Articles By: Rory Masterson 
Rory Masterson, a business administration student at Fordham University, is originally from Fort Mill, South Carolina. He enjoys playing and listening to music. Don't we all?
Fergus & Geronimo – Funky Was the State of Affairs album review
The word “interesting,” ironically, may be the least interesting adjective in the English language. It pretends to make an opinion without really saying anything about the subject. To say something is interesting is to say that it captured your attention and held it for a certain period of time, long enough for you to think with at least a sliver of consideration and, hopefully, to form an opinion, but apparently not a very strong one. Interesting is lukewarm and does [...]
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Peter Lovett – Flying Away EP review
The term “singer-songwriter” has evolved over time, as most things do, from the barnstorming folkisms of Woody Guthrie to the industrious complexities of Bob Dylan to the Americana of the Eagles to today’s indie folkies like Bon Iver. One could make an argument that just about anything falls under the umbrella of the term, even someone as un-Dylanesque as, say, Nicki Minaj. Many contemporary musicians adopt the “singer-songwriter” title to conjure images of acoustic guitars, simple bands and lyrics that [...]
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P.O.D. – Murdered Love review
One of the premier turn-of-the-century rapcore bands, P.O.D. has kept consistently busy during its time in the limelight. The band releases an album every few years, touring in between and attributing all of its success to God, as is the Christian metal way. Even since the notable heyday of The Fundamental Elements of Southtown and Satellite, P.O.D. manages to pop up in commercials, movies and as background music for extreme sports montages on YouTube. Murdered Love, the band’s eighth full-length [...]
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Holograms – Holograms review
Punk gets its rocks off on the fact that most of its musicians are poorly trained, if at all, and have little sense of well-being while banging away at low quality instruments they probably bought secondhand from a pawn shop that may or may not deal in human trafficking when the lights are out. Such is almost certainly the case with Holograms, the Stockholm-based quartet who seek to reconcile the resentment of postmodernism with the emotional, melodic sensitivities of punk [...]
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Everclear – Invisible Stars album review
Alternative pop-rock is not dead. Repeat: alternative pop-rock is not dead. It just isn’t that pop anymore. The group of bands that held court on Total Request Live around the turn of this century have, for the most part, faded out of the limelight or broken up (in some cases, with the members breaking up, embarking on splintered side projects and realizing quickly that the whole was far greater than the sum of the parts). Like the contemporaneous teen angst [...]
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The dB’s – Falling Off The Sky album review
A lot can happen in a span of twenty five years. Communist superpowers can crumble beneath the weight of sheer, raw capitalism. The world’s most diverse nation can unite in the face of terrorism. LeBron James can win an NBA championship. Indeed, in the time since power pop outfit the dB’s last released a studio album, the world has undergone strange and wonderful changes, but the group seems to have retained much of its pop sensibility. Falling Off The Sky, [...]
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Tomas Barfod – Salton Sea review
Danish music has not of yet left an especially impressive mark on popular music. Suffice it to say that the most prominent Danish musician right now, and of the last twenty or so years, may be Metallica’s Lars Ulrich. Scandinavian music in general does carry with it the catchiest connotations for the average American listener. The Danes are making tremendous strides, however, and one artist in particular may be able to capitalize on the wildfire popularity of indie electronica. With [...]
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Friends – Manifest! album review
Since LCD Soundsystem first popularized the term “disco-punk” about ten years ago, scores of groups, both affiliated with LCD’s DFA label and otherwise, have infused portions of the disco-punk sound into their own. One of the latest, Brooklyn’s Friends, created a sizable stir with the 2011 release of its singles “Friend Crush” and “I’m His Girl.” Both are featured on the full-length debut of the group, entitled Manifest! Hailed as the “hottest record in the world” upon its release by [...]
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2012 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival review – Part II
Waking up on Saturday morning at Bonnaroo carries with it the curious sensation that work is unfinished. At this point, the music festival has become less about fun and more about completing a task. To come out alive, even if sunburnt, malnourished and sleep-deprived, seems like an accomplishment worthy of an entry on the résumé. Surely an employer would be impressed with an arduous, days-long struggle for survival in the oppressive heat of the desolate Tennessean countryside. With that thought [...]
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2012 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival review – Part I
There is a moment of realization, an epiphany of sorts, which occurs to every person who turns off I-24 in Manchester, Tennessee, to enter a 700-acre farm in the heat of the summer. Maybe you have traveled seven hours in the back of a Hyundai hatchback with inadequate space for a young child, much less a college student and a week’s worth of camping supplies. Maybe you packed enough to sustain yourself on the back of a motorcycle and rode [...]
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