| Alexander de Large: The End #2 |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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As humans, we’re either drawn toward that which confuses us, or we’re repelled by mystery. MORE |
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| 2Me:
Schizophrenic Love Songs |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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We all love to find something that reminds us of the good times we've had, like a photograph of friends, or an old love letter... MORE |
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| Book of Maps: Book of Maps |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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Following a modest sound check in a quirky Minneapolis bowling alley, the three members of Book Of Maps nonchalantly took to the stage and graciously welcomed themselves into the onlookers' town. MORE |
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| Hasan Isakkut: Kibar |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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In a battle of wits, timing is everything, and it's important for a theoretical contestant not to play all his cards at any one time. MORE |
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| Harp 46: Passage |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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Something marvelous occurs when different worlds join together to create something new... MORE |
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| Michael Joseph: O-Glepi |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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The "dumbing down" of worldly music has aided in teh creation of baseless ideas and/or contents that portray, perhaps, a random scattering of emotions. MORE |
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| Goran Ivanovic Group |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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Blending sweet jazz with an audibly colorful Balkan-style, the Goran Ivanovic Group's self-titled debut release is nothing short of a delightful listen. MORE |
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| Analog Missionary: Transmitter |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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Questioning the assignment of classifications, and the wonder involved in hopeless categorization is arguably frustrating, but even more so an eye-opening journey into discovery. MORE |
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| Beangrowers |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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Like in a good love story, everybody enjoys seeing the little guys win the fight, or in the case of the European modern rock band Beangrowers... MORE |
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| Joshua Seurkamp |
| Reviewed by Chase Scott |
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Sometimes, we at TIR pull a work from a few years previous; we feel it’s been greatly overlooked and, perhaps, has simply fallen through the cracks, as does much fine indie label art. In this review, we feature one such case: A pair of worthy discs—entitled Garden of Sound and A Slave Left Dreaming—from World Music percussion maestro Joshua Seurkamp. MORE |
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| Xumantra's Dance of Life |
| Reviewed by Jason Spaargaren |
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Originally slated for review by TIR was Healing Bells, Xumantra’s latest disk. However, after two uninspiring listens—and visions of a Holosync-induced séance—we shifted gears and chose to review Xumantra’s previous release, Dance of Life. A far less eccentric, perhaps less vain attempt, Dance of Life is quite worthy of this space. MORE |
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| Sofa Mecca: Commuters |
| Reviewed by Jason Spaargaren |
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Somewhere down under, one enigmatic little band has a great thing going... MORE |
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| Forty Thieves: Forgotten Tales |
| Reviewed by Jason Spaargaren |
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Forty Thieves Orkestar, brainchild of Britain's Aidan Love, appear to have countless influences, the most prevalent being their sultry melodies and East London beats, with patches of reggae, gypsy, belly dance, and hip hop rhythm woven into their melodic fiber. MORE |
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| The Fades: Social Misfits |
| Reviewed by Jason Spaargaren |
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As a cast of four South West Londoners billing yourself as “the ultimate brassic DYI band,” you’d better be able to deliver. Luckily for said cast, and one TIR music critic, they do deliver. MORE |
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| -Phy: Lovesongs from Mars |
| Reviewed by Bradford Shulz |
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Lovesongs from Mars, Norwegian all-girl modern rock band –Phy’s debut full-length CD, leads you on a journey of emotions. The disk includes songs that make one feel as though he or she is a part of some chic, psychedelic dance culture, songs that emanate joy and ecstasy, and songs the drum up eerie sadness. MORE |
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| Nelson Pahl: Bee Balms & Burgundy |
| Reviewed by Michelle Rae |
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I had heard a lot about Nelson Pahl’s Bee Balms & Burgundy before taking on this assignment. After all, the novella had beaten out 2007 powerhouse title Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen for last year’s Bronte Prize. MORE |
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| Christopher Mader: The Harrison House |
| Reviewed by Michelle Rae |
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The Harrison House is a creep-fest. The site of grizzly family murders in the 1940s, the rancid grounds now permanently rest below overcast skies. MORE |
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| Liza Granville's Curing the Pig |
