Alternative and Indie Music

Enter from sunny Southern California an indie rock band, called War Stories, formally know as One Thousand Pictures. After lineup changes, record company problems, and changes to songs...War Stories was formed. Their debut self titled release is one of the best that I have heard this year. This album is a combination from some reworked songs from the previous group and some great new tunes. So old fans should it embrace and love it. New fans will get caught up in the driving beats of up tempo songs like Lion/Take My Everything and my new personal favourite "Look to the Stars"! Other stand out songs are "TV/Cold Rain/New Lovers Voice".

The band is Evan(vocals,keys), Reid(guitar), Svend(drums) and Paul(bass).

Evan's vocals are deep and heartfelt and you can hear it clearly come out on the tune "What Does God see?"

Musically this CD makes you want to get up and get moving! Sitting quietly tapping your feet just won't do! So get up and BUY THIS CD NOW! And then TELL everyone you know about it! Please visit their Myspace page and order the CD and sign up as a friend: War Stories

The pictures you see on War Stories site and CD were photograhed by an incredible lady named Randi Curby. Please check out her personal website, her work is fantastic!
Visit Randi's site here: RandiCurby

So what you have overall is a great CD. If you live in the Southern California area, keep an eye out for live performances. Go support your local musicians. And for the rest of the country call or email your favourite radio stations and tell them to add War Stories to there playlists. Let's start a wave from the underground and get these guys some airtime they really deserve it!

After seeing the Cinematics open for OK-GO a few months back, I have been patiently waiting for there debut CD "A Strange Education"...I was not disappointed. I had a copy of 'Break' their first single here in the US and loved it. Scott Rinning's voice is reminiscent of the great voices of British New Wave Era--he will have you coming back for more and more. Musically the band makes you want to get up and dance. The hooks, the drums and the vocals really rock. The more you listen to the CD your favourite song will change and deservedly so! This really helps out so your not bored with a CD after a few listens and you WILL NOT be bored with this CD!

"Strange Education" starts off with the solid track 'Race to the City' and then the excitement really revs up with the single 'Break'! Next, is the title track 'A Strange Education' sharp crisp tune (one of my favourites) that doesn't disappoint! 'Human' is the next song on the CD and it is a song that will touch anyone who has been in love before. My favourite song on the CD has to be 'Maybe Someday' because it struck a cord of something that happened to me many years ago--I wish I had written it. Now for the song that I didn't like at all, till I saw it performed lived and now I love it---'Asleep at the Wheel'. The live performance of this song made me do U-turn---this song live is a reminder of all the glory days of shoegazing music. Seeing 'Asleep at the Wheel' live really won me over. It was so amazing it brought me back to the days of "Ride" and "Lush" it has really became a favourite of mine.

I saw this show last monday night, and I wanted to wait a while to write this review to let what I saw really sink in. What I can say to anyone that was not there SHAME-SHAME-SHAME on you---you missed in my personal opinion was the BEST show I have been too, EVER! The crowd was small but really into the Automatic Automatic. Other bands may have tanked or not even played with the small crowd, but to my utter amazement Iwan, Pennie, Frost and Rob---blew the house down! They gave it 110%! Many props to them for really giving us a great time.

I wrote a review of the Automatic Automatic debut CD in another blog last October you can read it here at http://www.indiemusicnowandthenblogspot.com. I also thought it was the second best CD of last year even though you could not buy it here in the US. It was finally released here in the US just recently. You need to get the CD for your collection.

On to the concert--The show was about 45-50 minutes of BLISTERING amazing music. Starting with "Keep Your Eyes Peeled", the magic never stopped. "Raoul and Monster" where great live! What really brought the house done was the Automatic's own version of "Gold Digga"! It was truly amazing, especially Pennie in the crowd doing the rap. Nevertheless the night had to end and it ended on a great note with "Recover".

All I will say is next time the Automatic Automatic are anywhere near you go see them--you will not be sorry! Make sure you get the CD too!