Lo Pro
Lo Pro
(Geffen)
Sounds like: Angry 'no one understands me' teenage anthem
See also: Staind, Linkin Park, and Disturbed
Rating: 1.0

Guys, it's been done before.

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's new bands that all feed off each other and don't bring anything to the table. It makes me think: Why do we need new bands? Everyone knows Rock and Roll achieved perfection in 1974. It's a scientific fact.

The real fact is that a lot of these bands featured on stations like 92.1 KFMA have all assimilated into one consolidated mass.

Lo Pro's self-titled album is a combination of teenage angst (which has been played out since Kurt Cobain said it was), and that god awful rap-core genre that needs to find a nice pine box fast.

Listening to Lo Pro's tracks, I quickly realized that they were indistinguishable. Some are fast-tempo like "Fuel" (let's agree that this is a clichŽ title by now) and "Not Me," and others are slower, but still retaining that angst-edge like "Sunday" and "Reach."

Lo Pro's new album basically stood on the shoulders of giants and doesn't exactly contribute anything new or interesting to the music scene. Sure, there's lots of heavy 7-string guitar and maybe some pretty cool sound effects, but all these songs sound the same!

Even if you're into this particular genre, you'll probably do best to save your time. There isn't anything worthwhile on this album.

The Spiders
Glitzkreig
(Acetate Records)
Sounds like: The Sex Pistols got doctorates in music
Bands like them: None, but combine the Pistols, Zappa, Queen, and Alice Cooper and you've got something like it.
Rating: 4.8

Wow.

O.K, take the Sex Pistols, Alice Cooper, Queen and Zappa, jumble them into a ball and bound it all with electrical tape and you have the Spiders.

The Austin foursome has released their sophomore album Glitzkreig, and with what an effect!

Sonic play of punk-style guitar plucking, heavy riffs, and a chorus ensemble has the new album sounded like a classic 70's glory-era punk/art combination.

Lyrically the band is something different than anything else out there. It's something between Queen and Zappa ÷ at once humorous and biting.

"Gospel" combines heavy low-end guitar chords with some very interesting sonic play that is evident throughout the album and introduces an artistic element which simultaneously contrasts and complements the overall punk scheme of the Spiders.

"Sex is Thicker than Blood" along with "Gospel" combines the Queen/Zappa-like lyrics with a definite Sex Pistols swagger evident in songs like "Anarchy in the U.K.," etc.

In "School Nights," some sweet guitar-plucking, evident in other areas of the album, are used to formulate an awesome intro that readies the ear for the ensuing deep rock.

"French Queen "combines some humorous Zappa-type lyrics (Lead vocal and guitarist Christopher Benedict urging a girl to have casual sex) with some hard riffs punctuated with some slower, almost reggae influenced strumming. The track also showcases lead guitarist Eric Shaw's amazing talent of constructing some whirling and dizzying riffs that make you shout for more.

"The Invasion" is something a bit more poppy than others but still retains that artistic element making it unlike any of the contemporary punk or metal out there on the radio dial.

Dave Matthews
Some Devil
(RCA)
Sounds like: Flimsy emotional acoustic music (definitely not rock and or roll)
See also: Unless you've been living in an Afghan cave with Al-Qaeda, you've heard a Dave song before.
Rating: 0.0

Man, if you're looking for some wuss rock (though I can't even really qualify this as rock), or just looking for a new album from an old artist that sounds exactly like all of his other stuff, then pick up Dave Matthew's new album Some Devil.

This album brings nothing to the table. All of the tracks sound like any number of Dave Matthews songs you could bring out of the archives.

And having listened to an entire Dave album, I can say with firm conviction that this is not my style of music, and I can't honestly see why people go so ga-ga over him.

Dave's voice on the new album is the same whiney tone that it characteristically takes, and the songs themselves are nothing new; lots of acoustic/electric ballads that sound like they were composed by a kid in his dorm room (no offense to all my friends in the dorms, but Dave is an old guy playing the same stuff he's probably been playing since he was our age).

The only interest I took in Some Devil was a piece written in collaboration with Phish's Trey Anastasio. However, Trey merely added some rather mediocre guitar riffs under Dave's raspy voice; not enough to have me writing home about.

But enough of my personal opinion. If Dave Matthew's is in your bag, then you'll probably like the new album; that is if you weren't really expecting Dave to break the mold anytime soon.

Holly Golightly
Truly She is None Other
(Damaged Goods)
Sounds Like: A British Sheryl Crow on downers
See also: Juliana Hatfield, Natalie Merchant, White Stripes

"Blending, and pushy, creepy and scratchy, I keep thinking about wool. Is Holly wool?"

So wonders Jack White of the White Stripes on the linear notes to Truly She is None Other, the latest album from British folkster Holly Golightly.

Golightly was recently featured on the last track of the White Stripes' Elephant, "It's true that we love one another." While this collaboration got her some publicity, she's by no means a newcomer, churning out eleven albums in the last eight years.

Truly is not a departure for Golightly, but the same garage band style that has been hers from the beginning. Golightly's bluesy unemotional voice fits perfectly with the authentic feel of the album, which sounds like it was recorded in the 50's.

But a great voice won't give you a perfect album.

Songwriting is the biggest issue on Truly. While her voice is nice, the songwriting needs to diversify. You get lost in the monotony by the end of the album, and you no longer care about her voice. There are bright spots with the up-tempo, "It's All Me" and the appropriately titled closer, "There's an End."

She also hits on covers of the blues classic, "Black Night" and The Kinks' "Time Will Tell" and "Tell Me Now So I Know." ö Nate Buchik

Golightly will be appearing at Solar Culture on Oct. 4.