| EOS Gattika Spike Watch in Green with Brush Gold Spikes | | Posted Tuesday, January 23, 2007 12:55:08 PM by BlogJeeves Team | | A wild watch for the rock star in you. Spike designed leather strap envelopes the entire watch including the case. Pull-button reveals case under strap. Button snap-on buckle. EOS "Panther" inspired dial with easy to read numbers. Three hand quatz movement. Comes with 1 Year Warranty and packaged in a fashionable gift box.... | |
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| | | Foiled | | Posted Monday, August 28, 2006 12:11:34 AM by BlogJeeves Team | | Texas quintet Blue October has bounced from Houston-based indie darlings to the majors and back twice since their '98 bow. Yet there's little sense they've compromised much of their eclectic, creatively restless ethos in the bargain on this, their fourth studio album (and second major label stint). In the hands of less ambitious musicians, the personally harrowing, perfectly crafted "Hate Me" would have become template for the entire collection; here it's but the most commercially focused of band leader Justin Furstenfeld's eclectic musical obsessions. His taste for early '80s UK New Wave evinces itself in a fondness for lyrical shadows and fleeting sonic echoes of Richard Butler's P-Furs and Peter Gabriel. But it's in the collection's quieter, more reflective songs ("Let It Go" and "Congratulations" turn on Ryan Delahousaye's signature violin phrases; "X Amount of Words" effortlessly morphs through several intriguing techno conceits; "18th Floor Balcony" bristles with an almost neo-classical elegance) where Blue October sets itself a cut above its post-grunge contenders. -- Jerry McCulley... | |
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| | | The Battle For Everything | | Posted Thursday, August 10, 2006 10:11:44 AM by BlogJeeves Team | | Math wiz and multi-instrumentalist John Ondrasik's third album under his rather misleading Five For Fighting rubric shows that he's lost little of the cranky ire that he unleashed on American Town, but this time his targets are a little closer to home. He skews faithless friends and bad habits on the tetchy opening track "NYC Weather report," oddly borrowing from both Guns N' Rose's "Paradise City," and Barbara Streisand's "People" to hammer his ornery point home, before training his sights on the human life span, fleeting relationships, and even Disneyland. But it isn't until "Girlfriends and Angels," that he shows his real brilliance, imagination and grit; Ondrasik finds the exact place where the Beach Boys intersects with the Velvet Underground and plants himself in that spot, spewing out his own hard won romantic philosophies, proving once again that the hunter does indeed get captured by the game. More ribald, sonically inventive, and lyrically edgy, The Battle For Everything, shows that Ondrasik's combative days may be behind him. --Jaan Uhelszki... | |
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| | | OK Computer | | Posted Friday, July 28, 2006 6:11:39 PM by BlogJeeves Team | | Radiohead's third album got compared to Pink Floyd a lot when it came out, and its slow drama and conceptual sweep certainly put it in that category. OK Computer, though, is a complicated and difficult record: an album about the way machines dehumanize people that's almost entirely un-electronic; an album by a British "new wave of new wave" band that rejects speed and hooks in favor of languorous texture and morose details; a sad and humanist record whose central moment is Thom Yorke crooning "We hope that you choke." Sluggish, understated, and hard to get a grip on, OK Computer takes a few listens to appreciate, but its entirety means more than any one song. --Douglas Wolk... | |
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| | | Best Of Chris Isaak | | Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2006 6:11:38 AM by BlogJeeves Team | | Chris Isaak begins his third decade as one of the most distinctive recording artists-and the epitome of modern cool-with his first career-spanning retrospective. Best Of Chris Isaak CD features every hit, led by "Wicked Game," and including many fan favorites such as "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing," plus four previously unreleased tracks: an acoustic "Forever Blue," a cover of Cheap Trick’s "I Want You To Want Me" and two new Isaak-penned songs, "King Without A Castle" and "Let’s Have A Party."... | |
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| | | Decemberunderground | | Posted Sunday, July 23, 2006 6:11:45 PM by BlogJeeves Team | | As AFI rode onto mainstream radio playlists with their gleaming major label debut, Sing the Sorrow, the rumble of disenchanted fans nearly drowned out that of their dark-hued music. But the heavily-tattooed San Francisco band aren't looking back on Decemberunderground, a slickly-produced, MTV-friendly disc brimming with sinister pop charms. The opening "Prelude 12/21" sets the upbeat tone with handclaps, strings, and a cheeky glam-rock stomp. AFI might still operate in that distinct area where punk, goth, and frightening stadium rock come together, only now they seem intent on crashing the retro '80s party attended by the likes of Franz Ferdinand and the Killers, with flashy tracks such as "Miss Muder" and the synth-heavy "Love Like Winter." "The Interview," meanwhile, is the closest Davey Havok has ever come to crooning a lighter-waving epic. Despite the odd lapse into the Cookie Monster metal territory of their early days ("Kill Caustic," "Affliction"), Decemberunderground is even more ambitious than its predecessor. First comes the backlash, then comes the platinum. --Aidin Vaziri... | |
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| | | The Eraser | | Posted Friday, July 21, 2006 6:11:56 AM by BlogJeeves Team | | Some writers and fans have taken to calling this album Kid B, the (obvious) implication that it's the companion piece to Radiohead's masterpiece of electronic rock. And while The Eraser does compare favorably to that work, it's no longer ahead of its time, just simply of its time. We can't all be visionaries all the time, however, and it's understandable that Yorke wants to play with his computer more than he gets to with his rock and roll band. Looped bubbly bloops, sleight drones, and curious bleeps complement Yorke's distinctive vocals throughout. The album at times sounds like demo versions, as if they were an update of the way Pete Townshend used to do solo versions of all his songs for the Who. It's tough not to expect the rest of the band to come in and "complete" a particular song. But once you get used to the fact that this isn't going to happen, the album reveals itself as a delightful, occasionally brave work that's as playful as it is melancholic. --Mike McGonigal... | |
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| | | Dusk and Summer | | Posted Sunday, July 16, 2006 6:11:38 AM by BlogJeeves Team | | It's all about the power chord and the sing-along chorus. With the exception of the stark title track, Christopher Carrabba's once-prominent acoustic strumming is now in short supply. Along with Scott Schoenbeck, John Lefler, and Mike Marsh, the Dashboard Confessional mastermind cranks it all up on his fourth full-length: the guitars, vocals, drums, the works. Consequently, some listeners have been tossing around the letter "U" and the numeral "2." It's a bit of a stretch, although the album was co-produced by Daniel Lanois of Joshua Tree fame (and mixed by Nevermind's Andy Wallace). The Florida outfit also opened for the Irish superstars in support of 2003’s A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar. That said, Carrabba is still the same earnest young man, just more amplified than before. Aside from "Dusk and Summer," quieter tracks include "Stolen" and the piano-driven "So Long, So Long," decorated with husky croons from Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows. But even these seem loud compared to Carrabba's stripped-down early material. It isn't a bad move, but like most stylistic shifts it's sure to send a few longtime fans packing, while making room for new ones who've never heard Dashboard Confessional before or who found the old stuff too whiny and angst-ridden. Well, there isn't much whining on Dusk and Summer--just a whole lotta (heartfelt) rockin'. --Kathleen C. Fennessy... | |
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