Sell Out Records - A Music Review Blog

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I caught wind of LEL Brothas and was shocked that these guys aren’t bigger. They should be on the radar of every single person’s hip hop collection. I’m surprised with how the beats are done here, very clean, and to the point. The rapping is solid, rhyming through lyricism that you’d expect from the best MC’s in the game. You will sing along, bounce your head, and hit the switches on your low rider to the tracks on this record. From the intro which mixes news and media into a hip hop intro, to the track “The Drank Game” you get a feel for the sound that the LEL Brothas bring down with relative ease. Things flow well through the first few tracks, and then track 6 starts to really triumph as “Killa Cali” drops with an emphatic flow that you’re going to be wanting to hear again and again and again. All in all, The Epidemic represents a very good record that you’ll find to be on par with anything that is being released in the mainstream right now. In fact, the beats and the diversity of ...

It astonishes me how old I’m getting, especially when I listen to some of my favorite records and realize that they are nearly older than my younger sister. Rancid released “And Out Come The Wolves” In 1995, and I was only 12 years old. I purchased the cassette tape from Epitaph Records. They had a catalog that they mailed people, and I filled it out in pencil, put a few dollars into an envelope and next thing you know I had a new cassette tape, some stickers and a sampler. That was how it was done back then, now? I don’t know what happens now, people just download stuff I guess. Rancid’s rise to fame was not something that happened over night, they pushed and pushed through the Bay Area punk scene until it hit big. This record is by far one of the top selling albums in the punk world, and one that everyone probably already has in their rotation, and if not, what’s wrong with you? From the opening track of “Maxwell Murder” through the singles that you probably heard on the radio on...

The booming percussion comes through first on “EP One” and some of the most compelling guitar and bass lines trump through before you get the full scope of what The One2s have to offer. I was immediately blown away by the opening of “Wide Awake” and then as things progressed, it just got better. This EP is another prime example of how you can create lavish, guitar driven, percussion laced alternative rock without having to turn too much pop on the draw. The vocals and guitar work all drive home an incredible sound, one that is not too far off from bands like Denali, Sonic Youth, and others. What starts with a bombastic manner, dives into more melodious rhythms and rock sounds through the course of the release. Each track stands alone as a single in my view, with each one getting better than before. You get a mix of vocal options, and you get an incredible sound that is definitely nothing you’ve heard recently, and that’s perhaps what draws me to love this one. The use of bass and d...

Filthy Racket has definitely done something powerful with the release of their latest EP “Raw”. The powerhouse band brings forth a bit of raw punk energy, mixed with garage band noise and produces a fine example of pure rock energy. Not nailed down by one genre, they possess the kind of influx that you would expect from the 1990s alternative scene. Melting together power chords, fuzzy bass lines and clever vocals to create a solid release. With the release of “Raw”, Filthy Racket does a good job of presenting themselves as pure rock enthusiasts. Instead of relying too much on one sound, they just throw a lot out there and it works for this short release. Out of the 5 tracks, you will have a hard time picking your favorite because they all have something different to showcase. Whether it’s piano, bass, or guitars, you’re going to find that there’s a lot to be found here. Stand out tracks are definitely “I’m On My Way”, “When There’s No One Else Around”, and “Been Drinking To My D...

When it comes to rock, there’s a lot of genre shifting. Crowe definitely has a lot of monikers that you can throw at them, but one thing is for sure, they are staying true to the core rock formula that introduced the world to an alternative to the jazzy sounds for the 1930s and 40s. This is like a time capsule to the birth of rock, classic or not, “Crowe 2.0” puts on a display of true rock sounds that you will be hard-pressed to compare with other bands right now. From the first moments of “Afterglow” through the rest of the 8 total tracks, you’re going to get hit with that distortion and bass that comes through the rock pathos that you’ve come to love today. It’s rare to hear an independent record with such heavy rock influence without trying to shift into all sorts of genres. This band doesn’t need that, it is rocking from the first track to the last, and it shows. Some of the standout moments include “Afterglow”, “Swallow a Gun”, “liquid”, and “Unbreakable”. However, as is my ...

The first few notes of the latest release from Ash In October are enough to wake up the jaded music fan in just about anyone. This Australian band works with electronics, and after a hard road of trying to get noticed back in the 1980s scene, they faded away. 25 years later, with a whole new purpose, they have come back and recreated their original release with an all new recording of epic proportions. The sound that you get from their new recordings is nothing short of poignant, and very much in the arm of the 1980s. You will swear that you’ve heard these songs in movies, on MTV and radio. If you’re as old as I am, then you absolutely remember the pathos that are created with both “Greater Crime” and “Sex Machine”. The band puts together a good mix of rhythm, and bass, mixed with cool electronics and solid vocals. The originals are interesting, but they don’t have that power that the freshly recorded options do. However, they do have that “Weird Science” type of electronic sec...