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About the Author

Hey y'all, I'm a 22 year old senior at Rutgers studying economics and journalism and media studies. I play drums in a local band, host a weekly electronica radio show, Tuesdays from 8-10 (90.3 The Core in central Jersey or steam live from around the world @ www.thecore.fm), and write reviews here at ESBMusic.

Hit me up at acarni [at] eden [dot] rutgers [dot] edu if you've got any questions, comments or story ideas. I always love to hear new music and news, so I look forward to hearing what you got.

Keep Vibin'-

ac

Ivan & Alyosha Album Review: ‘Fathers Be Kind’

February 15, 2011 By 1 Comment


Innovation and invention permeate all walks of life these days, technology ruling our lives like a cold lifeless albatross hanging over our necks. Social networking has somehow made us less social, television has made us numb and even our music, synthesized through moog and distortion, is often found still and lifeless, devoid of flesh and blood and replaced with digitized emotion packaged for ready consumption by the eager masses. When something with a heartbeat comes along it can be uncomfortable, like passing an old lover in the street and locking eyes for a split second, only to have the moment last for the next week. You don’t want to feel it but you have no choice. It can hurt but you know you must embrace the embrace.

Ivan & Alyosha are warm and inviting, deeply personal yet accessible to all. Kind of like Thanksgiving. It’s like hot apple pie and with vanilla ice cream melting down the sides, comfort food on a comfortable day. Carefree and inspired their music is, stimulated by eager eyes for a better world. Naïve? Maybe. But without a little naiveté we become quickly jaded, each day a struggle more than the next. Lead members Tim Wilson and Ryan Carbary have perfected their craft and are joined by three new members on their new EP, one of which is Tim’s brother, Pete.

But family is no stranger to Ivan & Alyosha, with their moniker derived from the lead characters in Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, and singing about life, love and family through songs like “Fathers Be Kind” and “Living for Someone.” Expecting our first child/Amid the Great Recession Wilson sings on the latter, voicing relatable concerns about raising a family in hard times. You are not living for yourself/But you are living for something else, Wilson reminds himself and his listeners throughout. Selflessness is a rarity today, and it’s worth recognition when found. Hats off to these fellas who are doing things the right way, restoring a pulse when all life seemed to be lost.

For more information on Ivan & Alyosha check out their MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter pages. Get Fathers Be Kind now on iTunes!

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Album Review: NGHBRS: Hellomind

February 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment


The very first riff on the album screams Nirvana. Rough around the edges and dense all through the middle. About 15 seconds later NGHBR’s pop sensibilities become much more apparent and in another 120 so does their musicianship. The basic mold of opening track “Bodies” is pop-punk but with a leg closer to Pearl Jam than Blink 182. The structure of the song, both layout and composition, is what you should expect but the bridge guitar solo about two minutes in provides a blissful interlude cutting through the thick forest surrounding. The song closes out where it began and the test of the rest begins.

“American Junk” hits the first mark, opening with just a scratchy guitar lick inviting the deep funk that follows. After the heavily distorted track prior, the funk-infused punk is a lively follow up to the fuzzier opener. Once again, about two minutes through everything drops into a blissful bridge, this time featuring lead singer Ian Kenney’s reverberated vocals with Tommy Fleishman’s spatial guitar matching each note. “Drinking With Friends” is a bit Panic At The Disco-y with a brief Mars Volta guitar riff appearing twice (and more would be nice). It’s more of an ode to pre-gaming than a pre-game banger in itself, but the unique sound draws on different walks of rock.

Kenney’s solo piano ballad “Spoon Fed” is the versatility bridge track of the album, followed by the majestic “Beautiful Birds.” Birds’ circular structure twists you up as its Spanish flare seduces you till the fiery chorus erupts into a heated call for the doctor. Apparently someone couldn’t handle the heat. Finally, “Hallows” builds from a relatively straight dance beat into a short, infectious chorus. My body it suits me right yells Kenney without having to scream. Drummer Jordan Schneider whips out some wicked fills, his most impressive moments so far, ending the short album on its highest note.

