Caterpillar Tracks – Self/Titled (CD)

Caterpillar Tracks may categorize their sound as being descended from Fugazi, but with their first track, “Just Here To Visit”, the band shows their allegiance to Monster Magnet, Offspring, and Henry Rollins. The straight-forward rock assault of Caterpillar Tracks on this song is one of the best lead ins to a disc, benefiting even more from the surf-breakdowns nestled away in opportune moments during the track. The vocals that dominate during “Boot Strap Inflation” seem more Eddie Vedder than Ia

Catalyst / Calm.Murder – Two Sides of the Suicide King (CD)
Catalyst starts this split out with “Kiss You Goodbye”, a typical over-blown, theatrics-laden hardcore track rife with screaming. What saves “Kiss You Goodbye” is the ever-present and impressive drumming laid down by Kevin. Fairly normal guitar riffs wreck any pretense of innovation and spontaneity on Catalyst’s side of the split, as “Your Death”’s average fare is just a poorly-mixed example of how to scream in monotone. Guitar lines are heavily influenced by “Reign in Blood”-era Slayer while “Y

iVoryTowerz Highlights
Broadway: Less Spectacle is Actually More — Could it be that Broadway audiences are growing tired of the Disneyfication of the Great White Way? Not only the revival of Hair , but also two other smaller stage productions (one of them the acclaimed Passing Strange ) show that audiences don’t need loud spectacle, just passionate performances. Guest blogger Jordan Coughenour weighs in on how the U.S. theater can get back to its roots and still provide strong musical entertainment. Take a lo

Concert Review: The Dred Scott Trio with Strings at Smalls Jazz Club, NYC 6/10/09
Jazz with strings – what a great trend this could be! Guitarist Gene Bertoncini turned in a lushly beautiful set with a string quartet at the Jazz Standard back in March and this was even better. The Dred Scott Trio’s weekly Tuesday midnight residency at Rockwood Music Hall is now over four years old, at the point where legendary status starts to creep in, and this show in the more spacious, comfortable downstairs confines of Smalls reaffirmed that eventuality. Scott’s a fast, sometimes pyro

Cats & Jammers – Whole Lotta Goddamn (CD)
There are so many nods to the earlier nineties version of pop punk music in Cats and Jammers’ first track on “Whole Lotta Goddamn” that one almost feels as if they are listening to “Dookie” all over again. The only thing that really distinguishes Cats and Jammers from the rest of the acts out there is more of an appreciation for the sixties rock that would eventually filter down to pop punk via The Ramones. Further tracks, such as “Will I Die Young?” seem to have a veneer to them that looks much

MAXWELL’S BAD HABITS!
Maxwell has chosen “Bad Habits” to be his second single as a follow up to his preliminary hit “Pretty Wings”. The single was released on iTunes and it comes before his much anticipated album “BLACKsummers’night” due the beginning of July. ( LISTEN BELOW ) Singing “You’re my bad habit baby..can’t escape the way you’ve got me locked down baby,” Maxwell asks his lady friend for forgiveness on the soulful cut. Oh I heart him! Maxwell’s “BLACKsummers’night” is due in stores July 7 via Columbia

Music Review: LVATT
“Music Review: Lines, Vines and Trying Times (2009)” By Leah Greenblatt The Mouseketeers’ prerogative, it seems, is to rage against the Disney machine that made them. In lieu of racy Vanity Fair photo shoots or leaked full-frontal iPhone pics, however, brothers Nick, 16, Joe, 19, and Kevin, 21, have given us their rebel yell in album form. Lines, Vines and Trying Times is the sound of a not-quite-quarter-life crisis, JoBros-style: heartthrob angst wrapped in glossy hooks, soaring pop-ro

Mastodon, Crack The Skye
The fourth album, Crack The Skye, from heavy metal rockers Mastodon takes you on an epic journey through space and time. The subject matter of their lyrics has always involved a mix of science fiction and myth. The layered and textured guitar chords create a fittingly grandiose soundscape to add emphasis and drama to their storylines. Here they continue along that same vein, building the story that is told through a series of seven songs. For some it may come off a bit hokey but many others wi