Celldweller - Celldweller [D1 Music]

I’m really jealous of Krayola’s abilities to find awesome bands. When she posted about Celldweller on D1's message board a few months ago, I was immediately hooked. The first song I listened to off of mp3.com, “Stay With Me (Unlikely)”, was an instant favorite. A few months later, Celldweller was released, and it is easily one of the most well-done albums I’ve had the pleasure of buying.

Each song individually is fascinating and captivating, but the album as a conceptual whole is infinitely more satisfying. The CD flows together seamlessly, flowing from one song into another, creating a crescendo of emotion that goes full circle. Out of all of the music I listen to, I would rank Celldweller as one of the most perfectly designed musical masterpieces. The seamless transitions of the CD are comparable to a Tool concert, or to Poe’s Haunted.

To categorize Celldweller’s music with a single genre would be impossible; he has melded more musical traditions effectively than any other artist I’ve heard. His base is a merger of rock and techno, but the underlying influences range from reggae to rap to classical. Celldweller’s sound is truly unique, and is accented by several guest vocalists, including D1 artist Fluffy Starr.

By far, I consider the song “Stay With Me (Unlikely)” and the reprise “Unlikely (Stay With Me)” as the instant loves and strong points of the album. But recently, I’ve been captivated by the intonations of “The Last Firstborn” and “Symbiont”. Explanation of any lyrics off this album of love and hate isn’t possible, nor necessary.

I was not able to find this CD in the stores in my area, but it is available on Celldweller.com for a very reasonable price.

Suggested Listening:

“Stay With Me (Unlikely)” (available on mp3.com)
“The Last Firstborn”
“Frozen” (ft. Fluffy Starr)
“Unlikely (Stay With Me)”
“Welcome To The End” (ft. Fluffy Starr)

Alanis Morissette - Feast On Scraps [D1 Music]

Soon after the release of Under Rug Swept, Alanis Morissette followed up with a DVD/CD set, Feast On Scraps. The CD itself is a collection of songs that didn’t quite make it onto previous works, but they are all easily of exceptional quality.

“Bent for You” is the second song, and is probably one of my favorite songs currently of Alanis Morissette’s. The track has a vague Indian style beat, and the lyrics are typical Alanis quality. The title comes from the repetitious “I’ve bent for you and I am done.” Alanis is done with molding herself to meet the expectations of others, and done with trying to make herself fit into a relationship that wasn’t natural. She’s done with attempting to force a relationship, and she’s done beating herself up in the process.

“Sorry to Myself” runs on much of the same themes as “Bent for You”, with the key line of “To whom do I owe the biggest apology? No one’s been crueler than I’ve been to me. I’m sorry to myself. My apologies begin here before everybody else. I’m sorry to myself, for treating me worse than I would anybody else.” Alanis never ceases to amaze me with the depth of her lyrics, and “Sorry to Myself” was no exception. Alanis speaks of how she got so caught up in trying to take care of everyone else, that she denied herself in the process. She realized that she held herself to higher standards than she would to others, and is apologizing and forgiving herself for demanding a type of detrimental perfection.

“Sister Blister” is the feminist olive branch of peace. Many times Alanis captures the very honest and personal world and mindset of womanhood, and her music can be an inspiration and a fight for women’s rights and women’s esteem. In “Sister Blister”, Alanis touches on the sometimes all too true reality of women attempting to make it in a man’s world, but stepping on each other as well in their pursuits of success. “Sister blister we fight to please the brothers, we think their acceptance is how we win. They’re happy we’re climbing over each other to beg the club of boys to let us in.”

The idea of having a compilation CD of songs that didn’t make it on to previous albums might be scary for some, but I really do find this CD to be top quality. It doesn’t quite have the overall flow or thematic qualities that her other CDs do, but the songs themselves are top quality, and very much worth listening to.

The DVD is also a ‘feast on scraps’ as it’s a video scrap book containing home video clips, backstage footage, and live recordings all melded together fairly seamlessly. The audio is a little messy in some places, but they mentioned that on the case when I bought it, so I can’t complain. It’s pretty typical of a DVD with live concert footage, but still very good, and very interesting if, like me, you haven’t been to an Alanis concert. I haven’t been able to watch the DVD all the way through (you definitely get your money’s worth out of this one, because the disk is virtually completely filled) but what I have watched has been completely engrossing.

I think I paid a little under 20$ for the set, so it’s definitely a bit more pricey than your average CD, but with the amount and quality of material, I’d say the purchase is well worth it if you’ve got the extra change.

