Highlight Tracks: "Translation" and "Way About You."
For More Info: Check out http://www.lovelessrecords.com
Artist: Man of the Year
Album: The Future Is Not Now
The Scoop: Producer Tony Lash (Dandy Warhols) helps give Portland's Man of the Year a distinctive Britpop feel, combining fuzzy guitars, prominent keyboards and bouncy vocal harmonies. Lash leaves more obvious than many producers, and in this instance it proves to be a happy marriage. The 10 songs zip through with at a Weezer-like 38 minutes. Two of the 10 songs have been featured on TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Frontman and MOTY founder Tod Morrisey combines just the right amount of faux-Brit snot and boyishly earnest charm in his vocals, which are well backed by bassist Kelly Simmons and keyboardist Katy Sanford. Sanford-with an assist from Lash-steals the show on a couple songs. Besides Morrisey, it's the keyboard riffs that are the band's signature.Highlight Tracks: "Parade of Stars" and "Toledo"
For More Info: Visit http://www.manoftheyear.org
Artist: Elf Power
Album: Creatures
The Scoop: With song titles like "Palace of the Flames" and "Everlasting Scream" and opening lines like "Demons have fingers that claw through the dark," one may expect Elf Power to feature blistering guitar solos, creepy cover art, and a scary Danzig-esque frontman, perhaps bearded, perhaps posing for publicity photos with a broadsword in one hand and a skull in the other. Well, the cover art is a tad creepy (boxing gloves?), but Elf Power has a sound that much more closely resembles labelmates The Apples In Stereo than, say, Cannibal Corpse. Creatures is yet another happy birth into the Elephant 6 world.Highlight Tracks: "Let The Serpent Sleep" and "The Creature"
For More Info: Check out http://www.elfpower.com or visit the label site at http://www.spinartrecords.com
Artist: Keepsake
Album: Black Dress in a B Movie
The Scoop: Following in the footsteps of bands like Saves The Day and, of course, Blink-182, Keepsake bundles up their punk energies and hurls them into a collection of easily accessible pop rockers. They aren't as cheeky as some of their contemporaries, which may turn off some of the mischief-starved teens, but which everyone else should find refreshing. The best song, "Violent Love," fires on every cylinder. It sets the bar a little too high for the rest of the album, and the slower songs still need some development. But tracks like "Ticket to Russia," which is appearing this summer on a free Vans Warped Tour sampler, finds the band working in much the same vein as Dashboard Confessional. Fans of their earlier, harder material may be alienated by the glossier, stadium rock sound. But, with a little more consistency, it's quite possible that Keepsake has found the skin that fits them best.
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