Published Nov 15, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Soccx is a musical pop group that is becoming more and more popular in Germany. What makes this group interesting is that their songs are all in English, and the members of the group are American women, primarily from the California area. This type of thing apparently happens a lot, but I still find it pretty cool that an American group could be virtually unknown in the United States and yet be having big concerts in Germany. They even released a pretty serious music video. And although it was hard to get much info from their website since it is in German, it looks like their next stop is going to be France.
Soccx has some pretty good songs, assuming you are a fan of upbeat pop. Most of their songs tend to be about partying and having a good time. I particularly liked The Battle and Scream Out Loud.
It’s clear that a lot of effort went into creating the group’s overall image. I’m not sure of the group’s popularity in Germany, but from simply looking at their website and the published material and pictures of Soccx, it would appear as if the members of Soccx are pop superstars, whether or not they actually are yet. So whoever was in charge of designing the group’s image did a pretty good job.
The producers must have also put a lot of effort into finding the right girls to be members of Soccx. From the few videos I was able to see, it looks like the members of Soccx don’t just sing well, they also have some pretty cool dance-moves involving flips and all kinds of crazy things. It’s nice to see a group that doesn’t leave all the hard dancing to the backup dancers.
If you want to check out more about Soccx, you can go to their Myspace page or their official site. Although both websites are in German, you can get an idea of their music and see their music video. I’m not sure how to buy their MP3s, but once I find out I’ll post it here.
Edit(12-9-07): You can preview the songs in their album “Hold On” by going to http://www.amazon.fr/Hold-Soccx/dp/B000XMZKEG/. Thanks to Noreen from Soccx for this info.
By the way, sorry for not posting any new reviews in such a long time, but law school exams are coming up and things have been pretty crazy. Once this semester is over I’ll definitely start posting again.
Published Nov 13, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Goodnight LA is an up-and-coming band from Canton, Ohio. From what I gathered, they are a merger of a band called Everybody Else Wins and a band called CenterLane, neither of which I have heard before. They have a general pop/rock style, but what I like most about these guys is that a lot of their songs are simply upbeat and fun to listen to. I also like how all of their songs sound so distinctly different from each other. While listening on their website I never knew what was coming next, but I always knew it would be something good.
Their songs range from mainly rock in Metamora, to mainly pop in Now That You’re Around, to a nice combination of both pop and rock in Give It Up. I really like their use of piano to complement their songs, a good example of which is Broadway Lights the Star. My favorite one of their songs is You Know Me. It’s different than their other songs, using primarily vocals and piano with some percussion, but I think it works really well and showcases the lead vocalist.
As far as I can tell, Goodnight LA doesn’t yet have MP3s available for purchase, but you can listen to some of their songs on their Myspace page. They also have additional songs that you can hear for free on their official website at GoodnightLA.com.
Published Nov 10, 2007 at 6:48 pm
While listening to Michael Nappi’s songs I almost forgot that I was listening to someone who isn’t currently being played all over the radio. His songs sound so good that you would just assume that he must be a well-known singer. Michael has a pop/rock style that is in itself unique, but at the same time doesn’t stray too far from the norms, allowing for a large mainstream acceptance. His debut album Here We Go Again was just released at the end of October, and from the songs I’ve heard on his Myspace profile, I have a feeling it will do quite well.
Michael Nappi’s songs on his album tend to deal with specific events in his life, but they are written in a way that allow for a broader meaning. My favorite song of Michael’s is 7:26. Although it starts out talking about a specific time that he was on the radio, it goes on to say how you should always make the most of things, because you never know when your time will be up. In case you couldn’t tell from my previous postings, I’m pretty big on songs having catchy choruses, and Michael Nappi doesn’t disappoint. I think the chorus in 7:26 is pretty awesome. In fact, all of his songs have pretty awesome choruses.
I think that Save the Night in a Bottle is one of Michael’s more unique songs, and is definitely worth checking out. I really like the song Here We Go Again. The melody just sounds really good. It sounds like something that could be used as a theme song for a television show (I mean that in a good way). Like one of those shows about a family where the kids are always getting into trouble. I could see the song Gone most easily being played on the radio. It’s about a guy breaking up with his girlfriend who claims that he won’t care when she’s gone, when in reality he will. Apparently Mix 98.5 in Boston agrees with me about the radio quality of Gone, because they’re going to be playing it on the air tomorrow night.
