Overflow by Windy Lyre

January 20, 2009
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windy-lyre

WINDY LYRE OVERFLOW 2008 Independent CD-R Purchase: MySpace Review by: Steve Ruff This is Windy Lyre’s second album. Her first was on Blonde Vinyl back in 1991, and this is a beautiful follow up. Windy’s vocals are ethereal and remind me of the Cocteau Twins, maybe even Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs. She has an incredible voice and the music covers acoustic to pop, with nice overlays and arrangements. Michael Knott and Rick McDonough play all the instruments on here, as well as producing and mixing the album. Instruments include guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and the lap steel. This is definitely a ‘Christian’ release with lyrics that are introspective, as well as thankful and sincere, but always Christ centered and focused. This second release was a long time in the making, but definitely worth the wait. Hopefully she will continue to make records, but for now this is a...

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Death of the Avante-Garde by Jerry Oliver

January 20, 2009
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jerry-oliver

JERRY OLIVER DEATH OF THE AVANTE-GARDE 2008 Odd Records Purchase: www.jerryoliver.com Review by: Matt Crosslin Jerry Oliver was the leader of band called Peculiar Red that made a splash in the Midwest in the mid-90’s.  Jerry has been busy releasing solo CDs since then.  Death of the Avant-Garde has been garnering so positive reviews since its release in 2008, and those reviews are well deserved.  There are several styles here, from the dark rock of Hot Coals to several Terry Taylor-ish numbers to even a polka tune!  But only one Polka tune, so Polka haters relax. The sitars used “Hot Coals” sold me from the first listen.  Readers of this magazine might not remember a band called Bang Tango, a hard rock band that had some minor hits in the early 90s but got unfairly lumped in with the hair metal bands.  To me, Jerry’s voice sounds like a...

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Red Road by Glenn Rowlands

January 20, 2009
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red-road

GLENN ROWLANDS RED ROAD 2008 Independent glennrowlands.bandcage.com Review by: Matt Crosslin The common reaction that I get when I mention this new Glenn Rowlands disc to people is: “that name sounds familiar – but I can’t remember where.”  Glenn was an underground name back in the late 80s and early 90s.  He was in the thrash/hardcore/rapcore band Wickeds End.  He started an independent label called Floppy Fish, put out some solo CDs, had some songs on some compilations, and then disappeared.  Somewhere in there you might have heard his name. Glenn had a bit of hard luck, which you can read about on his MySpace page or one of the sites linked from there.  What have the years done to him musically?  “Are You The Light” rips open Red Road and answers that question with an exclamation mark.  Glenn can still rock and seems to have gotten some better...

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XV by King’s X

January 20, 2009
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kingsx-xv

KING’S X XV 2008 InsideOut Music Purchase: kingsxrocks.com Review by: Matt Crosslin You probably already know whether you are going to get this album or not.  You have either stuck with King’s X through all of the Black Maniac Bulbous weirdness and will still get this, or bailed when they got weird and have no idea what you are now missing.  For those of you that bailed, listen up: King’s X came back big time with Ogre Tones, and continue to prove they are back with XV. I don’t like that they did, but I also understand why King’s X experimented.  They started experimenting with their signature sound with my favorite KX album, Dogman.  But many complained and so they went back.  The resulting album, Ear Candy, sounded a little stale.  And they lost their contract to boot.  Tape Head was an improvement, but I think they just wanted...

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Ancestral Echo/Wunderzeit! by Writ on Water

January 20, 2009
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wow

WRIT ON WATER ANCESTRAL ECHO/WUNDERZEIT! 2008 Cyrus Shade Recordings Purchase: writonwater.com Review by: Matt Crosslin This single disc is a collection of two EPs combined on to one disc.  Both EPs contain some songs that were considered for A Wingless King, but didn’t quite fit.  For lack of a better description, songs were grouped in to an “electric” EP and an “acoustic” EP – even though those are just general ideas and not strict rules. Left over EPs are strange beasts.  Usually, when a band says that songs were “considered for our album, but didn’t quite fit,” what they really mean is “these songs aren’t that good, but we spent money on them, so now we want our fans to help us recover those funds.”  Not so with these songs. Ancestral Echo starts off the disc with a nice groove that lets you know right away why these songs...

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Audible Sign by The Vigilantes of Love

January 20, 2009
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vol

VIGILANTES OF LOVE AUDIBLE SIGH 1999 True Tunes Purchase: billmallonee.net Review by: Steve Ruff I will forever profess my admiration for Bill Mallonee’s music. His music is a gift, and simply amazing for several reasons. Nobody else in the music industry turns out this much material that is this good. Mallonee has well over 1000 songs to his credit, and I can honestly attest to the fact that I have never heard Bill stick any kind of filler on his records. I say that sincerely. He has lived his life in a van with a relentless touring schedule of 180+ dates a year for 20 something years. His songs are snapshots full of history, struggle, and heart-on-your-sleeve honesty with influences ranging from the writings of Flannery O’ Connery, Jack Kerouac and Frederick Buechner. The musical influences are diverse as well, Joy Division, The Clash and Neil Young are but...

