Pop-Punk Promotion

Artist: Mayday Parade
Album: A Lesson In Romantics

Release: 2007
Tracks: 12


The first full debut album from Mayday Parade, A Lesson In Romantics offers a wide variety of alternative music, ranging from upbeat songs that make you want to tap your foot to the beat to songs that have you feeling relaxed. Lead vocalist Derek Sanders and co-lead vocalist Jason Lancaster have voices that blend well together, and often you can’t tell who is singing when. Guitarists Alex Garcia and Brooks Betts, bassist and backing vocalist Jeremy Lenzo, and drummer and backing vocalist Jake Bundrick all do their parts well, mixing together nicely. The guitar riffs and drumming beats add nicely to the songs, complimenting the beat set by the bassist.

The first track from the album, “Jamie All Over,” is a good choice for newcomers to Mayday Parade music, offering a pre-chorus and chorus that can get stuck in your heads for weeks. “Miserable At Best” is one of the slower songs on the album, along with “You Be The Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I’ll Be The Wings That Keep Your Heart In The Clouds,” and heavily features a piano part, being the only instrument played in the entire song. Both of those songs have a relaxing sound to them, especially “You Be The Anchor…”, which has a flowing quality to it. “When I Get Home You’re So Dead” is a song that will grab your attention if you were ever in a relationship and ended up being cheated on, or if you cheated on someone. “Black Cat” and “Ocean And Atlantic” have softer background music and more emphasis on vocals, as does “I’d Hate To Be You When People Find Out What This Song Is About”. “Walk On Water Or Drown” features drum beats, especially on the intro, which provide the backbone for the song, while “Take This To Heart” focuses more on guitar riffs overlaid by vocals. “If You Wanted A Song Written About You, All You Had To Do Was Ask” tells a story about staying with someone even if you know it just isn’t working out. “Jersey” and “Champagne’s For Celebrating (I’ll Have A Martini)” are two complimenting songs that tell about people that had to part ways, but in the end didn’t really want to.

However, some of the songs are harder to become attached to, as they don’t have the hooking guitar riffs, drumming beats, or vocal solos. The parts of some songs, such as “Take This To Heart”, seem to blend together, and it is more difficult to distinguish the different parts than other songs. Some of their songs are less memorable than the others, such as “I’d Hate To Be You…” and “Take This To Heart”, but all in all, this is an album worth your time and money.

Artist: Artist vs Poet
Album: Favorite Fix
Release: 2010
Tracks: 12


Vocalist Tracy Thompson, guitarist and co-vocalist Craig Calloway, bass guitarist Jason Dean, and drummer Joe Westbrook are Artist vs Poet, and they work well together from what can be seen in Favorite Fix. All of the instruments and vocals are evenly balanced, none of them overpowering any of the other parts. This album has a wide variety of songs, including slower songs and upbeat songs that make you want to tap your foot to the beat.

“Adorable” is an insanely catchy song that will be stuck in your head for a while after you hear it for the first time. “We’re All The Same” has a happy beat that blends with the vocals on the track, and “Car Crash” is so upbeat it makes you want to tap your foot or move around just a little bit. “Favorite Fix” has a more electronic beat to it, mixed with auto-tuned vocals and interesting guitar riffs over the bridge. “Unconscious Reality” begins with a violin track that provides a continuous background for most of the song, apart from the chorus which relies more on the drums and guitar. Electronic drum beats and mixed guitar sounds are a constant in the song “Damn Rough Night”, and the auto-tuned bridge keeps a fresh beat near the end of the song. Techno sounds seem to take over in the song “We’re All The Same”, but they keep in the background and blend nicely with the vocals of the song, which offsets the techno track nicely. A catchy guitar riff that sets the stage for the song “So Much I Never Said”, which is bolstered the drums and bass throughout the song, and keeps time with the vocals well. “Miserably Loving You” introduces a softer song on their album, almost sad in comparison to their more upbeat songs, keeping time with a soft drumbeat and an acoustic guitar riff. “Broke But Not Broken” wastes no time in getting into the songs, starting off with a simple drum-roll solo, and diving straight into the seven-word chorus with a strong guitar and drum pairing. Later in the song the chorus is overlaid by other vocals from the bridges and verses. Almost space-like techno sounds kick off this song, then leave the stage to the guitarist and drummer in “He’s Just Not Me”. “Alive” is another soft song, featuring an acoustic guitar and a muffled drum that keeps the time for the song, the vocals seeming to float over the instruments. “Giving Yourself Away” is an explosive end to the album after “Alive”, starting off with a powerful guitar riff that wakes you up for the last hurrah of the album.

Even though the album is great and all of the different tracks blend together well, the songs seem to be more abstract. The slower songs seem slightly out of place amongst the happy and upbeat songs that dominate this album. Sometimes the vocals seem to be overly-auto tuned, or the instruments are replaced completely by electronically generated sounds. Overall, the album has a happy feel to it, and it’s definitely worth taking a listen.

