Beat Alley

Palpable and vibrating energy floated, swelling to the throb of the beats. An electronic pulse, contagious and intoxicating, spread from human to human. This vibe emanated from everyone involuntarily, an exhalation drawn painless and automatic from each body, a magnetic compulsion. The stimulus was electro-pop band Breathe Carolina and the response was massive.

This band is far more than a couple of singers and a supporting cast of musicians; it symbiotically swallows ever...

What do you get if you cross the Ramones with Blink-182? I am aware that this crosses generations, and, for the punk rock purists, it is borderline heresy, but this is what I think of while listening to the New Rochelles. Their pop punk bounce is driven by a classic punk grind and persuasion that makes their sound almost tolerable. The album goes by so quickly that you almost have to hear it again to make sure nothing was missed.

An upbeat record, the three man band put forth It’s...

Five Finger Death Punch has a new single, Under and Over It.

We have heard this before, and it doesn’t sound new at all. There isn’t much variation from past singles in the bounding, drive of their head banging thunder, and there isn’t much to their lyrics…they certainly won’t be memorialized in the annals of rock history for their songwriting. Spinning positively, they have a consistent sound that will appeal to the unthinking metal head masses in the vein...

Punk rock has had an undeniable influence on the genre that spawned it. I believe its influence infiltrates most of popular rock today; from the radio friendly bubble–gum pop to the more underground independent alternative, the steady and solid backbeat still holds true and the angst driven lyrical protest is ever present. To play an authentic, spiked-collar-dyed-pink-mohawk punk rock song, you need a few chords, a fast drummer, a singer that doesn’t necessarily need to know how t...

Nowadays, when the word ‘metal’ is used to describe a genre of music, the first thing that usually comes to mind is snarly, incoherent singing and loud, slamming drums accompanied by a fast distorted guitar. If you are a fan, this might seem like face melting bliss, but let’s face it, this does not appeal to everyone; in fact, I would venture to say that it doesn’t appeal to more people than it does. Anymore, you can’t even say that you like plain old metal becau...

New Jersey based band, Set It Free, will released their self titled debut EP on July 5th, 2011 through Gas Can Music. The five songs top out just shy of seventeen minutes, with Forget the Past as the song of focus for the release.

Home Alive

Brilliant Sound

Forget the Past

Everything in Motion

What Is This Love

From the opening guitar slide and riff, you might think that a new thrash rock band is percolating and about to explode, but the vocals soften the s...

I was a witness to a punk rock possession. Denver band BOLDTYPE played the Marquis Theater for the release of their new record Uneasy Days on Friday, April 8th. It was a loud and rambunctious show for the ages…literally, the song 3 Cheers was dedicated to a little two or three year old girl with pigtails and horn-rimmed glasses.

The energy level was consistent with the music for the entire show: high and fast, a contagion that infected everyone. There was a fight, with the bouncer...

3/29/11 – Pre-Show review of BOLDTYPE, and interview….

Hey all you crazy music lovers out there!!

As Beat Alley is having technical issues posting an interview we did on Tuesday night, I wanted to give you the insight as to what we are up to. I know a lot of you are going to be checking out QOTSA on Friday night, there are also a lot of you that missed out on tickets. For those people, oh boy, do I have something for you to check out.

BO...