Crushed Hard by 49 Stones

I'm more than pleased to post here today the second in a new cache of coming reviews aimed at sating that thirst I know you've all been building for some time. I'm so excited about this particular band because their's is a sound I haven't heard done so well in some time, and I can't wait to hear what else comes blasting from their speakers on their next record.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Enter 49 Stones, a new alternative-rock powerhouse that will redefine everything you thought you knew about music in the post-Nirvana age. Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, 49 Stones stomps onto the scene in true hard-rock fashion. Comprising hard-rocking members Emma Jo (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Brett Cox (lead guitar and backing vocals), Garrett Cox (bass and backing vocals), and Kyle Scheel (drums), 49 Stones is a hurricane of alternative prowess, combining Pearl Jam-esque guitar solos with Garbage-inspired vocals and a Smashing Pumpkins-like rhythm section.

49 Stones; From left: Brett Cox, Emma Jo, Garrett Cox, Kyle Scheel 

From the start of their debut album Turn It On, 49 Stones has something unique that just drives me to crank the volume up all the way. The first song I listen to from the record is also my immediate favorite. "Crowded" is the song that I'd bet my teeth on is going to launch this band into the stratosphere. The second the meters start ticking, Emma's vocals are haunting and soul-splitting, slick and sultry, but brutal and definitely not to be trifled with. With Garrett Cox's bassline-blasts like cannon-fire coming down around me, Scheel's intense drumming keeps me moving hard through the night of this heavy masterpiece. Cymbal-cracks and snare-snaps ring back against the bass-pumps, and all the while Emma's voice is riding shotgun high and mighty. Then out of nowhere comes Brett Cox's high-octane guitar in a searing spectacle, shredding off whatever preconceptions I might have had before. One of my favorite parts about this song is hearing Brett Cox just make that guitar scream halfway into each chorus. There is nothing I've heard since Alice in Chains that is so hauntingly brilliant, and that would simply be enough for this song to be a number one hit. But 49 Stones are only halfway done, and just as Emma's vocals of "let's dance" ring out, Garrett Cox lets loose on a bass-solo that completely blows my mind. Yes bassists can solo, and fuckin' A does this guy pull it off! With Scheel blasting on his snare in time, the Cox-Scheel rhythm section is one for all other bands to be jealous of. As I sail into the last minute of the song riding the coattails of Brett Cox's guitar notes, Emma has to blow my mind just one more time. The carnal shriek that this girl rings from her body literally makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. What a wail this girl has, and she nails every single fucking bit of it! "Crowded" has been on repeat in my iTunes since I got this album, and all I can say is that this song is Garbage-meets-Alice in Chains in a cataclysmic mashup of shear power.

49 Stones' debut album, Turn It On

"Are You Listening" has a more hard-rock crunch than "Crowded," but still emits an alternative vibe in Emma's smooth yet firm vocal roar, and alongside Brett Cox's fretwork, 49 Stones make this one of their best performances. Scheel is going crazy all over his kit, and the 3 Doors Down-esque tempo set up by the Cox twins and Emma just kicks down anything standing in their way. Emma's voice is like a sonic battering ram, crashing through my senses like an earthquake of raw power.
Then the earthquake turns into a tsunami of epic proportions as I move to "Indigo," and Emma trades up her battering-ram vocals for something different. With Brett Cox's guitar notes ringing high overhead, Scheel keeps time as my face melts off, skewered by these soon-to-be alternative-rock gods. Another five-star track on an album of five-star tracks, "Indigo" just solidifies my belief in this band.
With other mind-blowing feets showing up all over the album, 49 Stones continue to impress me. Brett Cox's guitar solo on "Devil All Along" is not to ignored in the slightest, and the rhythm team of Garrett Cox and Kyle Scheel bangs life into all parts of this album. Emma's breathy vocals continue to blow my mind even after the album is done, and I have to play it again just to make sure I didn't miss a single thing. The heavy tapestry woven throughout Turn It On is vivid and powerful, and a critical force to be reckoned with. If you're looking for the next big thing on the alternative rock scene, here they are: loud, brash, and brilliant.

Sounds Like: Garbage, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, 3 Doors Down

Key Tracks from Turn It On: "Crowded," "Are You Listening," "Indigo," "Chelsea," "Cruel and Unusual"

Check out 49 Stones more at: http://49stones.net/, http://www.facebook.com/49stones?sk=info and http://twitter.com/#!/49stones

