Search for vocal tone performed on Thursday, 8th January 2009.
vocal tone
We found the term vocal tone in 59 articles.
"We aren't like any other band that are currently on the scene..." ahh the old classic. Anyone who's anyone who's been in a band has either thought it or said it and of course like all of them If I Were King are also incorrect.
The Nervous Shakedown: Untitled
"Heavy Grooves & Fucked Up Blues" proudly proclaims the scrawled biog and ain't that the truth boy! Musically like taking a corner at full whack on a Speedway track, spitting mud over the crowd.
Martin Grech: March of the Lonely
'March Of The Lonely' is Martin Grech's third record, released on his own aptly titled label 'Martin Grech Songs' and recorded on Osea Island (a small island on the Thames just fifty miles from London).
Grandaddy: El Caminos in the West
Just when you thought The Thrills had cornered the summery pop market we get this latest offering from Grandaddy.
This latest release from Mud Hut new boys Mondo, left me wondering if there was more to this band than meets the eye.
Possible contender for the most innovative songs of the year, Imogen Heap's first single off her new album "Speak for Yourself" is possibly known among many hip, cool and trendy teens as the background music to the last episode of The OC.
Long long ago-go, Leo Sayer confirmed his worth with 'One Man Band' knowing he didn't refer to anything really extraordinary, so there'll be no fuss in this review about Ill Ease's music being the work of a single performer.
Joan As Police Woman: Flushed Chest
There are a few high-ranking names you could try if asked who Joan Wasser makes you think of, but the piano says Nina Simone, even though 'Flushed Chest' uses several other instruments in a finished product that can still leave you feeling as if you've witnessed voice and piano in secluded emotional contact.
The Belles are Christopher Tolle and Jake Cardwell from Kansas, a singer/guitarist and a drummer/percussionist.
This CD has a five star production on some uncertain material. There's a terrific sound to it, recorded as it is in a "purpose built studio" (what other sorts are there?).
Blue Sky Project: Masquerade EP
I have awaited more tracks from Blue Sky Project since listening to their last EP on MySpace (oh the beauty of the Web!) and thought they had potential, so naturally the next offering from them needed to exceed all expectations.
Oh, dear, they used to be rather good. I had to force myself to read the script that came with this album.
Various Artists: Paul Marshall / Tascam Tapes - split single
A couple of names lately added to the ranks of Leeds acoustic singer-songwriterdom. The whole thing - quite deliberately a disc of two halves - begins with Paul Marshall's songs following a bass-and-snare drumbeat that gives way to some pleasing guitar-picking in a slightly hasty style for 'Oh Napoleon'.
Those misguided by huge amounts of airplay and a marketing strategy based around the novelty of their hair and belt size, will tell you that the current kings of the sunny folk-indie scene are The Magic Numbers.
This sounds a bit like acoustic-folk versions of stadium rock songs. Fat choruses sit amongst some delicate arrangements of piano and guitar.
Having been brought up listening to all the 60's and 70's hippy-mod bands, it was a real treat to be sent this CD, all I can say is these guys have some talent between them, and a very decent producer.
This is the third album from Jeff Klein, a New Yorker relocated to Austin, Texas. It opens with the title track, with lullaby acoustic guitars and some truly beautiful, sparse, throbbing slide guitar.
For a band that describes themselves as 'Italian Pop / Dutch Pop / Chinese Pop' I was somewhat anxious of the audio content of Yonderboy's demo.
It was when the drums kicked in that Palo Alto immediately demonstrated how phenomenal they are. Glances were exchanged with comrades, sat around one of the low tables at Leeds' newest and hugely promising full-time music venue Mixing Tin.
Instant Species: The Longer You Leave It, The Louder It Gets...
Lured by some professional quality graphics I bought Instant Species' "Home Alone" CD last year. I ended up a bit disappointed by what I thought of at the time as bleak plodding music.
Decoy sit musically in a category that is most definitely not indie; probably more rock, with a tendency and concentration towards creating a guitar ambience.
With recent single "Further" catching the attention of ears across the nation Longview could be on their way to becoming the NME's latest darlings.
This Et Al: Everything's irrelevant and no idea's original
The big art rock sound of This Et Al has plenty of variety and invention about it. There's a range of influences from Radiohead through Mogwai to Interpol and a vigorously accomplished approach to playing their instruments.
On entering The Cockpit the support band (M.A.S.S I believe) are nearing the end of their set, after a brief listen we decide to stay in the bar and prepare to jostle for a position near the front of a packed crowd.
The Flaming Lips: At War With the Mystics
The Flaming Lips have achieved with their last 2 albums what evades 99.9% of all other 'successful' acts - whatever your criteria for classing that is.
Upon the first listen to this EP I would have sworn I was listening to a group of twee American rockers, however these lads are from Essex!
Captain Wilberforce: Everyone Loves A Villain
This release is quite a confusing listen. The explosive, fuzzy power-pop 'gems' of Captain Wilberforce's previous releases set the tone, with a thoroughly tolerable, bubbly aim to please.
Parisman: Responsible for Everything EP
Parisman's "Responsible for Everything" EP starts in a blaze of unabashed Geetar Rock-disco synthesiser fusion.
As the heat of another summer fades away and the clouds roll in, Vancouver Island's Jets Overhead provide the perfect soundtrack to your new friend, the bittersweet malaise.
Kanye West: 808s And Heartbreak
He dropped out of college in 2004, touched the sky in 2005 and by 2007 was living the good life, but in 2008 Kanye West is welcoming us to heartbreak with the greatest artistic gamble mainstream pop has seen in years.
