You Ought to get 'Spaced' out !

After having reviewed guitarist, songwriter and producer, Jeff Jones' album 'RockHard' , I was so eager to hear out more of his music. And I did. We got hold of his album called 'Spaced', which undoubtedly, is a completely awesome Hard Rock haven, yet again.

The album got off to an excellent start with 'Queen of Hollywood', which began with a cool Rock n Roll riff. Excellent vocals, and a completely balanced track. Sounded like a power ballad of the 80s era. PERFECT is the word. 'No Satisfaction Blues' gave me a taste of the Scorpions, AC/ DC, a bit of Def Leppard too.This song sounded like it was influenced from a hell lot of bands. But I'm much a fan now of the riffs and the rhythm section of this album. 'Hell To pay' was a bit different from the previous tracks, with a dominating heavy riff, though with lesser variety in the vocals.

All of us Rock fanatics surely miss the riffs of the 70's and 80's, with not many bands belting out such styles, but its so good to have artists like Jeff who are capable of producing those headbanging hard riffs all over again. Moving on to the next track, 'Addiction', and just again, another bloody damn COOL riff. Not only the riff but the mixing and mastering of these tracks are absolutely perfect. I had to hit the Play button again and again on this one !

The drums and bass were the highlights in 'Resurrecting', while the track 'Control' finally had an intro with the bass, and the overall rhythm was powerfully controlled by the bassist. Now this riff reminded me of Deep Purple. Reaching the next one called 'Not your love', I could surely say the style is changing, with the band putting a lot more variety in the album. Even the guitar solo really matched with the song title!

'Hate me' had a metal sounding riff unlike others, and in 'Miss tragedy', sometimes I could feel a Def leppard style in the vocals and also a lot of inspiration. But its good to have a return of power ballads. Moving further to 'Bad motor girl', I personally was looking for a 'clean' track, maybe on the acoustic. So it got a bit bore for me, but nevertheless, the mind blowing riffs kept me going !

'Bad Love' pretty much was the best riff of this album for me. This riff was a lot original and creative. The album finally ended well with 'Underground', with a good job done on the drums, though the distortion could have been a bit low I suppose.

Summing up, except missing out on an acoustic track, this album is 'Riff-fully' amazing ! You just CANNOT miss out on these power packed riffs. It was like a journey back in time to the Rock n Roll era of our idols: Deep Purple, AC/DC and Def Leppard to mention a few.

Your neck would pain at the end. Trust me. It's wilder than you think.

Go get the album at iTunes, and check out their website : www.xxxrecords.com

This Rolling Stone Mag's cover is yours. Go choose it folks!

The Rolling Stone Magazine's 'Do you wanna be a rock n roll star' is in its LAST and FINAL stage, with two bands left to compete for the moment of their lives.

It is 'The SheepDogs' V/s 'Lelia Broussard'. Now, the two will duke it out live at Bonnaroo in an epic battle of the bands. The act with the most votes this round will win a record contract with Atlantic; play live on Jimmy Fallon; AND be the first-ever unsigned band to grace the cover of Rolling Stone. There is a lot at stake, and there can only be one winner!

Check out the video of Jimmy Fallon announcing the finalists here:

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2011/05/jimmy-reveals-rolling-stones-you-choose-the-cover-contest-finalists/

And be sure to cast your votes here!

http://www.rollingstone.com/choosethecover

Check out some of their tracks below :

The Sheepdogs – Learn My Lesson by Rolling Stone

Lelia Broussard – Turn Me On by Rolling Stone

My Education/Theta Naught: Sound Mass album Review

With a mere five tracks, I was at first tempted to call the My Education/Theta Naught album an EP. But further investigation led me to realize those five tracks make up 52 minutes and 18 seconds of well-crafted and detail-orientated music; I’d say that’s significantly more than an EP.

