The Devil Whale - Teeth

The Devil Whale - Teeth
2011, The Devil Whale

Salt Lake City rockers The DevilWhale unwraps their inner garage band on their third album, Teeth.Channeling influences from artists such as The Animals, The Kinks and HarryNilsson, primary songwriting Brinton Jones and company work with a diverse castof friends and acquaintances to build a sound that's simultaneously antiquatedand new. The energy that pervades Teeth is expectant. The Devil Whaleconstantly seem on the verge of a breakthrough, particularly on the first partof the album. Unfortunately the breakthrough never quite materializes, althoughThe Devil Whale does manage to make a few cracks in the ceiling with"Golden", a fuzzy, garage pop number that show's off Jones' voice infine form. "Indian" features a memorable chorus wrapped up inpleasing vocal harmonies, and shows off the band's distinctive sense of melody.

"Werewolf Army" plays likea ballad, but is a tongue-in-cheek warning straight out of a horror film. Thetheme is pure cheese, but the music is well-written, and the song would playwell on the soundtrack of a horror film spoof. Jones shows hissinger/songwriter colors on "So-Called War", deconstructing whatappears to be a celebrity breakup in song. "Standing Stones" offersits own unique sense of beauty; a catchy number with a lovely melody that willstick in your head and a musical flow that seems as if Jones channeled the songfrom somewhere in the universe rather than writing it himself. The Devil Whale,seemingly have exhausted itself from such a great start, settles in for a solidif unremarkable final four songs.

The Devil Whale impresses, thenregresses, on Teeth, turning a near-brilliant seven song EP into anabove average full length album. Brinton Jones cuts some serious chops as asongwriter and singer, but its clear that The Devil Whale, while having found amusical identity, perhaps isn't 100% comfortable in its own shoes yet. Teethshows flashes of brilliance, and over the first 2/3 of the album is dressed toimpress. Don't be surprised if these guys just keep getting better.

Rating:3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about The Devil Whale at www.thedevilwhale.comor www.myspace.com/thedevilwhale.  Teethis available from Amazon.com as CDor Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Epigene – A Wall Street Odyssey

Epigene – A Wall Street Odyssey
2011, Amammi Music

Upstate New York rockers Epigene have made a name for themselves over the past decade by writing outside of the box rock n roll songs.  Epigene’s latest work, A Wall Street Odyssey, may be their most ambitious work to date.  Primary songwriter Sean Bigler attempts to capture the fall and rebirth of Wall Street and her denizens over the past few years in an art-rock concept album with pretentions to being a rock musical. 

A Wall Street Odyssey follows the life and times of the fictional Yossarian, an investment banker living the high life on Wall Street who comes to a crisis of conscience through the crash of 2008.  Yossarian moves out of the city and finds a life he never dreamed of, and then returns as an advocate for less money, ala Jerry Maguire.  The album is steeped in rock influences including The Who, The Kinks, Green Day and even a touch of Andrew Lloyd Webber (from his rock musical phase in the 1970’s).  All Wall Street Odyssey starts strong on “Looks Like I Made It”, which sounds like the Beatles jamming alternately with Rick Wakeman and Dennis DeYoung on keyboards.  It’s a great opener for an album or a musical, with all of the energy and urgency you might expect.    Big scale pop and electro rock are the name of the game on “Money Master” and “The Catch 22”, showing the big sale and the beginning of the downward spiral.  “Take My Head Off” is the beginning of the downfall, both for Yossarian and for the album as a whole.  The struggle to overcome the cognitive dissonance of a life lived in essential conflict is reflected in the mild dissonance of the angular composition.

Unfortunately, things go quickly downhill from there.  Yossarian’s breakdown is reflected by a breakdown in cohesion of the songwriting that isn’t recovers until ¾ of the way through the 25-track album.  In the meantime it’s a self-referential bland pop experience that runs the gamut of 1970’s music, from AM radio easy listening music to smarmy pop.  Interestingly enough, it’s when Yossarian returns to Wall Street to see the scene of his crimes that the energy and panache returns.  “Stranger In A Strange Land” may remind listeners of 1980’s rockers Men At Work in sonic style.  The album gets preachy on “Colonization & Globalization” and stays there for much of the rest of the way.

A Wall Street Odyssey starts with tremendous potential, but quickly fizzles into a narcissistic political diorama of bland musical compositions and pretentious political motivations.  Epigene does show flashes of great songwriting on A Wall Street Odyssey, but this is an example where the intended message hijacks the music.  If you’re into overly preachy, mellow-art rock that dances into the edges of psychedelia from time to time, then A Wall Street Odyssey will be right up your alley.

Rating: 2 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Epigene at www.epigenemusic.com or www.myspace.com/epigenemusic.  Keep checking Epigene's sites for availability.

Aron Lyrd - Lucid Dreams (aka Hits)

Aron Lyrd – Lucid Dreams (aka Hits)
2010, Aron Lyrd

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania singer/songwriter Aron Lyrd struggles through his fifth album, Lucid Dreams, a messy musical menagerie strongly influenced by 1970's pop that is without focus. Lyrd achieves some nice moments, such as the opening track "All The Time, It Is Mine", sounding like 1970's AM radio rock with a light R&B touch. "Just Wasting Time" is a solid track; mildly catchy with solid energy. This anti-love song advises a friend to kick her current boyfriend to the curb. The deep seated implication that the narrator might be a better option is between the lines. Lyrd channels The Kinks on "The Sun Is Out", a relationship reminiscence that looks back over years. Lyrd's voice is very pleasant here.

"Orange Ambition" has potential, but the recording quality here isn't worthy of a professional release. Lyrd sounds like his vocals were recorded inside of a containment tube, and the overall low-fi quality of the recording sounds amateurish. Lyrd veers into club noise with "Get Up, Come On"; seven-and-a-half minutes of beats and noise that's more like a musical run-on sentence than a song. "Asking For Just Too Much" is a vibrant bit of dance rock that finds Lyrd sounding a bit like Escape Club. We get to hear Lyrd's falsetto voice on "Tough Day, Alright Night", a non-committal bit of dance pop that simply doesn't work. One gets the impression that Lyrd is going for a Bee Gees vibe, but it ends up sounding more like satire than a serious attempt at song. Much the same can be said about "Enter Leave Don't Take My Heart", which perhaps should have been resigned to the archives.

Aron Lyrd is very early in his development as a songwriter. The material here is perhaps meant more as a demo than a commercial release, but sometimes less is more. Focusing on four or five tracks with the most potential and making the most of them might serve Lyrd better than putting out a larger quantity of music with less care. Lyrd seems to have his eyes on the big time with a MySpace page that claims over fifteen million spins. Consequently there is no doubt about Lyrd's creativity, but Lucid Dreams is a stretch that didn't need to be made. There are however kernels here with potential.

Rating: 1.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Aron Lyrd at www.myspace.com/aaronblaird or www.myspace.com/aronlyrdmusic.  You can purchase Lucid Dreams digitally from Amazon.com, CDBaby or iTunes.  Please note that iTunes has the album under the title Lucid Dreams while Amazon and CDBaby have it under the title Hits with a slightly different track listing.