Extraordinary Machine By: Fiona Apple Year: 2005 Click here for the artists site I’ve been an avid Fiona Apple fan since the early days, when Tidal first came out, and I heard the song “Shadowboxer” for the first time. I’ve just always been moved by her sultry, deep alto voice, creepy piano melodies, and disjointed but catchy lyrics. But I was even more a fan of her second album, When the Pawn . . . which showed so much growth as an artist and composer. But I wa...

Blackfield By: Blackfield Year: 2004 Click here for the artists site As anyone who frequents this site (or, in all honesty, converses with me about music for any period of time) will know, I am a huge Steven Wilson fan. I have loved his work with Porcupine Tree, and was curious to see what else this amazing musician had done. In the reissues of all the old Porcupine Tree discs there was a little flyer for a project Wilson had done with Aviv Geffen, a popular Israeli musici...

Today I've decided to review two albums by Arjen Anthony Lucassen. As some of you may know, he is the genious behind the “Ayreon” albums – some of the greatest concept albums in the history of recorded music. This guy could put Homer to shame, the way he can tell a story in song . . . The second-to-last Ayreon project was a two CD set called “The Universal Migrator”. Lucassen used these two separate discs to explore the two different sides to his music – the first disc is atmospheric an...

The Dead Word By: Deadsoul Tribe Year: 2005 Click here for the artists site The Deadsoul Tribe is another band that I would know nothing about if not for the impeccable album “The Human Equation” my Ayreon. Devon Graves (or Buddy Lackey, if you prefer) sang the part of Agony, his soothing voice belying the power therein. But upon hearing his work with his current band, I was blown away by the (in many cases) simplicity of his music, but the raw power it held. These are ...

Graveyard Mountain Home By: Chroma Key Year: 2004 Click here for the artists site I really enjoy the early work of Dream Theater. I found their first two big-release albums to be extremely technical, atmospheric, and lyrical. I especially identified with the keyboard stylings of their pianist, Kevin Moore. After time, he left the band, and I really felt that the music suffered for his loss. But he has been busy since leaving DT. He did extensive work on two epic Fates W...

I'll admit it. When I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, way back in its freshman season, I was only watching for the incomparable Sarah Michelle Gellar. I remember seeing advertisements (I think I was about thirteen or fourteen) and thinking, "Wow. Now there is a prety girl. I'm going to have to watch that show." But my mother, in typical Mama Jones fashion, forbade me. And, in typical sonny-boy San Chonino style, I refused to obey and watched it in the basement, telling her I ...

Rather than write a set of long reviews that no-one will read or care about, I decided to write a slew of small reviews (that no-one will read or care about). But anyway. Cloud Cult: Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) (Indie/Existential Rock) This is Cloud Cult's latest release (and purportedly their last for a while, possibly ever), and is well worth a listen. It's streamlined, focused, and well-written. It's a bit shorter than other albums, and nearly every track ...

I was doing some homework for my online class (History of Rock Music) this weekend. Our chapters this weekend were a mixed bunch, with a chapter on funk and disco and another on the development of rap. Now, rap and hip-hop are music styles that have long escaped me. I've always sorta liked house music like the Beastie Boys (and their instrumental stuff has always been my favorite, oddly enough), but never really got into the hip-hop scene. Recently, I've found a few hip-hop artists wh...

I've been a devoted fan of The Office for the fast two years. It's a show that, while I thoroughly enjoy and look forward to every Thursday, I wish I would have started watching four years ago and been there from the beginning. There are a couple of other shows that, luckily enough, I was able to catch from the get-go - Pushing Daisies , Reaper , and Chuck . But there's another show that I'm s ad I've missed until this, its third season, is 30 Rock . The first season was on sale at...

I don't try to keep it hidden anymore - I'm an unabashed Nine Inch Nails fan.  I have been since 'The Downward Spiral' came out back in 1994. I still hold 1999's 'The Fragile' to be one of my Top Ten Albums of All-Time. And then Trent Reznor disappeared off the face of the earth for years, only to resurface in late 2005 with 'With Teeth', which while I wasn't a huge fan initially, is the album I probably listen to the most right now.  He followed that up in 2007 with 'Year Ze...

I don't know how many of you are Radiohead fans (I'll be the first to tell you, BlueDev is not, so he's not going to care about this news), but the big news came out today - new Radiohead! And in a very weird way . . . Radiohead finished their deal with EMI after their last record, Hail to the Thief (2004). And they've been silent ever since. Frontman Thom Yorke put out a solo album, The Eraser (2006), that initially I liked, but with subsequent listens I've been less excited by it. ...

Given to the Rising By: Neurosis Year: 2007 Click here for the artists site Neurosis will claim your souls. Simple as that. They require your complete adulation. They demand that you worship them as gods of metal. I don't even think that they necessarily want your stinky souls, but they've earned them. They have worked far too hard to climb to the top of the fringe metal heap, as the single most blisteringly original band in the entire US. They've consi...