Big Rock Finish… reviews of independent music

Name: Stutter Album: Stutter Released: 2006 Members: Mo: Lead vocals Marty: Drums Jol: Lead guitar Dom: Bass player Linz: Keyboardist Websites: www.stuttermusic.com Favorite song: 21

Ok so my favorite song is deft. 21!! It has this nice dancey kinda feel song to it, where you just want to get up and dance all around. And it’s a very good song if you want to celebrate your 21st birthday

Stutter is a pop/rock band. They are from Ontario, Canada. Play their own instruments and write their own music. And so much fun to hang around with. (Editors Note: Lucky. She gets to hang out with bands she reviews. I get mp3’s in the mail. ~rokky)

They seem to have alot of fun and get their fans all jumping around like crazy people lol Their songs are just like No Doubt kind of music. (Editor’s note: No Doubt would of course be a ska band. According to Wikipedia, a third-wave ska band.) So when you think of No Doubt think about Stutter and only listen to them You’ll be happy you did!!!

~<3 Connnerz

Name: Reno, Album: Learning to speak Human Released: 2006 Members: Reno Silva: Lead Vocals/Guitar Daniel Gama:Guitar/Background Vocals Paulo Gama:Keyboard/Background Vocals Carlos Arevalo:Bass/Background vocals Page Rodrigues:Drums Website: www.renosmusic.com Favorite Song: “U”. It’s very catchy.

Reno is a pop/rock band based in Toronto, Ontario. They play their own instruments, They are Portuguese/Canadian so they sing both in English and Portuguese. They write their own songs and record them on their own.

Their music can be heard by all the age groups… children to elderly people and you can see that all will sing along to the songs with the band.

The songs on the CD is almost all upbeat songs where you can just get up and sing along and then some are slow dance songs. The songs on the album sounds like it comes from relationships and where to go in life. Which I honestly think that is the best thing about the songs.

The CD can honestly be heard anywhere; backyard parties, inside at a computer, when you sleep so when you wake up you hear the songs playing and are fully awake by the reno songs. While watching tv having the songs play on low volume but still enough to hear it is also fun.

Since this cd, band members Paul DeRosa and Sergio Santos have left the band and new bass player, keyboard player and another lead guitarist Paulo Gama on Keyboard, Carlos Arevalo on bass, and Kevin D.(I’m not quite sure how to spell his last name but we can call him Kevin D) and well Kevin is the other lead guitarist.

<3 ~ Connerz

Name: Fuscia Album: Braille in Audio Released: 2006 Members: Jason Godin - Vocals Nick Bilimoria - Guitar Shawn Hawley - Drums Murray Daigle - Bass (on this album) Mikey S. - Bass (current) Website: www.fusciamusic.com Favourite Song: Over You (track 3)

I heard about, and heard, Fuscia for the first time at the Kevin Says / Hot Topic stage in 2006. They were the first band up. My friends in Strap-On Tools were the last band on the stage. Notice any familiar names in the members section? Mikey ended up moving from one Warped Tour band to another. Good on ya mate!

Their myspace defines them as Alternative. I would define them more as rock. Let’s not get tangled up in labels here. The songs have a great beat and are up-tempo enough to be uplifting. There’s no screaming and actual vocals, not often do boys sing anymore, which is a pleasant break for my eardrums. The fact the singing is pleasant too is no complaint of mine.

There’s five songs on this album, or EP, alright I admit I don’t know where the cutoff is between an EP and an album. But they’re all similarly themed, with common elements throughout that make you know it’s the same band. Even though I’m not a fault-picking person, I can’t pick any faults with any of the songs. While I’m generally not thrilled with songs having the same name with versions, or parts, Fallen Angels and Fallen Angels part 2 are very good titles for their respective songs.

I listen to Fuscia in my car, nonstop, for the past 2 weeks. Not just trying to get this review down, but because I honestly like the music. That’s go to say something. I can play any one song on repeat for hours and not get tired of it.

