• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

January 2025

• Labyrinth: In The Vanishing Echoes Of Goodbye
• Bonfire: Higher Ground
• The Big Deal: Electrified
• Landfall: Wide Open Sky

December 2024

• After Lapse: Pathways
• Illusion Force: Halfana
• Powell-Payne: Voilá

November 2024

• Sunstorm: Restless Fight
• Storace: Crossfire
• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

September 2024

• Sinner's Blood: Dark Horizons
• Serious Black: Rise Of Akhenaton
• Eclipse: Megalomanium II
• SteelCity: Reverence
• Hydra: ReHydrated
• Heartwind: III
• Gabrielle De Val and the Dragonlords: Tiger
• Find Me: Nightbound
• The Nail: The Nail
• Timeless Fairytale: A Story To Tell
• Stryper: When We Were Kings
• Phil Mogg: Moggs Motel
• Pure Reason Revolution: Coming Up To Consciousness
• Jordan Rudess: Permission To Fly

[ More Music Reviews ]

Back Pocket Memory: Beneath the Trees

Melodic Alt/Indie Rock

3.0/5.0

Independent/Unsigned
Website Facebook Twitter MySpace
by Craig Hartranft,  09.19.2011

The success of LA's Back Pocket Memory in their region is understandable: they deliver infectious and melodic indie alt rock. Beneath the Trees, their fourth EP in as many years, is no exception. This short disc is bolstered by sound vocals and vocal arrangements, coherent lyrics, tons of energy, some big rock riffs, and stylish production from Erik Ron (After Midnight Project, Versa Emerge, et al). Indeed, The Greatest Divide and Extra! Extra! are ready for indie and college radio airplay: friendly, catchy, accessible, and typical of the modern genre. Yet, therein lies my relative ambivalence. The songs on Beneath the Trees blur into easy redundancy. Predictability and familiarity may be simplest current running through this work. So then, how do they distinguish themselves from the pack? A true conundrum.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Back Pocket Memory offers melodic alt indie rock from familiar territory with lots of energy, but also some inherent predictability.

Alphabetical Index

The Powell Payne project, created in 2022 is the collaboration of Mark "Penfold Powell (ex-drummer of Psycho Kiss) and Adam Payne (former vocalist of Airrace). With guitarist Adam Davies and keyboard player ... [ Read More ]