Allstar Weekend "Not Your Birthday" Music Review

Being a modern music junkie and an avid movie goer, the Allstar Weekend's "Not Your Birthday" sounds like the perfect choice for the new to release movie, "Prom". This new album is featured on Disney's "Prom", which is set to release this Friday, 4/29/11. This track has quite the modern buzz that you would expect to find in a movie that the majority of viewers would be middle school/high school girls. Although it is a catchy tune that will be stuck in my head for the remainder of the week, I would have liked to see the theme and lyrics of the song reflect something other than "partying like its not your birthday" ,which is repeated more than one could count. I just think that there are too many songs out their that promote and encourage "partying" everyday or no reason. I guess this seems to be the popular type of song. I would have liked to see something that was a bit different. Other than that, I don't think this is the next hit, but, I do think it has some potential to being a song that would be found a lot in movies and found on the iPods of many. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.

-The Sunstreak: Once Upon a Lie- Music Review

The Sunstreak, a band that is beginning to gain popularity, is about to release their newest album, "Once Upon a Lie". This formerly underground band gained a foothold in the music world when they made it onto Warped Tour and sold 25,000 self-produced records in two months. They were the second band in history to get on the Billboard charts without a distribution deal, making them a group rapidly approaching stardom. Their new album is self-produced and self-titled, and since the release of their hit single "Until I Met You", they have been featured on AOL and Yahoo! Music. The Sunstreak is beginning to build a larger fan base as their new album awaits to hit stores.

"Once Upon a Lie" is a well composed album that has a nice foundation of musical accomplishments. The drummer, Gary Foster, as well as lead singer Tony Rebis have talent that is evident in many of the eleven songs featured on the record. Also, the band blends some decent pop-sounding melodies and mainstream-friendly chorus with shared vocals to make a grooving feel.

However, the album has some major flaws that make it fall far below the top of the heap. First of all, every single song out of the eleven tracks is about loving, talking to, or missing a girlfriend. Every single song out of the eleven tracks. This provides no variety throughout the album; every song feels exactly the same as the past, set with a slightly different melody. Lines such as "I wanna touch you... I wanna kiss you..." and "She said stay with me... Why don't you stay with me?" are seen throughout the album. This makes the listening experience feel like a friend talking and whining to you above his/her love life for forty-five minutes.

Another weakness shown in "Once Upon a Lie" is the lack of originality and rougher feel. Many of the songs sound very much like pop-driven ballads heard before. This does not necessarily make the songs bad, but it does not give the listener a good reason to continue when they could listen to a similar band that pulls off the genre more successfully. Also, many of the songs feature steady, rock-based rhythms but with a bad catch; they sound far, far too clean. Even when singing of sadness, the songs on this album do not have an edge to them, which would highly benefit much of the material. The band sounds very precise and overly-clean, which does not give them the power that they are looking for in many of their lyrics.

Overall, the Sunstreak's "Once Upon a Lie" does not meet many standards that would make it one for the charts; however, the band has talent and potential that clearly shows through throughout the eleven tracks. Improvements that could be made include a change in song subject, more originality and unique qualities, and more of an edge for the rock-based tracks.

RATING: 2/5 REASON: "Once Upon a Lie" shows talent and potential, but it is not original enough in song genre or style to make it a good album.