The album is an improvisational collaboration effort between both Theta Naught (Salt Lake City, UT) and My Education (Austin, TX). The lineup behind this album is :

James Alexander - viola
Briawna Anderson - harp
Darren Corey - drums
Henna Chou - cello
Chris Hackstie - pedal steel
Josh Ogzewalla - guitar
Brian Purington - guitar
Ryan Stanfield - bass, saw, banjo
Chris Stelly - drums
Scott Telles - bass

The 17-minute opening track (creatively titled “Careful With That Saw, Ryan”) begins gently, creating a peaceful and soothing soundscape. Halfway through, timid distortions on stringed instruments interrupt the tranquil sounds as the track gains momentum with the introduction of guitar and percussion. It climaxes with a marching drum beat and fluctuating instrumentals as calm as it opens with, but with more drive and definition.

Track two, “Nonet”, sounds more like a rock song than ambient sounds. Snares, bass, and strings open the song, riding the fence between an alternative rock interlude and more of the beautiful music from the album’s epic opening track. Following similar structure to “Careful With That Saw, Ryan”, “Nonet” opens lightly and builds to a climax, then instruments once again drop out until the music simply dissolves.

The album’s third and fifth songs, “A Casual Show For Yachting” and “Salt Lake City Film Society”, offer little diversity from “Nonet”, excluding stronger strings and edgier electric guitar. File them both under the umbrella of “easy listening”.

“Communion” is the album’s best track, incorporating the most noticeable amount of instrumentation and taking a few extra steps outside of their traditional sound. It’s ambient (My Education’s norm), but guitar plays a heavy role, noodling around on the song’s meatiest segment and finally meeting expectations of a band that defines themselves as a “rock” band.

In my opinion, it’s a stretch to call Sound Mass a rock album, though select elements of the genre are certainly present. Rather than exciting listeners to get up and dance, the mega chill tunes instead offer a universally appealing sound that’s more entertaining than elevator music, but could easily function as exactly that. It’s ideal for those who need something engaging to listen to while doing homework or writing a report but can’t be distracted by lyrics. And personally, I found the new age instrumentals to be particularly relaxing while lying in the tanning bed.

Both the artists' extensive cabinet of instrumentation is put to good use with proficient songwriting skills on Sound Mass. It’s not your next workout album or summer anthem music, but it will help you relax and ease the fast pace of life.

The Turtles are back to their Research with ManKiller !

When I heard that Research Turtles were comin’ out with a new EP called 'Mankiller' , I was anxious to see what direction the band would take. The direction in which a band after an astounding debut album , decides to stick to the ‘winning’ formula and stagnate the sound without experimenting with various styles or the direction in which a band keeps belting out tracks at an unrelenting passion alongwith progressing sound – wise after every release .

Research Turtles , I’m happy to say , fall in the latter category . While their self titled debut effort was more of garage influenced stuff , this EP blends pop punk with Britpop to create a unique sound of its own . It’s not as if the garage influences have been totally knocked out , but they have seamlessly combined these genres together to actually create good stuff .

For those who don’t know , Research Turtles is a four – piece act consisting of Jud Norman on the vocals and bass guitars , Joseph Darbonne and Logan Fontenet on the guitars and Blake Thibodeaux handling the drum duties . Although their first album might have had critics debating on Jud's lesser variety in his vocals, this EP shuts them so frigging tight . Jud’s bass playing along with Blake’s skin slamming capabilities form the impeccable rhythm section which is perfectly supplemented by Joseph’s and Logan’s guitaring . Though this album doesn’t emphasize on the solo aspect of guitar playing , it experiments with guitar effects and layers .

The EP begins with a small song named ‘Girl Like You’ which is the softest track of the EP , with Jud singing with an acoustic guitar playing in the background . Next up , is a track called ‘You Are So’ which kicks off in a true Research Turtles style . The song is energetic , to say the least , and Jud’s bass playing is also commendable . ‘Bugs In a Jar‘ is a soothing track with an infectiously catchy chorus and a pop like quality of the song makes it one of the best songs in the EP . Following this is the title track , ‘Mankiller’ , which displays the change in direction (sound – wise) aptly. The bass playing is very groovy in this track . Jud shows that he cannot be stereotyped into a specific vocal range while Joseph’s and Logan’s Guitar work is aggressive , somewhat punk – ish , and Blake’s drumming is very impressive , to say the least . The EP ends with the track ‘Rhinestone Gal’ , which is my favorite track from the EP . This track is a belter of a track due to the presence of sheer amount of energy the listener can feel while listening to it . Guitar effects are very well complemented by Blake’s tight drumming . The last 40 seconds are the best part of the song , with a headbanging like quality about it .

