Unplugged Music Reviews

Slightly Stoopid has to be one of my all-time favorite bands. A mix of Reggae, Ska, and with some rock and Pop influences, they create a very unique sound from the base Reggae genre. They originate from California and have been in the mainstream light for years now. Their earlier music had a more tradition Reggae sound while their more recent ventures have taken on a more Poppy influence to them. They have expanded and experimented with different sounds and succeeded in perfecting them. Their studio music is well mixed and is an amazing contrast to a majority of Reggae artists who embrace a grungy type style to their in-studio recordings. I started listening to Slightly Stoopid my Sophomore year of high school and have been to two of their live shows since then. They have had  openers such as The Dirty Heads and The Expendables who also have a reggae/rock/pop type sound to them. Their concerts are a very good balance between focusing on the music and the show itself. Most conce...

I have been following This Will Destroy You since I was 13 and in middle school. They are among one of my favorite bands not just for their type of music, but for their originality in and progression they have made. You might know them for their song "Quiet" used in the trailer for the movie "The Purge". Their music does not use any singers and has no existing vocals that most bands have. Not even for harmony purposes. But this is what I love about the band. In a age of harmonizing vocals just for the sake of using them, This Will Destroy You has not given into the hype. This is what makes them so original and beautiful. Their music is a progressing trip of building and softening and building and softening, then exploding into an aurora of sound and instrumentals that most bands fail to achieve. Just like my previous review on "Mogwai", This Will Destroy You pushes the limits on song structure and creates a whole new experience in modern instrumental or...

Mogwai is a post-rock/ambient style band that really has shifted to a "pop" feel with some of their newer songs while still sticking to their old roots. This has gained them more fame and fans while still keeping their original fan base that has been around since the beginning of their more underground days. Their new Album "Every Country's Sun" has really revolutionized their music with their album titles song having lyrics and singing in it. Their music has religiously stuck to instrumentals since their forming and only as of recent have dabbled in singing. And they couldn't have done it better. Their live show starts off with a lot of energy. Mogwai songs have an art to them. Like most post-rock songs, they start of with one instrument and slowly more are added and built upon. This tangle of instruments then lead into "verse" riffs but this is where it's different. They tangle through and don't stick to a structured path of "Ve...

Shakey Graves is a very new artist to me. New as in 3 days ago new. I have heard of him prior but have never looked into his music before this week, and to say the least, I am very impressed. The warm vocals and guitar really make you feel like your driving down a dirt road at night, blasting music, and just thrashing every ounce of life your car still has in it. He encapsulated this equal measure of adventure and familiarity that doesn't deter you from diving deeper into what he has to offer. The bass drum acts as a heartbeat or cornerstone of the melodies and the guitar weaves from a steady riff to a exciting lick and then back again. In between, adding silent moments that offer a build and release to their songs. As compared to his studio albums, Shakey Graves' live performance is a much warmer feeling. his audio, from the guitar at least, sounds like it's coming from a Vox amp. It has that classic hum to it that adds authenticity. While there are big differences in...

Cage the Elephant has been a largely popular band since 2011. They first started gaining traction in the when their song "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" was used in the unveiling trailer for the video game Borderlands. Their first two studio albums were very Indie style and their live performance portrayed that careless style that Indie music is known for. I have seen them once back in 2013 before their album Melophobia was released. They played a few of their Icon songs including the one above "In One Ear" and they also played half of their Melophobia album before it was released. The performance was amazing. Now saying this, I know the difference between style and shitty sound. They intentionally have amazing sounding instrumentals while the vocals are very sparse and sang almost lazily. This is the Indie style. A care-free performance that is focused on the arousal of the concertgoers rather than the quality perfectionism that most artists strive to get i...

I'm changing things up a bit this week. I will be talking about music, but it will be about how it influenced one of the most spontaneous decisions I've made. A few weeks ago at the end of September I got a phone call from my buddy on a Thursday asking if I wanted to drive overnight to Colorado and film some long boarding the following morning. I had class the next day but decided to say "Fuck it" and have a little adventure (Sorry Prof. Nyquist). We drove all night, nearly 8 hours, and the whole time we were listening to some bands that I haven't heard since high school. We played Mogwai's newest album as we traveled open plains in western Kansas and watched the stars light up the fields of wheat. The steady builds of instrumentals that would burst into soulful, perfectly orchestrated, melodies that flushed me with nostalgia. It perfectly fit the atmosphere and created a unique mood. As we rounded the crest of the mountains and saw Denver lighting up ...