I would encourage you to check out Michael Nappi’s songs. You can hear five of them on his Myspace page, and if you like them you can click here to buy his MP3s.
Published Nov 08, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Mikal Blue is the hit producer who helped launch such musical talent as Colbie Caillat and One Republic. You might be wondering why I’m writing about someone who produced some of the most popular artists in the country on a music blog designed to talk about relatively unknown artists. Well, what you may not realize is that Mikal Blue actually has some pretty amazing songs of his own that have gone mostly unnoticed.
As would be expected from a top music producer/engineer, everything about Mikal Blue’s songs is extremely polished. Even the one-word titles to many of his songs help to further their polished nature, with titles such as Gold, Heaven, Pepper, and Magazine. Mikal’s songs tend to have a slow rock/pop style, and I could easily foresee any of them being played on a top 40 radio station. All of his songs are pretty catchy, but I think that his latest song, Magazine, has an especially catchy chorus. I also love the melody in Pepper.
Not only do all of his songs sound phenomenal, but Mikal Blue’s lyrics also have deep meaning. They tend to be about aspects of life that anyone could easily relate to. For instance, as quoted from his Myspace profile, his song Gold “is about the realization that even though your life may not be everything you had planned, you should never give up fighting for your dreams.” Gold was actually featured on the season finale of ABC’s hit new show October Road, but I bet most of you who saw the episode didn’t realize that the song was written and performed by Mikal. Yet another example of how Mikal Blue is not as well known as he should be.
I can only assume that the reason Mikal Blue is not yet nationally known is because he is currently too busy dealing with the hit artists that he recently produced. I’m sure that it will only be a matter of time before you can hear one of Mikal’s songs on the radio, but why wait. You can listen to four of Mikal Blue’s songs on his music Myspace profile. On his profile you can also download a free MP3 of his song Heaven, which shows that even really good songs can be free. On Mikal’s profile you can find a link to purchase several of his songs, and you can click here to buy the MP3 of his single, Gold.
Published Nov 07, 2007 at 1:58 am
If you’re looking for a rock band that comes close to crossing the line into “screamo” territory but doesn’t quite go over it, then Signal The Escape is the band for you. These guys have some pretty good songs, as long as you’re okay with the occasional screaming. From what I gathered on their Myspace profile, Signal The Escape grew up in the suburbs of Connecticut, and most, if not all of their members, are the remnants of a hardcore screamo band. Apparently they decided to mellow it down a bit.
As far as my favorite one of their songs, I would probably go with Exorcism In The ER. This song sounds sort of like something from Fall Out Boy. It also doesn’t seem to contain any screaming, which is a positive as far as I’m concerned. Maudlin is also a pretty cool song. Although there’s some screaming, it’s not too overdone. Their other two songs on Myspace are a little more hardcore, but that might be something you’re looking for. Boys Lie has a pretty cool underlying melody to it, and might be worth checking out even with the yelling.
You can check out Signal The Escape’s Myspace profile by clicking here. You can also buy their MP3s on Amazon.com.
Published Nov 06, 2007 at 11:24 am
The Summer Set is a pretty cool band from Scottsdale, Arizona. Their songs tend to have a slightly more rock feel than the previous bands on this blog, but they have a pop feel to them as well. This band is especially good considering that the members are either still in high school or just graduated last year. I also think it’s particularly cool that they have a girl drummer, and all the rest of the members are guys. It kind of breaks stereotypes and gives them a unique image.
I like all the songs on their Myspace, but I would probably say that my favorite one is Cross Your Fingers. Also, don’t forget to drag that scrollbar down on the Myspace music player, as their fifth song, Ready, Set, Go is also worth checking out. On a side note, I think Myspace really needs to make it easier to see if a band has more than four songs uploaded, as I have a feeling that most bands have their extra songs overlooked if they upload more than four. I like that in addition to their four full songs, one of their uploaded songs is a sampler of all the songs on their upcoming CD. I find that most bands tend to either upload only sampler songs or upload only full songs, so it was cool to see both.
The Summer Set’s CD “Love The Love You Have” will be released November 30th. Check out their Myspace profile where you can listen to their songs, pre-order their CD, or download some of their MP3s.
