Unbunny

Unbunny
CD Review
Black Strawberries



Have you ever listened to a CD and it was so bad that you found yourself bleeding from every possible hole on your body, yes I mean there too. It was just so bad you said to yourself “Hmm… why do I get the sudden feeling that stabbing this pencil in my eye would ease my pain?” No need to worry about that with the latest release “Black Strawberries” from Unbunny. This Album is magnificent. I also give it a non-blood loss guarantee.

You know that “guy” from high school? Everyone knew one. He showed up at all the parties with his guitar, sat during lunch playing tunes on the grass and always was playing in some sort of band? You always liked the sound of his songs but knew the radio would never play them. The radio wouldn’t play them not because they were bad songs but because radio is out of the loop. The radio would rather play the new soulless dribble from Brittany Spears. Only “guy”, you and your close friends could ever get his songs.

The songs that “guy” sang made sense to you. That “guy” had the same problems as you. That pretty much sums up the imagery of Unbunny. Unbunny is that “guy” a little older and his songs are more magical then they ever were during 4th period lunch. The guitar and voice dominate the landscape with sparse drums, trumpets and bass. His sound reminds me of that “guy”; Whimsically simple but great.

Unbunny’s songs seem effortless. The lyrics are simple but after a few spins of the record you find a deeper meaning.

“Referring to the wrinkled bus schedule you keep on your living room floor.
I noticed the last 43 left ten minutes ago.
As I made up my mind to make the long walk home.
Something reminds me of 1778”

Listening to this first line of the last song you can picture yourself in the same situation. Who has not been here? He touches on stories of your everyday life and makes you look at them as amazing. He could have said “I picked up the bus schedule off the floor.” Says the exact same thing. Still gives you an image of the action. Unbunny has a way of making it more real, like you are living the song

If you have no clue what “guy” I’m talking about, you missed out. Live the experience that most of us had by picking up and listening to “Black Strawberries.” Or if you want you can listen to the Hanson brothers Christmas Album, but if you do listen to Hanson, stock up on pencils and don’t blame me for the blood loss.

To see for yourself go to http://www.unbunny.com

The Vital Might

Yeah... I saw… I listened... They blew me away. If I were to say they are the best band to come out of Boston in a long time, I would not be lying and I would not be the first or last to say it.

The Vital Might write amazing songs. Mist of Crystals has the best melody of any song I have heard this year. I immediately fell in love with this song. The vocals, bass and drums are all done beautify. The build up to and during the chorus is long and graceful. At one point you think they are done building yet the building continues. It is like an unfinished painting, or the Burger King Whopper, they just keep adding to it. Each part is more luxurious then what came before.

The bass in Mist of Crystals progressively gets more active. Slowly adding more and more notes. The drums that are sometimes sparse to almost unheard at all, build up to a mass of cymbals, toms and snare. Overlaid harmonies start to appear, slowly at first, then in a blaze. More and more complexity gets added to the woven blanket.

Andy’s voice brings tears. It is perfect. The small vocal cracks occur in all the right places. He is not just singing the song but he is feeling it. A mistake lots of bands make is they don’t feel their tunes and they only sing the song. With Andy’s vocals you truly believe he has passion for what he is singing.



Rating: 9.3
To see for yourself go to http://www.thevitalmight.com

Seth Adam

Seth Adam
Live Review
Harper's Ferry Alston Mass
February 6th

Lots of people don't normally like simple pop songs. Lots of people don't normally like jam bands. Pop songs have no feeling, with rhyming words with no meaning, I have apples that need pealing ... Makes you want to touch the ceiling "What?" Jam bands don't sound good unless you're stoned, tired or on some type of something that you can get from your dentist. Seth Adam falls into both categories of pop and jam band. They are made up of a large group of musicians; two guitars, bass, keys, drums and Mandolin.

I've heard their recordings but had not seen them live until this night. I can say with great certainty that their recordings are much better then their live show. Harpers Ferry does great sound... wait.. No..... they do AMAZING sound. You could never blame bad music on the sound guy. With two guitars playing the exact same chords, and the plethora of other instruments doing something else, I felt like everything was this big wall of sound. Not in the GOOD Phil Specter kind of way but in that "we haven't really played together much so just play a bunch of things that don't go together" kind of way.

You can actually see one of their practices in your mind (see stoned/tired/dentist). Seth wandering around worrying more about if his hat matches his scarf then if the mandolin part sounds bad with the keyboard part. The mandolin player showing up late from his "other" band practice. The guitar player showing off his new guitar and really cool new pedal board. The drummer bragging how his glitter covered drums are all the rage in Prague.

Seth is most likely kept up at night wondering something, something very troubling. To cast off Seth's concerns, his scarf did match his hat. The entire band had good fashion sense. But I am uncomfortable when Seth reaches over in the middle of the song and unbuttons the guitar players shirt to reveal extra chest hair. Maybe it was a wardrobe malfunction.

