The Great Demo Review 2009 (Part 2)

Marasol

Futures
For those about to rock out prog-style, Marasol salutes you. Perhaps a bit too earnest at points vocal-wise, this disc succeeds when the band pushes itself the hardest (“Chin Up”) and fails when it veers too commercial (“News”). Definitely impressive overall, though, and I’m sure these guys bring it live. MS/marasolforall.

The Material

Tomorrow
Female-fronted rock outfit that aims to challenge Evanescence and Paramore for a piece of the action. Despite the requisite slow-then-hard-then-repeat vocal delivery on some tracks, singer Colleen D’Agostino has legit chops. MS/thematerial.

Mayhem and Miracles

Dreamers Arrive
If you’re going for a great-big sound, Garage Band does you no favors. Save up some money and take these tunes into a recording studio. MS/mayhemandmiracles.

M-Double-A-L

Think and Grow Rich Mixtape
M-Double-A-L has skills. And I do love me some Barack Obama. But I’m still not quite feeling the former’s ode to the latter, set over a sample of Eminem’s “Cleanin’ Out My Closet.” Like Em, M should also try to refrain from singing his own hooks. That said, there’s talent here, and with tighter production, better beats and fewer hyphens, M-Double-A-L might give me some change I can believe in. MS/mackalactickmusick.

Me Me the Moth

The Weirding Valley
A stylistic hodgepodge of sounds and singing that comes across like a Captain Beefheart fan’s wet dream. For me, it was more of a 35-minute nightmare. MS/memethmoth.

Microphone Mike

Teen Idol
Microphone Mike is a joke—a character invention by Mike Pereira (Black Box Studios) that falls somewhere between Ali G and Luther Campbell, complemented by a pretty sweet Dick Dastardly mustache. But this isn’t just an overextended inside gag. Pereira’s production chops make this tongue-in-cheeky facsimile of ’80s Dirty South rap believable, if not likeable. MS/microphonemike.

Mississippi Mudsharks

Voodoo Doll
The Mudsharks’ swampy, bluesy, dark-themed stuff fits fine with titles like “Runaway Soul,” “Son of a Bitch” and “The Gravestone Lied.” It’d fit even better if everything sounded as raw and dirty as that harmonica.  MS/mississippimudsharks.

Miz Mandy

Today’s The Day and In The Mix
Miz Mandy’s having a “Discotheque Emergency” (srsly), and her candy rave blood is gushing all over the place. Somewhere in Malaysia there’s a dance party full of tweaked-out, serotonin-drenched, sunglasses-wearing, extraordinarily bedazzled, old Asian men, all wondering to where their queen disappeared. We just found her! MS/mizmandy.

Motionless
Untitled Demo
This band epitomizes insipid, whiny, self-important, crappy emo-ish rawk that has nothing to say and only a tepid yet thoroughly convincing allegiance to the likes of Jimmy Eat World to guide them. This is bad music so precisely executed that it would not surprise me if they became the most popular band in the country for six months and then vanished back into obscurity. MS/motionless.

The Moviegoers

Be a Man EP
Just on the verge of being “extraspecialgood,” this quartet plays a brand of indie rock that comes across like a more pop-friendly Pavement or sugary Sebadoh. With male/female harmonies, I swear I even heard some Low in “Avalanche.” Looking forward to the full-length. MS/themoviegoers.

MPIRE

Demo
Raw hip-hop and wacky beats that somehow congeal. Dope.

The Musk Deer
Demo
“Do it yourself” is something multi-instrumentalist Joseph D’arcy fully understands, and with nods to idiosyncratic outsiders of the past (see: Young Marble Giants, Minutemen, Sebadoh), he crafts a quiet, surprisingly enjoyable six-track EP. MS/themuskdeer.

Extra Special Good

Nature of the Beast

Homeland Security

Any DJ who makes it out of North Dakota to drop the likes of Rakim into backing cuts gets my full support. With a deep grounding in the classics and a healthy appreciation of traditional SoCal style, NotB belongs in the modern resurgence of hip-hop. The recipe: Part Atmosphere, part Blue Scholars, part Del, a touch of classic Ice Cube and Eminem. Mix it up and listen well. MS/notbsd.

