Pink Martini - Hang On Little Tomato (Mp3 Download)

Review by Heather Phares @ allmusic.com

It would be easy to liken Pink Martini's music to the lounge and swing revivals of the '90s. However, the 12-piece mini-orchestra's mix of jazz, classical, Latin, and vocal pop sounds more organic than the work of, say, Combustible Edison. Like the Squirrel Nut Zippers -- who were always more than just a straightforward swing revival band -- Pink Martini do more than just rehash their influences; by dabbling in different sounds that they love, they've come up with their own. And even on the most theatrical moments of their second album, Hang On Little Tomato, such as the Yma Sumac-meets-chamber jazz of "U Plavu Zoru" or the smoky Italian ambience of "Una Notte a Napoli," a lot of genuine sentiment shines through. Though most of Hang On Little Tomato -- named after a vintage Hunt's Ketchup ad -- consists of originals, a few well-chosen covers stake out Pink Martini's sonic territory: the festive "Anna (El Negro Zumbon)"; Villa-Lobos' "Song of the Black Swan"; a downright swellegant version of "Let's Never Stop Falling in Love"; and "Kikuchiyo to Moshimasu," which features Hiroshi Wada, the slide guitarist who played on the original recording of the song. Amid all the multiculturalism, Hang On Little Tomato emphasizes the French and Cuban elements of Pink Martini's sound, with "Dansez-Vous" and the lovely "Autrefois" nodding to the former, and the ever-so-slightly mischievous ballad "Lilly" tipping its hat to the latter. The album's moods are almost as wide-ranging as its sounds, spanning the innocence of the title track's '30s pop and the Bacharach-esque sweetness of "Clementine" to the world-weary "Veronique" to the smoky romance of "Aspettami." A more full-fledged album than the band's debut Sympathique, Hang On Little Tomato offers a charmingly populist approach to music.

Track Lists
01. Let's Never Stop Falling In Love
02. Anna (El Negro Zumbon)
03. Hang On Little Tomato
04. The Gardens Of Sampson & Beasley
05. Veronique
06. Dansez-Vouz
07. Lilly
08. Autrefois
09. U Plave Zoru
10. Clementine
11. Una Notte a Napoli
12. Kikuchiyo to Mohshimasu
13. Aspettami
14. Song Of The Black Swan
15. [Bonus Track]

Finch - What It Is To Burn (Mp3 Download)

Review by Jason D. Taylor @ allmusic.com

Finch's full-length debut is a phenomenal account of a band riding the thin line between hardcore and pop-punk while retaining a trademark sound that stands out from the crowd. Incredibly catchy while retaining a shred of independent integrity, Finch brings with them a familiar sound that speaks of years of finely tuned development and maturity, yet in all reality the group has only been together for a few short years. This young group builds on the style they introduced on 2001's Falling Into Place EP, further establishing Finch as one of the most promising bands inhabiting the scene in 2002. "Letters to You" and "Perfection Through Silence" also find their way onto this album from the band's earlier EP, allowing old favorites to feel right at home with the new material. Nate Barcalow's vocals ooze with passion and drip with the expected punk angst, yet where other groups fail at making an emotional connection with the listener, Finch excels at it. Barcalow's prominent melodies woven between the harmonic guitars bores holes in the heart. Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo lends his recognizable screams on two separate songs, "Grey Matter" and "Project Mayhem," where he and Barcalow play off one another to make each song a must-hear track. Palumbo even sounds vaguely similar to Bad Brains' H.R. when singing on "Grey Matter." "Project Mayhem" lives up to its name, as it's a powerhouse of a song with irate screams and piercing guitar squeals tearing through spastic programming courtesy of Mark Trombino. Finch ventures into emo territory on the sappy "Without You Here," yet the band uses this mellow side sparingly and allows the song to be a refreshing mid-album relaxant. The lyrical poignancy prevents the song from feeling too generic, and it actually allows the listener to feel genuine melancholy, rather shocking for just another pop-punk band. That is just it, though -- Finch isn't just another pop-punk band, as for every "Stay With Me" or "Three Simple Words" that adheres to the typical emo/punk stereotype, there are songs such as the album's opener, "New Beginnings," or the despondent "Ender," which is a momentous opus of programming bliss. What It Is to Burn is an album that exemplifies everything that is right in the punk scene, from the dejected sadness of emo to the agonizing fury of hardcore, and most importantly in Finch's case, the uplifting tones of pop-punk. Finch has exceeded any possible expectations with their debut full-length and, as with their Falling Into Place EP, leaves you craving more.

