Author: The Headless Horseman

In this review Griffin swoons over pop music, rants against "Misery Business" and describes Hayley Williams as "not inordinately gorgeous."

Artist: Secret & Whisper Album: The Great White Whale Label: Tooth & Nail Records Buy It: Amazon/Amazon MP3 Reviewer: The Headless Horseman 1. Blonde Monster 2. You Are Familiar 3. Vanishings 4. XOXOXO 5. The Actress 6. Spider Besider 7. Looming Moon 8. Attacker 9. Anchors 10. Werewolves 11. Lovers 12. Great White Whale There once was a band. They managed to put out a first release (an admirable feat in its own right). They got some notice, turned some heads, and started to gain some momentum.… Continued →

Artist: Jars of Clay Album: Closer EP Label: Gray Matters Buy It: eMusic or Amazon MP3 Reviewer: The Headless Horseman 1. Closer 2. Safe to Land 3. Love Song For A Savior (2008) 4. Flood (New Rain) 5. Prisoner of Hope “Thank you so much. You’re ready for the angry rock ‘n roll of Jars of Clay.” – Kevin Max I was lucky enough to see Jars of Clay live this summer. It was a great performance, with highlights like “Work,” “Frail,” “God Will Lift Up Your Head” and “Crazy Times.”… Continued →

Artist: See You Soon Album: Don’t Give Up EP Buy It: Smartpunk or Amazon MP3 Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. Lights 2. Run Run Girl 3. Never Be The Same 4. Don’t Give Up 5. Fall In Love 6. Perfect 7. If You Want To There are two kinds of musicians: those who are like Flight of the Conchords, and those who aren’t. Explaining the meaning of this will be difficult, so allow me to illustrate. Rise Against are not like Flight of the Conchords.… Continued →

Artist: Chandelle Album: The Cold That Keeps You Alive EP Label: Green Bean Recordings Buy It: Amazon MP3 Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. The Cold That Keeps You Alive 2. Lions and Lambs 3. In These Bones 4. Our Days are Numbered 5. I Keep the Door Open 6. Throw Your Spark I have a confession to make. I am a dirty sexist rotter. Shun me. I have this thing for girls who sing pop songs. And Chandelle made me fall, very, very hard.… Continued →

Artist: Kiros Album: A Single Strand Label: Torque Recording Company Buy: IVM Store Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. Strengthen Me… 2. Hold Your Breath 3. Alone Tonight 4. City Lights 5. Speak Softly 6. Of Wolves and Angels (Anthem for the Insomniac) *Note: “Of Wolves and Angels” is free to download at the band’s PureVolume page.* 7. Dear Michigan 8. Heaven 9. Lying Sure Beats Shaving Your Legs 10. …That I May Not Cause Pain 11. Beautiful 12. The Reprise It takes a lot of talent and a lot of luck to form a successful band.… Continued →

Artist: Anberlin Album: New Surrender Label: Universal Republic Buy It: Amazon/Amazon MP3 Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. The Resistance 2. Breaking 3. Blame Me! Blame Me! 4. Retrace 5. Feel Good Drag 6. Disappear 7. Breathe 8. Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights) 9. Younglife 10. Haight St. 11. Soft Skeletons 12. Miserable Visu (Ex Malo Bonum) I can’t think of a witty line or clever example with which to begin this review, so here’s some random trivia: 1. There are seven words in the song titles that begin with the letter “B.”… Continued →

Artist: Amohalko Album: Spark Free Download: IVM Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. Hey Auren 2. Pound It Emerald! 3. Bacchanale 4. Slapstick Tragedy 5. Your Real Best Friend 6. Sancta Somnia (Feat. Rebekah Coley) 7. Pulse 8. Catalyst 9. Ultrasound – A Tone Poem 10. Per Severance 11. Right Where It Belongs (Nine Inch Nails Cover) It was the first week of January, the perfect time for frantically exchanging late Christmas presents. The two of us were isolated in some part of a labyrinthine church basement.… Continued →

Artist: Capital Lights Album: This is an Outrage! Label: Tooth and Nail Records Buy It: Amazon/Amazon MP3 Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. Outrage 2. Worth as Much as a Counterfeit Dollar 3. Out of Control 4. Remember the Day 5. Miracle Man 6. Mile Away 7. Work it Out 8. Let the Little Lady Talk 9. Return 10. Kick It Off 11. The Night of Your Life is When You Die 12. Frank Morris There are some bands you just know cannot make a great CD.… Continued →

