Reviews

It was a grim, overcast Friday afternoon when I first listened to Luke the Band (not to be confused with Luke, the book of the Bible, or "Luke, I am your father"). For an indie band, they managed to catch my attention with the quality packaging of their Entertain Us EP. What impressed me even more, however, was the quality of their music. Equipped with nine solid rock/pop offerings, my dreary ride home from college was soon painted with energetic reds and oranges, deep, relaxing blues, and unfortunately, a few glaring black smears.

Six years ago, "Romans," a simple look at Christ's death on the cross and how it changed all of our lives, hit Christian radio. It was sung by a woman with a raspy, yet beautiful, southern flair, accompanied by excitable strumming and fiddles blazing. For many of us this was the first time Jennifer Knapp came into our lives, and since then we've been treated to enriching, rootsy music with leagues of personal depth.

Take a moment and imagine you're in the early 90's. Better yet, just take a look at the Nu Thang CD cover. You're entering an age of brightly colored clothing, of puffy hair, of men wearing fanny-packs over sweatshirts... well, ok, maybe that's just Toby Mac. At any rate, Nu Thang is from a different period of musical history. As such, it really only appeals to two groups of people: fans of the corny, synthesized sound of early 90's pop or hardcore DC Talk fans like yours truly.

The Light of Things Hoped For is best described as a teenage rock symphony. Some may be shocked at this description, but there isn't any better label for Brave Saint Saturn's sophomore release. "Space rock," though a cool phrase, doesn't really fit the musical style—the songs may be space-oriented, but frankly, the music isn't electronic enough to acquire that title.

Denison Marrs quote Ecclesiastes in track # 6 on their latest album: "there is nothing new under the sun." Though they doesn't do it themselves, it's easy to apply that verse to rock music today. One of the more popular new stars in my corner of Canada is Sam Roberts (a more obvious Beatles plagiarist cannot be found), and it seems that most other bands are a variation on some theme born in the middle of the last century. Even the retro blah of the '90s has been topped by most rock offerings in Century 21.

Roughly 30 minutes by car from the home I grew up in sits Goderich, Ontario. It's a pretty little town, sitting on the coast of Lake Huron and sporting the county's main courthouse, most impressive museum (which, admittedly, isn't saying much) and one of its few movie houses (a uni-plex that usually doesn't get ahold of films until they've been out for two months everywhere else). And to be honest, I was pretty sure that nothing much ever happened there.

Dogwood's brilliant sophomore project Building a Better Me established the band's rep as hard-hitting punk outfit with an intriguing edge. However, recent projects have failed to make as big an impact. While the submissions have been solid, nothing has topped the 1999 smash hit. Dogwood fans will testify that what endears them to the solid but not spectacular efforts is vocalist Josh Kemble's ability to consistently write thought-provoking lyrics—which he achieves again on Seismic.

Let's rewind to September 2001. I was sitting in front of my laptop, much like I am now, typing up the review for Skillet's fourth album, Alien Youth. My goodness, what a grand album that was. I listened to it seventy-hundred times, salivated over it until my mouth was dry, and bought copies for all two of my friends. My closing comments went something like this: "When it all comes down to a point, this album is FLAWLESS. Cooper and Co. have done everything perfectly this time around, giving them a tough challenge to top in the future…" Yes, I remember it well.

I have to be honest: upon my initial listening to Astronomy, Bleach's fifth studio recording, I was stricken with disbelief. The majority of the disc had a rushed feel to it, and some songs seemed strained or unnatural. It was like looking at one of those 3D pictures that were so popular back in the 90s - no matter how hard I stared at one, I never could see the darn thing. Luckily, I remembered reading that Bleach planned on dedicating the album to Josh Byers, brother of band members Milam and Jared.