Cinematic Sunrise - EP

Cinematic Sunrise
A Coloring Storybook and Long-Playing Record
(Equal Vision Records)

With fans bombarded with 100 new bands a day, bands find it even harder to prove themselves day after day.You'd think things would be easier when you have a built in fanbase. For Craig Owens and Bradley Bell of Chiodos, along with Bryan Beeler (guitar), Marcus VanKirk (bass) and Dave Shapiro (drums) this comes as a welcomed challenge. Owens fronts while Bell takes to the keys in this upbeat, happy go lucky band. It's that light-hearted/good time approach that sets Cinematic Sunrise apart in a landscape of bands that are more into playing up the gloomy side of life.

There's such a grand energy and fearlessness that should come with starting a new project and Cinematic Sunrise have that along with a great synergy that is felt through the final product; their EP A Coloring Storybook and Long Playing Record. It seems we all hold our breathe when it comes to side projects and sometimes we're even guilty of wanting things to fail. This should not be the case for Cinematic Sunrise, with every lyric and arrangement set so perfectly, ranging from delicate and pretty to pulsing and feverish.

"Pulling a Piano From a Pond" has feverish guitars and airy keys. All the while Owens' voice soars as if it may break at times and even at it's most fragile, he still holds on for dear life asking "Is leaving the right choice?" "Goodbye Friendship Hello Heartache" comes from letting go of a relationship, drowning your feelings in the poison of your choice, the refusal and space needed after a betrayal and finally realizing what has to be done to move on. Although the demo of "Umbrellas and Elephants" posted on the bands myspace a few months ago was sparse in it's arrangements the EP version has reached it's full potential. I do still miss the acapella bridge I heard in its earliest stages, but still adore the repeating of the lyric "I know that I'll be ok." The rattling urgency of "Our Honeymoon at Weston Hills" pulls from the experience of performing, sharing your art with a crowd, baring your soul to anyone who will listen, and the ability to share something so intimate on such a grand scale. "The Wordless" is another track that has found it's potential here on the EP. It's more expressive, crisp and even stronger then before. The keys more intense, the incorporation of strings and excellent guitar adds a fullness that wasn't present in the demo. Lastly there's "You Told Me You Loved Me" which is their most vulnerable track, lyrically, on the EP. A song of desperation in trying to do or say anything to keep someone from giving up on you asking "If I told you I love you would that be enough." All the doubt, shame, and longing is carried along by the gentle keys that spill into a pounding drumbeat and sweeping guitar. Owen's voice is such a great, lush instrument, and Cinematic Sunrise gives us another chance to see Owen in a different light. — Naimah Holmes

MySpace

Select Start - The Rotary

Select Start
The Rotary [EP]

Nowadays every band has some kind of synth influence to them. The problem with this is that too many of said bands overuse this element of manipulation. Select Start however has found a way to structure their sound around that tool, not the other way around.

First we're hit with the hopeful "Sweet Digital and True," encapsulating the beginnings of a new relationship. "There's One In Every City" is a quick retelling of a he-said-she-said between guys who live out of suitcases and the girls left behind in small towns with even smaller ambitions. Self-doubt, strain of long distances, and uncertainty of a new relationship are found in the guitar heavy “Unlimited Nights and Weekends” with lines like Was it a good time to screw it up / My heart gets bruised just from the sound of your voice on my receiver. “Baby, You Amaze Me,” the slow jam of the disc is honest, and appreciative and not in a sappy way at all saying You can't stand the same movies / And horrible bands / Why would I ever hold hands with another. “Keep it Close” is another lament of long distance, told differently, which is good sighing I wish my phone could make you warm / Express my best so softly in a text / One word at a time. Something to keep you company while away from the one you love.

All in all The Rotary is a study in the many stages of relationships — the good, the bad, the old, the new, and the temporary, with the ability to make you shake it all night and maybe even throughout the next day too. — Naimah Holmes

UPCOMING DATES
May 3 @ Neptunes Lounge --- Tarpon Springs, FL
May 17 @ Transitions Art Gallery @ SPOT --- Tampa, FL
May 18 @ Relay For Life @ Harlem Middle School --- Harlem, GA
May 19 @ New Brookland Tavern W. --- Columbia, SC
May 20 @ Graffitti Music Hal --- Arden, NC
May 21 @ The Raven --- Burlington, NC
May 22 @ CBCC’s --- Chester, Virginia
May 23 @ The Sonar --- Baltimore, MD
May 24 @ Savoys --- Hamilton, NJ
May 25 @ Cousin Larry’s --- Danbury, CT
May 26 @ The Living Room --- Providence, RI
May 27 @ Rocko’s Manchester, New Hampshire
May 29 @ Paper @ Harper’s Ferry --- Allston, Massachusetts
May 30 @ VWF Post 420 --- Saratoga Springs, NY
Jun 1 @ The Coney --- Indiana, PA
Jun 2 @ The Basement --- Columbus, OH
Jun 3 @ The Coup --- Clarksville, TN
Jun 4 @ Long Beach Saloon --- Knoxville, TN
Jun 5 @ Red Bearing Skatepark --- Dothan, AL
Jun 6 @ Beamers --- Panama City, FL
Jun 7 @ Brass Mug --- Tampa, FL
Jun 25 @ The Talent Farm --- Pembroke Pines, FL
Jun 27 @ Javamoon Cafe --- Bradenton, FL
Jun 28 @ Transitions Art Gallery @ SPOT Tampa, FL

MySpace | PureVolume

You Say Party! We Say Die! - Lose All Time

You Say Party! We Say Die!
Lose All Time [EP]
(Fierce Panda)

Consistent with the current dance-punk leanings of their sonar peers, You Say Party! We Say Die! have come to conquer, and these Vancouver natives are not going down without a fight. Lose All Time (2007) manages to find a succinct balance between pretty and downright ruthless without missing a beat.

Becky Ninkovic (singer) jumps between throaty whispers and desperate wailings that would make Siouxsie proud. "Monster," their first (and quite possibly only) stateside single off the new album is definitely the best of the bunch. But sorry, fellow Americans, if you want to see YSP live, you'll have to get your passports ready - bad visas will be keeping them out of the States 'til 2011. — Jill Wierenga

MySpace | Official Site | Fierce Panda