My, look at the time...

Dang, has it really been that long since I've posted anything? I apologize for being silent for so long. Schoolwork, a mission trip to Guatemala, and toe infections have kept me occupied lately. Now that I have a moment to spare, I think it's high time I put up some music here. No, I don't mean a review, I mean music. MUSIC. What's more, it's free. No, this is NOT pirating. As long as I don't profit from it or claim it as my own, I can distribute this music as much as I want, thanks to the Creative Commons license used by the artists. You get free music, they get free publicity, everybody wins. So, here it is:

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO

The first one is instrumental funk-rock from Germany, and the second one is melodic power metal from France. The latter absolutely blows my mind, despite it being difficult to tell if the singing is in French or English because it gets buried in the mix. Aside from that, it's absolutely phenomenal. Go on, listen to them both.

Lincoln Durham

Today, I bring you good tidings of great blues. I stumbled onto Lincoln Durham recently on iTunes, and I must say I am truly impressed by what I found. So far, all he has released is a single ep (creatively named "Ep") and a single, Love Letters. However, when he releases his debut album on the 31st, I recommend you give it a listen. If the other tracks are anything like what he has already released, it'll definitely be worth having. In the tracks he has already released, Durham lays out some of the leanest, meanest acoustic blues I've ever heard. Tight barely even begins to describe his playing. His sound is full without a mote of excess, compact without being hollow. That's not to say that Durham's guitar is the only merit to his work. His soulfully pained vocals go perfectly with his dusty and gritty playing, while Rick Richards' work on the drums helps propel the songs rather than just hold down the tempo. Don't just take my word for any of this: head down to Durham's website, located at http://lincolndurham.com, and grab yourself a free copy of his single Love Letters. Also, check out his Facebook page where you can listen to his ep and Love Letters for free. You owe it to yourself to check this guy out, and make sure to pick up a copy of his debut album, "The Shovel vs. The Howling Bones", when it comes out on the 31st. I know I will.

The Kicks

It's rare in this day and age to find bands like The Kicks. They're an indie band from Nashville, Tennessee that has somehow managed to find the perfect medium between rock and pop without having to water down either one. The end result is a surprisingly catchy blend of meticulous pop polish that somehow doesn't interfere with the sense of spontaneity needed in rock. One of the things I love about them is their tasteful display of restraint. It's obvious that each musician has the potential to overplay each song. Thankfully, more than anything else The Kicks prove themselves to be masterful songwriters. Listening to their works, it's easy to see the influence of Paul McCartney throughout their songs. I honestly find it baffling that The Kicks haven't achieved more widespread recognition considering the widespread appeal of their songs combined with their excellent musicianship.

Their website is at www.thekicksrock.com. I seriously recommend moseying over to the music section of their site. If you sign up for their mailing list, you can download all of their currently released music for free. Trust me, it's worth a look.

On Genre Shifts

Woodrow Wilson was right in saying that "If you want to make enemies, try to change something." No matter what it is that you try to change, whether it be the nation's healthcare system or the channel on the television, you will probably anger someone somewhere in the process. Change is, by its very nature, a polarizing process. Those content with the status quo do not generally take kindly to those attempting to alter it, whereas others may see value in that change.

A potent example of the divisive power of change is when a band changes their sound, whether as the result of the infamous forces of executive meddling or as a decision of the band members themselves. This change in sound can either be abrupt or subtle, permanent or temporary, extremely controversial or barely divisive at all.

Let's look at some examples of genre shifting in action. Perhaps the most radical shift in genre I have ever seen was by the band Apocalyptica. They went from playing chamber music versions of Metallica songs to being a full-fledged metal band. Evolving from a quartet of cellos into, well, a trio of cellos and a drummer, Apocalyptica is not only one of the most radical examples of genre shift, but also one of the best executed. Since their fanbase consisted of metalheads anyways, a shift from playing classical covers of metal to playing actual metal (with distorted cellos instead of guitars) didn't exactly stir up controversy among their fans.

However, often when a band changes their sound, they manage to alienate a sizable portion of their fanbase in the process. A very recent example of this is metal band Black Tide's new album Post Mortem. The genre shift here wasn't as extreme as that displayed by Apocalyptica, but it proved to be a little more alienating. With their sophomore album, Black Tide decided to stray from their thrash metal roots and move into a more modern mainstream sound. Unfortunately for Black Tide, many of their fans were attracted to their band because of their refreshingly youthful take on thrash metal. These fans criticized the band for "going mainstream" and ignoring what made them unique in the first place. As you could probably discern from bias present in this paragraph, I am one of those fans I mentioned who mourned the band's change in direction.

A shift in genre is not always a bad thing in and of itself. After all, a genre shift managed to save Bon Jovi from dying out with the rest of hair metal after the onset of grunge (well, even if hair metal didn't exactly die, it still wound up in a musical coma of sorts). It's when a genre shift changes that part of a band's sound which set them apart from the pack and gave them their own sense of uniqueness that real problems start to arise.