Cape Cod Massachusetts offers up this 4 piece that is beaming with talent yet they are all over the board as far as their style goes. There is a smorgasbord or sounds that make up Goodbye Harbor Road ranging from Punk to rock to hardcore to emo depending on your preference this could be a good thing or a bad thing. The first Song on the track “Shelter from a nuclear blast or colors on a new canvas” absolutely does not fit in the vocal range of David Baines and fails to capture your attention in that. With that said the album improves greatly with track 3 “A Scaple Dipped in Ink” and track 4’s “The Second Half of the First Requiem” where as Baines vocals are within a range that suits his voice and doesn’t clash with the sound that accompanies them. With the classic sense of Emo and Emocore understood they do tend to sway toward that side and vocally he can bring it home in that style ala Sonny Day Real Estate. The Drumming of Rob Peterson is what is the strength of this band. You can hear the skins and symbols ache in pain from the stiff pounding they are taking while still adding new dynamics and smooth drops in transitions. I can see this band coming to form and with more trial and error along with identifying what are their strengths and weaknesses. A bright future may bestow them.

Recommended if you like: Sonny Day Real Estate, Seaweed

Boston Massachusettes very own Blanketeer breaks onto the scene with this their first EP that has the staggering impression that this is their third or forth effort. When you pop your cherry in this fashion with such a well produced and orchestrated sound one can only wonder what heights can be obtained in the future. This plush indie/pop sound is filled with many pleasantries, whether it is the organ or guitar as lead or Adam Coopers unique voice and singing style. Adam Cooper on lead guitar or Chris Bailly on piano/organ they are able to accent a tight and sweet rhythm section of Amy DiSciullo on bass and Darron on drums (which I am to understand is now Jen Chouinard but I am uncertain if she was the drummer on this production). The First track on the self titled album is “Excuses” that has unique delivery in the verse that skips along with the song. The Shining star on this album most definitely is that of track 5’s “Notice” that has smooth highs and lows packed with vocal power and crisp breaks. Emotion and passion is best embraced on this track. Track 6’s “Escape” has a full and rich sound that is dynamic and fresh that gets the toes tapping before too long. This Band budding together offer up a fine American Indie pop sound that is refreshing and easy for almost anyone to take in and enjoy.

On a side note the origin of the word Blanketeer is interesting in itself. Dating back to 1894 where General Coxey of the US lead 50,000 persons on a 700 mile track to Washington with blankets on their backs in search for work. Also a similar event took place in Manchester much earlier. If these cats continue self producing such quality I don’t think any long hikes with blankets on their backs will be planned any time soon considering they wont be in need of a job while having a music career.

Recommended if you like: Elliott Smith, Damien Jurado, XTC

Rachael who hails from Sommerville Massachusetts has a rich and powerful bluesy-folk vocal delievery. With that range she dives into many different styles whether it be more of an rock feel on track 2 “Saturday” that is short and absolutely sugarcane sweet or that folk/blues feel or “Sweat and Bones” on track 3. Her Lyrics not only leap into your head for you to sing to yourself later but they are dripping with passion and originality. The chugging strumming style on “Sweat and Bones” hammers down the track for me. Track 4’s “Blood Laughs” is in the flavor of the Cowboy junkies with the accompanying spacey sound and reverb vocals. The Shinning star might be “This Breath won’t hold” that has such a wonderfully pleasant chorus that churns in your head with the chugging guitar. For Me Rachael steps out of the typical coffee shop folk mold and into a more mainstream and almost radio sound at times. The lyric driven songs might find it hard to find themselves on the corrupt radio waves due to the all the qualities that make her so good. That is a good thing whereas the underground will embrace her and give her a profitable career doing what she does so good. The Sorrow and ill lit lyrics of times gone wrong are what make her so strong and unfortunately this has never been radio friendly but with that said what have you heard on the radio lately that was any good anyway? It’s what you don’t hear that have the real fans and in that in due time Rachael I am sure will be getting her share of fan mail.

Recommended if you like : Cowboy Junkies, Cat Power, Fiona Apple, Juliana Hatfield, Liz Phair

Entering the realm of Synth Experimental Ambience you fill find The Lost and Found Sound to be amongst those attending. The Work of Stacy Stephens is different from almost anything you might hear. With use of sound bytes and Synth sounds and instruments He is able to branch out to the outer edges of normality. This the second Effort from The Lost and Found Sound from Arizona for the most part failed to hit the mark. Although I like track 2 and 3's big bass sound and creeping progression there seems to be just a feeling of one big loop without a focal point or rises and falls of action in the over all momentum of the tracks. Track 1 has the use of sound bytes that I do often enjoy. In this effort there are potentially great uses of distance in sound by using different levels of volume. Some of these levels do peak out on the bass side creating distortion. Even though the method was well done there is a loss in the message. Track 8 is interesting with the sound byte used of a phone recording with a big bass beat with the techno impressions. Yet this too can become redundant. What I really enjoy about Jungle, drum and bass, trance, Hip Hop, etc are the DJ's that can escape the loop feel and make the music move like a song or an orchestra. I believe that Stacy and the Lost and Found Sound have the ability to do that this effort wasn't able to accomplish that. We hope to hear more in the future as He comes into being and finds out exactly what the Lost and found sound symbolize and represent to the listener. There are 23 Tracks on the album and much for listeners to check out and determine for themselves if this is indeed something for their liking. I like surprises in my music and hope to hear more of them in the future.

The Post Modern sound of Mishka hail from Roswell Georgia. Although the category of Post Modern is ambiguous in that it covers the spectrums from post punk to 80’s power pop the happy medium of this that of Mishka. There are the undertones of The Cure, Depeche Mode and The Smiths that helped to categorize this genre. With Mishka they do have very talented musicians that pull together tight sounding songs that really don’t have anything different or special within them to make you stand up and want to listen again. Track 1-3 are almost the same song that you might hear on a B-side of any of the above mentioned bands. Track 4 there is a sense of something different that is a bit more enjoyable to the listener. Perhaps it’s the vocal delivery and the vocal range of the chorus that is captivating. Track 5 “You Got Me” is easily the best track on the song. A bouncy feel that is accompanied by a beautiful vocal delivery. This has those elements of a what great bands do when they put together an album. I can only wish that in the future that they swing their style to more of this sound whereas I feel their strengths are best exhibited.

Recommended if you like: The Smiths, The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order