Oh, you have to see their live show. I didn’t really get to see Fuscia at Warped tour but I did get to see them May 5th at the Rim Rock in Ajax, Ontario. For a stage the size of my futon mattress, 4 band members, and 3 camera guys doing nothing but tripping all over the band members, these guys have an awesome live show.

They play with each other on stage. Not in *that* way you sick perverts. But there’s lots of movement, there’s lots of involvement, and of all the bands I’ve seen, it’s the first time I’ve heard Mikey sing. But it’s great to see bands where the members sort of say hi to each other while performing, instead of being super rigid and set in their little 2 foot square of personal invisible bubble.

They’ve got lots of live shows coming up, with some pretty awesome venues, so no excuses.

• June 5th 2007 at Velvet Underground in Toronto, Ontario
• June 19th 2007 at West 49 in Vaughn, Ontario
• June 20th 2007 at The Reverb in Toronto, Ontario

The Four Voices are: Jesse Pitcher (top left), Chisai Jackson (top right), Mandippal Jandu (bottom left), Tim Tibbitts (bottom right). A group of very talented, usually solo, artists who at some point I’m sure realized they were playing all the same shows, and decided they should play on each other’s stage.

This was one of the most unique shows I’ve ever been privileged to see. It’s amazing what musicians will do to each other. And I don’t mean all the stuff backstage that they make blatant hints about while on stage. I have seen Chisai, Mandippal and Tim all perform previously, but it was my first time seeing Jesse. Well let me get to how they set things up. Four microphones, four talented singer/songwriters, four rounds of singing and four pairs of blue jeans. (Brandon asked me if I noticed it was a big blue-jeans convention on stage, I hadn’t at the time.)

So each artists sings one of his songs, while the other three stand around, either join in with their instruments, with their voices, or goof off in the corner, (mostly the first two) and each takes turns. It was amazing because each of the four artists have different styles, and different ways about them, but it makes for a really nice evening of music going between everyone’s songs.

And for the artists I’ve seen before, seeing as how they’re normally solo on stage, it’s very mind blowing to suddenly have other guitars coming into play, and backing vocals joining in. You can tell that they were great friends even before all the ribbing began. But oh the ribbing. Poor Mandippal for being the youngest and smallest on stage, since that was just prime for being picked on.

I can’t keep gushing like this because I just feel silly. It was amazing. I hope they weren’t 100% serious about this being their last show together, and they’ll randomly get together like this again in the future.

My favourites were Jesse’s interpretation of percussion during other people’s songs using not his guitar. Chisai stopping his cover-song halfway through when Mandippal and Tim exclaimed “Woah!” at a “bad word”, Mandippal’s general acceptance of all the old farts making fun of him, and Tim for being an old fart. Haha. (No offense Tim!)

If this was their last show and you’ve never seen them, you missed out. For those who have seen them perform together, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Name: Terribly Empty Pockets Album: Get Wet Released: August 2006 Band members: Josh Holt Sarah BB Ben Colburn Ryan Jewell Justin Riley Website: www.terriblyemptypockets.com Favorite song: Brother

I stumbled upon the Terribly Empty Pockets after getting a tip from a friend about some mp3 uploading site. Upon first listen, I was immediately hooked and continued to be for the following five consecutive listens. Trying to describe them is rather difficult; since they weave such a rich display of influence it becomes difficult to point each one out. As is the case with many indie musicians, all of these influences are worn on the sleeve, but the ease in which they surpass, blend, and mix the limits is their selling point.

The first song, Boys Club, is an upbeat foot stomper with energetic guitar strumming, clean, quick drum beats, and a voice that sounds a lot like David Byrne. It’s a fast paced number that never stops to catch its breath, always changing tempos from chorus to verse but with a fluidity that makes you wonder how this could be a band’s debut album. The song has a very lively attitude about it, and as the song progresses, it displays a very keen sense of melody and transition. And that’s only the first song!