Artist: Run Kid Run Live/Acoustic at Soulfest 2008. Label: Tooth and Nail Records Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. Rescued Me 2. Wake Up, Get Up 3. Captives Come Home 4. Freedom 5. I’ll Forever Sing 6. The Modern March 7. Sing to Me 8. Move On 9. Love at the Core 10. We’ve Only Just Begun 11. One in a Million *This review is dedicated to John Wayne, without whom I would never have realized how amazing Run Kid Run is. If you know him, give him a hug and buy him a Frappucino and a Millencolin CD.*… Continued →

Artist: Ten Shekel Shirt Live at Soulfest, July 30, 2008. Label: Rounder Records Review by the Headless Horseman. Setlist: 1. This Story* 2. Risk 3. Spark 4. Wartime Lullaby 5. It’s Slavery 6. Jubilee 7. Fragile 8. You Rescue 9. Daylight* 10. Ocean 11. Peace With You * – I’m not positive about these songs, but they’re my best guess. Lamont Hiebert is an abolitionist. And no, I’m not speaking figuratively. Ten Shekel Shirt frontman Hiebert is also a co-founder of Love146, an organization dedicated to ending child slavery and exploitation.… Continued →

Artist: We Shot The Moon Album: Fear and Love Label: The Militia Group Buy: Amazon MP3/The Militia Group Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. The Water’s Edge 2. Sway Your Head 3. LTFP 4. Faces 5. Perfect Time 6. Tunnel Vision 7. Julie 8. On Your Way 9. Hope 10. Upon Waking She Found Herself A Cougar 11. Into the Blue 12. Please Shine As I write this, it’s 1:46 A.M. I spent most of today working and most of the last hour listening to the latest acoustic, digital-only Alkaline Trio single.… Continued →

Artist: Man Alive Album: Man Alive Label: B& Recordings/Doghouse Records (US) Buy: The IVM Store Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. If You Breathe, You Bleed 2. The Things Left Worth Dying For 3. In Spite of All 4. Invincible 5. Stick Around 6. Mission Abort 7. Morningside 8. Laugh or Cry 9. Until Somebody Screams 10. Proud To Be Un-American 11. Myth vs. Fact There’s something great about listening to the artists we can still unabashedly call punk. Before I go on, let me clarify that: I am not here referring to bands like Black Flag, whom I would consider hardcore.… Continued →

Artist: Search the City Album: A Fire So Big The Heavens Can See It Label: Tooth & Nail Records Buy: Smartpunk/Amazon MP3 Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. Son of a Gun 2. To The Moon, For All I Care 3. Detroit Was Built On Secrets 4. Ambulance Chaser 5. Talk is Cheap and I’ve Got Expensive Taste 6. The Rescue 7. Bigger Scars Make Better Stories 8. The Streetlight Diaries 9. In This Scene You’re Just An Extra 10. Clocks and Time Pieces Let’s talk about pop music.… Continued →

Setlist: 1. The Glory of It All 2. Here Is Our King 3. No One Like You 4. Foreverandever, etc. 5. Remedy 6. Open Skies 7. I Saw The Light 8. Never Let Go 9. Wholly Yours 10. Never Ending 11. Everything Glorious 12. You Are My Joy 13. Rescue is Coming 14. O Praise Him (All This For a King) 15. Undignified 16. Sing Like The Saints Encore: Here I Am To Worship This isn’t really a review. It’s a fable. It’s a timeless tale intended to teach a lesson.… Continued →

Artist: Burning Tree Project Album: Time and Color EP Label: Independent Buy: The Burning Tree Project Webstore Review by the Headless Horseman. 1. Dear Valentine 2. Hero 3. Hello 4. Free 5. Put Your Helmet On 6. Less of Me, More of You The best thing about reviewing CDs is that you can lie to people. Many reviewers seem to hit the ground running with this. I don’t mean so much that reviewers don’t accurately state their feelings about a CD. All of them, so far as I know, do that quite well.… Continued →

Artist: Sophia Album: My Morning; Migration Label: Independent Buy: Your Very Own IVM Store 1. Vanity, Remember the Peacock 2. Cry, the Seagull’s Greed 3. Mockingbirds After The Picture Show 4. Suffocating the Magpie 5. Providence 6. A New Song For This Vulture 7. Raven, Digging Up The Grave 8. Desertification 9. Sultans and Swans 10. The Dove’s Solemn Hymn 11. The Nightingale’s Darkest Night 12. A Flock of Geese Listening to this record, My Morning; Migration by Sophia, I have suddenly become aware that, in the grand scheme of things, I am much more important and influential than you are.… Continued →

