Originally published by L.S. Media. June 29th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ****
After nearly 25 years making some rather excellent music, the latest album by the Levellers, Static On The Airwaves, still manages to raise the expectations that somewhere there are groups that still connect with their core audience and create music that not only coaxes the listener to enjoy but also actively want to spread around their friends and say see, “This is what I’m talking about, this is what’s wrong”.
Originally published by L.S. Media June 29th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ***
Linkin Park have a lot to be proud of as a band, for a start they broke the existing mould that was almost fused and set in stone between understated yet loud rap and good accessible rock and continued to make records that developed the idea of personal anguish without going down some doom laden ego-trip.
Originally published by L.S. Media. July 9th 2012.L.S. Media Rating ****
There is no doubting the sincerity in Patti Smith, a woman of true artistic worth who performs music as if she were a female version of Allan Ginsberg or Jim Morrison. A true poet who happens to produce great music as if it was considered to be a mortal sin to be someone who can produce art in many fields, if it was, do you think someone like Patti Smith would care? She would shrug her shoulders and go out produce something of absolute genius such as her latest album, Banga.
Originally published by L.S. Media. July 9th 2012.
L.S. Media ****
Kevin Rowland and Dexys have been out of the public eye for a long time now, the last studio album by the band that formally went by the name Dexys Midnight Runners was way back in 1985. However the band that stormed the charts with hits such as Come On Eileen and Geno are now back and with a truly artistic and well written album titled One Day I’m Going To Soar.
First published by L.S. Media. July 10th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ***
For modern audiences Bananarama might be a bit of anachronism, a trio of female singers who sound good…well there has been plenty of them over the last thirty years and you would be entitled to say so what?
Bananarama though were different, they had something that the other female singers, they can’t be called girl bands as when do any of them ever pick up an instrument in anger, today have forgotten, for they had bundles of attitude which endeared them to their early fans and they maintained that popularity when they were taken up the Stock, Aitkin and Waterman processing plant.
Originally published by L.S. Media. July 11th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating *****
When Rush are on top form, which is pretty much most of the time, they are simply unstoppable. The three Canadian musicians are so well respected that for almost other Progressive Rock band to take five years between recording and publishing studio albums would be sacrilege and could spell long term disaster for the group.
Originally published by L.S. Media. July 12th 2012. .
L.S. Media Rating ****
Sometimes you miss the boat on the start of a musician’s career and you kick yourself for it. Newton Faulkner is one such case in point. With two albums under his belt already, Newton Faulkner is already considered a rare talent. His third album, Write It On Your Skin, confirms the platitudes and detailed examination of his song writing style.
Originally published on L.S. Media. July 18th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ***
There is a moment on Serj Tankian’s new release, Harakiri, where you think, finally this is what I know he was trying to get across in the first few songs, and then just as fleetingly the moment is lost. Somewhere in between the tracks on the album it becomes sort of messy combination, a mish-mash of towering ideas that obviously started out with such creative, noble and honest intentions but may leave some fans feeling a little cold, not just with overwhelming subject matter but with the great man himself.
Originally published in L.S. Media. July 18th 2012
L.S. Media Rating ****
Susanna Hoffs, lead singer of The Bangles, comes back to recording music with the exceptional new album Someday.
There has always been something very West-Coast America about Ms. Hoffs’ music, even the very heavily Liverpool vibe that rolls through some of some of the early Bangles tunes has a tremendous 60’s Californian hippy vibe that is not only engaging but puts the listener at ease and makes them think of less hectic times.
Originally published in L.S.Media. July 21st 2012
L.S. Media Rating *****
The first time you hear Treehouse by Ned Evett you might wonder what makes his album so special. If you have to ask that then it’s time to give up listening to music and perhaps find yourself a safer more mundane hobby such as collecting stamps.
For anyone growing up in the 1980’s and seeing the cover of the Dire Straits album, Brothers In Arms, one of the most vivid and iconic images is that of a steel cased guitar that adorns the sleeve. It’s stunning and beautiful. Keep that image, magnify it by about a hundred and you are close to what Ned Evett has managed to achieve on Treehouse.