| Reviewed by Michelle Rae |
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Liza Granville's Curing the Pig is a tale about two opposing and extreme left and right wing views. In the story, they come together and reluctantly agree (meet in the middle) so we can all survive (make change happen). The story also pits male verses female. MORE |
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| Ken Harvill's Kill Whitey |
| Reviewed by Michelle Rae |
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Hmm. "...an acid-noir novel about an albino drug dealer, his Irish gangster family, a competing Russian outfit, exploding pimps, drug-crazed cod, hits with hornets, walking corpses, and a slew of other autobiographical elements…” What’s one to make of such a twisted abstract? MORE |
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| Clare Sambrook: Hide and Seek |
| Reviewed by Michelle Rae |
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As a mother, or perhaps just as an adult, we're undeniably curious as to what runs through a child’s mind. With all our education, our “experience,” our chaffing via adulthood, how quickly we forget the child’s mindset—the utter joy, the pain, the exasperation with our inability to understand the world. MORE |
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| Jeffrey Thomas: Punktown |
| Reviewed by Michelle Rae |
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In many ways, Jeffrey Thomas is to contemporary fiction what Edgar Allen Poe is to classic fiction. Although Poe is dead, and reputations and legends inevitably grow to exalted lengths after death for an artist, he remains somewhat underappreciated. But Poe’s contributions to horror, and literature in general, go without question. MORE |
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| Daniel Skoubye's Perceptions |
| Reviewed by Michelle Rae |
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I love to read a good novella or novelette; the two forms reside in that literary gray area that's so difficult to master because of the actual writing skill needed to pull it off; they are not just long, drawn-out babble with a large margin for error. Every word counts in a novella and novelette. Thankfully, Indie Lit offers an array of such books. MORE |
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| Felicity Young: A Certain Malice |
| Reviewed by Michelle Rae |
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After Sergeant Cam Fraser's wife and son are murdered, he and long daughter Rudy—in attempt to protect her from those who took her mother and brother—relocate from Sydney to a small town on the other side of Australia called Glenroyd, where Cam and his wife once attended college together. MORE |
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| Almelund |
| Reviewed by Jesse Lynch |
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For one reason or another, naysayers and purists almost always hate a film that's asinine for the sake of being asinine. MORE |
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| Hunter Weeks: 10mph |
| Reviewed by Jesse Lynch |
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Everybody's looking for two things: 1.) Financial stability; 2.) Happiness in what they’re doing. The problem is, these two things so frequently can’t co-exist. It’s at this point when we’re forced to decide which of the two is more important. MORE |
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| Jeff Consiglios's Facade |
| Reviewed by Jesse Lynch |
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Everybody wants what they can't have, and some people will do whatever they can to acquire what is just out of reach, even if it kills them. Veronica DiPippo has set the scene for a beautiful woman to be the victim of such an unfortunate circumstance. MORE |
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| Jennifer Porter: Mr. Barrington |
| Reviewed by Jesse Lynch |
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Every child pretends, or plays "make believe"; every child daydreams and “everything beautiful is fragile.” A person's inner child takes on different forms as we grow older, as we outgrow our habits or misconceptions. Writer Jennifer Nichole Porter opens a door to a world where a woman's tragic past has re-introduced itself to her consciousness, both uninvited and undesired. MORE |
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| Brian Bedard: Facade |
| Reviewed by Jesse Lynch |
Today's youth is filled with dysfunctional family lives, careless drug and alcohol use, and manipulative partners that work as a gateway to eye opening problems. It probably wouldn't be far off to say most kids could closely relate to the honesty and spine-tingling truth of a film by Brian Bedard. Entitled Façade, the film—dedicated to Michael Joseph Gould—shows us at the core of tragedy exists one or more catalysts, which expand into a hive of emotion that turns so many teenagers to suicide. MORE |
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| Greg & Kimberly Huson: Decaf |
| Reviewed by Jesse Lynch |
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Originally featured on the indie film festival circuit during 1997, Decaf wasn’t officially “released” until the second half of 2005. And, it’s a good thing it’s finally available. MORE |
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| D. Edwards: Chicago Stories |
| Reviewed by Jesse Lynch |
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Taking a trip to Chicago, one is certain to return with several stories, none of which would likely be as captivating as the contents of Chicago Stories. MORE |
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| Adam Hardman's Blood Money |
| Reviewed by Jesse Lynch |
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We often hear about how violent video games and shoot ‘em up movies are to blame for dysfunctional kids committing senseless, heinous crimes, simply for kicks. It’s Adam Hardman, the man behind the film Blood Money, who illustrates a mentality that cannot scapegoat high bit resolution and a controller with a rumble pack. MORE |
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