hand side of the page. Let’s see if my readers are as smart as they look, every three days I will post up a new category for the Grammy Awards, hopefully we’ll get some of them correct. Continue...
Did Eminem Loose a Testacle?

By Harris posted January 23, 2009 at 09:15

Driving home from dinner tonight I was shocked to turn to Sirius Hits 1 and hear the familiar sound of Eminem pumping over my sound system. Anyone who knows me well is aware of my feeling’s on Slim Shady, who I consider one of the greatest lyricists of my generation. Unfortunately I was not impressed with his newest song “Crack A Bottle,” which features 50 Cent and Dr. Dre, people ‘M’ has worked with in the past. My first impression was that Eminems voice had increased a few octaves and was actually really annoying. I hope that the rest of his album is better than this, and that he goes from nasal singing, to classic Eminem rapping. One of the lowest parts of this song include the lyrics: “Kiss my butt, lick the cheese from under my nuts.” I love Eminem and the way he fuses controversial lyrics with crafty [...] Continue...
Harris’ Song of the Week: Gotta Be Somebody by Nickelback

By Harris posted January 22, 2009 at 16:36

Looking back now, 2003 was filled with great music by some of the largest acts in the world. JET put out “Get Born,” Outcast had “The Love Below,” The Red Hot Chili Peppers released their greatest hits album and we heard the final word from Blink 182. Although some of these artists have grown and maintained their hold on pop music, no one could of predicted that one single, and one album would help shape one of the greatest bands of the decade. Of course I am talking about Nickelback, and the release of “Silver Side Up,” and the bands first hit single “How You Remind Me.” Since this song the band has gone onto huge success on the pop/rock scene. This weeks song of the week is the bands latest single which is about just as catchy as any of the others. It combines a great hook with oversynthesized [...] Continue...
So Much Music, So Few Sounds

By Harris posted January 21, 2009 at 22:55

Have you ever noticed that as you drift off into a song, parts of it, or maybe even the whole thing starts to sound very familiar, almost as if you’ve already heard this same song? I’ve been starting to realize this more and more in listening to music. This is not the blatant stealing of chords, in fact in many cases the chords are completely different, but the overall mood of the song just sounds like another. It’s not done on purpose, and the writer probably didn’t mean to do it but nevertheless it happens. The example I am thinking of as I write this entry is Jason Mraz and his hit #1 single “I’m Yours.” Ever since I first heard the sound of ukulele at the start of this song I have been thinking about another song by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. This singer’s song (ironically a cover song in itself) [...] Continue...