On Saturday, May 22, at The Music Box in Hollywood, CA, the Indie Music Fest will present seminars on the state of record deals, indie success stories, including how Guns N’ Roses blew up and more. Followed by a Salute to Legends all-star band playing classics, featuring members of Jane’s Addiction, Megadeth, Guns N’ Roses, Skid Row, White Zombie, Scorpions and more. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.wanttickets.com or call 818-505-1836
TerriLynn Rosa informs Music Connection Magazine that she is on the lookout for “straightahead rock/indie-rock” for projects she’s at work on at 5 Alarm Music/Rescue Records. Send CD to 5 Alarm Music/Rescue Records, 35 W. Dayton St., Pasadena, CA 91105. You can also visit www.5alarmmusic.com, www.rescuerecords.net and blog.5alarmmusic.com.
The smart folks at Killer Music Group have “dusted off the cob-webs and spit to a shine the newly remastered Four O’Clock Balloon first release of the same title”. I’ve not heard of Four O’Clock Balloon before, but was pleasantly surprised with this debut. The record originally surfaced back in 1997 and the band quickly gained a loyal underground fan base. I feel very lucky to have now become acquainted with this band through this reissue.
Four O’Clock Balloon features Santana band member Tommy Anthony, who seems to have repackaged all of the elements that made the classic pop of the 60s so great into a fresh new gift. Vocally he does a solid job, although he appears to struggle a bit when in his uppermost registry. No big deal, though, as he is in his comfort zone most of the time and is always supported by airy harmonies.
Let me tell you, I get a decent bit of music in the mail thanks to this gig right here and although every day brings a package with a little bit of melodic lovin’ inside, there are days where the bounty is just so fucking cool it makes me glad I decided to become a music writer. The day I received this fat package of music from the Alive label was one of those great days.
Alive is one of the few labels left which is dedicated to keeping rock and roll…ahem…alive in many ways, but most importantly in spirit. The label is a throwback to the days when substance meant more than anything else and sticking by your bands while they grew and matured was more important than milking them for one monster hit. I mean, while I am sure Alive would love to sell a ton of records and have a huge fat hit on their hands, they seem incredibly loyal to their bands and are nurturing their roster as each band builds their own reps and fan-bases which will eventually help the label as a whole. As it is, the label has one of the best young rosters out there and will soon be able to compete with any other label out there is the discs contained in this package is any clue. Since they sent me so many wonderful releases, I am splitting this article into two parts so I don’t hit you with too much good stuff at one time.
Auras - New Generation
Auras is a Brazilian rock band influenced by Journey, Survivor, Toto, and Chicago. They were formed by Gui Oliver (lead vocals) and Ferpa Lacerda (guitars) in 2007, and got to meet their idol Jimi Jamison (Survivor) during a gig they played in their hometown of Curitiba. Jamison remarked that Auras songs took him back to the eighties and the reminded him of the great bands of that period. Just a few songs into “New Generation”, you are undoubtedly going to agree.
Full of songs about love, dreams, faith and hope, Auras are an AOR band to the core. The vocals sound a lot like Steve Perry (Journey), or at least Steve Augeri (Tall Stories, Journey)! Things get off to a great start with a trio of terrific melodic rockers in “Beauty of Dreams”, “Forgive and Forget”, and “Never Give Up”, any of which would have fit comfortably on the Karate Kid Soundtrack. The record then offers a number of good songs, but they just don’t have that something special that made the first three such a treat. A couple exceptions are the excellent “Forever In Your Eyes” and “Keep On Lovin’ You” (not an REO Speedwagon cover). I also really liked the interesting “That’s The Way Love Goes”, which is a unique track on the record serving to break things up to give the listener something a little different. It maintains a good sense of melody but has a marimba flavor that will make you think someone is calling you on your iPHONE.
“New Generation” is a solid debut and I trust that Auras is going to get even better and with time.
iPOD-worthy: 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10
Auras on MySpace. Official site.
Cleveland, Ohio is home to many musicians and individuals who make their livings in the music business. It is also home to several music labels; labels that are hard at work providing support to bands and individuals who want to find success in the music industry. One of the music labels that call Cleveland, Ohio home is Love 
Muffin Records.
