The Great Demo Review 2005

The 7-10 Splits, Yard Sale This is perfect punk rock for when you've been evicted from your Mission Beach apartment because your roommate was caught selling meth out of the hole he cut in the screen in his bedroom window and you wanna throw one last blowout kegger with your crudest buddies because, fuck it, they're gonna have to replace the carpet and walls anyway. -Troy Johnson

Acts 258, Acts 258 Like where they're going, not a fan of where they stopped. Acts 258 mixes some drone rock, heavy psychedelia and even doom metal for a hybrid you could liken to Acid Mother's Temple bum rushing The Jesus and Mary Chain. Like a diamond in a dumpster. -Troy Johnson

Adelaide, Demo San Diego's had its share of post-rock bands, the best being The Album Leaf, Roots of Orchis and Channing Cope. Here, Adelaide caters to the same muscle-relaxant crowd, with more emphasis on ambient electronic hues. It's nice like a fern. But without peaks and valleys in the music-it's all calm loveliness-the Sandman will sack their listeners every time. May be good for meditation. -Troy Johnson

Agave, Demo I'm a sucker for Napoleon Dynamite references, so when you stick a picture of a band member sporting a “Vote For Pedro” t-shirt in the insert, you've got my attention. In addition to their pop-culture fashion sense, these guys sound great-a powerful three-piece who obviously have the chops, but keep their songs grounded in the pop canon. “Ulysses” is just a killer tune. -Dryw Keltz

Ahntonio Raw, Mos Ant In the days of mash-ups, in which two artists are grafted for rarely great results (The Beatles and Jay-Z is an exception), Ahntonio Raw has created the first all-original mash-up of Soul Coughing and Nirvana's Bleach. It's strange, pseudo spoken-word over a daring (and excessive) bed of distortion. There's some pretty fascinating psychotic behavior in songform here, but it's all buried in white noise and strange for the sake of strange. -Troy Johnson

Carol Ames, Shades of Indigo Showcasing Ames' award-winning songcraft, this album tends to play it a little musically safe, leaning toward the country side of the singer-songwriter genre. That said, a number of tunes here, starting with “Every Time U Smile,” have radio potential and seem ripe to be covered. -Scoop Stevens

Antiquark, Neon H To quote from Jeff Terich's review of last year's Antiquark submission: “A dark-wave goth trio,” he wrote, “Antiquark will gladly score your night of bondage and sadomasochism.” Didn't really hear it until the third song when people start screaming. Sometimes just the thing you need when you're trapped in the land of sun and fun. -Kelly Davis

April Spain Quartet, Live The next time you throw a cocktail party that calls for a vocal jazz band running through standards, April Spain Quartet is as good a call as any. Tasteful piano, drums and stand-up bass, with a female vocalist who can go from low-key cool to shrill scat on command. With an arsenal of originals they'd be grand. -Troy Johnson

The Attic Fans, One More Shameful Night While they have one of the most refreshing names in San Diego (how many times you been a sweat hog in the rafters and wished you had a fan?), the Attic Fans don't quite live up to their talent on One More Shameful Night. At their most mellow, laconic moments, especially “Escalator Ride,” they sound like a capable alt-country band in the vein of Uncle Tupelo. But when they crank it up a notch, they lose their charm, making for a promising, if uneven band. -Troy Johnson

Gavi Bachner, Overload What do you do with a CD that warns, “These are sloppy home recordings by a weird guy”? Well, they are-all 26 songs. OK, not all sloppy-more rough around the edges. But there's something endearing about Bachner's complete lack of pretense. But Gav, you know there's better recording equipment out there. Save up for ProTools, buy some good mics and next year, no excuses. (Neutral Milk Hotel cover-cool.) -Kelly Davis

Dennis Bergstrom, Road to Conejo Although obviously a superb flamenco and classical guitarist, after 11 tracks the songs here sort of blend together. Despite an interesting cover of Joe Satriani's “Walking On Water,” this is hardly captivating listening, and is perhaps best suited as background music. -Scoop Stevens

Blind Boxers, Golden Love Story Good old indie-pop 'n' roll with more than a hint of country and a sound not a million miles from the urban hicksterisms of Rookie Card-who not coincidentally share a drummer with the Blind Boxers. Will it change the world? Nope. But surprises like the violin-and-harmonies-topped “Fireflies” deserve to be heard. -Scoop Stevens

Bloodstone, The Street Preacher An excellent debut from rapper Erick Fentress, aka Bloodstone. A good mix of beats and lyrics highlight the album, with cuts such as the funky, synth-driven “West Coast Ridin” having serious dance-floor potential, though gang references and profanity will probably keep this disc off the air. Just how many times can somebody say motherfucker on one album? -Scoop Stevens

Eben Brooks, Just Me And My Guitar v2.0 To the poor sod who just happened to meander into Lestat's on March 6 when Eben Brooks was having his “record-release party,” my condolences. I feel your pain. Even the target demographic of fun-lovin' neo-hippies couldn't enjoy this skid-mark. Here's hoping v3.0 gets lost in the mail. -Seth Combs