My final advise to you all – DO NOT STARE at your screen. Go buy it and hell yeah , you are gonna love it.

Here's the link : http://researchturtles.com/store

THE CHAIN-A story of music maniacs!

Tribute bands are all about love. At least that’s how I see it. You encounter music that drives you crazy and before you know it, you’re in a trance that’s going to be with you till you bid the blue planet adieu. People look back at the 60’s and the 70’s and even parts of the early 80’s as the time where music finally evolved. Some people call it the Golden era; others merely remember it to be the time when “real music” happened. Fleetwood Mac was part of the same revolution and are major stakeholders in the change that we witnessed in that era. THE CHAIN are a similar bunch; they love Fleetwood Mac and are going to make sure people recognize, remember and most importantly enjoy the music the legendary British-American band were famous for.

THE CHAIN started out as Harder Edge in 1991 and comparisons to Fleetwood Mac have been rampant ever since. Be it facial resemblance to even the style of music they played, it’s basically been hard to ignore. So they decided a few years ago that they were ready for the next step-the same bunch of guys coming together under a new name to belt out tracks by their idols. In concert, these guys perform with an intensity that leaves people spellbound. The passion that they resonate as they swing about in their FM attire is epic.

And don’t mistake them to be novices. With years of music under their belt and a sound understanding of what people expect and what they stand for, they have turned into one among the best tribute bands on the scene. Never have they performed for a crowd that hasn’t been sold out or walked out of a place without the crowd going bonkers and swaying to their beats. They’ve done gigs at Hard Rock Cafe, Trib Amphitheater, Convention Centers and even performed for a private, "Real" English Royalty Party!

So let’s meet the band!
Founder - Jim (Doc) Stamps –( Mick Fleetwood), Drums/Percussion
Kimmy Scholl – (Stevie Nicks), Lead Singer
Rob Gamerro - (John McVie), Bass
Sandy Anderson – (Christine McVie), Keyboards & Vocals
Keith Cole – (Jeremy Spencer), Guitar & vocals
Tony Acker – (Lindsey Buckingham), Guitar & Vocals
To those confused, the name in the parenthesis is the Fleetwood Mac artist they portray.
Check these guys out at www.thechainfm.com or you can even check out their blog at http://thechainfm.blogspot.com
Also, you can see them LIVE at Hard Rock Café, Pittsburgh on June 11. You can buy tickets via Ticketmaster.

It’s all about the love people.

Jeff Jones' RockHard: A Die-Hard HeadBanging Album!

We recently got to hear guitarist, songwriter and producer Jeff Jones' album 'RockHard', featuring his music with the band 'St. Elmos', as well other acts he was associated with. Jeff was a founding member of St. Elmos Fire and was also in Vamp le Stat from 1993- 1995 during the “Bloodline” era.

The album began with a glam rock headbanging soundtrack in 'Gonna get wild', and well, its actually true to its title too ! Next up was a classic rock piece, 'Madame blue' which had a nice change in the vocals and great harmonization.

'Mississippi wine' was filled with uber clean guitaring, a nice pattern and a great acoustic sound, that are perfectly well recorded. The guitar riff and vocals in the track 'Caught in the heartbreak' were so wonderful in bringing forth the emotions in the song. Jeff's voice showed the expressions and the drums showed the power. The bass maintained the balance in between very well. Excellent coordination !

'Don't Drop it' had a different beginning from the rest, and it was actually a welcome change that even I was expecting to see at some point in the album, though the drums didn't amuse me much.

Well yeah, Guitar players must have heard of 'Overdrive' in their pedals, but how about 'Powerdrive' ? That's what the next track is called! An awesome hard Riff, creative guitaring. excellent vocals and a powerful chorus sums up this track. Moving on to 'Hot n' love', technically speaking, this one's a strong soundtrack with a very power packed rhythm section.