For more information on NGHBRS check out their official website, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter pages. Get their album Hellomind now on iTunes!

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Album Review: Down With Webster – Time To Win Vol. 1

December 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment


Ever since Run DMC and Aerosmith broke the ice in ‘86 with their “Walk This Way” collab there has been an exponentially growing trend of hip-hop producers and MCs teaming up with some of rock n’ roll’s finest, pairing two genres that were born to blend. The era following gave rise to groundbreaking material like Dangermouse’s historic Grey Album, when Mouse introduced the Beatles to Jay-Z. The widespread success of the album may have been the tipping point of the crossover, building up to the stylistic diversity enjoyed today. Virtually every radio hit this past year was born of a pop/hip-hop marriage, MCs left and right are coming out with rock albums (think Lil’ Wayne’s Rebirth) and Travis Barker even has his own remixes up on YouTube.

Built on beats and samples, heavy guitars and clever lyrical games, Canada’s Down With Webster is a perfect example of the hybrid groups continuing to emerge from the cupboard. When you hear them, the back of your mind is wondering, “what is this?” but the frontal lobe telling it to shut the fuck up and enjoy whatever the hell it might be.
Take a standard rock band— bassist, drummer and vocalist/guitarist— a more progressive one, a la Incubus, and throw in a DJ— pop a couple MCs on the team, toss in a hype man and you’ve got DWW, the seven-member-whatever armed to explode.

Their songs range from catchy to clever, from rock to electronic to hip-hop. But core deep it doesn’t even matter what style they’re playing in because it’s DWW’s carefree attitude that makes them so likeable. Time To Win Vol. 1 is the first of two installments of their party anthem playlist, influenced from artists ranging from the Beastie Boys to Sublime to Linkin Park.

Intro “Time To Win” gets your feet wet in their general style and attitude, riding on a kickass trumpet line and chorus, I built my soul on rock n’ roll/Someone told me the kids don’t rock no more, letting you know from the get-go they plan on keeping it real. “Whoa Is Me” has got attitude from lick one, that eruptive feeling that something existential is awaiting. They end up spitting lines about gold chains, big wheels and hickeys woven through chants about being so “whoa.” The super-cocky rap parody hits it on the nose; it’s silly, clever and a full head rush of insanity. This brand of humorous hip-hop is a far cry from the more laidback style of De La Soul and it’s certainly something ground fresh.

The funniest track on the album, “Rich Girl$,” has a cheesy 80′s sound like Eddie Money and it’s got that guilty pleasure hook to go along. It feels like we haven’t seen each other in years/Why don’t you join me for a couple of beers/ Clink Cheers begins the narrative over a Facebook chat. It’s current, it’s progressive and it’s sure as hell ridiculous. The most epic of the album is “Back of My Hand,” which begins with rainstorms and keys like Eminem’s “Stan.” The flow, the build and the chorus are all to the max in this track and although they’re funny as hell, this is where you know they are no joke.

For more information on Down With Webster check out their MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter pages. Get Time To Win Vol. 1 now on iTunes!

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Album Review: Lohio – Family Tree EP

November 30, 2010 By 1 Comment

Talk about uplifting. Some music just makes you want to get up and go, breathe a new air of life and hop, skip and jump through a plush meadow of rainbows and kittens while wearing a clown suit and a tie-dye bandana. In recent history those bands have included the likes of The Polyphonic Spree and We’re All From Barcelona, groups of cult-like collectives that are as big as the hikes of emotion their songs often convey.

Lohio, the new kids on the block, can elevate your mood and make you want to prance around like you just don’t care, but their breadth of musical know-how doesn’t stop there. The anthemic do-something-worth-doing album opener “Leave The City, Leave The Room,” and the joyful sing-a-longs in “Family Tree,” both build on their good-time-all-the-time predecessors’ groundwork and they get their job done before the foursome switch gears and get a little serious.

