Big Rock Finish… reviews of independent music

Name: Adam Hill Album: Four Shades of Green Released: 2007 Members: Adam Hill Website: www.myspace.com/mradamhill Favourite Song: Next Stop Winona

I have to say, the sweetest thing I’ve ever received in a band package is a hand-written note. And the absolutely most endearing thing about it is, Mr. Adam Hill (I like calling him that now, after listening to the tracks, he just seems like a Mr.) wrote my note on the back of some sheet music. And I’m curious to see what it is, if I could bother remembering how to read music. And to see one guy bombarding himself with so many instruments… I think I heard a jug in there somewhere.

Acoustic. Jazz. Folk. I would dare say country, but I guess Folk would do. I wonder what the difference is, they both sound very “American” in terms of the out-back country feel. Nice and simple, nothing overly complicated, and that you feel you can join in at any time with very little musical training. I think I like this kind of music best because it just invites people to join in, and make the song their own.

The songs on Four shades of Green have a way of making me smile. It’s a lot of what sound like really happy types of songs. Nothing really harsh sounding, and nothing really mean sounding. Inspiring on a spiritual level, because the world is too serious these days. It’s nice to kick back and just listen to what feels like some wishful thinking. I’ll admit, it’s not always something I will want to listen to, I prefer high energy, which Adam doesn’t give a whole lot of. The kicking back, he gives lots of.

Driving through country roads, long stretches of not a lot of traffic and wide open spaces. I think I would feel most inspired listening to Mr. Adam Hill during these types of excursions. Any other time, I don’t think I would appreciate it nearly as much. There’s just a good old country charm that you can’t appreciate while driving in the city.

Name: The Crawling Kingsnakes Album: Shed your Skin Released: 2005 Members: Chris Belanger - bass Jesse Parker - vocals Christian Bonner - guitar Michael Bonner - guitar Bobby Parker - drums Website: www.crawlingkingsnakes.com Favourite Song: Teenage Queen (track 2)

Rock. Blues. Country. I’ll definitely agree with the rock and country. I just don’t know enough about Blues to be able to say yay or nay. But what I hear about The Crawling Kingsnakes? It’s got that country feel. Not the hokey cheesy country that everyone always thinks about when they go “eww, country!” but the cool country that you can dance to without being in square formations.

I never want to say that music sounds like country, because it almost seems like it’s an insult considering how many people are so uneducated about the fact that country music can still sound good. The songs on Shed your Skin are pretty relaxing. Nothing too heavy or loud, and just sort of flow together. I hear things that I’ve heard before so they probably sampled something at some point, but they did it well so it’s nice. In my opinion nothing really sticks out, but I’m giving this album a few more listens because I often like music that can blend into the background. It’s somewhat unfortunate that nothing sticks out to me when I give a listen though.

Alright, I would still listen to The Crawling Kingsnakes at a country bar, or somewhere where there are unfinished wood floors, cowboy boots and peanut shells. But that doesn’t make me a horrible person. It’s fitting. It would work. I just can’t get my feet into cowboy boots.

Name: David Steen
Album: Life
Released: 2007

Members:
David Steen - Vocals, Guitar

Websites:
http://www.davidsteen.info

He’s from Atlanta, Georgia, He began guitar lessons in sixth grade and knew from there he wanted to play music. He wrote his first song in the early 1990’s called “try this love” which he saids only took him 15 minutes to write.

His new cd called “Life” which you can purchase now at cdbaby is his second cd. His cd before which you can also purchase on cdbaby is “Out of the blue”!

Now to David Steen’s music on his new cd Life!

You know how there’s nice dance type country songs where you just want to get up and sing along so loudly and do a dance to a song, well On this cd there’s quite a few of those songs but also songs on this cd is the slow “can I have this dance?” as a couple songs. The songs are like totally about where you will go in life and who you will want to be with. This is why I love the whole cd is because it’s like I never knew how to answer my own question about where I will go and how I will get there, and who it’ll be with until I heard the song “I remember texas” to me this song tells me you can remember where you are from and it’ll remember you but you can leave your footsteps in other parts of the world with somebody by your side.

Now onto my favorite song. Not saying all the songs aren’t my favorite ;)….but…. Nights like these! Man this song it has a nice tune and how he sings it, it’s like heaven so softly, It’s like the only thing you can hear is his voice singing to you these words in the song. Heaven threw us down an angel named David Steen.

You know I’ve listened to this cd in the bathroom before lol it sounds weird but while taking a bath it’s just nice to hear some peaceful and then dancefull country music playing while relaxing to me, that’s the perfect relaxation. lol sounds weird? yea of course, but it’s true. also just sitting at home and listening to it on a computer and playing a game is the best way to hear this music

This review has been written by Connerz!

Name: The Chillbilly Band Album: Back Home Released: 2006 Members: Bradly Dean Bill Dietrich Nicklas Dickerson Michael Pearce Dave Harris Website: www.thechillbillyband.com Record Label: Dean & Dietrich Favourite Song: Byoswc

The Chillbilly Band plays good natured, laid back country, and that’s just about all you need to know. They don’t challenge your sensibilities or make you ponder the tough questions. There are no crazy time signatures, 16 minute jam sessions, and there are certainly no depressing songs here. It’s just straightforward country, but it sounds more genuine than the stuff you see on CMT these days. They sound sincere without trying to sound too down-to-earthy, and their rhythms are all good news. It’s relaxed and it puts you in a good mood, good for just bobbing your head and hanging out with an ice cold brewski.

It does tend to dragged down a bit when they slow things down, such as on ‘Beautiful Disease’, which sounds a bit out of place on an album like this. I suppose it’s their attempt to try and show both sides of their sound, but they it sounds like they haven’t quite grasped the other side just yet. No harm done though, a few slower songs, and the rest of the album picks up where they left off.

I don’t feel any more analyzing will do any good, it’s everything that it is right on the surface: no frills, just good ol’ boy country music. I myself have never been a huge fan of the modern country music scene, but this is certainly one of the more enjoyable records I’ve picked up from that genre in a long time, if ever. So, if you’re looking for good music for hanging with your buds, just put this on for a spin and you’ll be set for a while.

Note from rokky: Sadly when I assigned Tyler this band, I couldn’t share with him the chocolate bars that I received with the album. I must say, a way to a reviewer’s heart is through their stomachs, and both the milk chocolate/caramel and the dark chocolate/rasberry were well received!

<3 ~ PollyPlumps