Papa Roach - The Paramour Sessions (Mp3 Download)

Review by Matt Collar @ allmusic.com

Having long ago dumped the tired rap-rock format of their early work, Papa Roach continues attempting to reinvent the hard rock wheel on 2006's The Paramour Sessions. Unfortunately, while the band seems to be aiming for Mötley Crüe's Theatre of Pain, the results sound something more akin to a nu-metal version of Loverboy's Keep It Up. These are boisterous, brash, and in-yo-face tracks that really want to convince you they have the goods. And sure, the band does evince a kind of Technicolor, Sunset Strip-club, cocaine line on a Marshall stack vibe, but mostly the songs just ain't there. Admittedly, "The World Around You" has a catchy chorus and "Time Is Running Out" is a suitably anthemic pop tune. However, while Papa Roach makes a lot of gestures toward rock & roll suicide on The Paramour Sessions, the album ends up being a lot like lead singer Jacoby Shaddix's confession of "I've got a jet black heart, it's all f*cked up and it's falling apart" on "...To Be Loved." It sounds a lot cooler than it actually is.

Track Lists
01. ...To Be Loved
02. Alive (N Out Of Control)
03. Crash
04. The World Around You
05. Forever
06. I Devise My Own Demise
07. Time Is Running
08. What Do You Do
09. My Heart Is A Fist
10. No More Secrets
11. Reckless
12. The Fire
13. Roses On My Grave
14. Scars (Live) [Bonus Track]

Dan Bern - Breathe (Mp3 Download

track Lists
01. Trudy
02. Breathe
03. Feel Like A Man
04. Remember Me
05. Suicide Room
06. Tongue-Tied
07. Rain
08. Visit In My Dreams
09. Past Belief
10. Another Man's Clothes

The Meeting Places - Numbered Days (Mp3 Download)

Review by Ned Raggett @ allmusic.com

The Meeting Places' debut was a listenable if ultimately unsurprising slice of 21st century shoegaze and Numbered Days readily continues where it left off with cascading guitar riffs, dreamy vocals, and more besides. If anything, the sound they started with has been perfected to a fault, and while one can easily put this album on as fine background music first and foremost, it's the subtler touches which stand out all the more precisely because they spike the well-established formula. The piano part on "Until It's Gone" and the melancholy guitar-as-radio-signal feedback underneath the chorus of "Hall of Fame" show that they can be deft to good effect. Perhaps what's best -- and in a way, what's most frustrating -- is hearing when the band suddenly, thrillingly takes to the skies. Consider the airborne guitar breaks on "Nothing's the Same," when the scope of the song expands to widescreen, or how the repeated line "You wait alone" on "Sink into Stone"'s near Smashing Pumpkins-level volume of riffing becomes the tense heart of that song. If the Meeting Places could just have more of these moments throughout, they'd really be onto something big time, but there's something too safe about them still -- the great leap forward isn't yet apparent. If nothing else, though, given shoegaze's reputation as a style that elevates sound qua sound over clarity as such, having a song called "Mumble" shows a sly sense of humor at work.

Track Lists
01. Love Like The Movies
02. Until It's Gone
03. Nothing's The Same
04. Mumble
05. Hall Of Fame
06. Sink Into Stone
07. Numbered Days
08. The City's Asleep
09. Pause
10. Cardboard Robot

Armik - Lost In Paradise (Mp3 Download)

Review by Jonathan Widran @ allmusic.com
Armik's lifelong love affair with the flamenco guitar began on his first visit to Spain at age 20, when he saw the legendary Paco de Lucia perform. Driven by a fire for the tradition that has defined his musical life ever since, the young musician immediately switched from his electric Gibson CS175, trading his Wes Montgomery licks for an in-depth journey to the heart of Spanish music. Launching his solo career with 1994's Rain Dancer -- a Top Ten Billboard New Age hit, like his five subsequent releases -- he drew upon his jazz roots and flamenco passions to create a revolutionary twist on the emerging nouveau flamenco sound. Armik's Bolero Records debut, Lost in Paradise, paints a lush landscape of a unique style he calls "gypsy jazz," joyfully blending classic elements of rhumba, cha-cha, bolero, jazz, and, taking a rhythmic sojourn down to Brazil, a bit of bossa nova. The bold, percussive opening rhumba track "Barcelona Sunsets" thrusts the listener full throttle into the raw, emotional power of the Armik experience; his powerful fingerstyling is enhanced by a lively piano harmony. This is balanced by the gentle intimacy of the title track, a slow rhumba featuring a dreamy, seductive guitar line. The snappy cha-cha-cha piece, "Golden Rule," features Armik's plucky strains over a spirited, rolling groove. After the romantic sizzle of "Bolero Passion" (parts of which feature a harp like guitar sound), the fast rhumba "Almeria" brings back the fire for an aggressive, percussion-dense jam session. The Fender Rhodes-enhanced "Gypsy Love" demonstrates the true fusion that defines Armik's style, a soul-jazz meets flamenco jam that almost singlehandedly creates a new genre.

Track Lists
01. Barcelona Sunsets
02. Lost In Paradise
03. Golden Touch
04. Balero Passion
05. Almeria
06. Magic Of Your Eyes
07. Treasures From Spain
08. Dreaming Of You
09. Gypsy Love
10. Romantic Escape
11. Solo Para Ti

Mario Frangoulis - Sometimes I Dream (Mp3 Download)

Review by Jonathan Widran @ allmusic.com

More seasoned in years than Josh Groban, this Rhodesia-born and Greek-raised and cultured tenor is a veteran stage performer well versed in everything from classical opera to popular musical theater, even Shakespeare. With Peter Asher as executive producer, the idea is to showcase the ethnic and multi-lingual diversity of an extraordinary artist while also nudging him into the mainstream of adult contemporary music. The good news is that he has an equal, relaxed facility for English, Spanish, Italian, and his native Greek, and like Groban, he even engages the hearts of listeners who can't understand the words (translations are included). The general technique is the slow groove beginning with subdued vocals, then a burst of passion and sizzle as the beat and production values pick up. Producer Steve Woods contributes a few new dramatic tracks (the best of these is the soaring, wistful "Vincerò, Perderò"), but it's even more interesting to hear what Frangoulis does with material based on Puccini (the seductive, exotic ballad "Sometimes I Dream") and classics from the film Life is Beautiful (the mystical "Buongiorno Principessa") and Nino Rota (an atmospheric, flamenco-tinged "Canzone Arrabbiata"). Rock fans looking for a connective thread will gravitate to the balmy Italian-to-English version of the Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin," whose pop-classical flavor is perfect for an artist trying to bridge those two genres. Justin Hayward is on hand to sing along and nod his approval of this loving tribute.

Track Lists
01. Vincero Perdero
02. Buongiorno Principessa
03. Sometimes I Dream
04. Luna Rossa
05. Naturaleza Muerta
06. Night In White Satin (Notte de Luce)
07. Ton Eafto Tou Paidi
08. Non Sara
09. Hijo de la Luna
10. Nights Want To Forget
11. Canzone Arrabbiata
12. La Luna de Valencia