Attack in Black - Years (by One Thousand Fingertips)

Album: Years (by One Thousand Fingertips)
Released: March 10, 2009
Label: Dine Alone Records
Stars: 4.5
Skippable Tracks: 0


Years is Attack in Black's third studio album, and they have gotten a whole lot folkier from what I remember. All I had heard from them were a couple of pop-punk songs that really didn't do much for me. I decided to check out the album because of rumors of Years being quite a nice listen from start to finish. The album DID flow very nicely from start to finish, leaving you little time for you to doze off.
I have since checked out their previous album The Curve of the Earth which has quite a few great songs as well. Obviously, you can check it out if you decide you like this one. Another fact would be that both the guitarist (Spencer Burton) and singer (Daniel Romano) have contributed to the City and Color (Dallas Green) recordings.

The album opens with a folky song, and is followed by a song that mixes acoustic and electric guitars. This is accompanied by the distorted voice of D. Romano and has a bit of an older sound to it. Third song is pretty standard, but has quite a catchy chorus...so I gave it a passing grade. The same can be said for the following couple of songs. The next notable songs are Leather Jacket, which is sadly only two and a half minutes long, as well as Seeds which adds a little of guitar distortion to the mix right when you would have dozed. There are about ten more tracks after that, but I really don't wanna describe every single tune, but give you a brief idea.

This is a very nicely put together album, and has some pretty decent tracks available. My only complaint would be that my favorites happen to only be two and a half minutes or shorter. Overall, its a great listen from start to finish. I'd recommend a start-to-finish kind of listen for this album. Stand alone tracks don't seem to have the same charm.

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Rocky Votolato - Makers (2006)

Artist: Rocky Votolato
Album: Makers
Released: January 24, 2006
Label: Barsuk/Second Nature
Stars: 3.0
Skippable Tracks: 0

Just when you thought there wasn't going to be anymore posts, you get one more.
I know I am a whole lot late reviewing this CD. Truth is that when I purchased this CD I only downloaded selected tracks since I ran out of credits on my e-music account. This month I remembered that I had some tracks missing and decided to complete the album.

Makers is about the 7th album/lp released by the Seattle born singer Rocky Votolato. Votolato is one of the founders of the band Waxwing, which gained a bit of success during the late 90s and early 2000s. Votolato's solo stuff is very singer/songwriter and extremely mellow compared to Waxwing.

Rocky Votolato gets to show off his amazing guitar picking skills in songs as Uppers Aren't Necessary, and compliments it with his soft soothing voice. Although a lot of the lyrics are what you might call slightly depressing, you do know what to expect from the tone of his voice and acoustic melodies. Lyrics like "Heaven or heavenless, we're all headed for the same sweet darkness" and "Death keeps calling me, she's gonna set me free" are pretty good examples.
Other tunes have a heavy country influence, and are slightly more upbeat. A good example would be the songs Tennessee Tracks, and Tinfoil Hats. If you are in the mood for something relaxing, Elliot Smith kinda mood (Not that he's at the same level), Rocky Votolato is a great choice.

As an album, I don't think its going to be remembered as a masterpiece, but individual tracks are absolutely amazing to listen to in a mix. Try listenining to a couple of tracks first, and then decide. Personally I can never seem to get through the whole album, makes me wanna hit the bottle, and hey!, life ain't that bad.

Immaculate Machine

Album: High On Jackson Hill
Released: April 28, 2009
Label: Mint Records
Stars: 4.5
Skippable Tracks: 1

The funny thing about this skippable track is that it's song number ONE. Not really a good choice for a first track in my opinion, but maybe someone really wanted it on the album, and another person decided to put it on as the first track just to get it out of the way. I feel like the rest of the album is a LOT better than that this first track.

After that first little bump, you will not have to touch any buttons for the rest of the album; except maybe to crank it up. I especially enjoyed the folk track You Destroyer, a nice little break early in the album. I've must have listened to that song about ten times in a row. The beautiful voice, and raw recording made me fall absolutely in love with it right from the beginning. The only problem with that track was that it left me wanting more, and a whole lot more of that type of sound. Sadly, that sound never comes back. We do hear a couple more ballads later on in the record such as I know its not easy, And It Was, and Blurry Days which are quite great in their own wright.

The rest of the album rocks-out quite a bit more with Sound the Alarm, Primary Colors, all incredibly catchy rockin' tracks. This is one of my recent favorites to pop in to the disc layer! Check it out!




High on Jackson Hill