Perhaps the best track on the album is what comes next, the shoegaze post-rock “Wind and Leaves,” which builds a thick wall of fuzz, behind trepid vocals and a soaring organ that cuts through the shrub with a dark intensity that’s as intriguing as it is surprising following the infinitely cheery album openers.

Unlike “Wind and Leaves,” which builds into its climactic ride to the finish, “Adelaide” pushes foreward from the get-go, riding the back of a pulsing beat that explodes with fiery snare rolls giving added punch to the more laid back sound surrounding it. During a beatless interlude, complimentary effects contrast and converge and the beat finally reappears carrying the track till its abrupt end.

Completing the transformative fall from grace, the album encore, “Funeral Song” does, as expected, have an overall grey sound, but an underlying glimmer of hope shines through the dark overcast, the last ray of hope remaining from the suffocating joy experienced just 20 minutes earlier. In the end you’re left in the most unexpected place possible, but the fact that they could take you there without blinking an eye has gotta keep you riding that high.

For more information on Lohio check out their official website, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter pages. Get Family Tree now on iTunes.

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Candy Hearts, Making It Brief

November 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Candy Hearts’ little bursts of alt punk fusion aren’t indulgent or pushed passed due. They’re just four musicians having a good time for short moments at a time, entering a creative universe expanding quicker than the big bang. No song on Ripped Up Jeans & Silly Dreams eclipses the four-minute mark and most tracks are either just past one or two minutes. This dedication to simplicity is the saving grace of the album, allowing the riffs and cords to hit and run with steady effectiveness.

The first few tracks are grinding and distorted, much of what you would expect from an independent band from this genre. But the second saving grace of the record is the change of pace that begins with “Flashers Flashing,” which allows Mariel Loveland to flaunt her sweetheart voice over twinkling post rock guitars and a building hypnotic beat. When the distortion finds its way back mid-track it seems more in good taste, briefly bringing it all home without getting too grimy.

“Hiding From Friends” pretty much has the inverse arrangement, “Why” keeps it clean, front to end, and ironically “Without Caffeine” boosts back the energy, but with a slight disco infusion. The next few tracks run through different punk-pop styles with short hit-it-and-quit-its, followed by the (heartwarming?) track “Anything” and the all acoustic “Size of The Moon.”

The album ends on a weird note, however, with the seemingly unfinished (or unpolished) “Cracks Beneath Closed Doors.” The song is fine and it actually has some of the coolest effects on the record but the production seems undone, laying heavily to the left, really throwing off its balance. But alas, it was left for last, so maybe they were just hoping no one made it to the end. But probably not.

For more information on Candy Hearts check out their official website, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter pages. Get Ripped Up Jeans and Silly Dreams now here!

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Parlotones’ Arena Rock Reminicent of Modern Greats

November 2, 2010 By 1 Comment

From the very first moments of their latest album, Stardust Galaxies, Parlotones show why they are being hailed as South Africa’s answer to some of the UK’s biggest rock groups. The take away message from the album? Arena ready. The slow-burner ballads are big, polished and infections, all terrific attributes for an outfit poised for a meteoric rise.

Opener, “Push Me To The Floor,” is an epic rock-opera piece, in the mold of UK powerhouse, Muse. Lead singer Kahn Morbee has got a glam-rock dynamicism reminiscent of Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons) and when the first chorus comes in you know these guys have got something going.

Following is “The Stars Fall Down” a bright piano ballad, and “Should We Fight Back,” featuring a progressive pulsing synth line, driving rhythm and a catchy hook. “Should we fight back/or should we just swallow our pride?” asks Morbee sounding like Brandon Flowers in the Killers’ “Smile Like You Mean It.” Next, on “We Call This Dancing,” Parlotones once again evoke the Killers inside them, exploding into a catchy disco-shuffle with yet another catchy hook.