Edit(11-08-07): So apparently someone from Myspace reads this blog, because two days after I wrote this post complaining about people overlooking a band’s fifth song, Myspace updated their music player so that there’s now a larger scrollbar and everytime a band’s myspace profile is loaded, the scrollbar moves all the way up and down the song list automatically to show people that there are more than four songs. Thanks Myspace for the update!
Published Nov 05, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I found out about The Friday Night Boys while browsing the Myspace top 100 artists chart in the pop category. Being that this is a brand new blog, I’m still not quite sure what standard I should use for determining whether a band is too well-known to go into the blog, but since The Friday Night Boys was listed as band #100 of the unsigned bands, I figured I should write about them to at least keep them on the chart.
In reality, I would say that The Friday Night Boys is more of a pop/punk band as opposed to a pop band, but they do a great job of combining the two genres. If I had to compare them to another band, I would say that they sound like Bowling for Soup, but more poppy. They have some pretty cool fast songs such as High School and Thursday Night Pregame. There is a pretty amazing guitar solo at around 1:45 into High School.
But then just when I thought I had their style figured out, I listened to a newly uploaded song called You Do You Don’t which is a nice slow ballad and almost entirely pop oriented as opposed to the pop/punk nature of their other songs. The song is actually really good, and I’d recommend checking it out. Their song Sorry I Stole Yo Gurl is also entirely pop, so it just goes to show that you can’t judge the style of a band by only listening to two of their songs.
I would encourage you to check out The Friday Night Boys Myspace page. On their Myspace profile you can listen to five of their songs and buy their MP3s.
On a separate note, if you like the bands that I’m writing about, let me know by leaving a comment. Your first comment needs to be approved, but then after that you can leave comments without being approved.
Published Nov 05, 2007 at 12:46 am
Tim Be Told is one of the bands that inspired me to start writing this blog. I first found out about Tim Be Told through a random Myspace friend request. Generally when I log onto Myspace, the first thing I do is go through the various band friend requests that I get. Before deciding whether to press approve or deny, I usually go to the band’s profile and listen to about 15-30 seconds of the first song that plays and see whether it catches my attention. Most of the time the song isn’t particularly good, and I’ll check one more song just to make sure I didn’t pick a bad song the first time around. If I find that a song is really good, I approve their request and then continue listening to their other songs until I hear one that isn’t so good and then I stop. When I received a friend-request from Tim Be Told, little did I know that I would be spending the next 15 minutes listening to all four of their songs posted on Myspace.
These guys have some pretty amazing songs. Their style is pretty unique, mixing some pop, with some blues, and throwing a little soul into the mix. I particularly like the vocal riffs that they tend to use on their songs. Not only is the actual music in their songs really good, but I found that their lyrics all tend to have a lot of meaning.
For instance, one of my favorite songs is called Ordinary. It’s about a guy who chooses to go into singing despite everyone else in his life constantly telling him that he won’t be able to make it and how there’s so many other things that he could be doing with his life. Even though he might not become a huge star, he doesn’t care as long as he’s pursuing his passion. I think the lyrics on this song can easily be applied to your own personal situation. All of their other songs I listened to also had very meaningful lyrics.
Although Tim Be Told might not be very well-known yet, I have a feeling that with the official release of their CD last week, that it won’t be long before they take the music-scene by storm. Click here to check out Tim Be Told’s Myspace, where you can hear their songs and purchase their CD or MP3s. My favorite songs are Ordinary, Getting By, and Heroes(but all of the songs I’ve heard are really good). They also now have a link in the Featured Artists section, as will all bands and singers that are featured on MP3s.fm.
Published Nov 02, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Hey what’s up! Welcome to MP3s.fm! My name is Aaron, but most people call me Ace. I’ve always loved music, having played the saxophone in many rock and jazz bands. After I graduate from school this year I plan on becoming a full-time audio engineer in New York City.
My main aim for MP3s.fm is to let you know about cool bands and musicians that I come across, whether it be from my browsing through myspace, or going to a show. Most of my posts will talk about bands that aren’t very well-known, but should be. My objective is to create a site that people can visit to find out about cool artists that they wouldn’t otherwise know about. MP3s.fm will also offer high quality DRM-free MP3s through Amazon.com. I hope you enjoy my blogs and keep coming back to MP3s.fm. I look forward to writing in the future. You can subscribe to my RSS Feed by clicking on the RSS icon on the menu to the right. Thanks!
