Link Drop - Bella Muerte, Face the King, Diet, The Nayo, FreeStyle Fam (NEW MUSIC)

BELLA MUERTE
Bella Muerte are no strangers to this blog. Check out their newest acoustic release below!



FACE THE KING
Another band that has frequented the site quite a bit, check out Face the King's newest single below. Download the single below for a minimum of one dollar!




DIET 
Wonderful punk/grunge. Diet's easily one of my favorite local bands! Listen to their new single, "I Can't Sit Still" below.


THE NAYO
Looking for some free awesome hip-hop? Well look no further, this is Shameless Plug of the Yes yesy Yall's side project. Listen below.



FREESTYLE FAM
No explanation necessary. Just watch....

Link Drop - Free Music from Diet, Process of Fusion, Freestyle Fam and More!

Ghosts of Eden
Staten Island "Velvet Grunge" rockers Ghosts of Eden recently released a music video for their song "In Motion." Dead Dove Creative filmed and directed the video as the band acted out all the roles in this playful and funny big wheel race. Check it out below!


Freestyle Fam
Staten Island Hip-Hop group just released their new mixtape for free a few days ago, and wow, if it awesome. It's the best work they have done so far! On top of that, the duo of Quest the Wordsmith and Redeemed killed it at Rap Fest 2013 this past weekend. So download the mixtape and check out Quest's closing freestyle.





Process of Fusion
Download POF's first Ep from 2010 for FREE, yup, it's available right now for nothing, so go get it!


Diet
Also, be sure to check out Diet's recently released EP. It is one of my favorite of the year! If you like 90s alternative/grunge, mixed with punk, check it out!



Broken Records Magazine
Last but not least, check out the new issue of Broken Records Magazine featuring Shinedown, 311, and David Cook and more!
http://brokenrecordsonline.com/purchase

Diet EP Review

Local Staten Island punk/grunge band Diet are releasing an EP very, and upon the first listen, I'm in love. Diet consists of Thom Kinnear of guitar/vocals, Michal Pando on bass/backing vocals, and George Bulger on the drums, not to mention, the recent addition of Chris Taranto on guitar/vocals (he does all backing vocals on the EP).

The EP opens up with "Zooey," and has an erie feel to it with the way the guitars and bass seem to wave back and fourth over light drum work. It has a soothing yet hypnotizing feel to it. The track breaks into a standard groove and melody around the 1:40 mark of the song. The vocals come in and go perfectly with the music, and has a Brand New type haunting vibe to it, before the song yet again switches around at 3:55. In kicks the heaviness and the gritty guitars with louder vocals. For lack of a better word, a really cool song to kick off the album.

"Gaze" is a straight up punk song from the first snare hit, and sounds like a throwback to the late 70s and early 80s. To be quite honest, after the first track I feel like I'm listening to a totally different band. It really is an amazing switch of genres.

Next up is "Shapes," which mellows the fast paced previous track down. The song feels drum driven as steady tom rolls swing rhythmically with the guitars building an instrumental tension of what's to come next.

And what's next is the "Short Song," as it flows directly from the last and picks up around 1:05. As the name suggests, the song is over quickly but in that short span they reminded me of Relient K's first album, one of my favorite punk albums by the way...

"Shoe Bomber" goes back to more of a 90s signature punk style, think old Blink 182, MxPx, or the aforementioned Relient K. The driving guitars lead to a nice solo section toward the end flowing over pulsing drums.

Up next is the single,"Knee Brace." I previously spoke about this track and it's no secret I'm a big fan of it, and so is everyone else locally. The verse is super fast, the bridge is super melodic and features a lot of bassy goodness along with effected guitar work. The transitions are great between the instrumental and the vocals.

"Planks" is the final track on the EP. Again Diet slows the tempo down, and focuses on instrumentation as the vocal point. The song has a very distinct bass line, a signature sound on guitar that kind of runs as a theme throughout the album. The vocals on this are really soft, and the track has a little more of an indie, Nirvanish appeal to it. About mid way through the song, it starts coming undone and intentionally falls apart. The distortion is cranked up, strings are plucked feverishly and chaotically, but the bass and drums remain a constant as the song sort of descents into itself. 

Overall, the album is work of art unto itself. I am actually blown away by this band's artistic ability, and their willingness to stray away from the stereotypical notions of punk rock being "easy" and "non-musically" driven. Diet manages to take the best parts of classic punk, 90s punk, indie rock, and alternative and mesh them into a melting pot of an EP that flows from one song to the next seamlessly. 

Thom Kinnear's vocals and vision as a guitarist and vocalist are extraordinary. Michal Pando's bass playing is so fluid and succinct, that most of the songs would simply not sound so pretty without him, and George Bulger's drumming is on point. The way he effortlessly switches between fast and slow, heavy and soft, tom rolls and straight up snare and bass is great! 

Diet isn't playing any games or holding anything back, and with the addition of Chris Taranto are sure to, if not already, change the way people think of punk music. Hands down my favorite local submission of the year. Well done gentlemen.

Diet Review for New Single 'Knee Brace'

Having never heard Diet's music before, I went into this not knowing what to expect after I got a message from vocalist/guitarist Thom Kinnear. With that being said, I absolutely loved their up coming single "Knee Brace."

Diet has a punk sound so familiar and yet so unique at the same time. They are a mixture of the Offspring, Blink 182, New Found Glory, and Nirvana, with the later comparison occurring toward the midway break point of "Knee Brace."

Thom has a great tone and quality to his voice. It's almost like if you mixed Mark Hoppus' and Tom Delonge's voice together, essentially Blink 182 with one vocalist.

At first I wasn't so keen on the mix and levels for the vocals and upon further questioning, Thom told me it was on purpose saying, "The vibe of this song was really personal so we wanted the vocals kinda low to make it really like unsure of what I'm saying but still hearing the melody and some words. I kinda wanted it to sound like mumbling and me being nervous for some reason; the low vocals were definitely on purpose for this one song."

The song has multiple parts alternating between really fast and slow, melodic and more pulsing. Overall, if every Diet track sounds as good as this first one, then I'm a fan. Great, creative instrumentals with a unique blending of punk sounds and good vocals.

One more thing...I CAN"T show you all the song! But if you want to hear it live and have it made available to you, come on out to the Arts Cypher in Staten Island March 23rd along with Figurehead, my band - Process of Fusion, and others! Info here.




Listen to some other demos on their Facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/dietfudge
dietnewyork.bandcamp.com
@DietTakeover
diet_newyork@yahoo.com