— Lucas O'Connor

Extra Special Good

Neat Beats

Science Is My Girlfriend

Accompanied by handmade cover art that begs for its contents to be listened to, this EP truly delivers. With guitar, vocal blips, keyboards and beats all sampled and sewn together in an amalgamation of auditory indulgence, Neat Beats provides mellow sounds perfectly suited to smoking indoors while looking out the windown on a rainy day. The single problem I found with the EP? It’s only 19 minutes! I want more! MS/neatbeatsmusic.

Ninja Love

Light Yourself on Fire
The kitsch love of ninjas knows little bounds, but Ninja Loves takes it to another level, performing in full ninja gear and using weapons for both props and instrumentation. If that visual goes well with a ’70s power-rock EP vaguely dealing with battling evil animals, this is all you’ve been waiting for. MS/youlove
ninjalove.

The Old In Out

Demo
San Diego has a storied garage-punk lineage, and The Old In Out have revealed themselves as frontrunners for the genre’s next generation with this four-song collection. Bursting with enough aggression to satisfy old punks but maintaining a party vibe, the stuttering drums and staccato chords of “My Turn” and “Blood & Teeth” are stained with Iggy’s blood and sporting Rollins’ sneer. They’re not reinventing the wheel, just fortifying it with spiked rims. MS/theoldinoutbandits.

Orlando

Special Edition
Often-lovely electro-soul, but cheesy is cheesy whether it’s en Ingles or Español. MS/orlandoespop.

The Paddle Boat

B-Side of a Life/Everything 7”
If a prohibition law were passed in San Diego, The Paddle Boat would clean up shop at local speakeasies. Somewhat of an indie take on old-timey jazz (think a slowed-down version of Django Reinhardt), these two tracks are certainly gimmicky, but as focused and adeptly composed as anything else in town. MS/thepaddleboat.

Rudy Palos

Honeydew Melancholy
Honeydew melons grow best in semi-arid climates, as did this Chicano electronica artist, who describes his sound as “a love letter to some of the music that has inspired my soul.” “Rain” sounds like a badly scratched Muzak CD you’d find playing at Lane Bryant during a Right Fit™ pants and jeans sale, but the title track, true to its fleshy title and thanks to its waxy surface, stands out as the freshest one of all. MS/rudypalos.

Paper Forest

The Pride and the Parliament
I suspect that most of these songs were recorded at a house party where the audience opinion was split between sucks and fucking brilliant. MS/paperforest.

Pillbox Remedy

Go on, Take the Scissors and Run
This four-track demo features an acoustic guitar and heartfelt ballads that waffle between emo and adult contemporary. In other words, four songs too long. MS/pillboxremedy.

Plane Without a Pilot

It’s About Time
Brutally efficient pop-punk. But is it about time? Not quite. MS/planewithoutapilot.

The Plastic Revolution

Planning for Chaos
If I hadn’t read the band bio, I’d have politely dismissed the music as your standard, forgettable, melodramatic emo good only for 14-year-old girls. But TPR’s self-idolizing, mostly nonsensical bio compels me to conclude that this is the worst piece of crap I’ve ever heard and that someone—perhaps his mother—needs to smack that eyeliner off that one guy’s face. Dude, you look like a douche; just play music. MS/theplasticrevolution.

Podunk Nowhere

Based on a True Story
This husband-and-wife team takes a two-pronged approach to the singer/songwriter thing and infuse it with Americana, folk and pop. Solid writing and strong vocals, but who’s taking care of the pets? MS/podunknowhere.

Extra Special Good

The Powerchords

…Think I’m Gonna

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to hear a young punk band that seems to be drawing influences more from the LP bins at Thirsty Moon than the CD racks at Hot Topic. This disc may not be perfect, but, damn, the highlights are almost too good to be true—especially “Blow,” which sounds like all the best aspects of 1979 punk rock crammed into two minutes and 15 seconds. “Bad Guys” finds the band perfecting the same hyperactive song delivery and vocal trade-offs that made the first Futureheads album so enjoyable. God, they even wrote a song about Tia Carrere.  Seriously, how can you not like these guys?  Perhaps if you hate the Buzzcocks, The Ramones, The Fastbacks, America—that’s right, if you hate America, you hate The Powerchords. MS/thepowerchords.

