I remember in High School I was having a conversation with someone who loved classic rock, and they were telling me that no new music would ever compare to the classics, you know, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Beatles, all the standard bands you find on T-shirts even the most obscure department stores, but I strongly disagreed with him. I said that there is new music that compares and there will continue to be. For a long time though, it seemed like no one wanted to even touch the genre of power rock because the artists from back then are held to such a standard. I am glad that musicians no longer have that fear of being caught in the shadow of the music of the past. If all people thought that Led Zeppelin reached the pinnacle of music, a height never to be reached again, and decided to not make music ever again the world would be an extremely boring place. I mean, what would I write about then?

Anyway, I think it’s great that since Jet and the Darkness hit up a revival of the “classic rock” sound back in 2003 with a few memorable singles, other bands are still unafraid to step into the arena with the commercial giants of old. Wolfmother took a stab and came out with a bangin’ bongo led fuzzed out bass-fest with “Love Train”. Another band that put out their debut in 2000 entitled The Subversive Sounds of Love, Frisbie, who hail from Chicago, have completed work on their newest album New Debut, which also enters the arena of huge sounding pop rock music. The song “S.F.B.” calls to mind a purée of the greatest hits of Journey and the Who. While album namesake “New Debut” sounds like the thumping slow burning child of Van Halen and Rush complete with cowbell. The album is being released on August 17th, so until then enjoy these two tracks at high volume in the residential area or open highway of your choice.

Frisbie Myspace

MP3 – Frisbie – S.F.B.

MP3 – Frisbie – New Debut

The songs are long and droning, almost every musical aspect is extended. This sometimes works in a hauntingly beautiful fashion, and sometimes just puts me to sleep. Such is the balance of Low’s latest album “Drums and Guns”. While their method is hit and miss, I have to condone them for stepping outside the usual indie formula. When they break out the beats, the slower pace allows for maximum groove, and their guitar solos feel like a piece of chewing gum that someone stretched out, in a good way. Their highest achievement would be the stellar harmonies that hold the album together. One outstanding point where a song pulls out from being sonic wallpaper and into a pop gem is “Hatchet” (8). When it’s growling bass line and clinky guitar give way to the harmonized lyrics about rivalries between the Beatles and the Stones it manifests the album’s most fun moment. The only thing is that as soon as it gets rolling it’s over. The best example of their slow-mo groovy-ness would be “Breaker” (3). It sounds like the funkiest funeral march you’ve ever heard, with its droning church organ and hand claps it’s like what you’d expect to be played at James Brown’s funeral. Low create some haunting soundscapes and drones that end before they get old, which is good because people can only take so much of the same note, but when they get something good going it ends far too soon.

Buy “Drums and Guns”

Low Myspace

MP3 – Breaker – Low

MP3 – Hatchet – Low