 |
THE DIG – “Good Luck and Games” EP (www.thedigmusic.com)
 Strong musicianship is the key to The Dig's (very cool name) “Good Luck And Games” EP. The weak point is the vocals. Like their press kit says, it’s “sweet melodious pop," which is usually a good thing, but there's an overabundance on their EP. David Baldwin (vocals/ guitar) does a good job on these six songs, but you're waiting for something to happen, like you know there's a lot of potential here, but it's not coming completely through. But by the fifth song, "Any Day Now," they finally ignite, and the bands gels into a unified, straight from the heart rock and roll band. The final song, "The Last Thing," starts out like Nine Inch Nails on a bad day, but catches fire toward the end, leaving you wanting more. I'm thinking that The Dig are a really good band live, and maybe the full CD when it comes out will reveal more about the the bands potential. - Phil Rainone
TURN FOUR (myspace.com/turn4rocks)
 I don't know if it's the production, the songs, or both but, Turn Four suffers from trying to be too much of a commercial rock band. But it does seems like there's so much more underneath that would absolutely turn them into a monster of of rock 'n' roll band. I'll give them a lot of credit for the originality of the songs and the musicianship, but there's something lacking in their approach. I think a live show would prove them to be a better band and a jam or two on songs like "Bikini Bottom Blues" or "The Fixx" would put them in a unique position as a blues band that rocks out on maximum R&B! Hopefully, an album or two from now they'll be the band that you'll be telling your friends about. - Phil Rainone
VARIANT CAUSE - Excavating Volume 2 (www.variantcause.com)
This is a reissue of old material from this band that was apparently a major force in the Pacific Northwest rock scene of the 1980’s, before bands like Nirvana and Mudhoney put Seattle on the indie-rock map. Ok, I'm going to make this quick and relatively painless. Variant Cause (first of all it's a crappy name for a band, so there's your first clue as to how this review is going to turn out) at their best sound like they could write songs for Bon Jovi. (Oh yeah, did I mention that Bon Jovi absolutely SUCKS!) From there, it just gets worse. A little Black Sabbath riff, or Moody Blues 70's progressive rock here or there is ok, but the songs go nowhere in particular. The only redeeming quality (did I mention that Bon Jovi SUCKS? is a dash of sci-fi surf rock on "I'm Leaving My Body," but otherwise there's not much here. - Phil Rainone
back to jerseybeat.com l back to top
|