The Future of Musical Collaborations Is Here

It seems like I've watched this video hundreds of times already and it still gives me chills. When I first found this video on Youtube (completely by accident mind you) I was shocked, intrigued, and most of all, excited for the new possibilities it creates. The video? A full-band cover of Nirvana's "Come as You Are." But that's not the cool thing. What's so brilliant in this rendition of Nirvana's classic song is that every one of these musicians is in a different area of the country (or the world!) and they put this collaboration together completely through Youtube and the internet. I'm reminded of the musical group Florence + the Machine, where the only real member of the group (as in Nine Inch Nails) is English singer Florence Welch. Using a rotating roster of musicians, Welch creates new sounds for every song and album, assuring her music to be some of the most experimental and unique in the modern music world.
Now I'm struck again by musicians taking this idea one step further. Gone are the days of the traditional studio where tracking is done and laid down as one band member plays and the others wait outside. With the tools of the internet and sites like Youtube and Facebook, we've entered a new arena of music collaboration that is sure to be of mind-blowing proportions. As I could say very poetically, I have seen the future of the music industry, and it's the internet.
The first of these collaborations that you have to check out is the cover of Nirvana's "Come as You Are." Featuring the musical talents of Niloy63 on lead vocals, jtodd900 on guitar, jakamake on drums, and with production and bass by tydogg2443 (yes, I only know these guys by their Youtube screen names, and I'm not phased at all by that), this cover of "Come as You Are" is one of the best I've ever heard. Ever.
The intro riff by jtodd900 and tydogg2443 is just as crisp and gripping as the original, albeit with a more prophetic twist to it, like Kurt Cobain's spirit is playing the chords itself. Novoselic's bass-vibe is completely ingrained in tydogg2443's bass rumbles, and as jakamake chimes in on the cymbals, it's eery to be listening to this as a cover; it almost sounds like the original.

But what pushes it over the top for me is Niloy63's vocals: gruff, serrated, and perfectly tuned for the song, Niloy63 could very well be the next great post-grunge vocalist to come out of the underground. His voice gives me chills as I can hear Cobain's wails in the chorus just before jtodd900 talks control and swoons into a blurry and surreal guitar solo. If ever there was a cover to put on a Nirvana tribute album, this is it. In the year of the 20th anniversary of Nevermind, there is nothing so surreal and epic as finding a cover that embodies completely Nirvana's soul and power.
But the cover of "Come as You Are" isn't the only cover by this group of musicians that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. A couple of them also participated in a cover of Seether's song "Broken," which featured Amy Lee of Evanescence on guest vocals. For this cover, the lineup is TheTellTaleHeart25 on lead and acoustic guitar, Niloy63 on lead vocals, jtodd900 on rhythm guitar, chusma0 on lead female vocals, tydogg2443 on bass, and jakamake on drums. Again this cover blows me away. The collaboration between each of the musicians is so tight and easy that the flow of the cover makes it seem like their original composition.
The acoustic plucks by TheTellTaleHeart25 showcase a soft touch that builds to a blasting crescendo by the guitar solo later on, and with crashing rhythm support by jtodd900, the guitar section of this song is commendable at worst. At best, it's a tightly-knit flurry of notes and chords that takes me away in a storm of sonic progression. The rhythm section, made up once again of tydogg2443 and and jakamake is pulled-together to create a rushing and blasting feel at all the right parts of the song. Supporting the vocals of Niloy63 and chusma0, the guitar and rhythm sections of the collaboration are brilliant.

Just on top of the instrumentation are Niloy63's and chusma0's intertwining voices that create a fluttering tapestry of epic proportions. With Niloy63 adding to the song a gruff and edgy vibe, chusma0 lets loose with a crashing wail that exhibits this girl's incredible talent. If I were in need of a female vocalist for my band, this would be the first girl I'd go to.
Other covers like one of Audioslave's "Like a Stone" (featuring jtodd900 on guitar again, tydogg2443 on bass (and with production credits), Wannabesi on lead vocals, and jakamake on drums) and one of Alice in Chains' "Rooster" (also with tydogg2443 on bass and production, Pinner420420 on lead vocals, Craigman65 on lead guitar, and DCdrummer25 on drums) showcase just how far these new collaborations are going. What's most exciting, though, are the possibilities that I see jumping from these covers and collaborations. Now, artists can collaborate with each other, with anyone, no matter what the distance or obstacles. Soon the reality will be that artists are collaborating in musical and production projects all over the world, the the guitar player in Boston, the bassist in Johannesburg, the drummer in London, the singer in Toronto, and the producer in Los Angeles. The exciting new possibilities just over the horizon are mind-boggling: soon we'll see a new explosion of music the likes of which could never have imagined.
A new era has arrived. The music market we once knew will be history, replaced by a global music market-exchange system where any and every type of musical expression will now be given full coverage. Artists will now find each other and begin the create volumes of music with each other leading to forms of artistic expression not seen on such a level since the Renaissance. This is a new Renaissance in musical and artistic creation, and I can't wait to see what comes from it. This is going to be brilliant. 

Psychotic with Marion Crane

Like a scene right out of Hitchcock's thriller Psycho, Marion Crane burst onto the Florida stage with razor-sharp fangs bared and blood dripping down. A not-so-subtle mix of hard-rock grit and alternative-metal sneer, Marion Crane are just what summer called for: a hard-edged blade rusted over with the sonic samples of insanity.

