Ke$ha - Warrior

Well album number two has arrived and I'm kinda excited to hear what she's going to deliver. The first single "Die Young" leaves me a little cold to be honest but it's still a decent pop ditty just not as good as I expect for a Ke$ha single. The album does work up a little dance-floor sweat with the opening track and title track "Warrior" that has a smoking synth bass rhythm that propels the track to near epic status. Ke$ha drops "C'mon" which is that unadulterated dance party fun that makes me adore her sleazy genius. The song has a great groove and a memorable chorus which will make this song a surefire hit song at pop radio.

The sophomore slump for Ke$ha doesn't look like it will take place as it does for so many artist that have massive breakout debut albums. She is average good at times on the album but she trumps most of her competition because average Ke$ha is pretty damn good. "Thinking Of You", "Crazy Kids", "Wherever You Are" are all those average type of songs for her. I'm not overly crazy about any of them but they could bring her success again at pop radio with little effort. When she duets with the ancient punk icon Iggy Pop on "Dirty Love" and she blazes the vocals with a little dirty grit you know Ke$ha means it when she sings 'I want your dirty love'.

The softer side of the pop songstress is a nice change up on the song "Wonderland" that I really like a lot and Ke$ha writes a good ballad that has a hook and isn't just silly goo. These songs are plenty in the pop world but good ones are very few. This is one of those rare gems that doesn't make me want to drink cyanide because it's so bland and boring. The long leaked "Only Want To Dance With You" makes the album which is a good thing because the song is immediately memorable and fun. She adds another sing-a-long number to her repertoire.

With another dance-floor smasher and a Euro club track along with a pseudo ballad ala R&B slow jam she concludes a solid second album that doesn't set the world on fire but it has enough going for it that I will enjoy listening to it. There are some songs that will take up space on my I-Pod for sure and will get plenty of spins. There is a bonus track version of the album via I-tunes and the extra content comes in the form of four extra tracks. This is usually a bad thing for most releases but not here. "Last Goodbye" is nothing special but "Gold Trans Am" is a great cheerleader stomp song that blends into a near perfect chorus. The louder this song is the better it gets and the more I play it the more I like it. "Out Alive" is pretty much "Die Young" but then the sweeping electronic sounds of "Past Lives" is another nice change up for Ke$ha and as far as bonus tracks go we get two good ones one that's OK and one unnecessary song. But still better than a lot of the bonus material we seem to get all the time now.

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Example - The Evolution Of Man

Look Example has released what he calls his "rock" album but in the end it's the same stuff he's been doing all along. Sometimes it's pretty good other times its not but overall there is nothing truly different from all his stuff. The inclusion of Blur's Graham Coxon is somewhat disappointing but then again not kinda like that morning shower that you can't quite get warm enough but it does the job.

If you really like The Muse and Linkin Park then this is pretty much copy cat territory in style but lacking the passion and intrinsic melding of hard rock and hip-hop and definitely missing the progressive dynamics and fireworks that both those bands effortlessly fuse into their individual sounds. I can't say I hate this album but will I be pulling it out to play often the answer is an absolute no! The album's most notable track if there really is such a thing is "Are You Sitting Comfortably" which seems to have been dug out of Fred Durst's back pocket.

All to often as pop, rap and dance continue to gleefully trumpet their global commercial prowess over poor old rock’n’roll, there’s been no bloody end of hip-hoppers, poppers and brosteppers lining up to proclaim “Ooh baby, I’m a rock star” and plant their flags into a fat pile of riffs. But from Rihanna to Lil Wayne to Tinie Tempah, the mainstream’s idea of what a rock star looks and sounds like always seems to come either from an ’80s chewing gum advert or from the bottom of Fred Durst’s baggy jeans pocket.

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Imperial Teen - Feel The Sound

San Francisco based indie rock group Imperial Teen have released their fifth album which is a buyout flavorful collection of power pop ditties that bounce and dance through your head for hours after you listen to them. Feel The Sound is slick but not stunted when it comes to production which allows the music to ebb and flow naturally. That's what this style of music needs to do in order to make an impact because of its subtle structure. 

The album's lead single and lead-off track, "Runaway", is perfectly in line with the kind of neo-bubblegum that we've come to expect thanks to classic records like 2007's The Hair the TV the Baby & the Band."Runaway" is a strong starter for this top flight record and while this isn't a masterpiece it has many songs that are just too good to ignore.  There won't be anything here that surprises Imperial Teen fans, but everything here should make them happy. Every hook is tight and every lyric expertly delivered.


As the album plays through you get to hear some extremely good power pop like "Hanging About" and "Last To Know" which are of the highest sugar content one can fit into bubblegum power pop like this. Overall you get exactly what you paid for with this band and for those who aren't fans already this could be the beginning of a nice journey into the world of Imperial Teen.

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Olly Murs - Right Place Right Time

Well North America is finally going to get a taste of the UK star Olly Murs with a new album that combines some new material from this release and his previous album. The American release will feature the awesome and should be a massive hit "Dance With Me Tonight" but right now lets concentrate on the new album in its original form from the mighty UK.