The first wave of dance punk hit these shores in 2003. Flown in from New York in the wake of The Strokes, Interpol and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, it was depicted in typical NME fashion as the latest in a long line of movements to descend from the heavens and alter the course of music history.
Broadcast 2000: Building Blocks
I'll begin this review by thanking Broadcast 2000. This CD is like a breath of fresh air and perfect for chilling out and laying back.
Why is it that only guitarists can pull off wearing a cowboy hat? And why is it only drummers who wear vests?
Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences: We Are Not Other People
'Unexpected Error' makes no effort to ease the listener into the weird and wonderful world of Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences, as it opens with a blaring, Atari-esque sound effect that'll make you wonder whether this is, in fact, a comedy album.
If plugged-in acoustic is about Tone and Feel as well as Volume, the rate of exchange can be a bit mean over how much V you have to accept for a bit of T and F. But in spite of the acoustic being electro-fortified for a small audience in a quiet venue, the Faversham's Sunday Session was good place to be, on an evening alluringly heralded by a poster comparing two young Leeds entertainers to Joan Baez and Leon Russell.
Ali Whitton and the Broke Record Players are a band you can't help but like. Although I am told they've been gigging around Leeds forever, tonight is the first time I have come across them.
It's a curious trait about us humans, we find release and fulfillment in a variety of different ways.
The Good Die Young @ Cockpit (acoustic bar)
As is becoming the norm with most reviews nowadays, I saunter in just after the first act Nick McCormick was scheduled to play with my excuses at the ready.
Wildbirds & Peacedrums @ Brudenell Social Club
I like to think that one day Forest of Sound will make a mistake: they are clearly just too good at choosing the right acts to book for the right nights.
Two bands had pulled out of this bill by the beginning of the week. Stoopi, who apparently have classed themselves far above playing venues of the well's size, and Viscera both jumped ship, leaving two out of town bands with the job of entertaining a very very small crowd.
Town. Okay. Everyone knows where town is right? That's a good place to start. Now, make your way up to Park Row.
Ali Whitton and the Broke Record Players: A Failed Attempt At Something Worth Saying
What have we got here then? Thoughtful acoustic pop, I'd say, and done to a pretty fair standard - from Whitton's lyrics sung in his quite striking voice with its often pleading tone, through to arrangements well handled by the Broke Record Players.
This is an interesting beast. It's a mere five tracks in length, but sprawls out over an hour's playing time.
Drive-Thru Records have pretty much ruled the roost over the past few years in terms of launching and marketing successful pop-punk / post-emo acts: Finch, New Found Glory and Something Corporate to name but a few.
Jeff Klein: Everybody Loves A Winner
After around Europe with One Little Indian label mate Jesse Malin, this is Jeff Klein's first UK release.
Naïve sounding rockers "Columbia Drive" are Newcastle based, with an international tinge in singer Louise Dal's CV.
Entering the Leeds Irish Centre for the first time (after finding it with surprising ease) it was refreshing to find a large audience already gathered and paying attention to the support bands.
A warm steamy night for October makes the Brudenell's atmosphere slightly muggy and uncomfortable. However the eager crowd form orderly huddles cross legged on the floor and spend several minutes stripping of layers to survive the heat.
Rose Kemp @ Love Apple (Bradford)
Blank generation disco is the new monthly live music night at the Love Apple, Bradford, a venue that is well worth the train journey from Leeds, or wherever you may be coming from.
A charity gig for the Asian earthquake appeal saw local men-of-the-moment Kaiser Chiefs headlining on the eve of their short tour in America, and saying a fond farewell to the Joseph's Well crowd that has championed them over the last year and more.
Clint Boon Experience @ Cockpit
Tonights support came from the Fuzz Light Years - their name sounding like it might promise Super Furry Animalesque psychedelia.
A last-minute change of plan means that I'm reviewing this gig rather than your usual correspondent. And the fact that bus timetables are a rough guide rather than an actual indication of when your bus might arrive mean that by the time I'm inside a packed venue with de-misted spectacles and thawed ears (my, it was cold at that bus stop), Piskie Sits are well into their stride.
I wish I could start this review in the same way Polaris start this eponymous album of theirs. Because then you'd understand exactly what it was I was setting out to do.
Young Professionals: Pleasure Time
I am a very easily confused person. I hold the Guinness World Record in Stupidity for asking a friend of mine, in a tone of complete seriousness and slight concern, "Tom, what day of the week is Thursday the 25th of October, please?" Therefore, the level of bewilderment currently accruing and simmering away in the vaults of fluff at the back of my brain is slowly but perceptibly rising.
Colour of Fire, acclaimed local(ish) alt-rockers, opened up tonight in front of a reasonable crowd. Having just finished a considerable UK tour, they didn't seem at all tired, or perturbed to back in their regular gigging territory.
Received wisdom has it that Steer are something of an acquired taste. On the basis of this performance it is difficult to fathom what it is that needs to be acquired to appreciate their music other than a pair of fairly basic functioning ears.
Tonight may be billed as 'Forest of Sound Vs Gizeh Records', but the musically complementary and socially affable dynamic between the two rooms, and quite literal musical-chairs of collaboration going on in the Packhorse, negate any connotations of rivalry.
The memories are hazy, the order of events may not be quite right but I know two things; beer flows freely in The Fav and amazingly it didn't rain, or at least certainly not enough to water down my Sol or to kill any of the musicians on stage.
I give you fair warning. I am about to break the ancient, time-honoured and globally respected code of the International Covenant of Authors, Note-Takers, Writers, Reviewers, Interviewers, Talkers and Editors (or ICANTWRITE for short) covering the critique of musical releases and/or performances on precisely 2 counts. In fact one of these has already been broken. So apologies if this warning comes too late in the day and has already caused you unnecessary distress.