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A little bit of serendipity brought me this wonderful track ‘Seems So Far’ from Jets Overhead. I was actually trying to get clearance for a track from Tegan & Sara and since I was having trouble getting the go ahead for that one, I was directed to this track instead by Piers Henwood, who happens to be Tegan & Sara’s manager and also Jets guitarist/keyboardist. And I am appreciative of that, because Jets Overhead turned out to be an absolutely amazing band. Read the rest of this entry »

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‘She’ is a mighty tasty slice of hard rock with an eastern flair by a group of guys from the bottom half of the globe (Melbourne, to be exact) that go by the name of Tenpenny Joke. Big hooks, big sound, strong melody. All the things that make up a great hard rock track are present and accounted for. And as an added bonus, we get a strong melodic guitar solo thrown in to put the icing on the cake. Read the rest of this entry »

With equal parts U2, Duran Duran and their own unique voicings, R.U.O.K crafts a top-notch album that gets the Gigatracks seal of approval. There is something of a New Wave revival going on right now. People are looking back to the sounds of bands such as Duran Duran, New Order and others who have been long overlooked to fashion and remold into the current mainstream. Such is the cycle of music. Unfortunately, many of these acts are simply copying, not only their influences, but each other as well.

This is where R.U.O.K breaks away from the pack. On ‘Arctic Warmth’, they’ve crafted a sound that is at once both unique and familiar. They take these influences, along with others like U2, and apply their own stamp to it. With hints of New Wave and Brit-Pop they have created an album that is strong from to start to finish with very few missteps along the way. And I don’t listen to too many albums any more that I can say that about. Read the rest of this entry »

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We haven’t had any bluegrass around here lately and Ivan Rosenburg’s got just the cure for that little problem. ‘Dead Horse Blues’ has got all of what makes a great instrumental bluegrass track in my opinion. Sure it’s got the requisite top-notch picking (and I do mean top-notch by the way… man, can he play!), but it’s also got a central melody that he keeps coming back to that keeps me interested from start to finish. And the sound and timing is locked in so tight it’s almost unbelievable. Read the rest of this entry »

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Afroganic are trying to do something that really pushes the boundaries of electronic and world music simultaneously. They goal of the group is to blend tribal African rhythms with more traditional electronica and house music. I can hear you already… “That’s all fine and well, but is it any good?!?” It’s not just good, it’s freakin’ fantastic! Read the rest of this entry »

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The Rantings Of Eva are the kind of band that make this job worthwhile. I get all excited when I come across a track that I know has mass appeal. I can’t wait to introduce my friends to it. Hence the birth of Gigatracks. That was how this whole idea came about and it’s based on finding artists like Rantings of Eva. The kind of artist that when you talk to your friends you say, “I’ve got this band that I can’t wait for you to hear”. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ever heard any ‘Experimental Electronica’? Well, in case you haven’t, it mostly sounds like noise. People takes clicks, bleeps and pops, put them in an audio track and think that makes some kind of music. I can’t possibly see anyone listening to that kind of crap.

So it was really on a whim that I decided to take a listen to Extropy’s Radiomorphology, which they called ‘Experimental’. And then I got a surprise. Not only was it musical, it was good! Only… it wasn’t experimental in the sense of bleeps, bloops and general noise. Rather it was pushing the bounds of electronic music by incorporating bleeps and bloops with a deep-groove drum line and acoustic guitars. Now THAT’S my kind of experimentation.
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Jason Demain strips it down to it’s roots and gives some good old straight-ahead rock n’ roll. He delivers ‘Comedy Of Errors’ which sports a fantastic chorus and this great lyric: “I never thought that you would say the things you said today. It’s the idiot’s cliché”. His voice reminds me of what Scott Weiland would sound like singing Beatles songs. The songwriting is strong, the production is good and his music is pure pop-rock perfection. Can’t go wrong adding this one to your mp3 collection.

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I love the good groove of nice track with a funk flair. When done properly, a slow-to-mid-tempo funk track has an irresistable ability to make your head move up and down, and to make you seem cooler than you really are. ‘Unglued’ from the Ken Derouchie Band is just one of those tracks. And packed with soulful vocals, a super-tight horn section and a solid chorus, what more could you possibly want? Oh, what’s that? A bassline that gives that groove some depth? Well, luckily Ken and his boys have got you covered there too. And they do it all with a dash of jazz to bring out a sound that’s in a class all it’s own. Read the rest of this entry »

“Just a super nice guy, ya know… Layne was just funny. Never had a bad word to say about anybody. And.. unfortunately just struggled really hard with his addictions. He had a helluva voice and when we did the Mad Season record, I remember him coming in and just doing these things that were just amazing…”  -Mike McCready, guitarist Pearl Jam.

I’m sitting inside a coffee shop in Spartanburg, South Carolina. That old Southern sun is drifting down and bouncing light off the corporate headquarters of Denny’s into the park below. The flow of today’s latest Pop filters out of the speakers and caffeine’s consummate soldiers come marching in and out of the doors. My head is weary, slightly perplexed and the simple thoughts of this article… an article that I’ve had spinning in my head for months now… just won’t let me concentrate on anything else. So, the fingers have begun to do what they do and the story begins. Read the rest of this entry »