Marcelo Radulovich

Summer in Winter
Summer is an amalgam of styles and influences that sounds a bit like Soul Coughing channeling Manu Chao on painkillers. An honorable attempt, it suffers from indulging far, far too many whims, both sonically and lyrically. MS/marceloradulovich.

Marcelo Radulovich

Vertigo at Lunchtime
Apparently, this guy sent his entire discography. See above, but I’d add that I found it a bit more annoying than Scott did. MS/marceloradu
lovich.

Rafter

Sweaty Magic EP
Sweaty Magic is another one of those indie-rock forays into the fabulous booty-shaking world of dance music. Albums like this can divide fans; this one makes me realize Prince is a lot harder to duplicate than The Shins. MS/rafterroberts.

Derren Raser

Live in Solana Beach
As crisp as a live recording gets. But John Mayer-ish dribble like “We must recover our communication or drown in this current of misinformation” makes me wanna beat my wife. MS/derrenraser.

Rembrant

Can I Live
His bio calls him a “power house of talent” and “famous in his own right.” It also goes on to say that “by 2006 you should be well aware of the artist.” Well, it’s 2009, and I, for one, have never heard of him. His lyrics dab on the usual rap clichés, such as bitches, dice playing and weed, no doubt making his Dutch namesake proud. But dig deep past the Knight Rider theme sample, the Magnum condom and Sierra Mist references and you’ll find a sometimes-vulnerable urban poet talking about his daily hustle, love for his son and an undying desire to successfully break into the game. If he does, expect copycat acts like MC Monet and Little Van-Gogh! to follow.

Revenge Club

9-Song Demo
Revenge Club has been one of the city’s better female punk bands for a while, in classic Stooges style with a vocalist who sounds like she swallows her own loogies for breakfast. They won’t make anyone forget Seven Year Bitch, but these songs are pleasant additions to any “S.D. Vag-Punk!” soundtrack. MS/revengeclub.

The Riders

200 Miles From Everywhere…
Adult-contemporary pop that thinks it might be alt-country and boasts a Grammy-winning keyboardist and a Steppenwolf producer. Primed and ready for regular rotation on KPRI. MS/theriders.

River City

Little Cages
There’s something a bit unnerving about 20-something urban kids singing alt-country songs about public hangings and riding horses through the desert—which makes me wonder whether River City should ditch its exploration of Old West mythology and find themes more fitting for its otherwise upbeat—and absolutely fun—tunes.  MS/rivercitytheband.

Janell Rock
Performer
This posthumous release of Janell Rock’s final musical project will earn her more comparisons with k.d. lang or Linda Ronstadt than to the Kate Pierson persona on the cover. I picture Rock performing at a piano bar, sidled up to an always-full dirty martini (thanks, bartender!) with the lights down low, singing to a room full of dreamers and lonely hearts. Play on, Janell, wherever you are. MS/janellrock.

Brian Rodriguez

Understand #2
Though Brian Rodriguez describes his sound as a possible hybrid of Weird Al and Boyz II Men, it sounds a bit more like a schizophrenic confronting a serious penchant for synth.  Garbled lyrics and hyper beats make practically every track impossible to—yep—understand.

The Romans

One Hit Wonder
Mid-tempo rock and vocals that summon a pinch of Eddie Vedder, tight and solid. They may have a one-hit wonder in them. MS/romansnoise.

Tori Roze

No Substitutions
Ranging from the Joss Stone-ish “Sweet Drank” to the 1990s Taylor Dane dance-anthem style of “Like a Rockstar,” Tori Roze is both gritty and soulful. She apparently subscribes to the MC Hammer school of break-ups, as she sings in “Bet’s Off”: “You’re just trying to make me jealous / Better try harder ’cause nobody can touch this.” Her tortured yet self-confident style makes this songstress too legit, too legit to quit. MS/toriroze.

Runhoney

Runhoney EP
If Gwen Stefani were a lesbian and fronted an all-girl rock band, they could easily be mistaken for Runhoney. They seem to be great musicians with an impeccable knowledge of power chords, but something tells me these ladies have quite the rabid female fan base, and I wouldn’t want to say anything negative about the band that might end up being detrimental to my health.  MS/runhoney.

Margery Sauvé

8 song demo
Laid-back vocals over solid traditional jazz/rock/latin instrumentation. The technology for a five-and-a-half-minute blues song describing various functions for shoes is something one thought impossible until now. MS/margerysauve.

