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KFOG KaBoom! 2008 Bands
15th Annual KFOG KaBoom Bands | Tickets | Where To Go What To Do | Fun Facts
Los Lobos | Collective Soul |Matt Nathanson
At this stage in their illustrious career, a new album by the East Los Angeles rock band Los Lobos is a highly anticipated event. Since they began as Los Lobos Del Este Los Angeles in 1973, they have evolved into a respected artistic entity searching for themes and topics that are an interpretive pulse of our times - including the 80's Mega Hit La Bamba. Using musical molds built on the blues, rockabilly, jazz, Latin and their own Mexican-American heritage, Los Lobos have never beat their fans over the head with politics or agendas. Instead, they subtly challenge them with conscience-raising songs and thought-provoking lyrics. Their latest Hollywood Records release - "The Town and The City" - certainly does that. The epic The Town and The City is told in the first-person, with each song serving as an episodic step in a rough journey that is in your face at times, comforting and nostalgic at others. !
Afterwords is the new studio album from Collective Soul. It is the seventh studio album by the hard-rocking band from the tiny town of Stockbridge, GA that’s gone on to become multi-platinum hit-makers playing all over the world. Bright as California sunshine, the first single “Hollywood” features an undeniable melody with tinges of ’80s pop. Singer/ songwriter Ed Roland puts a bouncy energy to his sly lyrics that compare Tinsel Town to a naughty girl (or is it the other way around?): “Yeah, Hollywood/ You know I love you more than one man should/ Yeah, Hollywood/ kiss me, kiss me good.” “The theme of this one is love.” Roland says of Afterwords. “It sounds corny saying that but we’ve been blessed with success and with that comes the confidence to do things. I always liked writing positive songs and although a whole love record is different for me it’s an important step.”
Collective Soul's Afterwords is available now.
Matt Nathanson doesn't waste any time setting the tone for his transfixing new album, Some Mad Hope. Diving headlong into a sea of chiming guitars, the San Francisco-based singer-songwriter breathlessly declares "I'm wide awake and so alive" -- the opening lines of "Car Crash" serving as a statement of emotional clarity that permeates the disc's every groove. Some Mad Hope, Nathanson's sixth studio album (and first for Vanguard), is in many ways his most fully-realized work to date. Recorded over the past two and a half years, the 12-song set displays a sonic depth that dovetails perfectly with what he admits is a newfound songwriting confidence. At the core of Nathanson's music are his lyrics -- deft turns of phrase that can alternately cut deep into the heart or heal it. That's evident throughout Some Mad Hope, a song cycle of sorts that chronicles the search for a genuine connection, touching on the sensually electric moments as well as the darker frustrations of sifting through the wreckage -- in hopes of finding redemption at the end of the day.
Matt Nathanson's Some Mad Hope is available now.
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