Music Review - Float the Witch

The mid-90's was really an epic time for the female fronted alt-rock band. Blake Babies, Belly, Juliana Hatfield, Liz Phair...the list goes on. Float the Witch seem to very much want to carry on in this vein and their self-titled EP really sets the tone.

The immediate grab starts on the first track, "Meridian" with a lilting, almost celtic voice that wouldn't be too far from many of the vocal performances heard on the radio program Thistle and Shamrock. That all changes as you realize this band can actually rock out. It's not all simple acoustic ditties. The energy (and guitars and bass and full kit drums) are whipped out right in the next track, "The Abyss Gazes Back". This is a straightforward rocker, compared to "Le Miroir" a french inspired (and vocalized) surf rock song.

If there is one drawback to Float the Witch it is the seeming lack of direction. The music is eclectic, which is not bad, but can seem scatter-brained, even within the structure of a single song. The production value is decent for a first recording and the sincerity is apparent in every song.

This being a valiant effort, hopefully we will see a full length soon from Float the Witch.

Where to find them:

• Bandcamp
• Their Website

RIYL: Juliana Hatfield, Decemberists, Swans

Music Review - Coheed and Cambria

It's tough to go back to something that was once so great. Remembering the first listen through of The Second Stage Turbine Blade or In Keeping Secrets of the Silent Earth 3 and the jolt of originality and fresh ideas, this is what was hoped for in Coheed and Cambria's latest release The Afterman: Ascension.

For those of us keeping score on the storyline, Afterman is the first part of a two-part album (the second half is promised in February 2013) and is the prequel to the story of the characters Coheed and Cambria and their children. I know Year of the Black Rainbow was also a prequel, but the story has a definite end...so apparently now we must find the true beginning.

It's seems as time has passed, Coheed has become overly polished. The story is definitely more concise, and the playing is on point, although it seems we've moved further from roaring guitars with keyboard accents to more of a keyboard focus. It would be a good sacrifice to lose some continuity in order to get some edge back. After going through the tunes of Afterman it seems these albums have become formula. Starting with a somewhat instrumental tune ("Hollow", parallel to "Keeping the Blade" on Good Apollo or "One" on Black Rainbow), followed by the big anthemic song ("Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute", parallel to "Welcome Home" on Good Apollo or "The Broken" on Black Rainbow), and the obligatory slow jam ("Subtraction", parallel to "Wake Up" on Good Apollo or "Pearl of the Stars" on Black Rainbow)...we begin to see that there is a pattern. This may be the intent of the story teller, but if so, we are losing out on better music in order to ensure a pocket pattern is formed.

Unfortunately, this is not the triumphant return of Coheed we may have hoped for...but hope still shines...perhaps they can break the chain in February with the second part, The Afterman: Descension.

Where to find them:

• Their Website
• iTunes

RIYL: The Protomen, The Used, Rush

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Music Review - The Dirty River Boys

A lot of folks bandy about the words "Americana" or "New Country" these days. Few groups are able to capture that pure Appalachian zeal. The Dirty River Boys have no problem finding that down home, cottage porch sound though. No problem at all.

From the opening track of their latest effort, Science of Flight, The Dirty River Boys take us to a simpler time in music, a time when it wasn't about raucous distortion, but it was about the story itself. There are complexities and inter-workings in the instrumentation that make it seem like they've just picked up together at the local music stand to play a few standards, but the songs themselves are anything but standard.

The mastery of the instrumentation here is what's important. The scratchiness of long lost Grand Ole Opry recordings is missing, but that's about it. Too polished? Not necessarily, the jangle and back beat make you forget this isn't some digitally remastered coal mining hill band. Guitars move us along, fiddles are well played, and the vocals make you feel like you know these folks, you'd be willing to sit back and have a beer with them after a long working week. Let's hope they put more out for our listening pleasure soon!

Where to find them:

• Their website
• iTunes
• YouTube

RIYL: Mumford & Sons, Ten Cent Howl, Johnny Cash