A Scribe Amidst The Lions

Sunken Cities
Diversity and darkness reign supreme on this full-length. There’s a ton of interesting, unusual instrumentation, from keyboards to strings, but as much as they’ve crammed in there, every bit of the puzzle pops right out. It recalls the best of Jeremy Enigk’s powerful loud-soft-loud solowork  MS/ascribe
amidstthelions.

Sea Pansy

The Cosmic Flag Is Burning
This is a Sabbath/Kyuss power trio that likes Renaissance cover art and dislikes bass players. Arena-ready chant: “When I say sea, you say Pansy!” MS/seapansy.

Eve Selis

Angels and Eagles
San Diego Music Award winner Eve Selis and her five-person band take listeners through a whimsical hay ride down the dirt road of roadhouse love with “The Gift” and “Touching the Eiffel Tower,” optimistic redemption in “Welcome to Paradise” and, of course, love lost in “Goodbye” and “I Believe in Love,” which made me want to slip into my Snuggie blanket-with-sleeves by the fire, a box of wine by my side, and have a good cry. Don’t you dare judge me. MS/eveselis.

Shady Side Players

Self-titled
Anyone who can blend Appalachian twang with Celtic fiddle while resurrecting archaic language (uh, Twain?) certainly deserves a chance. MS/shadysideplayers.

Andrea Sharp

You Can Call Me Annie
Stripped-down demo with just acoustic guitar and the impressive voice of a true blues hound. Some clever lyrics mixed in here, but for those who aren’t blues connoisseurs, this will probably just feel like another trip down memory/
misery lane.

Shrewd Lucy

Demo
I’m convinced that Shrewd Lucy aren’t aware of any music made before 1990. This sounds like Three Doors Down doing Alice in Chains covers while getting enemas from Staind’s lead singer. If you can play your instruments this competently, there’s no excuse for unleashing such a watery load of excrement onto the public. MS/shrewdlucy.

Adam Silva

Demo
For fans of Will Oldham and other quiet tuneful songwriters, just not quite as on key.

Alan Silva

Beach Songs
Alan Silva sounds like Jeff Buckley—after he drowned. MS/alansilva.

Silverleaf

Untitled
There’s a bit more indie-pop sensibility lurking here than your usual spare alt-country, which is good. But we could all do without the college-bar-band hooks that always seem to be lurking, because they’re bad. MS/silverleafband.

Aren Skalman

Demo
Skalman’s rustic slide-guitar licks and blues affectations wouldn’t sound entirely out of place on an old Folkways compilation if it weren’t for his drum-looping techniques and appropriation of dusty Southwestern country. Better still, there’s little irony here, proof that Skalman is the shit when it comes to merging old styles with new ones. MS/car
toontortoisesongs.

Skipjack

Letters from the Frontline
This band sounds like the Epitaph all-stars circa 1994. Nice blend of Bay Area punk, East Coast cross-over metal and L.A. South Bay melodic hardcore. This 11-song demo is slick, quick and hard to pin down, and you get the sense there’s very little they can’t do. MS/skipjackmusic.

Somato Sensory

Life on Autopilot
And you thought Fall Out Boy was from Chicago. MS/somatosensorymusic.

Sons of Zap

Untitled
The wave of terrible music 10 years ago that straddled the fence between hard rock and lite metal taught aspiring musicians a lot of bad habits. Fortunately, it turns out you can blend legitimate chops and an appreciation for what made Sabbath great and come up with something that’s surprisingly listenable. MS/sonsofzap.

South Psycho Cide

3-Song Demo
No doubt the four dudes of PSC are street. Much-valued body parts quiver at the prospect of dissing their music. But there’s something self-consciously “hard” about the main rapper’s gruff vocals. They’re good producers who know where to drop bong-friendly beats and insert great soul-sister singers (the kiddish rapper here is also promising). All they need is to lower-case the “G” just a touch to sound more real. MS/sdcp.

Species 

Of Questionable Origins
The title of this one says it all. A quarter jazz, a quarter blues, a quarter elevator music and a quarter weird—all seemingly coming out of nowhere.

Melanie Sponselee

Demo
A warbling version of Corine Bailey Rae, Sponselee would do well to stick with the vocal simplicity she puts forth in “Weeping Willow,” a track that either heavily references or blatantly rips off James and Bobby Purify’s “I’m Your Puppet.”