Tearjerker, “Fly To The Moon” can only make you think of Coldplay’s “Fix You,” and “Life Design” is a little more edgy, surprisingly sounding like Interpol. The album ends with “Stardust Galaxies,” the album’s namesake in a slot often designated for Mr. Insignificant. However, Zolani Mahola of South African outfit Freshlyground, shows up for a beautiful acoustic duet with Morbee, closing out the album with raw passion garnered without heat.

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Robyn, Snoop and the Time Space Continuum

October 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In an unparalleled breakthrough in modern quantum physics, Robyn discovered a tear in the time-space continuum with her latest release, Body Talk Part II. Incorporating 80’s disco dance with modern production technology, the album is sonically crisp with a aerodynamic throwback soundscape, one reminiscent of a simpler time filled with feathered hair and too much leather, much like compadre La Roux.

Woven behind Robyn’s golden pipes spreads a threaded backdrop, sizzling with effervescent synthesizers rising and falling through the ether like bubbles through shaken club soda. Scorching club beats boom and bap, eerie effects drift and drab and unidentified flying oscillations twinkle in the moonless night. So lush it can overwhelm, sonic wavelengths weave intricate patterns built upon sheer velocities of tone.

Hitting like a ton of bricks, “We Dance To The Beat” cuts through the brush and slams minimalism in your face. Robyn repeatedly chants, “we dance to the beat” over a club-next-door pulse. Eventually, the track leads into the anthemic hotpot, “Criminal Intent,” which in turn leads into the biggest ball-buster of them all.

Out comes the top dog of them all, a player amongst pimps, the one and only Snoop De Oh Double Gee. Yeah, Snoop Dogg. That’s right. Hell yeah. Definitely didn’t see this coming. But with all the crazy collabs these days (Snoop and Katy Perry for Pete’s sake), how could you really be that surprised. Snoop sounds as illmatic as usual, his silky smooth delivery effortlessly painting the sporadic beat.

“U Should Know Better” (the Snoop collab), an acoustic album finale and countless vocal styles employed by Robyn throughout the album (the best being her quasi-rap alongside Snoop) show how versatility and endless raw talent can take her far. Very far.

For more information on Robyn check out her official website. Get her albums BodyTalk Part I and II now on iTunes.

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The Jackson Wetherbee Band Butters Things Up, And Everything’s Better With Butter

October 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Jackson Wetherbee is the real deal. He’s got the voice, the versatility and the pop sensibility to catapult him to singer/songwriter stardom. Oh, and his tight-ass backing band is more than just an afterthought, too often a forgotten key to mainstream singer/songwriter success. So fuck the autotune and screw the digital effects. These mothers are all natural and Wetherbee’s got enough raw emotion in his cords to reach through any set of speakers and tug on yours.

What really puts the whole package together is that although the messages in J-Dub’s lyrics are deep and often pessimistic about the future, his music maintains an upbeat optimism that breathes life into concepts otherwise deeply depressing. Take album opener, “Ages of Tomorrow,” for example. The fun, upbeat ballad features downer lyrics “I feel nothing but sorrow for the ages of tomorrow/With all this thing building, we’re sure to lose control.” Yet when it’s Wetherbee dropping the lines you get the feeling that there’s something he’s not telling you, and everything will be all right. You can just picture the sly smirk on his face as he crafted the harmonious irony found in the deep, splintered contrast.

My favorite element of Wetherbee’s game, however, is his vocal versatility. He’s obviously got plenty of pop-songwriter influences ranging from Jack Johnson and G-Love to Ben Kweller and John Mayer, but each execution of style is spot on. His volume and dynamics control on “Symphony of Dreams” is downright blissful, and his bits of fire spit on “Remember My Friends” is formidable, showcasing his potential to really be a singer-el-renaissance.

