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Enduro/Z1 FR SL
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Comps and Discs of the Day/Week/Month/Eon
And the rest...
COMPILATIONS
I have most of the CMJ (College Music Journal- a monthly music compilation w/ approx 17-22 songs of various artists per disc.) from Nov. '93 to the present. See them here.
More Compilations? Too many to list. Let me know the type of music you like, and I probably have a comp. or 3 that you'll like.
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What's Hot? Billionaire's 'Ascension.'
There's a thin line between catchy hard rock and pop metal, and one slip can mean the difference between hummable air guitar playing and hiding your head in shame. Thankfully, Billionaire walks that line well, and on this, its debut, the band sounds like Motley Crue circa "Dr. Feelgood" more often than it does Motley Crue circa "Without You."
The tunes "Till You're High" and "The Jimmy Hale Mission" open the album with a guitar-heavy one-two punch, and while things taper off sharply after that, becoming more (but not too) pop, the band does continue to strike a Van Halen circa David Lee Roth balance between searing guitars and vocal harmonies. At times, in fact, Billionaire sounds like such college rock bands as Soul Asylum and the Replacements when those guys were living out their own hard rock fantasies.
Admittedly, the lack of good, straight-ahead rock bands these days (Buckcherry not withstanding) does make Billionaire sound a bit better than it would've in a time when such groups roamed free in the wild, but if the band can keep toeing that line, it'll do OK.
Paul Semel
Track listing:
1. Till You're High
2. The Jimmie Hale Mission
3. Someday I'll Leave It Al
4. Joymaker
5. I Fell From Space
6. Sunny Sunday Afternoon
7. Rollercoaster
8. Touching Down
9. Never Going Back
10. Someone
11. Never Get Enough
12. Universe
13. The Jesus Train
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What else is hot, you ask? Goldfinger
Along with No Doubt, Sublime, and Rancid, the Los Angeles quartet Goldfinger helped contribute to a mini-U.S. ska-punk movement in the mid- to late '90s. Originally formed in 1994 by ex-Electric Love Hogs guitarist/singer John Feldmann and bassist/singer Simon Williams (who were both working at the same shoe store at the time), in addition to drummer Darrin Pfeiffer and an unnamed second guitarist (who would leave the group before any recordings could be issued and later become a pro surfer in Costa Rica). A friend of Feldmann's, Charlie Paulson, signed on shortly thereafter, playing his first show with the group just a day after being given a tape of their songs to learn. A six-track demo EP, Richter, was issued in 1995 and received favorable reviews and a substantial amount of airplay on college radio, leading to Goldfinger signing a major-label contract with Universal. Their self-titled full-length debut hit the record racks a year later, spawning the popular single/video "Here in Your Bedroom" (a track which originally appeared on their EP) and toured alongside the Sex Pistols, No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, and the multi-band festival the Vans Warped Tour.
1997 saw the release of their second full-length, Hang Up's, which failed to live up to the expectations set by their debut, although the group kept their profile in the public's eye by donating a cover of the Spiral Starecase song "More Today Than Yesterday" to the soundtrack of the hit Adam Sandler movie The Waterboy. Williams left the band in 1998, replaced by a former bandmate of Feldmann's from the Electric Love Hogs, Kelly Lemieux, and Goldfinger debuted their new lineup with the eight-track all covers live EP, Darrin's Coconut Ass: Live, a year later. The quartet's third studio release, Stomping Ground, was issued in 2000 as the group thoroughly toured both Europe and the U.S. (during their tour of England, Goldfinger recorded one of their sets, issuing the live Foot in Mouth, available only at shows and through the band's official website). Come 2001, it was Paulson's turn to jump ship, replaced by Brian Arthur (formerly of the Texas alt-metal outfit Unloco), as Goldfinger's first studio album for their new label, Jive/Zoomba, was issued in 2002 with Open Your Eyes. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
Track listing:
1. Going Home
2. Spokesman
3. Open Your Eyes
4. Decision
5. Dad
6. Tell Me
7. Liar
8. January
9. Happy
10. Woodchuck
11. It's Your Life
12. Spank Bank
13. Youth
14. Radio
15. Fuck Ted Nugent
16. [Untitled Track]
17. [Untitled Track]
Gary's note: This disc is recorded exceptionally well. Thanks, Jilm, for turning me on to it!
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New! 30 Seconds To Mars/OTEP
Apparently, these guys (30 Seconds) are on tour with Incubus. Sounds like Filter, with other shit thrown in.
OTEP is heavy, a la Slipknot, Sevendust, et al.
More later, after the beer's gone.
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