Street of Little Girls

Demo
The brevity of this pleasantly strange little three-tracker doesn’t allow a divulging of the whole story, but it initially recalls a drug-era Breeders if they’d grown up in Marseilles instead of Ohio. MS/street
oflittlegirls.

Strike the Design

Transcending the Scope of Understanding
Surprisingly good vocals sadly framed by music you’ve heard before. MS/strikethedesign.

Suspects of a Crime

Demo
These suspects are G-U-I-L-T-Y of loving metal, power chords and half-Layne Staley, half-Jack Black vocals. Arrest them at once! MS/suspectsofacrime.

Swim Party

Pixie Dust On The Blood Range
When I think of San Diego indie bands, I think of groups that sound just like Swim Party.  Clean guitars, heavy on the pop but kinda experimental, and a subtle Velvet Underground flourish. Will this city ever get tired of the Pinback Jr.’s? Apparently not. MS/swimparty.

Syndicate

EP1
Syndicate’s MySpace headline is “We’re so 2008,” but I’d say they’re sooo 2002. Their influences are clear (Interpol and The Rapture), but a fine rhythm section and some fantastic guitar work make this a great party EP to dance around to. All that’s missing is the cowbell. MS/syndicateus.

Tape Deck Mountain

Sparks
Going literal with the name, this EP was the sole cassette-tape submission to our demo review. Good thing I keep a relic in my house; I found myself hitting rewind plenty of times to listen to the Pavement-meets-My Bloody Valentine sound blasting from my speakers. Looking forward to the full-length. MS/tapedeckmountain.

Team Abraham

Driven by the Mystery… I See EP
Lovely indie-folk with just the right amount of country and Dylan, circa Desire. The voice may not be the best, and the instrumentation screams Ryan Adams, but it’s still better than the vast majority of wanna-be troubadours out there. MS/abrahamnunez.

Titanarum

Spastis Progressivus Aggressiorum 7” EP
The type of music that would have made Beavis exclaim, “Yes!” If song titles like “Your Death” and “At War with Myself” didn’t give it away, this is some killer thrash metal in the vein of old-school Slayer and M.D.C. I see a tour with Cattle Decapitation in the future. MS/titanarumnet.

Tornado Magnet

Pistolero
Tuneful and well-played, but missing an outlaw edge. MS/thetornadomagnets.

Nicole Torres and The Affiliates

Out of Harm’s Way
If Christopher Walken were in the room while Nicole Torres and The Affiliates were recording these songs, there are two things he wouldn’t need to ask for more of: flute and sax. The instruments have the unfortunate consequence of lending a dated, Dave Matthews-y feel to what would otherwise be a sexy, soulful effort. MS/torresnicole.

Triceratron

Four-Song demo
White boys and their engorged sense of irony. Triceratron lobs a little gay house music and super-fun, awkward Anglo-rap at Was (Not Was)’s “Walk the Dinosaur.” It’s pure Jivewire hipster-boogie, inspiring skinny scarf-people to dance, dance, dance until the post-Iron & Wine depression wanes. It’s kind of awesome. MC/triceratron.

Uncle Aaron

The Chronic Chronicling of Chlorophyll
As if you couldn’t tell from the title, this might be what happens when frat boys discover Garage Band. To be fair, I’m smoking a bowl while listening to it. (Inhale.) Yep, still sucks.

The Unruly Bangs

The Unruly Bangs EP
Think early Imperial Teen with a dash of The B-52’s, a hint of Blonde Redhead and a heaping scoop of Sleater-Kinney and you’ll have The Unruly Bangs in your head. Grungy rock, girl vocals and the occasional overwhelming urge to drink cheap beer and get into fights—sounds like a good time to me. MS/unrulybangs.

Vaginals

Vaginals
Designed to confuse, anger and charm audiences in equal measures, Vaginals belong to the head-fuck tradition of pop pranksters The Residents and Frank Zappa, tempering their silliest moments with seriously beautiful pieces like the placid “Sleepless Night.” They’re playful, but clearly serious, musicians. Each city needs a band like this. They even get my unofficial award for best song title of the year: “I Like Cuddle Boner.” MS/vaginals.