The rest of the EP is loaded with hooks just like the first song, and it never lets up. To try and analyze each song would be silly, as it plays like a greatest hits compilation. The one song that I do take to heart the most, however, is the last song on the album, ‘When You Die’. The lead singer’s voice is not quite as harsh as on the other songs and the duet with Ms. Sarah BB (who sings lead on ‘Brother’), coupled with the dreamy guitar and soft electric piano makes for a song to get lost in. It’s hazy, nostalgic, yet treads the fine line between being reflective and morose.

I would like to point out that all of these songs are catchy, fun, and will stay with you long after you’re done listening to them. I myself have it in rotation every day; I have honestly yet to find a fault with this album. In fact, if you don’t find yourself humming the lines from ‘Brother’ (My brother is the only son of a penniless cock eyed shrew / My brother got nothin’ much to lose / Please don’t make me choose…), I promise to fast for three days. I have so much faith in my judgment that these guys will rock the stitching off your socks I’m betting my appetite on it. So please, take a listen and enjoy it, my well-being depends on it.

<3 ~Tyler

Latté D. Kyd plus her live backing band Sweet Bitch played all the way out in Etobicoke on a lovely Thursday night. April 19th, 2007 to be exact. While the venue was easy enough to get to, and thankfully for all of us who work early in the morning, on time… to an extent. I will admit first and foremost that it was still frustrating to have a show that late on a weeknight that I needed to get to, when I had work the next morning.

Thankfully they were on time, and were only the second act up. Unthankfully I found out as I arrived in between sets, that my friend Mandippal Jandu was first on the docket and I missed his set. Ah well, I saw him the next week afterwards anyways. (And will be writing about that soon enough)

Anyways. The show. Latté’s (Yes that’s her full and legal name from the rumours I’ve heard) has songs that are both pop in nature, funk in nature, and always have a bit of a female-rap in nature. Her self-admitted not being able to dance on stage like Beyoncee is a welcome change to those who think they can but really can’t.

I can really say I like Latté’s songs because from what I have been able to figure out, they’re about the good, and the bad things in life, but always spun to have a positive outlook. The world needs more positive outlooks. We’re just too jaded as a society.

While I’d say I can’t wait for her second album in her 3 part series to come out, it looks like I’ll have to. It’s a good thing I’m a patient person!

Name: Westpoint Album: Love and Comfort (In a Time of Confuse) Released: 2005 Members: Dan Walker - Drums Steve Andrews - Guitars Brandon Robinson - Bass Jeff Kenny - Guitars Mordy Harroch - Vocals Website: www.westpointrock.com Label: Mongoose Records Favourite Song: Drown, Sara [track 2]

I think I found Westpoint off Myspace, they were one of a large majority of bands that would be “attacking” my personal myspace page back when I updated it enough for people to notice I was alive. But I gave these guys a listen, and liked what I heard, so I kept on with it. Since I started the site I figured it would be good to review them, seeing as my friend had a copy of their album kicking about.

Can you classify this as pop/rock? Have I been doing this too much? I think I listen to music that’s all very similar, and in doing so I review music that can be similar. And “Rock” and “Pop” are so generic in terms of music classification that it’s generally a very safe bet.

It’s a band of guys. The lyrics are pretty poppy, and far as I can gather, about a girl, or various girls, that they have encountered (A bit of a broad generalization, but it’s my assuption that boys generally will sing about girls.) I like the upbeat songs, the happy songs, the songs about how much they adore a special someone. Very sweet. Makes me wish I knew boys in bands so they would write songs about me. Wait a minute. I know boys in bands. Hrm.

I listen to this album in the car all the time. It’s a bit short with 5 songs to it but it’s good for commuting, and is on rotation in my road-trip collection since the songs have a decent tempo and are pretty sing-along-able. The sing-along-ability (which is probably a term someone else coined many moons ago) makes me really want to see a live show as well, since I love the songs so much I want to sing along.