Jason Derulo

by Isabella





Album: Jason Derulo


Released: 2010


Tracks: 9






Derulo's debut album is filled with feel good, fun-to-dance-to tunes. "Whatcha Say" is a light hip-hop beat accompanied by soulful vocals and "Ridin' Solo" proves that breakups can sometimes be a good thing. Derulo's vocals and music organization (ne never dwells in overly hard or loud beats) allow for a generally enjoyable experience, with only a few exceptions. "What If" would classify as a love ballad gone wrong. The piano melodies are drowned out by a beat that just won't go away. Derulo's voice is one that would be perfect for either acoustic or auto tuned songs, and this song would've been an opportunity for the artist to shine without any dance pop glitz overpowering him. "Sky's the Limit" doesn't quite capture the same flair as the rest of the piece, the music seeming to not quite fit the vocals. Derulo's record company insits on putting their own mark on his work, constantly inserting the same auto tunes in every single track, the tones becoming fast victims of overuse. It's a pretty good first effort, but loses a few points for freshness and originality.





Usher

by Isabella





Album: Raymond Vs. Raymond



Released: 2010



Tracks: 14



Usher is a veteran to the music industry and frankly this album is disappointing. "Hey Daddy" and "Lil Freak" are probably the best tracks on the listing; easy to get stuck in your head with autotunes that won't drive you insane. "There Goes My Baby", a hit single, is an uncertain piano background with vocals that don't quite match. "Guilty" feat. T.I. loses its R& B atmosphere, verging on hip-hop/ rap without the signature carefully thought out rhymes. "Mars vs. Venus" plays on the title card, but doesn't deliver the right punch that you would expect from such an interesting title. "O.M.G.", another smash hit, seems genius on the surface, but after listening to it a few times, you get an entirely different impression. Usher has gone through personal issues while writing and recording this album, so it's no surprise that it seems like its going in a hundred different directions at once. Many songs have taglines spoken by Usher himself, which pulled me away from the actual song that followed. While Usher may be talented, he hasn't lived up to his full potential this time. While originality isn't really an exceptionally strong point in either of these albums, Derulo hasn't been around long enough for most people to get tired of him. Usher, on the other hand, needs to get back to his roots.

Owl City

by Malia

Owl City

Genre:Electro Pop

From his hometown, somewhere in the suburbs of Minnesota, Adam Young began to compose music. His insomnia led to his experimentation into sounds and his keyboard, and from there, his career just took off into space...
What began as beeps and boops of the new age quickly ascended to become something that everyone wanted to listen to.
The soothing and whimsical theme of his songs make you feel warm and happy inside and the lyrics along with the airy melodies are so sweet you are almost on the brink of sadness. But, without fail, Owl City will bring you back into instantaneous contentment and peace of mind, thereby creating something that you will absolutely love, no matter what genre you belong to!

Owl City is a musical discovery that stands apart from the others but still attracts anyone and everyone who decides to listen. Though some believe that the lyrics are strange, we should stop and think about our own words. We are strange too, but just dont have the influence to voice them, or in this case, put them into song! By the way. Owl City's music is simple and clean, with no bad language.

So, give Owl City a listen, and I hope that you will become immersed in whimsical surroundings and happy thoughts.

ELECTRONIC INVASION: computer-generated sounds mixed with mainstream rock

by Aurelia & Isabella


Julien-K

Album: Death to Analog
Tracks: 14
Released: 2009
Genre: Electronic Rock

Created as an electronically charged outlet by Amir Derakh, Ryan Shuck, Brandon Belsky, Elias Andra and Anthony "Fu" Valic, Julien-K was meant to achieve the impossible: convincingly combining rock and techno.
"Kick the Bass", one of their more popular tracks has done so brilliantly, each element balancing the other out, and "Maestro" creates something akin to a hip-hop beat, but still pulls off the rock portion nicely. "Dystopian Girl" hits the right mark once more, while their title track disappoints: a club beat overlayed by a raspy chant. "Futura" and "Nvr Say Nvr" also carry too much rough whispering with the techno and hip-hop tracks droning on in the background.
All in all, their original goal was almost accomplished. But sounding good while they're at it? Well, only so much.

Neon Trees

Album: Habits
Tracks: 8
Released: 2010
Genre: Pop Rock

A newly emerged band from semi-big-city Utah, Neon Trees consists of Tyler Glenn, Chris Allen, Branden Campbell, and Elaine Bradley. For such a short album, most of their songs gladly live up to their catchy pop rock label. Their lead single "Animal" is the most noteworthy, and
"1983" surprises with a fresh, new wave flavor. "Love and Affection” will have you tapping your foot by the time the intro is over.
However, "Our War" would sound much better recorded acoustically, and "Girls and Boys in School" seems oddly gloomy compared to the rest of the album. "In the Next Room" stands neutral to complete a, generally, quite interesting album.