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DTL Live Report: Bill Mallonee 8-13-2008

October 4, 2008
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live-report-bill-mallonee1

BILL MALLONEE AND MURIAH ROSE EDDIE’S ATTIC   DECATUR, GA 8-13-2008 This was the third time this year that I have seen Bill and Muriah play, and they never disappoint. I am a huge fan of Bill’s music, and I actually believe that his music has improved since he disbanded the Vigilantes of Love. Not that the music has just improved, but the output has tripled and definitely grown lyrically and well as musically. Bill is one of those guys that could play for fifteen minutes to two people, and he would play as though it was a two hour set to a packed house. His heart is in the music and his music is on his sleeve. His wife, Muriah Rose, accompanies Bill with piano and vocals and it wouldn’t surprise me if Muriah came out with her own album at some point, she backs Bill up beautifully. My...

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DTL Live Report: The 77s 6-20-2008

October 4, 2008
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dtl-live-generic

THE SEVENTY SEVENS 3 BEARS CAFÉ  MARIETTA, GA 6-20-2008 I was super excited to see this show. If you have ever seen the 77′s live you know that they put on a great performance. This was the first stop on their brand new Holy Ghost Building Tour, and it was also the release date of the new record. To top it all off I was recording the show as well, which is a cool thing that the 77′s and their management allow fans to do, it certainly keeps the trading circles buzzing. This was the first time that I have seen Roe & Co. live since 1999. It has been almost 10 years. The Seventy Sevens came out swinging, and it was the classic line up of Michael Roe, Mark Harmon, David Leonhardt and Bruce Spencer. The played several new tunes from the brand new album including “I’m Working...

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Beyond Hell’s Gate by Final Axe

October 4, 2008
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beyond-hells-gate

FINAL AXE BEYOND HELL’S GATE 2005 Retroactive Records Purchase: Try eBay Review by: Matt Crosslin Classic metal album that has already seen a few re-issues.  So why review it here?  Isn’t the last re-issue already kind of old?  Well, yes – and hard to find.  Word is that Retroactive Records is going to re-issue it again, with an added twist: the programmed drums will be replaced by live pounding by Robert Sweet himself.  If you don’t know who that is, you probably wouldn’t be interested in this album in the first place.  But if you like good, classic, bone crunching metal – this is the release to get.  Even if the re-issue doesn’t pan out, find a copy on Ebay or someplace – it is worth it. Bill Menchen is a total shredder.  You will bang your head to this.  Originally recorded as basically a demo in 1989, it...

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City of God by Chris Freeman

October 4, 2008
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city-of-god

CHRIS FREEMAN CITY OF GOD 2007 Independent Purchase: clfmusic.com Review by: Matt Crosslin Yes, Chris was the guitarist for G.S. Megaphone.  That might be cool with you, but there are some that grew really tired of the whole nu-metal/Creed clone/pseudo-grunge sound that GSM and a hundred other bands cranked out in late 90s.  The interesting thing about GSM was their second album – where did that noticeable Eastern influence come from?  That was different. That cool influence came from Chris Freeman learning how to play the sitar and becoming interested in world music.  When GSM was over, Chris decided to take what he knew best (guitar), and mix it with something new (sitar).  The result was some of the crunchiest world fusion music albums this side of Rudra. The one thing I really liked about Nu-metal (or probably the only thing) was the heavy guitars.  I love heavy guitars. ...

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Amrit Vani by Aradhna

October 4, 2008
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amrit-vani

ARADHNA AMRIT VANI 2007 Independent Purchase: aradhnamusic.com Review by: Matt Crosslin “Who or what is Aradhna?” you might be asking yourself.  Aradhna is a Hindi word that means worship.  The band that uses that word for their name is a group that writes Christian worship songs in a mixture of Western and Eastern styles.  The catch is – the core of Aradhna is two non-Indian guys (Chris Hale and Pete Hicks).  Don’t fear – this is not a lame attempt at ‘world music’ where some white guy lays some really western sounding beats on an ethnic drum and then brags about how cultural they are.  These guys grew up on the Indian subcontinent and have an immense respect for their adopted culture.  And adopt that culture they have – this album oozes cultural authenticity to its core.  The statement on the front of their website says it all: “the...

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Holy Ghost Building by The 77s

October 4, 2008
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THE 77s HOLY GHOST BUILDING 2008 Lo-Fidelity Records Purchase: 77s.com Review by: Steve Ruff The 77’s are a cornerstone in the music that has defined my generation. They have a catalogue that is as varied as it is long.  My introduction to them was way back in 1990 with the alternative offering “Sticks and Stones. This newest album “Holy Ghost Building” is the 14th album to be released since “Sticks and Stones”, and is to date, probably my favorite album. This album is return to fine form with the guys in the band bringing not only an amazing collection of new cover songs, but a new sound as well. While rock and blues have been a staple of their sound for some time, this album brings in a couple of other distinct flavors such as folk, slide guitar and according to their website some “Byrds-era jangle electric 12 string”....

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Ninety-Nine by The 77s

October 4, 2008
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ninety-nine

THE 77s NINETY-NINE 2007 Lo-Fidelity Records Purchase: 77s.com Review by: Steve Ruff This is the latest ‘live’ release by the 77’s. Recorded at Brian Quincy-Newcomb’s Christ Church back in 1999, this album was an answer to their highly acclaimed ‘live’ album “88” from ten years prior. This is a great compliment to the 77’s catalog. This band has always been great to see live, they have the skills that compliment the personas and always please the crowd. This record is the enduring line up of Mike Roe, Bruce Spencer, Mark Harmon and they added Scott Reams for some additional help on guitar, keyboards and percussion. “99” has eight tracks coming in somewhere around 45 minutes, which is short for a 77’s show, but I guess they pulled the best tracks from this concert and put them to disc. Drawing different songs from their catalog, tracks here include favorites from...

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