Music Review - This One's For Cody

This One's For Cody is a techno duo spinning house parties and making remixes in the OC. After hearing about them on the Twitter it was time to give them a listen and see what they were about.

Sometimes it's difficult to gauge a DJ (or in this case a pair of DJ's) without actually seeing them live. If there live show is nearly as good as their tracks, anyone would have fun at a party where these guys were cutting it up.

The original track Drugs gives these guys some credence. The danciness of this tracks flows well with the vocal samples they use and the bounce is pretty sweet. Follow that with remixes of well-known dance/hip-hop tunes, such as Ol' Dirty Bastard's Got Your Money and you can fell the palpable fun. Although, I must admit...I laughed nearly the entire way through the remix of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's Fresh Prince of Bel Air. It was that funny.

Where to find them

• SoundCloud


• At Party's in Orange County, CA


• On Twitter

RIYL: Paul Oakenfold, Mr. BT, Daft Punk

Music Review - Ian Marquis

Ian Marquis is a solo artist I came across (uh-oh, here it is again) on reddit. It seems he's decided to go in a direction that would almost be toying with the listener. If you aren't sure what that means, listen to the first minute or so of the first track from his new album The Shivers, "Diamond Dust", and you'll understand what I mean.

Playing all the instruments himself, producing, and mixing shows that Mr. Marquis has a great deal of talent. I'm not sure if there is a genre to fit this, but I guess I'll try with retro-80's style/synth-pop/punchy/emo/gothic/new wave tunes. I don't think iTunes has a genre title like that, but then, their idea of genre is pretty limited.

Many of the lyrics are delivered in a languid, apathetic voice which still carry the emotion of the song, seeming to range from relationships to becoming an adult and wondering what exactly that means anymore. The guitar tracks are smooth, not reaching for superstar solo quality but coming in as accentuation more than bravado, (again, you'll "get" this when you hear the closing solo to "Going Down").

Ian Marquis' synth work made me want to tease up my non-existent hair, call a party-line and head down to the local new wave club. It's brilliantly pulsating and drives each song in a direction that would be lacking without synth there. Given the style, I am even willing to overlook the drum machine abuse going on. As I've said before, as a drummer I know there are places where drums could be user and aren't. With the exception of "Redline" (which would benefit from live drums), the drum machine use is tastefully done.

All in all, a great listen, kind of nostalgic, but original enough to let it stand on its own laurels.

Where to find it:

• Streaming and for download here at bandcamp


• Hopefully it will show on iTunes soon, I'll update this when it happens

RIYL: early NIN, late Ned's Atomic Dustbin, any era Depeche Mode

Music Review - Anberlin

The fifth studio album for Anberlin shows they can keep up a relentless pace and still produce songs that aren't stagnant or formulaic. This becomes apparent immediately on the first track of Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place, and carries on through the pace of each tune on the album.

The songs for this album find Anberlin reflecting on relationships and the things that go with them. While the lyrics are a bit more ethereal than concrete, the words are easy to apply to a relationship for anyone who has moved past the High School style of being with someone else.

This offering starts with an uplifting lilt in the form of "We Owe the to Ourselves", getting you ready to hear more and in the mood to move along with the story of each song. The great back and forth between the rhythm section and the guitars and keyboard build something few artists can manage. For example, on "The Art of War", the drums are driving a hard beat people would expect to be coupled with raging voice and crushing guitars. Instead, the beat keeps that pulse, while the vocals and guitar nuance the rhythm, instead of covering it up.

Where to find them:

• iTunes


• Amazon


• Links on their website


• Anywhere music is sold these days

RIYL: Jimmy Eat World, The Killers, AFI