Butterface, Pop Skull Not sure what I expected, but the cover with a painted skull didn't suggest a mix of piano ballads and psychedelic rock. While some tunes do come across a little clichéd, the common denominator here on tracks like “Celestia” is melody, with an emphasis on big, fuzzed-out guitar. A pleasant surprise. -Scoop Stevens

The Buzzbombs, Live at Canes This is officially my new favorite band when I'm having a greasy hair day and jonesin' for a stiff drink. The capable psychobilly band not only has a song called “Beer and Cigarettes,” but they smoke Lucky Strikes and drink Guinness, the song tells us. Soulmates, they be. A good band that'll get any bumpkin up and dancing till his flannel's soaked through like a cheap shammy. Perfect tourmate with San Diego's other country-punks, The ScotchGreens. -Troy Johnson

The Calvins, Riding With The Devil EP Whoa, someone really digs Rocket From The Crypt. Music, artwork and style are obviously appropriated... er, influenced... by the preeminent local noise masters. But, hey, there are worse things. There are also elements of other great locals long gone (Fishwife, Tanner). It's a good effort that begs you to reserve judgment until you can see these guys live, and wanting to see a band (like on a Tuesday, if there's not a good TV show on) after hearing a three-song demo isn't bad. -Ken Smith

China Clippers, Mighty Long Crawl China Clippers compare themselves to bands like Modest Mouse and Dashboard Confessional, but their music is more akin to the token sensitive-side acoustic numbers on early '90s grunge albums. In order for something to have a shelf life, people have to want it in the first place. -Seth Combs

Contra Mundum, Volume 1 The boys and girls in Contra Mundum sound like a bunch of fun-loving middle-agers who grew up following the Grateful Dead and still smoke the occasional joint. Now, children grown and their day jobs not quite filling the soul with the necessary vitamins and nutrients, they've formed their own capable jam-rock band replete with Anglo-gospel sing-alongs. Great for a beer garden. -Troy Johnson

Ed Cosico, Demo I'm betting Ed used to be a karaoke star whose friends-rightfully so-said, “Man, you got such a great voice, you oughtta sing for real.” And now he has, sounding a bit like Elton John's low-voiced moments and a soul-rock version of Journey's Steven Perry. It's nice and inoffensive, but anyone who does this to the title of a song-“2 Good 2 B Tru”-deserves to be bit on the ankles by an English teacher. Or Prince. -Troy Johnson

Danielle LoPresti and the Masses, 22 Mountains It's not that singing with a message is a bad thing. But there's a fine line between polite world-viewing and a pissed-off activist berating anyone on the fence. LoPresti's got a heart of gold-the kind of woman who'd play a benefit for you if you had a hard day. And she's got a great voice that, unfortunately, only works on low volume. She too often ruins her good things here with angsty singing and (yikes!) rapping. -Troy Johnson

The Dark and Drace Splinter Faction, Demo This from their bio: “DDSF has crafted a new sound that tests the concept of what music, songs and art can be.” Now everyone knows that any band that was cool enough and smart enough to “craft a new sound that tests the concept of what art can be,” would never actually say so. They'd let their music say it instead. Which of course, DDSF's doesn't. -Ed Decker

Day and Age, Via Moderna The guys in Day and Age are San Diego's newly formed answer to Dischord punk like Q and Not U, along with a touch of At the Drive-In guitar needling. Twin guitars, twin vocalists, intelligent lyrics. Almost too mathematical for its own good, though. And live, the vocals sound shrill instead of piercing as they're meant. But there's talent here, the type to keep an eye on. -Troy Johnson

Delancey, A Special Gift To You... Describing yourself as “existential acoustic pop-rock” won't open many doors. Seriously, out of 10 songs, only one's slightly catchy (“Life”). The rest is sittin'-around-the-campfire-tryin'-real-hard-to-impress-some-chick-with-my-surfer-shit-rock. I really wish guitars were harder to come by. -Seth Combs

Lauren DeRose, 3-song EP DeRose says she's influenced by Ani DiFranco, Tori Amos and Linda Perry. There's a little PJ Harvey there, too-more so on the live CD that came along with this EP (you can frequently catch her at Twiggs). Fuck influences-it's just nice to hear a strong female musician because God knows we need more of 'em. “Fade Jane Fade” is anthemic. Give this girl a stage. -Kelly Davis

Disrupter, The Green EP A pretty heady mix of drum ‘n' bass and chill-out electronica, Disrupter should please anyone who's ever listened to Dieselboy and wished he would just slow the fuck down. Would also please any techno-nerd who loves the syncopated jazz thwapping of Art Blakey. Not mind-blowing, but good enough for intellectual booty-swaying exercises. Which beat the hell out of that sweaty version of yoga. -Troy Johnson