Track Lists
01. New Beginnings
02. Letters To You
03. Post Script
04. Grey Matter
05. Perfection Through Silence
06. Awake
07. Without You Here
08. Stay With Me
09. Project Mayhem
10. [Untitled]
11. Three Simple Words
12. Ender
13. What It Is To Burn

The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan (Mp3 Download)

Review by Heather Phares @ allmusic.com

According to Jack White, Get Behind Me Satan deals with "characters and the ideal of truth," but in truth, the album is just as much about what people expect from the White Stripes and what they themselves want to deliver. Advance publicity for the album stated that it was written on piano, marimba, and acoustic guitar, suggesting that it was going to be a quiet retreat to the band's little room after the big sound, and bigger success, of Elephant. Then "Blue Orchid," Get Behind Me Satan's lead single, arrived. A devilish slice of disco-metal with heavily processed, nearly robotic riffs, the song was thrilling, but also oddly perfunctory; it felt almost like a caricature of their stripped-down but hard-hitting rock. As the opening track for Get Behind Me Satan, "Blue Orchid" is more than a little perverse, as though the White Stripes are giving their audience the required rock single before getting back to that little room, locking the door behind them, and doing whatever the hell they want. Even Jack White's work on the Cold Mountain soundtrack and Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose isn't adequate preparation for how far-flung this album is: Get Behind Me Satan is a weird, compelling collection that touches on several albums' worth of sounds, and its first four songs are so different from most of the White Stripes' previous music -- as well as from each other -- that, at first, they're downright disorienting. As if the red herring that is "Blue Orchid" isn't enough warning that Get Behind Me Satan is designed to defy expectations, "The Nurse"'s ironically perky marimbas and off-kilter stabs of drums and guitar -- not to mention lyrics like "the nurse should not be the one who puts salt in your wounds" -- make its domestic skulduggery one of the most perplexing and eerie songs the White Stripes have ever recorded (although Meg's brief cameo, "Passive Manipulation," which boasts the refrain "you need to know the difference between a father and a lover," rivals it). "My Doorbell," on the other hand, is almost ridiculously immediate and catchy, and with its skipping beat and brightly bashed pianos, surprisingly funky. Meanwhile, "Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)" turns cleverly structured wordplay and those fluttering marimbas into a summery, affecting ballad.

But despite Get Behind Me Satan's hairpin turns, its inspired imagery and complicated feelings about love hold it together. Though "the ideal of truth" sounds cut-and-dried, the album is filled with ambiguities; even its title, which shortens the biblical phrase "get thee behind me Satan," has a murky meaning -- is it support, or deliverance, from Lucifer that the Stripes are asking for? There are pleading rockers, like the alternately begging and accusatory "Red Rain," and defiant ballads, like "I'm Lonely (But I'm Not That Lonely Yet)," which has a stubborn undercurrent despite its archetypal, tear-in-my-beer country melody. Even Get Behind Me Satan's happiest-sounding song, the joyfully backwoods "Little Ghost," is haunted by loving someone who might not have been there in the first place. The ghostly presence of Rita Hayworth also plays a significant part on the album, on "White Moon" and the excellent "Take, Take, Take," a sharply drawn vignette about greed and celebrity: over the course of the song, the main character goes from just being happy to hanging out with his friends in a seedy bar to demanding a lock of hair from the screen siren. As eclectic as Get Behind Me Satan is, it isn't perfect: the energy dips a little in the middle, and it's notable that "Instinct Blues," one of the more traditionally Stripes-sounding songs, is also one of the least engaging. Though Jack and Meg still find fresh, arty reinterpretations of their classic inspirations, this time the results are exciting in a different way than their usual fare; and while the album was made in just two weeks, it takes awhile to unravel and appreciate. Get Behind Me Satan may confuse and even push away some White Stripes fans, but the more the band pushes itself, the better.