Composed of S. Thomas Crane (lead vocals and guitar), Chris Stanton (lead guitar and vocals), Henry Black (bass and vocals), and Adam Tillis (drums), Marion Crane are a frost-bitten hand reaching up from beneath the bedrock of fear and darkness to grip your very soul before shaking you with a power and fury that seems won't be ignored. Metallic in their instrumental execution and grunge-laden in their vocal presentation, Marion Crane prove from the start that they have something to say as they open up every scar we have and show what lies just beneath the surface.
With guitar work by Jasper Judge, Marion Crane's debut album Kamikaze graced the sound systems of hard-rockers everywhere starting in April on last year. The 2010 release is something that floors me, because as I listen to tracks like "DNR," "Bullet" and the title-track, this sounds like a sophomore follow-up that was carefully crafted to blast the doors open after a debut got their foot just in the door. Both the instrumentation and the production on Kamikaze (courtesy of Stan Martell, who engineered the recording, mixing, and production of the album), are clean and clear, are hard-hitting in the best ways. Yet the track on the album that really stands out to me, besides the title-track, is "Illegitimate," a balls-gripping song that acts as dynamite stick in the nuclear reactor for Marion Crane's career.

Blasting forth in a brash firestorm of notes and chords, "Illegitimate" has clearly got to be Marion Crane's first single. A stew of S. Thomas Crane's serrated vocals and the blasting rhythm partnership of Henry Black's bass and Adam Tillis's drums, "Illegitimate" takes me to all-new heights when Judge's chords rip through the speakers to stab me through the heart with a force and power I can't help but embrace. If the sick music video isn't enough to convince you that these guys mean business, then Crane's half screaming/half growling vocals will prove that Marion Crane are on their way to the top of the post-grunge/alternative circuit. The best parts of "Illegitimate" are tied up together: as Crane's shakes all sense from my head with his fierce growls, Tillis is pounding that stake further through my heart with his bone-breaking beats as Black's bass crushes my head in a rusted vice. If there is one stand-out track on Kamikaze (and personally I think there are two, as the title-track is pretty core too), "Illegitimate" takes the cake in a fury that is frightening in power.
Kamikaze, though, is just Marion Crane's first number, as since its release, two more soul-crushing songs have appeared in the Crane catalog: "M.M.M." and "The New Religion." "M.M.M.," like "Illegitimate" and "Kamikaze," comes with its own stitch-splitting music video directed by S. Thomas Crane and filmed by Henry Black. One of the things that stands out on the two new tracks is the guitar work, now in the hands of Chris Stanton. Crystal clear on "M.M.M.," Stanton is determined to stamp his own mark on the already rising Marion Crane legacy. Relying on crunching chords and a biting note progression, Stanton drives Marion Crane's sound to new heights as Tillis goes apocalyptic on his drums with Black following suit on bass. Crane's vocals brush up against the walls, scraping for release from their insane asylum in a pseudo-whispered haunting tone that throws back to Marilyn Manson and Layne Staley from Alice in Chains. Perhaps more like Staley than Manson, though, Crane's vocal execution dances over the Pixies' loud-quiet-loud dynamic, growing from a creepy growl during the verses to a full-fledged roar at the beginning of each chorus. That roar launches Marion Crane into a stinging guitar solo played out by Stanton, and in a matter of mere minutes, "M.M.M." is solidified in the Marion Crane catalog forever after.
But Marion Crane have a couple more tricks up their sleeve, and one of the best ones is called "The New Religion." A slightly more driven track than "M.M.M.," Stanton handles guitar work on this one as well. From the start, one of the best things about this song is the dynamic between the vocals and rhythm section. Black's bass is on point, screwing nuts and bolts into my skull as Tillis pushes full-throttle on his kit and kicks me home with a simple, but oh-so-grinding beat. With Stanton and Crane (whose vocals are the epitome of post-grunge/alternative-metal choice) shredding up their frets and strings in hard-rock fashion, "The New Religion" is the new target for all aspiring alternative-metal bands (and is the music isn't enough to drive you over the edge, the lyrics will rip right through you).
Over and over again, Marion Crane have proved that they mean business, and with the singles "The New Religion," "M.M.M.," "Illegitimate,"  and "Kamikaze," (not to mention the hardcore music videos for the last three), it's clear that these guys are not ones you would wanna meet in a dark alley at night. Like the lines in "The New Religion" go, I've "found the new addiction," and that new addiction's name is Marion Crane. Insane and psychotic like only the best hard-rock bands can be, Marion Crane is completely unhinged, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't think they would either.

Sounds Like: Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, Three Days Grace, Staind, Chevelle

Key Tracks from Kamikaze, and Other Singles (Respectively): "Illegitimate," "Kamikaze," "M.M.M.," "The New Religion"

Check out Marion Crane more at: http://www.marion-crane.com/home.cfm, http://www.myspace.com/marioncraneband and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marion-Crane/145619948783487?sk=wall