The Ditty Mu, First Suckling Two years from now, you'll be reading about Ditty Mu, but not because of Ditty Mu. It'll be because the talented members of this off-kilter, half-baked project will undoubtedly be in a band you love. First Suckling is exactly that-the first child of twin-gendered indie musicians that, unfortunately, sounds like a rejected demo from an open tryout for the Elephant Six Collective. -Troy Johnson

DJ Crumbs, Demo DJ Crumbs has some impressive production skills, choosing the low-toned strings and horns from movie scores for the background of “Fugeela.” But his cadre of MCs-T-Muny, Tombs One and Intangible-are inconsistent. One of ‘em (can't tell which on the demo) has great flow, but the others hold back like a freestyler at momentary loss. -Troy Johnson

Drop Joy, Situational Ethics On stage, Niki Walker sounds like Tracy Chapman channeling Hendrix, and she'll probably kick my ass for saying that. You will want to kick her ass after hearing how she sanitized her music on Situational Ethics. Thankfully, the live show bears no resemblance-Drop Joy live simply rocks. Walker has a deep, soulful voice and a dominating stage presence that Ethics fails to convey. -Regina Sinsky

The Ecstasy Band, The Side Show The Ecstasy Band is a poor live recording of what happens when a friend gets a vintage organ and invites his pro buddy over to show him how it can be played. Pretty damn good jam session, actually, from rock to funk. No doubt the best-sounding house party in the neighborhood that weekend. -Troy Johnson

Ember, Live E.P. from Lestat's West A bit of a head scratcher. It goes from jazz to blues to country and back again, with an inexplicable ska rhythm somewhere in between yo, cat and y'all. A band with an identity crisis. -Angela Carroll

The Eradicators, The Eradicators Cool little demo with a true bargain-basement, lo-fi sound. Probably due more to lack of dinero than trying to appeal to Sebadoh fans. Their singer, Brett “Warhead” Jones, sounds a bit reminiscent of Jim Morrison on their second song. Kinda heavy but not in a Cookie Monster-rock sort of way. Worth checking out. -Dryw Keltz

The Evergreens, Self-titled A diamond in the rough, this one grows on you. And while it's a little safe, never venturing beyond the accepted limits of mainstream rock, it's not hard to imagine this trio of white boys finding real success in that category. -Daniel Strumpf

Eyeball Kid, The Eyeball Kid EP This guy-girl combo knows where they want to go-in the direction of Ida, Belle & Sebastian and the other sour-eyed tenderhearts. But until they learn to tune the vocals just like you tune an instrument, they're going to be wallowing off-key to an empty room. “Punk Rock Girl” as a slowcore 1950s ballad is a great idea, though. -Troy Johnson

Barney Firkes, The Barney Tapes Nineteen tracks by 11 bands all featuring bassist Firkes, these songs represent his two decades as a musician. It's a disjointed affair, jumping from synth-pop to alternative rock with jumps also made in sound quality between source tapes. Fans of Firkes' groups like Red Eye Gravy will want this. Most others will find it overwhelming. -Scoop Stevens

Flathead, Demo Flathead is a peppy coffeehouse party band-an acoustic jamboree with a vocalist who has the nasal white-boy tone of Maroon5's Adam Levine and the outta-breath scat style of Jason Mraz. Even spells out words like the latter. With a stand-up bass, solid guitar picking, handclaps and harmonies, they should be a folkie favorite soon. Now if the vocalist would only pause to breathe and create some contrast. -Troy Johnson

Simeon Flick, Indigo Child Simeon's got some acoustic guitar skills here and a voice he can belt with some folkie soul, but for now he's a bit like Gordon Lightfoot meets Hootie and the Blowfish. Only without Hootie's great pipes nor Gordon's cool sailor hat. -Troy Johnson

Forgotten Space, Remember Tomorrow The record is something of a cross between the Dead and Jefferson Airplane (Ginny West sounds just like Grace Slick). The lyrics are a disaster (“We can make our way together out by the windy shore”) and the in-studio mix makes micro-cassette bootleg tapes seem like a Rick Rubin production. But sometimes, when the EQ is set proper, and the speakers are turned at just the right angle, Remember Tomorrow can sound like a long lost friend whispering in your ear. -Edwin Decker

Michael Fortuna, Brilliant Green EP As a solo artiste, Michael Fortuna's obviously a creative bloke. He's got a long way to go to break the mold-he rips off Oasis on “Four Leaf Clover” strum by strum-and he lifts a little English sneer on the whole disc. But skilled guitar strumming that sounds melodically instinctive atones for Fortuna's rip-offs. -Caley Cook

Frankie J, “Obsession (No Es Amor)” single A Latin Justin Timberlake singing-at times in authentic Español-about a broken heart and misbegotten booty... exactly what the world needs now, most of all. -Daniel Strumpf

Fresco,...I'm A Freak This is either the funniest homage to '80s rap or it's just two guys making fun of people's ironic sensibility. Either way, it's real fun and the songs (if you can call ‘em that) totally get stuck in your head. Like, totally. -Seth Combs