The opening cut is "Army Of Two" and its almost his best song with the Beatles influence all over it and the catchy chorus with the marching drum beats this song is a classy opening to his new album. The current single "Troublemaker" which features Flo Rida one of those guys I'm getting pretty sick of at this point. The song is good though and even with Flo Rida on it he doesn't take away from Olly's slick production and delivery of the funky little number that is a great dance song that would have sounded wonderful back in the disco era as well.

Olly is a singles artist and that's where he will continue to be even with this album. The overall listening experience is flawed because the album contains a good amount of filler. Like "Loud & Clear", "Dear Darling", "Right Place Right Time" and "Personal" all songs that aren't very strong with "Personal" a little to close to that waste of listening time Usher in sound. I do find you get Olly doing Cold Play, OneRepublic, The Script all to often and getting lost in their sounds where I don't particularly enjoy him. Then you get an R&B funk song like "Hey You Beautiful" that lacks what Bruno Mars brings to this style. Another style that Olly seems to copy and I'm again not big on his take.

When he records a song that is more his personality like "What A Buzz" he sounds like Olly Murs and not Olly Murs doing someone else. Sure sometimes its a little difficult to really take artist chameleons like this serious but when they croon songs as good as "Cry Your Heart Out" you can't deny how good they are and Olly can be off the hook good at times like the opening cut. The very British sounding ballad "One Of These Days" is a well written pop song that Olly does a fine job emoting the lyrics in a commanding way that draws you and makes you feel part of the song scape.

There are bonus tracks a-plenty on the I-tunes UK version with moderate success going to "Runaway" another very Bruno Mars sounding song that lacks Bruno's spirit and Olly doesn't sound very into either. The best of the bonus songs is easily "Just For Tonight" which should be on the main album and it would have been a great replacement for any of five or six duds. This song is a glorious anthemic love song that invited me to dance in my chair while I listened to the song and is for sure an add to my I-Pod. More songs like this would be a huge improvement to Olly's output and maybe he could become an album artists if there was more Olly and less producers and handlers influence.

In the end Olly Murs is going to find great success with a couple of the tracks on this album and he'll be in the studio recording a follow-up probably before this one even gets cold. That is unless "Dance With Me Tonight" explodes in North America and the song becomes the anthem of the 2012 which believe me it is more than good enough to be the song of the year and could be a bigger smash than the Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen's excellent "Call Me Maybe". Here's to hoping the American release is a better package and Olly becomes a huge success here.

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Retro Rewind Track: Warrior Soul - Love Destruction

A real kick ass tune from back in 1992 that is actually even more relevant lyrically today in 2012 than back in its original release year. The band was ten years ahead of their time. This is from their third album Salutations From the Ghetto Nation which makes much of the current sub-par stoner metal sound even lamer.

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Check Out: Nikki Williams - Kill, Fuck, Marry

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Kid Rock - Rebel Soul

After Kid Rock standing up in support of that Mormon douche bag I have to admit I have a hard time listening to this album without that idiot move interfering. Kid Rock's always been a little praise oriented with his music since he switched from rap-rock to blues and country styling. The album opens with the typical later day Kid Rock singing about drinking with a bluesy stones style with little change from his last album. Song is OK nothing to write home about at all. The more dirgy "Let's Ride" is next again not a great song but passable to those who still care for Kid Rock's schtick.

With so much of the same this album isn't catching fire at all but I found myself entertained by "Rebel Soul" which has more going for it than just the "if the south woulda won" propaganda. The song has a good melody and decent hook that is worth checking out. The praise song "God Save Rock N' Roll" is a good song too bad about the stupid name and the religious tones. I wish people would just give up on the entire promotion of superstitions and myth's. We are so far past that in 2012 but still the diehards fight for their right to be ignorant fools and I guess it will take a few more years until we are free from such ignorance. BTW Kid Rock god had nothing to do with it indie rock, drugs, Kurt Cobain (pains me to say it) and the Black Keys saved rock n' roll.

For pretty much a Bob Seger album this isn't awful and there is some decent material but I can't say it jumps out of my speakers and grabs me like some of the more modern and much cooler stuff that is permeating my listening time the last few years. When Rock really drops a load of stinky shit it is titled "The Mirror" which is just bloody awful and anyone who likes this song obviously has no taste in music and should stab themselves in the ear until they can no longer hear any sounds. The albums jumps right back into Bob Seger territory where Kid seems to rip off all his inspirations from these last few years.

The eleventh track "Cucci Galore" is an attempt to be all things hip-hop which sounds more forced than he ever did previously. The song is fucking terrible and should be on permanent skip if you buy into this stuff. Now after a couple of trashcan participants Kid Rock actually finds all the ingredients to make a decent song that I can actually enjoy "Redneck Paradise" I actually like much about the redneck life outside of their guns and god bullshit so I like this song but it isn't Kids second coming.

If you aren't bored with him and his sleaze, white trash redneck douche bagness then get the album. If you've progressed as a human being since he was actually relevant or at least popular then you might want to pass this one by.

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