CD Giveaway - Sam Shrieve, "Bittersweet Lullabies"
Ends Nov 29, 2009
The current student at Berklee College of Music has a rock 'n' roll pedigree, but delivers a pleasing and diverse collection of soft pop on his debut record. Enter our contest for your chance to win!
The Twilight Saga: New Moon Prize Pack
Ends Nov 29, 2009
The second installment of the Twilight saga is hitting theaters, and we've got the stylish goodies you'll howl over!
For a debut album from a relatively unknown artist, few have the spirit and vitality of Alison Ray's Downside Up. The vivacious Memphis belle put 1000 watts of energy into every performance, consistently focusing on a positive message. The songs vary in style from near-rock to near-country, while mostly staying squarely in the realm of pop, and in several places Ray announces her candidacy as a contender for the champion of the unexpected lyric punch.
Does the D.J. know what he's doing to me?
It's getting hard to breathe.
Does the D.J. know when I hear that song
I want you all over me? -- Does The D.J. Know
The opening salvo is also the first single slated for release from the album. "Does the D.J. Know" is a musical time-machine, an homage to the power of radio and how a song can catch you off guard and transport you back to a moment in your past, whether good or bad. In this particular instance, it's a reminder of a breakup that has left behind some unresolved feelings. The narrator wants to shut out the song, and simultaneously can't resist but to listen and remember.
I might just get out of my bed
Turn the music up 'til the meter's red
And scream obscenities of my frustration
Maybe I should learn to play guitar
Step on the stage like I'm a star
Would they notice I'm afraid to
Show all of my emotions? -- There's Always Tomorrow
"Wonderful Day" continues the upbeat tempo of the album, which then seems to slow down with the deceptively soft verses of the third track, "There's Always Tomorrow". But the chorus on this song bursts out with rocking energy and, more than any other song on the album, embodies the spirit and optimism of the artist. Ray attributes Alanis Morissette as one of her inspirations, and I can hear a bit of that in here, but I hear more of the careless joy of Meredith Brooks with this piece more than anything else.
The album takes an emotional turn with "(D.L.S.) Dirty Little Secret". It's a song that many women can certainly relate to, the act of catching a lover cheating with someone else. Vocally, Ray's performance here is evocative of the early angry days of Melissa Etheridge -- not as husky, but certainly aimed at that audience, and definitely capturing the style, and it's one that repeats further into the album with the take-charge and take-no-prisoners breakup song, "Good Goodbye."
"Love is the Thing" is one of the few proper slow dance ballads from Downside Up, with an opening that's right in line with songs like Kenny Chesney's "The Good Stuff". This is the song you play when love is going just right, and it's still new.
"I've been through a lot of pain
and that's where the music comes
from. It drives me. And also what
drives me is that there's hope.
I see that it gets better."
"I just think that through my music I opened up a lot of things that I had buried and didn't want to think about," says Ray in an interview with The-Trades.com. "Because basically I'm a really happy person. But I have been through a lot, and I think that most people misunderstand me. They think that I'm happy-go-lucky. I've been through a lot of pain and that's where the music comes from. It drives me. And also what drives me is that there's hope. I see that it gets better."
One of my own favorites of the album is "Reality Flies", for the surrealist imagery of its chorus and pop beat. Of all the songs, this is one I'd really like to see turned into a fun video, or at least put onto a chick flick soundtrack. It's about how the world just becomes a better place when the right person enters the picture.
Fast songs, love songs, break-up songs and just-been-dumped songs, Downside Up has something for everybody, and the folks at Chime Entertainment are going to find themselves with a rising star on their hands.
Fans of Alanis Morissette, Melissa Etheridge, Jo Dee Messina and similar young chick rockers (even the country ones) will definitely want to pick up Downside Up and put it shiny-side down into their CD drives.