Suggested Listening:

Bent For You
Offer
Simple Together
Sister Blister
Sorry to Myself

Luna Halo [D1 Music]

If I close my eyes I can remember the adrenaline rush of one of the best concerts of my life: Exit 97. End of the year at Liberty University, with bands Third Day and Reality Check headlining. I rushed to the stage as Reality Check went on, and spent the last few hours of 1997 in music ecstasy.

Four years later I was sitting in my dorm room and my eye caught the Reality Check poster I had bought at the concert, and wondered just what had happened to the band. I hopped online and found that, unfortunately, that they had disbanded not too long after that wonderful concert. But Nathan Barlowe, the lead singer, was working on a new project, Luna Halo. So out to the store I went, and soon got my hands on their album, Shimmer.

Luna Halo wasn’t at all what I had expected. To be honest, I was waiting for Reality Check, part 2. No reggae rock rap here. Instead, I was greeted with what I can only describe as a true new rock sound.

Shimmer opens with a futuristic feel by sampling actual Russian cosmonaut transmissions in the song, “Alien”. The album carries a fairly medium-weight rock sound throughout, with a few softer, more reflective songs like “Forgiveness” and “Complacent”. The lyrics are very insightful, and Nathan’s voice had a way of instilling the message they carry. The album also contains power-driven melodies from the confessional of “Superman” to the haunting bassline of “Beautiful”.

By shear luck I noticed a small green flyer on campus one day and went in for a closer look. Lo and behold, Luna Halo would be playing at the university later that month! So I got myself down to the ticket office and secured myself a place. That night, a small university and local crowd formed as Luna Halo took the stage. For the next hour, Luna Halo graced us with a fantastic set, and even obliged us, small crowd that we were, with an encore. But the best was yet to come. Luna Halo makes it a policy to come out into the crowd after every show to talk to the fans. So I grabbed one of those inconspicuous green flyers and made my way around to each member of the band. They were all so kind, and really took the time to talk to each fan...not just a ‘hi’ and a signature. I particularly enjoyed talking to Nathan, especially when I mentioned being a previous fan of Reality Check back in my middle school days. (I hope I didn’t make him feel too old!) All considered, Luna Halo provides a fabulous concert performance, and I am a huge supporter of any artist that will take the time to really talk to the fans the way Luna Halo does.

For more about the band, check out www.lunahalo.com. The website is constructed only in Flash format, so if you have a slow connection, it might take a bit to load. The site includes the usual discography, tour dates, online shop, etc., but there is also a friendly fan forum where the guys will come in and post and answer questions fairly often, as well as a tour journal where the guys will post the latest events. The site also links to several nicely-done fan sites where more information can be found.

Suggested listening:

“Alien” (Shimmer)
“Forgiveness” (Shimmer)
“Complacent” (Shimmer)
“Beautiful” (Shimmer)
(The band has released two smaller EP's independently since they left their lable, but they are only available through their website.)

(And who says Christian rap rock is done? If you’d like to check out some of the old Reality Check stuff, even now I would still highly recommend the album if you can find it. You can often catch me cruising home to their self-titled album on a warm afternoon. I’d especially recommend songs such as “Masquerade”, “Plastic”, and “Take Me Away”.)

Alanis Morissette - Under Rug Swept [D1 Music]

One of the things I like best about Alanis is how her music grows and matures along with her. Under Rug Swept is far from the angst-ridden jams from Jagged Little Pill, but the songs are undeniably deep and thoughtful as ever. A most obvious example is the story of “You Oughta Know,” fulfilled by “Hands Clean.” Alanis has an excellent way of carrying her listeners through her own life lessons, and never ceases to dive deeper into the many facets of truth she sings of.

Her lyrics are top quality, and there are several songs that I’ll be singing as personal anthems for a long time, including “You Owe Me Nothing.” The depth of understanding about love, forgiveness, and life is unsurpassed. Alanis seems to have the monopoly on self-love and self-respect in this album, along with extroverted insight into the kindness towards others.

But Alanis also provides an admirable source of strength in a day where feminism can carry a bad connotation. “21 Things I Want In A Lover” opens the album summarily demanding the best out of society, from a woman who knows what she wants and what she deserves. This album by far is one of her most inspirational, and carries a more mature, controlled, and satisfied message than some of her previous work. Alanis has always had an excellent way of presenting truth, and in Under Rug Swept, she succeeds in that again, and goes even farther by containing the overall feeling of hope and self-respect throughout the album. I would go as far as saying the album is therapeutic, and I would highly recommend it as a positive influence to self-esteem.

Over all, I give this CD a rating of 4.5 stars.

Suggested Listening:

"You Owe Me Nothing"
"21 Things I Want In a Lover"
"So Unsexy"