Local Spins

The January Taxi
‘Keep Quiet, They Might Hear Us’

Glendale’s The January Taxi begin “Keep Quiet, They Might Hear Us” like someone would approach a fresh New Year’s resolution. That is, they charge into it headlong — tearing through riffs that fire their rocky, emotive music. But somewhere along the commitment trail they stray and their potential is never fully realized.

“Girls With Six Strings” melds some witty one-liners (“You’re a little too creative for my imagination”) with fast, catchy guitar parts, giving a nod to early pop punk tunes by The Descendents, minus Milo Aukerman’s cynical sense of humor. But, the CD loses steam near the middle. By the time the band taps out repetitive guitar bars on the mid-tempo “Jome,” listeners may be scrambling for their Burning Airlines and Promise Ring CDs for solace. When the final beats of “Threading the Needle” fizzle out, one is left wondering what happened to the flint that initially fired the band’s good intentions. C

Next show: 8 p.m. Saturday at The Sets, 93 E. Southern Ave. in Tempe. . All ages; $5 for those 21 and over, $7 for those under 21.
Web site: www.thejanuarytaxi.com

— by Jenna Duncan, Get Out

Kraised
‘Haywire Logic’

It does not bode well for a heavy metal band that the finest cut on their CD is the obligatory power ballad, but such is the case with Kraised’s “Haywire Logic.” The 13-song disc is replete with punishing chord-based riffs, however the problem is that most of the tunes sound identical, leaving little variety from one track to the next.

Kraised’s lead vocalist, known somewhat pretentiously as “The Tones,” has a fine metal voice featuring great vocal range and a Dio-esque vibrato, but too often he talk/raps through verses before cutting loose on the choruses. The talents of guitarist Kris Pierce are largely wasted here, as only the aformentioned ballad “Close My Eyes” delivers that tried and true metal staple: A guitar solo. Kraised has a good deal of promise, but the lack of riff diversity bogs this disc down. C+

Next Show: Nothing scheduled at this time.
Web site: www.kraised.com

— by Chris Holly, Get Out