All in all they put on a great show but not my kind of stuff. I could see their songs being played on the radio, one of those stations I don't listen to, one of those stations that gives away Back Street Boys concert tickets. Other people might go crazy for their music, but not me. If they were being played on my work radio I would not slit my wrists but I would wonder why my company started hiring 12 year old girls.

Their songs lacked variety and song after song sounded the same. Song after song I was lulled into a deeper sleep as I drank my beer. Song after song I wondered if I should buy a scarf. Song after song I thought maybe they were a great band. Who knows. They could be a great band, I could also be a giant walrus from Cincinnati, with a fabulous scarf.

Rating: 4.2
To see for yourself go to http://www.sethadam.com

Girl On Top

Girl On Top
Album Review-
Cherry Blossoms



The nature of most of the songs on this album is similar to an early punk style. Two of my favorite bands “The Fall” and “The Pretenders” keep coming to my mind as I listen. Raw vocal power backed by crunching guitar chords, rhythmic drumming, and an angry disposition. “Beat up myself,” yes indeed.

Then you hear the song Cherry Blossoms. Girl on Top has a happy song!!! I was all ready to go shave my head and get a tattoo on my face. Dance, love, and be merry. At no point during the song am I told to set fire to those freaking Cherry Blossoms, she tells me to smell the Cherry Blossoms. I had two handfuls of Cherry Blossoms expecting to be destroyed. I am totally confused.

Not confused in a troublesome way. Confused like when someone gives you a present, a gift that you were not expecting. You feel so special because by receiving this gift you realize that the other person cares. The other person wants you to be happy. Yet, what did I do to deserver this special present? I got nothing for you, I feel ashamed. You gave me astounding songs and here I am with no gift to give. I have an extra toaster oven?

However, “I get high.” I can only hope she is referring to climbing trees, mountains, or going up in an elevator. Songs about smoking always put me off. I am not sure why, but it always comes across as a comical topic. Poop jokes. Lowbrow. GG Allin needed to resort to crappy humor, Girl on Top doesn’t. I wish I could tell them to take “I get high” off the album or change the lyrics a little. I can’t though; my mind control only works on coffee mugs. Damn useless superpower.

Rating: 7.9
To see for yourself go to http://www.girlontop.com

Forehead

Forehead
Live Review
Uptown Tavern


Forehead Yes I am, of course I am. If you don’t know what I’m saying, you have not seen Forehead. If you feel like you are out of the loop of some joke, you are. Go see them. Now. Why are you still reading? GO SEE THIS BAND. What the heck!?!?! I’m telling you to get up, walk away from your computer and go see this band. Ok, it seems my pleas will not work for now, so lets talk more about Forehead.

It is January and I am at the Uptown Tavern in Manchester NH. The band takes the stage. They look like a bunch of people that on off weekends spend their time with their kids. Not your typical rock group of ruffians, but polite mannered adults.

They are a cover band. This will make some of you go “Yeah” and others go “Yeah.” The difference of the two “yeah’s” is not noticeable in the written form. Let me clarify; that the first “yeah” is said with eyes rolled and head shook back and forth disapprovingly. The second “yeah” is said with joy, jumping and pant wetting. I normally shake my head, but tonight… tonight, I am wet.

I do not like cover bands. I hate cover bands. This cannot be said enough…. cover bands, I wish death for you. I am wishing it at you right now; can you feel it? I would rather have a skipping CD played at a bar then listen to some guy who would have got cut in round one of American Idol. GRRR, I hate cover bands.

Forehead is not your typical cover band. They are actually extremely entertaining. I enjoyed every second of their set. I actually danced. Yep, I got up and shook my moneymaker. Good for you Forehead, you got me dancing. This is quite an amazing task that you have completed. Great show. Amazing show.



Rating: 8.1

Fluttr Effect

Fluttr Effect
Live Review



So, lets see. Guitar, check. Drums, check. Bass… Umm, I don’t see a bass. Is that some sort of electric stand-up bass over there? I don’t think it is, it does not look big enough. Well, moving on. Electric Marimba, check. Lead singer, check. Wait, what? Electric marimba check? What in the world? We have, drums, guitar, electric cello, singer and electric marimba. Who do these guys think they are, some sort of mish mash of Neoclassical-Baroque-Carnatic style? What does that even mean?

I am not really sure what I hear when they start playing, but I AM sure like it. I would try to describe their sound but I don’t have a commanding knowledge of any words in the English language. Instead I suggest you go hear them for yourself. You decide what they sound like.

I don’t really care how you describe Fluttr Effect. Just make sure you use the words “extremely” and “delightful” somewhere in that description. Oh, and use “Talented” that is a good word too. You might also want to toss in “catchy.” I mean; I don’t want to tell you how to write your own description of Fluttr Effect. Who am I anyway? But a few more… “Amazing vocals”, “well thought out arrangements” and “fun”

Do yourself a favor, go see them, listen to them, love them and Google Carnatic.