The strongest of the set is “Weeping Willow.” Lathered in hot buttered horns and smooth organ blips, the silky backdrop is perfect for Wetherbee’s smoothest drop of the album. The song is short (just under three minutes) and straight to the point, with the last minute or so of the song giving the backing band their most deserved props featuring an instrumental groove that really is quite awesome. And it’s called “Weeping Willow”! That shit’s hilarious!

For more information on The Jackson Wetherbee band check out their official website and get their album now on iTunes!

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Darker My Love Brightens Things Up

September 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

People love to judge a book by its cover. Well, at least I do anyway. And as far as covers go, bands have a rich one, from their name to their names, their hair to their dress. A band’s image can define them, their fan base and eventually the shows they play and the music they make. If Marilyn Manson sang about sunshine daydreams it would be weird. If the Polyphonic Spree suddenly came out with songs about rape, murder and animal cruelty (i.e. “Killing Bunnies For The Fun Of It”) the world would just be a fucked up place. But I digress.

Darker My Love. Great. Another post-punk heavy-on-the-emo rock band, best appreciated in dark solitude on a lonely Friday night. Right? Wrong. Dead wrong. While their name is derived from a punk song of the same name (by TSOL), their music is bright, melodic and accessible. Their 2010 album, Alive As You Are, is a perfect backdrop to the oncoming autumn season. Breezy laid back vocals, hip-hopping folk beats, and spatial-yet-crunch guitar riffs fuse a fun foliage drive soundtrack that sounds like a throwback to early 60’s folk psychedelia.

Album opener “Backseat” opens with finger-licking pickings that sound like Canadian folkers, The Acorn, and in comes the rest of the crew, switching between something like Clapton’s “Lay Down Sally” and Cream’s “Strange Brew.” Much like much of the album, “New America” could be a lost Beatles B-side. Seriously.
But despite Darker’s early psychedelic influences, they’re still entrenched in musical modernity. Songs like “18th Street” and “Trail the Line” are more contemporary sounding indie rock pieces with a twinge of the throwback folksy feel that they’ve nailed down so well. Although just about everything here has been done before, it’s nice to know one of the most influential times in modern music history is still being appreciated and better yet built upon.

For more information on Darker My Love check out their official website, MySpace, Facebook, and follow them on Twitter. Get Alive As You Are now on iTunes!

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Eat and Breathe, but Don’t Sleep on BraveSation

August 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment


Landscapic Canadian-folk has a unique acoustic blend, which BraveStation has shaken and stirred with ambient post-punk dance, meshing a laid back sound that still rocks out and drives. Their recent 2010 EP has an icy feel mimicking the frozen tundra from which it emerged. Picture the two pairs of them, all bundled up and breathe visible. Freezing in the dead winter night, they sculpt eerie soundscapes as the crowd bobs and sways, while a nearby bonfire cuts through the snow-covered pines surrounding the scene. All is good and well up in Canada.

But anyway, opener “White Wolves” begins. Sounding like a jungle-fused play on Arcade Fire’s “Neon Bible,” hyperclicks and rumbling toms slowly roll into a full-on blaze that excites and calms with every pulse. Meanderings and sudden shifts build up to a surprise ending that blows that shit up with an emerging dance beat that lets you lean back and smile.

“Clocks and Spears” shimmers clicks and splatters, backdroping single lines of quivering vocals. Following is “Colour us With Youth,” whose funk backbone seamlessly slips into a galactic disco ending, but take note: don’t sleep on this one. That ending fucking delivers. Perhaps the most anthemic moment on the album, it leaves you wanting more, which is always a good sign.

This EP gets better with each listen, acquainting you with the sound then keeping you craving another listen. The songs create backdrop scenes, forming a picture in your mind of a distant world, which now seems that much closer. Keep caution, however, because appealing to a patient listener this one could easily pass you by.

For more information on Bravestation check out MySpace and Facebook.

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