The Truth About Music

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

Topic: Album Review

Sing It Loud Finally ‘Coming Around,’ In the Pop World

By Harris posted April 19, 2009 at 09:26

Riding high on the success of their 2007 self titled EP release, Sing It Loud was anxious to get back into the studio and record their first full length album. Despite an overlap of songs between the EP and the album, “Come Around,” there is still quite a number of hidden gems in this pop rock bands arsenal. Stemming from Minneapolis, Minnesota, the pop quintet has put together a successful formula for writing pop hits. “Come Around’s,” leadoff batter is a really great pop anthem called “I’ve Got a Feeling.” The song has an extremely laid back feeling, similar to a late 90’s type pop song. Laying into the verse the song eventually adds synth piano and finally builds into a pop fans perfect chorus. After the strong start the second song is a step backwards despite the featured singer on the track Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack. The [...] Continue...
Move Over 90′s Rock, Safetysuit is Here

By Harris posted April 03, 2009 at 10:25

For many years bands have made similar noise come out of their instruments. Much of it sounded the same and if you grew up in the 90′s you know this all too well. We all remember 3 Doors Down, Third Eye Blind, The Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox 20. These among others all grew up with a similar style and to this day very few bands (not from the 90′s) have copied this style. The artist I am introducing you to today hasn’t totally copied this style either, but they come close. Continue...
The All American Rejects, Reject Album

By Harris posted March 28, 2009 at 00:33

Following up a truly great album is hard for any band. We will found out later this spring how Green Day will follow their biggest release to date and we already know that bands such as The Killers and Maroon 5 have been unable to match the success of their breakout albums. The All American Rejects released their first major album (2nd album overall) in 2005. The album went on to have great success, yielding three amazing singles which helped the album go double platinum (2 million+) in the United States and reach #6 on the Billboard 200. Album number three from the band came out in late 2008 and was met with very mixed reviews. You can read my full review of the album from December by clicking here. I thought the album was mediocre at best and continued the legacy of having good singles but a lack of [...] Continue...
Anarbor Attempting to Re-Write the Book on Pop Bands

By Harris posted March 07, 2009 at 17:51

Stemming from Phoenix, Arizona Anarbor are on a mission to make sure you know their name and remember it long after all the other bands have gone home. Although the group has been around since 2003, they are about to release just their third EP length album, titled “Free Your Mind.” This album is a really fresh rock sound, with vocals that, although not as “fresh,” still hold up on their own. What really is fresh in their sound is the instrumentation. Upon first hearing it you don’t feel like your in a vacuum of overproduction (not a bad thing) but instead in a rock club hearing old fashioned, straight forward rock. The lack of overproduction is something that is generally avoided by others in the genre such as Cute Is What We Aim For or Fall Out Boy. The vocal stylings of lead singer Slade Echeverriea are much more [...] Continue...
Album of the Moment: Carnival Vol II: Memoirs of an Immigrant

By Harris posted February 25, 2009 at 00:11

Rules are meant to be broken and just because the title would usually say lyrics of the month, doesn’t mean this won’t be fun too. Although many readers, and music listeners are at the point in their musical journey were full albums just don’t appeal to them. I have a 17 year old sister and a 50 year old dad, neither of which has listened to a full album in years (if ever). With this in mind I would like to tell you to give it a shot. There are those times in life when a certain album just starts playing and right now, I am having one of those moments. The album is Wyclef Jeans, Carnival, Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant released back in 2007. To me this is one of the greatest works in the category of hip-hop ever recorded. Combining an incredible mix of guest accompaniment [...] Continue...
My Favorite Green Day Album

By Harris posted February 11, 2009 at 17:19

This post will come under much debate, and I’m sure I will be completely in left field in this respect. The most listened to album in my Green Day catalogue is ‘American Idiot,’ an album that I hold in the highest regards. I believe that it helped to shape the music industry as it stands today. Despite this passion for this album, it is not my favorite. ‘Dookie,’ the most known of all album in the arsenal is also not my favorite. Crafted from the fact that I became a die hard Green Day fan sometime before ‘American Idiot,’ my favorite album is ‘Warning.’ Although this album is considered by many 90′s Green Day fans to be different and weird, I think it shows everything that this super star band has to offer. Every single song on the album rocks, and if you get past the fact that it is [...] 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...
Franz Ferdinand Draws Mixed Reviews While Staying the Course

By Harris posted January 13, 2009 at 14:30

Franz Ferdinand has always been a band overshadowed by other albums, and other bands. Still, giving them a listen they have never done anything to blow me away and their latest studio album “Tonight,” is more of the same. I can’t say it’s a bad album, it just does nothing for me. As with any album there are songs that do hit me as being great singles or awesome b-sides but the general flow of the album is sub par. The album leads off with ‘Ulysses,’ an odd song that is clearly attempting to capitalize on the rich success of electronic bands, such as MGMT, or The Ting Tings. The song seems weird in the context of the album but is not necessarily a bad song on it’s own. As the album progresses there are some hits and many misses. Among my least favorite songs are ‘Live Alone,’ and ‘Bite [...] Continue...
All American Rejects Continue There Legacy

By Harris posted December 16, 2008 at 10:55

The All American Rejects have always had something in common with each of there first few albums, a knack for writing hit singles. As I begin to listen to their newest release titled “When The World Comes Down,” (released today, Dec. 16th 2008) I am reminded that never has an AAR album stood out to me beyond the singles. To me this is one of those bands that never quite put together a good album, but instead spent time crafting some of my favorite singles of all time. The opening song on the album ‘I Wanna,’ is a great starter song but just five songs in I’m already a little bit over the album. As I said before AAR is at their best when performing hit singles and there is no exception here. ‘Gives You Hell,’ is the first single off of this album that is sure to produce up [...] Continue...
Kanye’s New Album Mixes Rap with Emo (honestly who would want that???)

By Harris posted December 03, 2008 at 12:35

Kanye West has been on a media roll as of late. He just always seems to be just crazy enough so that everyone can’t stop talking about it. After he initially broke with his first few albums ‘The College Dropout,’ and ‘Graduation,’ he had been tearing up the road selling out shows with everyone from Lupe Fiasco to Jay-Z. Over the past few months his family has endured huge tragedies including the loss of his beloved mother and the ending of an 18 month engagement. Given this, what else is a rapper to do but go EMO??? You heard it right. In his new album ’808′s & Heartbreak,’ he is singing for much of the album about all the downs in his life. It truly is raps version of an emo record. Someone should let Panic at the Disco and Saves the Day that there’s a new kid on the [...] Continue...