'Into the night' was kinda my favorite in terms of the intros in other songs of the album.

'Warning from the sky' had an even more rocking intro, but later on, it lost the charm, but the chorus vocals turned out to be amazing.

The album then finally got off to a rock n roll finish with 'Breaking Out', loaded with a very impressive, strong, and speedy intro and amazing drum rolls. I bet you'll be rewinding the intro a lot many times in this one!

Well, Overall, this album is a MUST for a Rock n Roll fanatic. Power packed riffs, headbanging rhythm, and amazing vocals: What else were you craving for, eh ?

Go get The Trews "Hope and Ruin" album on your iPods!

Canada's THE TREWS had just released their fourth full-length studio album, Hope & Ruin. The album is a level-raising evolution for the Toronto-based rock band with two gold records, ten top-10 singles and 800-plus concerts logged. The album is currently NOTEWORTHY at iTunes and the title track is #7 at Active Rock in Canada.

The Trews, comprising of lead vocalist Colin MacDonald, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, drummer Sean Dalton and bassist Jack Syperek, are without doubt, one of the BEST rock groups of this era.

We got down to listen to their album, and well, just the first track was enough to get me hooked!

First up was a track called 'Burned', having a very peppy rhythm, nice lyrics and lots of creativity. It's really impressive and much beautiful. Next was 'Dreaming man'. Their excellent skills were evident in each and every moment of this track.

The title track 'Hope and Ruin' had a good riff, but the song is very high on the emotional aspect. Colin has an exquisite voice and even the lyrics had a certain feel to it. The next song, 'If you wanna start again' actually made me wanna play it all over again ! A pleasant intro, and beautiful, original music dominates it right till the end.

I was pretty touched while listening to 'I'll find someone who will'. Now that's what you call an amazing Vocalist! I don't think I've heard such a vocal performance in the recent past at all, even though I have actually been looking for such an amazing quality.

Well, moving on to the track called 'Misery loves company', I was actually amused at the wonderful, unique titles they have for each track. Now that's creativity at its BEST ! The song 'One by one' began with a very soothing intro. Though I thought the vocals to be a bit out of place, but still it sounds too good. I was forced to get up and dance along !

'People of the deer' was much different from the rest of the songs in the album, and that's what I loved about it. The next one, 'Stay with me' is a simple song with a simple meaning and even simple lyrics, but it has a certain depth to it and thats what made it so pleasant.

Then with a powerful riff in 'The World I know', the album ended with a very romantic feel in 'You gotta let me in'.

Summing up, this album is just PERFECT, and so is the band ! I have the whole album on my iPod, and I bet yours too would crave for these tracks once you hear them out.

The Trews are planning to tour the U.S. in June. Look up their website for details : http://www.thetrewsmusic.com

Check out this video of the track 'Hope & Ruin' below:

Your Chance to Win an Official Rolling Stone Tee Shirt !

Folks, here's your chance to WIN a cool OFFICIAL ROLLING STONE Tee Shirt !

The Tshirt has been sponsored as a part of the Rolling Stone's ongoing contest: "Do You wanna be a Rock & Roll Star", where 16 unsigned bands were chosen initially, and the contest is now down to just 4 bands! And it is YOU who can get one of them to the COVER of the Rolling Stone magazine, by just your VOTE !

So, Come on ! Check out the artists and choose your favorite right here : http://www.rollingstone.com/choosethecover

To Enter into our Contest,

Just compose an email with "Rolling Stone Contest" as the subject and in the body, type in your Name, Nationality, and complete the following sentence in your own words:

"Rock Music for me is ... "

Then, just send it to us at : asbookmark@gmail.com

Note:

*Contest is open to our readers of all Nationalities.

*Contest ends on 8th May 2010.

*Winners would be announced on 10th May 2010 on this Blog and our Fan Page.

*Only 1 entry per person is allowed. Multiple entries may lead to disqualification.