V Child

Demo
The obvious influences here are ’70s classic rock and the Pearl Jam and Soundgarden end of the early-’90s grunge spectrum (as opposed to the Nirvana and Mudhoney end). Guitarist Ken Najbert has a fantastic baritone voice for this style, but the rest of the operation needs to do the tighten-up. MS/vchildband.

The Verso

Crime Of Love
Overly melodramatic indie-pop that knows its way around a hook and borrows cleverly, if not liberally, from its influences.  MS/theversoband.

The Walking

Wanderings and Distractions
Tuneful yet scattered acoustics and noise about love and masturbation. It’s a bit of a chore to get through, but there’s promise in here. Might not be good for walking, but good for walking away. MS/armanaugusto.

Wendy Darling
Half-Told Bedtime Stories
The information accompanying this disc says lead singer Cori Rush’s voice has been compared with that of Kim Deal, Karen O and Natalie Merchant, among others. The one omission that seemed glaringly obvious is Alanis Morissette. So, think a cooler San Diego version of Alanis fronting an indie-folk-rock group. You can’t do that on television! MS/wendydarlingrock.

Justin Werner & Co.

Dust in the Sunbeams
Nice, well-produced little folkie with quality players and just enough tempo variation to avoid being a snoozer. No picture was submitted, but they’d get bonus points if they all sported ZZ Top beards. MS/
justinwernerandcompany.

The West Indies

Scratch the Surface
Local underground hip-hop with creative turntabling and inventive sampling. It sports an old-school feel that at times brings to mind early De La Soul. Some of it’s a bit preachy, but the humor and deft lyricism elevate this release a higher level than you’d expect for an independent San Diego production. MS/westernindependent.

Joel P. West

Dust Jacket
If you’re gonna be an indie-rock troubadour in a town full of them, then take a page or two from West. Lushly orchestrated music accompanied by startlingly confessional lyrics. Equally suited for coming home or cross-country getaways. MS/joelpwest.

What Went Wrong

with everything
What went wrong? Everything for this band. I wanna yell at this band like a misbehaving puppy that just shit out some bad hard-rock on my carpet. Bad metal! Bad metal! MS/whatwentwrongca.

Charlie Wilmoth

Sixteen Sound Bites
This isn’t music you’d listen to for pleasure. It’s dissonant orchestral stuff that Wilmouth, a doctoral candidate in music composition at UCSD, compares with Sarah Palin’s talking points: endless repetition lacking logic. Cool. But not very utilitarian. I’d love to hear something from Wilmoth’s other bands, FOX Japan and “experimental country octet” Go Duo. MS/charliewilmoth.

Patrick Yandall

A New Day
The liner notes boast that Yandall’s smooth- jazz stylings have been used on the Weather Channel. Need I say more? This guy can play the blues, but he chooses instead to drown it in chorus effect and dilute it in a Jacuzzi full of lame. Appropriate for learning that it’s 74 and sunny today. Maybe someday he’ll create the on-hold music for the IRS call center, or the tunes in the elevator to Hell. MS/patrickyandall.

Lindsey Yung

Opal Essence
I want to like you, Lindsey—I really do. You sound like a nice person and a decent musician, all happy with your piano and your angelic voice, but, Jesus Christ, this album is causing me to fight a vicious case of narcolepsy right now that hasn’t previously been diagnosed. Maybe the new diagnosis is what I have to thank you for, Dr. Yung. Can I have my meds now? MS/lindseyyung.

Yung Lyricist

The Listener Mixtape
Yung’s flow is solid, his lyrics are strong enough and his beats and hooks are hot—both in the sense that they’re good and that, in most cases, they’re stolen (or “sampled”). This isn’t gritty by any reasonable street standards—it’s actually a tad soft at times—but with more originality on the production front, Yung has the dexterity—both in vocal range and lyrical content—to make buzz-worthy hip-hop that stands on its own. MS/ylyricist.

Zank

Without A Bridge
Oh, man. This sounds like the lead singer of Hoobastank doing karaoke versions of Lifehouse songs. Even worse, there’s a crunchy, self-discovery vibe to the whole thing, as if he’s the only pseudo-hippie to ever sleep in European hostels. If you search “zank” on Urbandictionary.com, it’s apparently used to describe “unusually large testicles.” He must have big stones to pass this disc off as anything but sentimental garbage. MS/zankmusic.