http://www.myspace.com/3rdegreenj
Progressive "PowerPopRock" aus New Jersey. Sehr zu empfehlen für Fans von Echolyn und IZZ.
JUNE 2008 3RDegree‘s first studio album in 12 years is released. The 10-song CD (or download) was started just over 2 years ago when the band reformed after a long hiatus. It is a mix of songs, some started at the end of the quartet’s first tenure and some fresh compositions upon the band’s restart. The collection is a real tour-de-force through the different types of songs the band have shown capable of pulling off: from the intense odd-timing of “Apophenia”-a song about humanity’s tendency to look for patterns and meaning in the seemingly meaningless-to the pastoral, gentle delivery of “Scenery”-a grand addition to the band’s canon of melodic and accessible songs with long multi-part lead ups to great pay-off choruses. Sandwiched in between is “Cautionary Tale”, taking on the subject of militant religiosity in all its forms and in a musical delivery no less intense than the subject deserves, “Young Once” with its synthesized, other-worldly respite-an oasis on the way to the album ending “The Last Gasp”, which features full orchestration along side the band calling out “sing on!” until the band and orchestra break down in an almost exhausted fashion.
The concept of Narrow-Caster has to do with how we-with the help of technology- can now focus in on the art, entertainment and perhaps soon-people-that interest us while cutting out the things we don’t like or don’t think we like. While this makes it easier for us to find what we want to focus in on (like those things we know we already enjoy), we are losing the common experiences we used to all share-like watching the final M*A*S*H or Seinfeld, or hearing the songs of the Top 40. Since we can narrowly cast a line out to those things tried and true, we may suffer from an inability to be exposed to something outside our sphere like jazz or a different kind of beer or a unique movie. While it’s certainly not the end of the world, the internet is changing how we are exposed to art and possibly what we would even classify as art.
Tracklist:
1. Apophenia 2. It Works 3. Narrow-Caster 4. Live With This Forever 5. Cautionary Tale 6. The Proverbial Banana Peel
7. Young Once 8. Scenery 9. Free For All 10. The Last Gasp