Track Lists
01. Blue Orchid
02. The Nurse
03. My Doorbell
04. Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)
05. Little Ghost
06. The Denial Twist
07. White Moon
08. Instinct Blues
09. Passive Manipulation
10. Take, Take, Take
11. As Ugly As I Seem
12. Red Rain
13. I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)

Transplants - Transplants (Mp3 Download)

Review by Adam Bregman @ allmusic.com

An inspired side project, Transplants features Tim Armstrong of Rancid, Armstrong's buddy Rob Aston rapping, blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, and a host of pals dropping in. They don't really sound much like Rancid, though at times one does hear the Clash in these tunes. A bit more rock & roll than punk rock, Transplants spare listeners any ska tunes. However, there is plenty of hip-hop courtesy of Aston, who raps in a macho and at times grating style with no shortage of borrowed gangsta clichés. In fact, Transplants sound best when he's not shouting about gats and hos. Every time Armstrong's gutter punk-accented, mushmouth voice appears, Transplants sound more soulful than rap-rock. Armstrong hasn't written hook-filled songs like these since And Out Come the Wolves. "Down in Oakland," the one song he wrote without Aston, is among the album's catchiest. Check out Armstrong's slick and reverby surf guitar on this one. Aside from singing like a punk rock Marvin Gaye and playing snazzy guitar leads, Armstrong is also responsible for the blues piano loops that anchor "Diamonds and Guns" and "California Babylon," songs that sound a good deal better than their titles. Perhaps the album's best number is the downbeat "Weigh on My Mind," featuring the throaty, understated background vocals of Brody Armstrong of the Distillers, who sings the chorus "I've got so many problems and they weigh on my mind" with her husband, Armstrong. When are they going to make a record together? Among the other key contributors is Vic Ruggiero of the Slackers, who lays down some cool piano and organ grooves throughout. And there's a not half-bad rap tune called "D.R.E.A.M.," which bites an overused Method Man refrain from the Wu-Tang Clan song "C.R.E.A.M.," but sports a beat that's as G-funk as punk gets.

Track Lists
01. Romper Stomper
02. Tall Cans In The Air
03. D.J. D.J.
04. Diamonds And Guns
05. Quick Death
06. Sad But True
07. Weigh On My Mind
08. On Point
09. California Babylon
10. We Trusted You
11. D.R.E.A.M.
12. Down In Oakland

My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (Mp3 Download)

Review by Alex Henderson @ allmusic.com

If you're searching for a dose of party music or feel-good escapism, you won't find it on I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. Lyrically, this debut album by My Chemical Romance is definitely on the dark side; lyrics like "The amount of pills I'm taking counteracts the booze I'm drinking" (from "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us") and "I think I'll love to die alone" (from "Cubicles") are typical of the New Jersey band's less than rosy outlook. But like so many angst-ridden alternative pop/rock and punk-pop artists who have emerged in the early 2000s, My Chemical Romance know how to be exuberant and introspective at the same time -- musically, they tend to be aggressive and hard rocking, but lyrically, they're all about introspection. And that combination certainly isn't unique; from Nirvana to blink-182 to Creed -- from post-grunge to emo -- plenty of alterna-rockers have demonstrated that a band can rock aggressively and be introspective at the same time. But if My Chemical Romance are less than groundbreaking, they're good at what they do. Produced by Thursday's lead singer, Geoff Rickly, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is a generally decent effort -- one that deals with a lot of negative emotions and does so in a very candid way. Some will find the lyrics depressing, but then, rock music isn't obligated to press the smile button 24 hours a day. Sadness, pessimism, anger, disillusionment -- none of which are difficult to find on this album -- are, like happiness, pleasure, and optimism, valid areas of rock expression. I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love falls short of exceptional, but it's a noteworthy, generally respectable debut for the New Jersey combo.

Track Lists
01. Romance
02. Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Two Of Us
03. Vampires Will Never Hurt You
04. Drowning Lessons
05. Our Lady Of Sorrows
06. Headfirst Of Halos
07. Skylines And Turnstiles
08. Early Sunsets Over Monroeville
09. This Is The Best Day Ever
10. Cubicles
11. Demolition Lovers