Music Review - Tiger Riot

I don't know what it is about reviewing bands with the word "Tiger" in the band name. Maybe I'm starting a theme, or maybe this is a new band naming trend I wasn't aware of. Anyway...

Tiger Riot is living the dream. Today is apparently the last day their album, Look Up! will be available as a "pay what you want" download as they are signing with a label and going legit. Needless to say this is good for anyone...but these guys certainly have a sound that shows they deserve it.

With an indie leaning sound, make no mistakes, Tiger Riot is what one might begrudgingly call nuEmo. These aren't tunes that bring in mind Sunny Day Real Estate or Rites of Spring. To be clear though, this doesn't mean they aren't good. On the contrary, the guitar playing is great, clever and non-obtrusive. This is important, as the lyrics are the melody carrier here. The vocals provide the driving harmony to pull in the guitar lines and bass lines which buoy the song.

The percussion here is clever. Sticking to straight beats would have been easy to do with this songs...but the drummer branches out using fills to emphasize where necessary and understate when it's the right thing to do.

All in all, these 7 songs are nice jaunt through a pop-minded, hard-but-not-too-hard sound. Put all together the band gels in a well produced group of tunes that are fun without being too negative in attitude.

Where to find them:

• Today you can get the album here...but how long that will be available after today is anyone's guess


• I assume once paperwork is done they'll be on iTunes, Amazon and even that place no one ever goes, the local record shop

RIYL: Fall Out Boy, The Brand New, Kings of Leon

Music Review - Sledding with Tigers

Another album found via our friends at reddit, No Randy No! from Sledding with Tigers is a quick jaunt through some punk inspired folkish tunes. When I first opened to file on this to listen, I was shocked by the song lengths...none of which reach the 2 minute mark.

So, unsure what to expect I gave it a listen and I'm glad I did. This crazy cross-mesh of Connor Oberst and Green Day and the Descendents wasn't what I expected. The songs are well executed and fun and easy to sing along to. The guitar playing is quite good and comes through clearly.

The interesting thing with Sledding with Tigers is their need to have a sing-along section on just about every song. While the main vocalist rises above the rest with his slightly off-key (not in a bad way) falsetto-ish voice, the group singing makes each song more enjoyable. The main point is, it could come of as cliche...but it doesn't, which makes you want to jump in and sing along. It helps that the lyrics are pretty simple and easy to remember, especially on tracks like "Not Trying to be Awkward" and "Sunshine".

A pleasant surprise that I think everyone can pick up and enjoy...for the 7 or so minutes it takes to get through the album.

Where to find it:

• I found the album on reddit linked to a blog with a nice video link


• The direct download can be found here


• There is also a static video for the first track 'the 405 (is for lovers?)' on the YouTubes

RIYL: Bright Eyes, The Brand New, The Descendents.

Music Review - River Jack Lee

I discovered the latest effort (debut effort?) of River Jack Lee, The Best and Most of Everything, on reddit, where I've had the opportunity to find other self-made/self-promoted music in the past. As always with randomly found tunes, I wasn't sure what to expect when putting my headphones on.

According to the post River Jack provided, this effort was 5 years in the making. As he points out, life often has a way of interfering with the recording process. That being the case, this album is definitely polished and well produced.

Lyrically, it's quite good with a nice story-teller feel to it, though mostly via metaphor. Musically, the guitar lines are nice with bass lines flowing more or less in line without becoming obtrusive, definitely good in this indie-southern feel genre the album seems to be reaching for. On the negative side...a drum machine. There are fewer things I object to more than using a crappy drum machine to play simple beats on any music that isn't techno. Surely, there was someone around who could have laid down this straightforward drum tracks.

When all is said and done, it seems this album is lacking in passion. While the themes are often meant to be subtle, especially on songs like "The Machine" and "Battle Hymn", there seems to be a lack of passion in the vocals. It's a relaxing listen, but easily forgettable once that spin through is over. With any hope, River Jack Lee will continue to work on moving that passion felt in the melody through his voice...and we won't need to wait another 5 years to see if he can do it.

Where to find this album:

• I found it on reddit here


• That link led to River Jack Lee's site on Bandcamp


• Should it become available elsewhere, I'll update that here

RIYL: Ten Cent Howl, Wilco, softer hits by country tinged artists