Cross My Heart: Temporary Contemporary (2004)

Apparently this is quite a rare find and it took me a while to get a hold of it. Anyway, Cross My Heart came up as a band similar to Sunny Day Real Estate and classified as Indie Emo. Which is good since despite the fact that screamo still holds a special place in my heart, there needs to be more like this.

I think I would describe them as a cross between Sunny Day and the early days of Juliana Theory. Quite a mix and very excellent. They released an EP called The Reason I Failed History but other than that, there are no other releases and they are now disbanded. That's no reason not to listen to them of course, so I'd at least give them a try.

Sample Video: Tonight, We'll Light Ourselves on Fire

Sold State Logic: Disarray (2006)

Once upon a time, I decided to look for more music similar to Drugstore Fanatics. I believe the result was this. Solid State Logic, if Last.fm is to be believed, finds it's roots similar to Alice in Chains and I'm not really sure I feel about that. Sure they may be inspired by the same sound but I'm not sure if I would describe them as similar. SSL is great, but it just has it's own sound.

I also really love bands who try to go out of their way to get their music out there but unfortunately that appeared to not work out too well and it's a shame because they're great in a society that's bent on ripping off everyone else. Oh, they were also apparently produced by Sylvia Massy Shivy, who produced such bands as System of a Down, Tool and Powerman 5000. Pretty awesome.

Sample video: Its Not Over

Loser: Just Like You (2006)

This was another find from Pandora a couple years back. If you're familiar with Marylin Manson, you might be familiar with John5, who was the guitarist in this. Prior to the release of the album, however, he left the band to go team up with Rob Zombie. And of course the record company decided to drop them because we can't have an awesome band without John5. It's a shame because they could have done really well.

Okay so maybe the guitar was the thing that grabbed me in to begin with when I heard the rift to 'Disposable Sunshine' the first time but the vocals kept me there; I don't think I've managed to find anything quite like Joe Grah, so props for him. Not sure where he went after this or if the band is still active (I haven't seen anything) but if he's somewhere else, I'm pretty sure I'll end up following him.

It's pretty upbeat compared to a lot of the things I tend to listen to and that's great because rock music needs more stuff like this. I say go for it. It doesn't appear to be sold anywhere, however... at least not that I can find.

Sample Video: 'The First Time'

Hourcast: State of Disgrace (2006)

Every so often I take a break from my own playlist and head over to Pandora.com just to rediscover things I may have never got around to looking into or just finding new music in general. Kinda depends on how I feel.

I actually found Hourcast sometime in 2008 (I think around January or February?) and I quite liked the two songs I heard (which at that time were Sakkara and Lunar) but then I sort of forgot about Pandora. Then about a month ago or so I went back to look through artists that had come up on one of my stations and found them again and I'm really glad I did. I think it's great to go rediscover artists you used to listen to again.

What really drew me into them was the guitar. Usually hard rock has me listening to it for the drumline but the rifts (especially for Lunar) were just too much fun to listen to. If it wouldn't drive me insane to listen to one song on repeat, I probably could do that with a few songs. I also have always liked it when vocalists can go back and forth from softer to harsh and still make the music flow rather than abruptly change style and that's just what Hourcast does.

To my knowledge they haven't broken up but I have no idea if there are any plans for a follow-up album to State of Disgrace. I really hope there will be.

Sample Video: 'Freeze'

Drugstore Fanatics: What's Born in the Basement (2009)

When I first heard the band name my first thoughts were 'quirky pop-rock'. I'm not really sure why that was in mind but since a friend managed to find them, I decided to give them a try and to my surprise, I really enjoy it.

Drugstore Fanatics debut album was actually recorded and mixed in the creator's basement and for their kind of music and being a new band, it came out very well. Last.fm describes their sound being similar to Nine Inch Nails, Tool and Devin Townsend but they really stand alone with their own unique ambirock sound. The vocals are fresh and damn he hits the notes nicely.

Currently What's Born in the Basement is on their website as a free download and another copy for $5 that contains the B-sides. I would like to encourage everyone to go ahead and buy the album since it's cheap and I'm hoping with some encouragement they'll get the recognition they deserve. Some good bands just don't get enough love.

Sample Video: 'You Got the Ball (live rehersal)'

Imperative Reaction: Ruined (2002)

One of my favorite bands lately is Apoptygma Berzerk and being late to the party I didn't know until a couple weeks ago that their new album came out this year. I gleefully listened to it and enjoyed it immensely, then decided I wanted to look into more music like it.

Imperative Reaction is similar perhaps in the electronic elements and style, but the tone is much darker. Now I'm not going to say I know everything ever about ebm and futurepop, but I will admit that the moment I listened to Severed off of this album, I fell in love with it. I couldn't turn it off. Actually, I still can't turn it off. I even have it playing right now while I'm typing this.

I've seen a couple people say that the vocals sound too bland but I have to give that a polite 'shut the hell up'. Given the genre and style, I find that they go very well with the beat.

All and all, if you're a fan of the darkelectro and industrial, I'd go for it.

Sample Video: 'Severed (System Syn Mix)'