I can get into this, no problem. The Big Picture plays soft, bedroom-y pop with emphasis on slow tunes that feature acoustic, or, at least softly electric, guitars and quiet melodies on keyboard. None of it gets too loud. And it sure is cutesy — like “About A Dog”.
Read More »The Big Picture [Feature Band] 
Written by Fense
Sometimes when I review an album, I like to go in fresh, knowing nothing of the group, their influences, what people thing they sound like, what I expect them to sound like, et cetera, et cetera. Tonight I’m sitting in The Old Edison Inn, one of the few restaurants in Edison — one of the few businesses. I don’t feel like cooking. So I decided to pack up my laptop and pop in for a quick bite. I have, in fact, heard their Alaskan Wild Salmon Burger is mighty tasty, so naturally that’s what I’m awaiting. Read More »All The Saints [Feature Band]
I don’t know about the rest of his library of material, but “Drowning” by Chris Flew (MySpace) really reminds me of one of my favorite acoustic folk-pop duos. No, I’m not talking about Simon & Garfunkel, though they’ve been related to them — I’m talking about Kings Of Convenience. It can be heard in the lightly-strummed acoustic guitar, as well as the compiled vocal harmonies. Read More »Chris Flew [Feature Band]
Written by Fense
Bathed in orange light from an Ikea touch-lamp, I sat down at my kitchen table a few evenings ago. On the table I placed three things: 1) a box of organic ginger snaps, which was to be my dinner as I did not feel like cooking, 2) my white MacBook, 3) a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. I set forth with a task — to pare my inbox down from its more than 300 emails to under 200. It was going to be a long night. Read More »Johanna And The Dusty Floor [Feature Band]
Written by Fense
I get a lot of email. I also get a lot of promo albums. The combination of the two mean that FensePost can sometimes be more a second job than a hobby. As much as I hate to say it, sometimes I get a lot of crap for writing overwhelmingly positive reviews and features. But the way I see it, why do I want to promote something I think is bad? In other words, I get a lot of promo crap as well. And at other times, there’s simply too much to get through. Like now, for example. My promo piles have outgrown the size of the promo rack. They now sit gathering dust on top of the rack as well as within. Read More »The Theater Fire [Feature Band]
Written by Fense
It’s been almost a month since The Lemurs (MySpace) dropped Million Little Bits on us via Thirty Tigers, and it’s already gaining much traction across the country. But that’s no real surprise; The Lemurs’ music is of a very accessible note — it’s catchy, filled with various hooks and packed with riffs that easily get stuck in your head. Read More »The Lemurs [Feature Band]
The first track from Silence Is Wild, the latest release by Frida Hyvönen (MySpace), reminisces on Hyvönen’s childhood. Having just discovered her heritage — she’s from Sweden — I think back to my childhood and a young Swedish boy named Peter. He was an exchange student who stayed with my family while I was in high school. Read More »Frida Hyvönen [Feature Band]
Written by Fense
In music, it is very rare to create something entirely new. To break ground would be to christen a new instrument, one that does something bizarre, one that sounds like no other. Or to use an instrument in a way that has never been done before. Moments like these have spawned great works — my recent viewing and subsequent coverage of Kraftwerk And The Electronic Revolution comes to mind. Another artist along these lines could be Wolf Eyes. Read More »A.Armada [Feature Band]
Anytime you inject rock music with orchestration, especially when it “rock” is often synonymous for “pop”, the term anthemic comes to mind. That’s what you get with Light Pollution (MySpace) — anthem-like rock music with hints of Arcade Fire’s instrumentation. When it comes to this group’s vocals, however, I’d say they sound a bit more like Feral Children (minus the Modest Mouse reference). Read More »Light Pollution [Feature Band]
Written by Fense
One of the first noticeable items about Cake On Cake (MySpace) is the name. It’s a sweet (no pun intended) take on Bob Dylan’s classic Blonde On Blonde. The two, of course, have little, if anything, in common. It’s there; but that’s not really important in the bigger scheme of things, now, is it? We’re here to hear about the music. Read More »Cake On Cake [Feature Band]
