In a Time magazine, Josh Tyrangiel quotes Ryan Adams on describing Love is Hell as “suicide music.” After hearing Ryan Adams’s new album Rock n Roll, I thought Ryan Adams was abandoning his folksy blues; Adams’s rocking and a rolling tunes are good, but they are missing his signature essence from his previous albums. I didn’t know what to expect, and I didn’t know that Ryan Adams was even releasing an EP until I read the Time article. I slipped the disc into my CD player, and amazing music floated into the room. Stripped down, nothing too fancy schmancy, beautiful music. It’s the polar opposite of his new album, and he pulls both CDs off flawlessly. You’ve got to appreciate Adams’s slower songs to fully enjoy this EP. I can’t even believe this is called an EP. EPs are usually about 15 minutes long, and it seems like the artist doesn’t want to call it a LP or album because he/she is just experimenting. Adams knows exactly what he’s doing on this EP, no doubt about it. He recorded a gorgeous acoustic cover of Oasis’s hit single “Wonderwall”. I can’t name any key tracks, because they are all just so stunning, and so very amazing (I’m really running out of words to describe how awesome this EP is). With its eight songs nearing almost 40 minutes of bliss, it really proves that love is hell. A+

Good music has the ability to transport the listener to another place. Listening to Azure Ray’s Hold on Love is kind of like driving in a car in the Midwest just as the sun is setting while you’re trying to find the meaning of life. At other times, it feels like fall; leaves are changing colors as they descend from tree branches, it is becoming darker and colder, and things have slowed down. Good music is also so beautiful that it makes you want to put down your instrument and never touch it again, because you know you’ll never reach that level of talent, so why even try? Their haunting tunes are absolutely gorgeous. It is so tempting, once you’ve had a couple albums behind you, to add in every instrument ever produced on the face of this earth on your upcoming record. Azure Ray sticks to their guns and keep their piano, and guitars in tune for this record. They allowed some extra beats into some of their songs, but it does not take away from their original sound of lush harmonies, and astounding vocals. “New Resolution” is the best song that shows a new side of Azure Ray. Other key tracks are, “If You Fall”, “Look to Me”, “Nothing Like a Song”, and “Sea of Doubts”. A

Thursday’s newest album War of the Time is their first record on a major record label, but they are far from selling out. Those who enjoyed Full Collapse, will like the new record just as much. Props to Thursday for their scientific references in “Between Rupture and Rapture”, not many bands refer to science these days. Thursday has made a couple of friends and included them into the song “Steps Ascending”; Gretta Cohn from Cursive plays cello, and Jonah Mantranga from Onelinedrawing lends his vocal talents in this song. Overall, the songs sound pretty much the same, so there’s no need to skip tracks. B+

Saves the Day has undergone a change since their celebrated Through With Being Cool. We saw the change starting to unfold in 2001’s Stay What You Are, and hoped that they would stay what they were when they began, but they didn’t, they released In Reverie. We were hoping to hear some old school Saves the Day, because we want to take part in the fountain of youth they produced whenever they played those catchy pop-punk tunes. However, everyone grows up, and Saves the Day has certainly matured, and it’s taken some toll on their sound. Chris Conley’s vocals sound bored, and flat compared to his once fluctuating and youthful voice in Can’t Slow Down, and TWBC. Their songs have slowed down a bit, and their content of their lyrics are gaining gravity. A song that I do not understand at all is “Monkey”, especially the line, “The monkey will bite, so you better eat your poultry too”. Does the “monkey” represent karma? The record is still above average compared to other artists, but it let me down as a Saves the Day fan. B