Rating: 7.8
To see for yourself go to http://www.fluttreffect.com

Duty Free

Duty Free
Live Review/CD Review
Barley House Concord NH
February 2007


I am pissed. I am SO pissed. I am not pissed because my puppy just piddled on the floor, although that wasn’t pleasant. I am PISSED at Duty Free. I went to the Barley House in Concord and saw this great band called, yep, Duty Free. They played amazing tunes just like a band should. They were, well, good little boys and girls, with out the girls part… and change good to talented… and boys to men, back again doing a little east cost swing.

Quite frankly they put on a magnificent live show. All the members of Duty Free are proficient at their instrument; guitars, bass, keys, vocals and drums. They kept myself and the crowd very much entertained. If they come back to my area, I will go check them out again. Yet, I am pissed.

I take one of their FREE Duty Free CDs, although I may have misunderstood. They could have said, “our Duty Free CDs” and I just thought there were totally free. Maybe I owe them money. Hey guys, if I was suppose to pay for this let me know. It is quite a fantastic CD full of amazing guitar solos with keys and sometimes trumpet added in. The songs mix it up between a Dave Mathews feel to an almost jazz approach. The bass player kicks my ass, not in a “stop hitting me” way but in that “good groove” way. Anyway, we are getting off track, I am pissed.

People were mad when Michael Jackson sold Beatles tunes to Nike so they could market their new cross trainer. And we all shine on like the moon and the stars and this is worse; Duty Free has a Beatles cover on their album. BUT, it is only singing… no drums, no guitar, no bass, no tuna fish sandwich, and NO harmonies. Just a guy singing a Beatles song, live. I am actually lying a little bit. They did have the crowd clapping… A little.

Now, here, this is where I really, really, get pissed. The singer doesn’t keep time! He speeds up, slows down, he is all over the place. One thing my dad always said is, “Don’t include a live Beatles song on a CD when you don’t follow the audience’s beat when they are clapping along.” Ok my dad didn’t say that, the way he phrased it was “Take out the trash.” Don’t get me wrong he is a fine singer, but WHY destroy this classic piece of music. And why put it on his otherwise terrific CD.

If the CD wasn’t free Duty Free, let me know and I’ll give it back. Just let me burn those 11 of the 12 songs to my I-Pod first.

Rating: 7.2
To see for yourself go to http://www.dutyfreejams.biz/

Drift Session

The MUSIC page of Drift Session’s website offers up a bevy of tracks with names like “Convex Blues”, “Black Candles”, “Dog Leg” and “On Holliday”. On Holliday? Is this quartet of funkers from Canada? Perhaps England or Whales? Don’t think so. Very few U.K. natives actually hang their hats in Lowell Massachusetts.

But it is just this kind intentional persona building exemplified by a group of New Englanders using a term like “On Holiday” which seems to be standard operating procedure for a band like of Drift Session. The band describes itself thus:

Drift Session's sound is a combination of the 60's and 70's era of classic rock, blues, disco, and island sounds, fused together with a modern tone. Our blend of sounds and tunes make for a rhythmic groove on an winding path. Basically, we’ll shred, swing, and drift through the night.

It’s beautiful dream, I will admit. I read this description, then close my eyes and imagine an updated Wild Cherry or perhaps Blind Faith with a harder edge. Maybe I am just too hopeful in my imaginings. Alas, clicking on the above mentioned track yields not much more than the tried and true, wak-a-tik-a guitar rhythm which is the stock and trade of every axe man who has learned how to play bar chords and is saving up for a Wahwah pedal—can’t you just see the jar on some bookshelf in Lowell being filled with loose change and Rock n’ Roll fantasies?

“Convex Blues” is very much the same, but when the vocal kicks in, I am put in mind of a more forced and wearier Groove Child, a New Hampshire band that achieved some local acclaim when I was in high school…twelve years ago. It was that crazy couple of years in the mid nineties when my contemporaries had discovered Mom’s beads and Dad’s granny glasses and hippy nostalgia became more prominent than the original wave of actual hippy culture ever had been. I guess we can blame bands like Groove Child and others in that vein for stealing those couple of years from America’s youth. Perhaps not Phish, but Phish culture and Phish nation.

We can absolutely blame this stable of jam band retreads for handing down a stock-pile of influence to current ensembles like Drift Session. I am not saying that this is a completely worthless band, and if you enjoy recordings in witch the snare drum is right at the front of the mix, than these Mp3s are for you. But one might hope that this group would take some time out and learn to speak with it’s own voice before resurrecting the wak-a-tik-a another time.



Rating: 3.9
To see for yourself go to http://www.driftsessionband.com/