OMG Reviews: Jason Aldean - 1994

by Brittany Fant, 15-year-old reviewer


Listen here!

MMYYYY FAVORITTTTTEEEE! Jason is such a good rapper! This song is about the year my parents got married! So cool. I bet they didn't even have awesome country rap songs back then. They were missing out! I'm actually so glad I wasn't even a twinkle in my folks' eyes back then. It was so lame. Their cell phones were like the size of a brick and you couldn't even text on them!!! No internet. And HUNTER HAYES hadn't learned to play guitar yet! What a crappy time to be alive, lol!! But at least this song about that year is so good. All you geezers complaining and saying stuff like "country + rap = crap" need to get a life. All us people who actually buy music on iTunes are voting y'all off the island, lol. Old people, we grew up with awesome bands like Linkin Park and Limp Biscuit so we know good music and we want country to sound young and cool! Jason is kind of old to be rapping, but not as old as Jay-Z so I guess it's okay. At least he's awesome at it. Now, about the song's subject matter. Joe Diffie? I don't know who that is, but his name is fun to say. I Googled him and he had some awful hair!! That's another thing about the old days. They let anybody sing on the radio! They didn't have to be hot or anything. I'm glad that's all changed now!!!! Nowadays, guys care about their hygiene and their abs, thank goodness. I clicked on a couple of Joe Diffie's songs and couldn't get through more than a few seconds. He sings like a hick! I guess it's cool for Jason to get people interested in that guy a little... maybe sell a few mp3's for him (hopefully his record company set it up for him - lol, he's probably too old to know how to use email). Maybe Joe will be able to afford a decent haircut now. At least his name is fun to yell over and over! I love that! Maybe the "Joe Diffie" will take over the Harlem Shake as the cool YouTube dance! I hope Hunter has some rap songs on his new album. He probably has better flow than 2Pac! This is the best time to be alive because music is so awesome. If you don't like "1994," you need to get out your 8-tracks of Waylon Jenkins or something and eat your pistachio pudding. It's never going back the way you want it, gramps.

5 Heart Hands!

Album Review: The Marshall Pass - Phantom Train

The Marshall Pass' Phantom Train is a melancholy remembrance of a lost friend and bandmate. This singular focus wouldn't make for the best introduction to most groups/artists, but Duncan Arsenault and Craig Rawding impart so much passion-filtered talent on this project that it's a must-hear.

As cathartic as this set of songs must have been for The Marshall Pass to create and record, Phantom Train is no simple exhaling of sorrows. It's a work of great artistry and soul, as informed by loss as it is song-craft. The dark color palette used for the portrait never bleeds to a flat gray.

Phantom Train recalls the lush textures of early Sun Kil Moon and the bluesy vocals of the Allman Brothers. Pass' sound is a warm mix of folk, rock and blues with an authentic twang that would make one think these guys hail from central Georgia, rather than Massachusetts. Everything about the EP sounds organic and unforced.

My favorite cut is "Default Line," which is a better "leave your troubles behind and go live on a beach" song than most pop-country singers ever dreamed of. Other strong tracks on Phantom Train are... all of them (here's a lyric video for another stellar tune, "Abilene"). Seven songs left me wanting. Not for depth, just wanting it to keep on going for another 30 minutes or so.

I hope The Marshall Pass isn't a one-off deal. I'm already so invested in their aesthetic and mojo, I'm itching for another release immediately if not sooner. Phantom Train proves them well-equipped to speak beyond the mourning that makes this release such an emotional monument.

Highly recommended.

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You can sample and purchase Phantom Train at CD Baby, Amazon,  iTunes or Bandcamp.

Good Parenting Meme

Larry Lee's Backslidden Cousin?

Sean McConnell, Brent Cobb & Logan Brill - Wild Horses (Live)

Awesome.