What's that cliché ? The heart wants what the heart wants? Yeah, I know...too often that's applied as a sort of "rationalization salve" to wounds created by affairs of the heart. Luckily, my love of the pop and soul music of Hall & Oates has produced no such casualties — except for maybe my 'indie cred' as applied to my writing. But heck, since I never had any 'indie cred' to begin with, I can just go ahead and say that I'm looking forward to this release and it's companion DVD. This documents their return to the famed Troubadour in L.A. after 35 years.
Here are all of this week's new album releases courtesy of All Music Guide:
The Fireman
Electric Arguments
ATO
Neo-Psychedelia, Pop/Rock
Guns N' Roses
Chinese Democracy
Geffen
Album Rock, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock
The Killers
Day & Age
Island
New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Alternative Pop/Rock
Scott Weiland
Happy in Galoshes
Soft Drive
Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Post-Grunge
Kanye West
808s & Heartbreak
Roc-A-Fella
Midwest Rap, Urban, Pop-Rap, Pop
Trace Adkins
X
Capitol/EMI
New Traditionalist, Contemporary Country
Arild Andersen
Live at Belleville
ECM
Avant-Garde Jazz, Post-Bop
Arion
Maria, Madre di Dio
Early-Music.com
Baroque Solo Cantatas & Sacred Music
Jeff Beck
Performing This Week: Live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
Eagle
Guitar Virtuoso, Hard Rock, Blues-Rock
David Byrne/Brian Eno
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Todomundo
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
Los Campesinos!
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Arts & Crafts
Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Coldplay
Prospekt's March
Capitol
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Rivers Cuomo
Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
Geffen
Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
The Datsuns
Smoke & Mirrors
Hell Squad/Cooking Vinyl
Garage Punk, Hard Rock
Death Cab for Cutie
Something About Airplanes [Deluxe Edition]
Barsuk
Indie Rock, Twee Pop, Alternative Pop/Rock
E-40
The Ball Street Journal
Reprise/BME
West Coast Rap, Hip-Hop, Gangsta Rap
Feist
The Reminder [Deluxe Edition]
Cherry Tree/Interscope
Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Electronic, Indie Rock
Angela Gheorghiu
My Puccini [CD+DVD]
EMI Classics
Romantic Opera
Goldfrapp
Seventh Tree [Bonus DVD]
Mute
Alternative Pop/Rock, Electronica

.jpg?t=20120527181101)






Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
Weiland did seem a little toasted, eh? i did hear one of his new tunes on the radio and it was quite good.
and speaking of the awards show...geezies, aren't there any rock bands out there anymore? Coldplay? c'mon...!
2 - Jordan Richardson
aren't there any rock bands out there anymore?
Rock is dead.
3 - hannnah;]
i like guns and roses.
(8) welcome to the jungle.
rock is not dead.
4 - hannnah;]
tbh rock is actally alive.
5 - Mark Saleski
oh, i totally think rock is alive...just not on the american music awards.
6 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
I don't know exactly what kept Cynic apart in the decade and a half since 1993's groundbreaking Focus...
Cynic first disbanded in 1994 but the members were quick to approach different avenues. Sean Malone gave us the brilliant Gordian Knot while his own solo release prior to that was just as amazing for its time. Sean Reinert stuck with Mr. Malone for his solo effort as well as Gordian Knot. BUT, he was also involved with Aghora on their Y2k self titled release which was damn good. Both members including Paul Masivdal had some brief but worthwhile commercial success with AEon Spoke. Masvidal also writes and performs music for television and motion pictures, credits include main title (composer credit) on an Emmy nominated NBC teen series show 'Operation Junkyard', short films 'The Yellow Umbrella', 'A Bride In Black', session musician for Carsey Warner network sitcoms, 'That 70's Show, 3rd Rock From The Sun, also has library songs regularly performed on network and cable television.
*Phew*... After all that it is nice to hear a new release and I, for one, am an odd mind that finds "Traced in Air" to be not only Beautiful but a true "progressive" effort for the metal community.
It pushes the envelope on so many levels. Cynic is no longer technical for the sake of complexity but more like Modern Jazz where it blends in. It is different but the same &, to me, shows a mature vision of where "Prog" Metal needs to go.