Love Muffin Records holds label showcases at several various venues around the Greater Cleveland area from time to time. These showcases help to give exposure to, not only the label itself, but also to the bands that call the label home. One of these showcases took place on March 26, 2010 at The Symposium, one of the smaller music venues in the Greater Cleveland area. And one of the label’s bands that took part in the showcase was Skychief.
Tony Arnold – Selective Hearing
Gray Mortuary
For those about to prog, we salute you! Well, not really, but it’s a cool idea isn’t it? Artist and master-of-qall-musical-trades Tony Arnold has decided to welcome and entice potential and veteran progressive rock fans with a comprehensive new sampler released on his own label Gray Mortuary. Originally starting the label as a vehicle to circumvent the tyranny of the major label system and enable him to release his myriad of music projects on his own terms and his own timetable, one of the first releases on Gray Mortuary was music from Arnold’s duo project Menage ‘A Twang.
Upon the dissolution of that project, the label has been used as a vehicle to release music from Arnold’s many other musical endeavors (he has released almost a dozen albums in the past few years alone) such as Macular Degenerates, The Pachinko Allahs, and Musaphonic. The name of the label originates from a song on Arnold’s first solo collection, Ophidian Lullabies, which became a sort of blueprint for his later projects of which this is Arnold’s most recent. Arnold’s Gray Mortuary work is distinguished from most of his other projects by the copious use of electronic soundscapes to anchor the compositions and Arnold’s projects are essentially solo efforts, as is this effort, which means every sound is played by Arnold. Quite awe inspiring, to be honest, as the textures and arrangements used are often quite inventive. While the album is definitely a sampler, there seems to be a thread running through Arnold’s work making each of these songs sound like they have come from the same project, which is also quite uncanny.
Attention music fans and pop culture connoisseurs everywhere!
Your assignment for today is to gather one dozen of the world’s most popular entertainers into a medium-sized concert facility, for one evening only. Age, style, size, corporate affiliation and musical pigeonhole is to be strictly of no concern whatsoever. Each act just has to have had a heck of a lot of their songs downloaded, perhaps maybe even sold, over the past calendar year or so.
Then, with a bare minimum of rehearsal or directorial guidelines of any sort – and an equally bare-boned budget to boot – a two-hour concert has to sequenced, scored, choreographed, and executed upon a single stage utilizing all these chosen singers, dancers and accompanists. AND, the entire proceedings have to be filmed live, music and vocals, without re-takes. Finally, the resulting miles of tape then have to be edited, printed, promoted, and distributed for public viewing to theaters.
Oh! And there’s one more catch: This all has to be completed within a mere fourteen days, from show-date to release-date.
VIDEO: Rock and Roll Report TV Featuring Madera Strand http://tmogul.com/tweet/qbP95
Crazy Lixx - New Religion
Formerly considered “The New Wave of Swedish Sleaze”, Crazy Lixx has now refined their sound to 80′s influenced hard rock. They remind me of the style and caliber of the second-tier hairbands like Faster Pussycat, Kix, or Danger Danger. In fact, Danny Rexon’s vocals often remind me of Ted Poley. One strong-suit is that the guys can definitely write a bombastic chorus, with rich harmonies that will draw comparisons to the majestic choruses of Def Leppard. As you might expect for such a band, lyrics are generally about rock music, warning fathers to lock up their daughters, and partying like you’re still 21. Their sophomore CD, “New Religion” comes out April 6.
As a whole, “New Religion” is a decent listen all the way through, but not quite enough to stand out in the crowd yet. However, their potential to do so is revealed in highlights such as the groovy tribute to their genre, “My Medicine”, their ‘live for the day’ anthem, “21 ‘Til I Die”, and the catchy “Blame It On Love”. Crazy Lixx drop the party atmosphere on occasion to show a more serious side, such as when they sing about the horrors of child abuse within the church in “Children of the Cross”. The requisite power ballad is “What Of Our Love”, which is pretty good, but not stellar.
iPOD-worthy: 2, 3, 4, 6, 9
Crazy Lixx on MySpace. Official site.
Facebook
Twitter