Artist: One Star Story Album: The Empty Room EP Label: Transatlantic Records Buy It: Amazon MP3 1. Say Anything 2. Tears Behind a Smile 3. So Long 4. Crushed Beneath the Wait 5. Simplicity of a Button 6. Love 7. Call It a Story (Bonus Track) There has never been a better time for One Star Story to unleash their music on the world. Gone are the days of 2003, when the only current female-fronted rock groups known to the average music listener were No Doubt, whose snarky and ska-influenced singles unfortunately pervaded the airwaves about that time, and newcomers Evanescence, whose music contained all the schmaltz that their post-grunge leanings suggested.… Continued →

Artist: We Shot The Moon Album: The Polar Bear & Cougar EP Label: The Militia Group Buy: Amazon MP3 1. Sway Your Head 2. Julie 3. The Water’s Edge 4. Ltfp 5. Welcome Home Jonathan Jones is almost certainly known to all of you, if you are at all like me. At the same time you were spinning Destination:Beautiful, you were probably spinning Composure. If piano-based indie-pop-rock is your thing, you’ve probably erected a cozy spot in your music collection for Waking Ashland to occupy.… Continued →

Artist: Sonset Down Album: You Lose Label: Wounded Records Buy It: Interpunk 1. Medicine and Gold 2. And the Headline Reads…”Terror! Terror!” 3. Running From Serpents 4. Sleeping With Wolves 5. Bullets and Battle Scars 6. The Art of Combat 7. Casualties 8. You Lose 9. Providence 10. The Outlaw: The Messenger 11. Blister (The Black Riders) Dear Josh, I apologize for the lateness of this review. Paraphrasing a line from A Few Good Men: “Since I don’t have a good excuse, I won’t bother coming up with a bad one.”… Continued →

Artist: Gorilla Warfare Album: The Battlefields Label: Wounded Records Buy: Gorilla Warfare’s Myspace 1. Awaken 2. Another Day 3. Crusade 4. The Great Depression 5. Working Class 6. Pack of Wolves 7. No Way Out 8. Our War 9. The Truth 10. Two Faces 11. Line of Respect 12. When The Good Times Are Over (Bonus Track) While perusing Gorilla Warfare’s MySpace, pursuant to the writing of this review, I saw that they tend to post reviews in their blog. I rather hope they don’t post this one there.… Continued →

Artist: Long Live Logos Album: Mundus Vulti Decipi… Label: Pacific Records Buy: IVM Store 1. Walk 2. The Darkness When I Close My Eyes (The Light When I Open Them) 3. Come On, Come On 4. Dark World 5. You Never Say What I Want To Hear 6. Hey Jesus 7. Grace 8. The Science of Blushing 9. Enough Said 10. All I Need “The word “logos” in Greek has an extraordinary range of meanings — the heart of which is both “meaning” and “reckoning”. Hence, it may refer to a “word” or a “thought” or a spoken phrase or an idea or that which conveys something which, to the hearer, is meaningful and, thus, can move them.… Continued →

Artist: Everett Album: Destination EP Label: Wooden Oxen 1. The Crown 2. Lay Down Your Arms 3. LaGuardia 4. The Anchor Dallas Taylor. One of the more revered names out of the class of “Recent Christian Heavy Music Frontmen.” Taylor fronted Underoath to a Solid State Records deal and one of the earliest Christian hardcore/new-wave emo records, The Changing Of Times, which paved the way for bands like Cry Of The Afflicted, Dead Poetic, and post-Dallas Taylor Underoath. After departing on somewhat uncertain terms, Taylor formed Southern rock band Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.… Continued →

Artist: Pistis In Him Alone Album: Darkness Only Is The Absence Of Light EP 1. Wonderful Spirit 2. Contentment 3. Redemption 4. Adoration 5. Confidence By way of introduction, let me say that Pistis In Him Alone is the most intense worship band I have ever heard. That’s probably because they’re a German hardcore band. Pistis – a Greek word for faithfulness – (In Him Alone) disbanded in 2006 after six years together. But as they went headbanging into that good night, Pistis left us with their swan song EP, Darkness Only Is The Absence Of Light.… Continued →