7 - Tom Johnson
And there you go, our resident Cynic expert chimes in. I somehow knew you'd help us here, Brian. ;-) And, yes, it is a very, very good album - took me by surprise even though I really wasn't sure what to expect from the band after all this time.
8 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Oh?? Come on Tom... Don't report like you didn't know that Wikipedia existed *Smirk*. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I am quite the frenzied fan of Cynic,Gordian Knot,etc...
Honestly, you took me by surprise with such an insightful review. Nice Job!
9 - Pico
so sez Mr. Guppus...
Cynic first disbanded in 1994 but the members were quick to approach different avenues. Sean Malone gave us the brilliant Gordian Knot while his own solo release prior to that was just as amazing for its time.
I didn't know about the connection between Cynic and Gordian Knot. Gordian Knot is indeed very good stuff, so if this Cynic is anything like that, I'm on board. Thanks for the tip.
10 - Josh Hathaway
Hall & Oates, without a trace of irony.
11 - Mark Saleski
irony is for the weak.
12 - Tom
Hall & Oates a guilty pleasure? Do you eat ice cream when listening?
13 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Pico...
IMHO, if you are ProgHead, like me, I don't see why you wouldn't like Cynic. The growling back-up vocals may turn you off if you don't like Death Metal,but, I feel with Traced in Air they are used tastefully. Almost more like an added emotion/instrument instead of being the main focal point. As for Focus, I think you could appreciate the progressive attributes though it is a little bit of a tougher listen. Just like Tom said, it was very groundbreaking for 1993 so you kinda have to expect that. Those sounds were unheard of for this genre with exception to Watchtower & Atheist,but, they still presented some amazing ideas.
14 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
I totally dig I can't go for that(No can do)
by Hall & Oates. I just don't understand the whole "guilty pleasure" thing...But, I also like Benny Mardones If I Could Fly. I guess I'm just weird like that.
15 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Oh and let's not forget Jo Jo by Boz Scaggs
16 - Tom Johnson
Yep, Pico, you need to check out Cynic. The "death growls" on the new one are very minimal - they are basically almost background vocals on the new one, with the "altered-straight" vocals being the most prominent. I guess it's kind of a vocoder type effect (Brian? you probably know more,) but more sci-fi sounding. Honestly, even if you're not big into this, but you can handle it, Cynic is VERY worth checking out. They are several cuts WAY above, and the instrumental stuff is so tasty.
17 - Jordan Richardson
Because I trust Brian's metal cred. and Tom's everything cred., I'm checking out Cynic. Wish me luck, fellas.
18 - Glen Boyd
If you trust TJ's cred Jordan...and you should...you should also check out Porucpine Tree. TJ (and Pico) turned me onto them about a year ago, and I've since become a pretty big fan. If I'm not mistaken, Gupster's a fan too.
Word of warning though, they've got a ton of records and if you get hooked it'll be expensive. Trust me, I know...
-Glen
19 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Yea, Tom, it is a vocoder. Though, I am not certain how far the technology has come and whether Paul is using an actually piece of equipment or hardware/software for a computer.
Either way, he has a great voice and this really masks it in a supportive way.
Jordan... thanks. Glen is right, you should check out PT.Very Solid Prog Rock. I like most of their latter stuff but my favorite is In Absentia.
I would also suggest:
Spiral Architect
Attention Deficit
Aghora
Spock's Beard
Sieges Even Paramount
SubSignal
Oh and of course The Improv Project
*Smirk*
20 - Mark Saleski
i will take the vocoder-ed vocals over the silly growls any day. besides, the music is really happenin'.
gonna have to buy that one.
21 - Tom Johnson
The artwork is worth the purchase of a hard copy, Mark. Really beautiful stuff - the kind of thing we don't see very often anymore, unfortunately. It's this kind of thing I'm going to be very sad to see disappear when downloads/streaming are the only choices we have.
22 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
It's this kind of thing I'm going to be very sad to see disappear when downloads/streaming are the only choices we have.
Actually, I think it could get better. No paper to worry about so they could design artwork in HD and make it like 1600 x 1200 and @ only 1-2Mb the cover art would look sick. Include that file with a Flac formatted d/l(96Khz/24Bit) then you could print that shit yourself via color laser printer on some glossy photo paper and have an actual poster.