Music reviews, by Fabiola Beylouni:<\/p>\n
AFI: \u201cDecember Underground\u201d (Interscope Records)
\nI vividly remember the earsplitting squeal of joy that escaped me when I heard the first radio single, \u201cMiss Murder\u201d. They were back. After a bit of a drought, AFI fans have been able to rejoice the band\u2019s reemergence on the music scene with their latest CD. The songs on \u201cDecember Underground\u201d are no less powerful than they were in previous albums, but seem more refined somehow. Kind of like a disgruntled, tantrum-throwing teenager growing up and mellowing out. I\u2019ve always loved their old stuff, and it\u2019s reassuring to see that while they\u2019ve experimented with their sound, they haven\u2019t lost their recognizability. http:\/\/www.afireinside.net\/ \u2013 FB<\/p>\n
Shiny Toy Guns: \u201cWe Are Pilots\u201d (Universal Records)
\nI warn you; don\u2019t listen to this CD while you\u2019re driving, especially if you have the tendency to speed, because once that sucker is blasting over your sound system, you\u2019ll think you\u2019re Vin Diesel in The Fast and the Furious. With their rad mix of indie and electronica, the Shiny Toy Guns know how to make you dance, particularly with their single \u201cLe Disko\u201d. \u201cWhen they came for us\u201d, one of their slower tracks, kind of reminds me of a Death Cab song. Their lyrics are a little tough to decipher, but heck, who cares when you\u2019re losing yourself in their melodic riffs? http:\/\/www.shinytoyguns.com\/ \u2013 FB<\/p>\n
The Killers: \u201cSam\u2019s Town\u201d (Island Records)
\nOkay, I adore the Killers. I mean, I literally know every word to every song from their last CD, so I was expecting the same kind of fast-paced eighties-esque tracks that caused my hips gyrate on so many occasions. Boy, was I let down. Why does Brandon Flowers suddenly sound ill when he sings? Like he can\u2019t quite hold the note all the way to the end of a phrase and just gives up mid-word? Is it just me? Maybe Brandon really is sick, and the band temporarily replaced him with a billy goat. Either way, this album just doesn\u2019t compare to its predecessor. http:\/\/www.thekillersmusic.com\/ \u2013 FB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Music reviews, by Fabiola Beylouni: AFI: \u201cDecember Underground\u201d (Interscope Records) I vividly remember the earsplitting squeal of joy that escaped me when I heard the first radio single, \u201cMiss Murder\u201d. They were back. After a bit of a drought, AFI fans have been able to rejoice the band\u2019s reemergence on the music scene with their latest CD. The songs on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":147,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2006\/09\/19\/music-reviews-secret-apollo\/","url_meta":{"origin":211,"position":0},"title":"music reviews… secret apollo","author":"admin","date":"September 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Music reviews by Kent Manthie Secret Apollo: HOMEMADE TIME MACHINE (tall people records) Secret Apollo have twiddled and fiddled with the knobs in the studio for a bit and wound up with this ultra-cool, way hip CD, which is not too long, either, only about 40 minutes altogether. There are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1187,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2009\/08\/08\/re-packaged-re-marketed-punkrock\/","url_meta":{"origin":211,"position":1},"title":"re-packaged, re-marketed punkrock!","author":"admin","date":"August 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"SUBHUMANS reissue Southern Records recently re-packaged (Some) and re-issued the Subhumans catalog on CD that were originally released back between 1981 and 1986 on Blurrg Records. Here are reviews of those new CDs and thoughts on why their popularity is timeless, as looking at your average teenage \"misfit\" punk-rocker with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4530,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2011\/04\/17\/the-dark-meadow-alliance\/","url_meta":{"origin":211,"position":2},"title":"cd review: i Am Esper, Glowing Valleys","author":"Kent","date":"April 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"[cd review]i Am Esper, Glowing ValleysTHE DARK MEADOW ALLIANCE, part one Dark Meadow Recordings, 2011 Reviewed by Kent Manthie Since the middle part of this decade, Justin Palmieri has been working hard under the pseudonym, \u201cEsper\u201d. A short while ago he released his latest CD, this time for Dark Meadow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/i-AM-esper-Glowing-Valleys.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":102,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2006\/07\/19\/headache-%e2%80%9cdiscography%e2%80%9d-cd-and-mini-book-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":211,"position":3},"title":"Headache: \u201cDiscography\u201d CD and mini book review","author":"admin","date":"July 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Headache: \u201cDiscography\u201d CD and mini book (Life is Abuse Records) Review by Kent Manthie It is a good thing to see this culture evolving into the jaded paradigm of Fahrenheit 9\/11 and \u201cThe DaVinci Code\u201d these days; Sartre would feel vindicated. One way of looking at the rise of cynicism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1236,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2009\/08\/19\/exene-cervenka-profile\/","url_meta":{"origin":211,"position":4},"title":"Exene Cervenka Today","author":"admin","date":"August 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"[punk pioneer profile]A Shot of Whiskeyin a World of Sugary Sweet Exene Cervenka's new CD, Somewhere Gone, comes out in September on Bloodshot Records. by Vladimir Bloom Exene Cervenka's name should be on the tip of every music lover's tongue. 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The icy dream-tracks on here make me think of stark European landscapes; gray English overcast landscapes mixed with steely German minimalism.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}