Music Reviews

With a relentless unleashing of talent, Rafael Moreira seeks to prove that he is a star in his own right emerging from his usual role of supporting guitarist. His latest and most beloved project is his own band Magnetico and their newest release Songs About the World.

But just who is Rafael Moreira? You need to look no further than the background for just about every Christina Aguilera performance in the last few weeks from the MTV Movie Awards to the Today show to spot him. That’s not all he’s done though, he appeared in the House Band for CBS’s Rock Star: INXS and Rock Star: Supernova and served as lead guitarist/backing vocalist with Paul Stanley (KISS), P!nk, Don Felder (The Eagles), Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Stevie Wonder, Dave Navarro, Natasha Bedingfield, Tommy Lee, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge and international stars Vasco Rossi and Utada.

If you’re still wondering who this guy is, just watch him play and you’ll see that he’s just a jaw-dropping guitar player. As luck would have it, he is also a first-rate songwriter and pours this talent into Songs About the World. On the album you can tell, this was made by someone with the resources to put together a high quality album but still unsigned so that he is allowed to experiment and control the artistic direction. The combination is satisfying and balanced.

Magnetico’s sound is dominated by sinister guitars pervading the aggressive atmosphere only relenting to clear a path for Rafael’s vocals. Still, the music is not cacophonous and can easily be classified as melodic rock. The lyrics cover the emerging of revolutionary thoughts coming from someone on the verge of making a life change. Those moments before a revolution of frustration, confusion, and making sense of the madness are explored and Magnetico attempts to stir up these feelings to induce change.
This is where I think the album title is fitting for its neutrality. Songs About the World is neither optimistic nor completely hopeless and lends itself to present the world for what it is, as it is. Hopefully the next album will provide the steps necessary for revolution.

I recommend checking out Magnetico at www.magneticomusic.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rafaelmoreira .

With so many bands in Southern California it’s easy for one to get mixed in with the rest. For someone who writes about the music scene here, it is even harder to swift through the pile. However, there is one thing that separates the boys from the men and Disalto knows just how to do it—their drive and passion for music shows through on all aspects of their life. They don’t just play music, they live and breathe it, unlike many bands who simply put out a record and hope something great happens.

On Disalto’s new album One Beacon In the Strand, you can hear just how serious this band is about their music career. With 10 songs, this album has one great song after the next. Lead singer, Dana Cordero, has a voice that will remind you of a younger version of Tim McIlrath. The chemistry in the band is clear throughout the album. With help from producer David Baker and mixing by Mike Major, One Beacon In the Strand is no sophomore slump for Disalto.

The album opens with the band’s single, “The Arrival.” With the low, dirty bass sound coming from Joe Friedman, followed by intricate guitar work from both Carlos Flores and Dave Friedman, this single is aimed to please. As the chorus comes in, drummer Oren Halmut hit the drums in a fashion that is sure to make mosh pits everywhere go off the walls. The next track “Sooner or Later” remind me off a song you might find on a Red Jumpsuit Apparatus album and this is not a bad thing. In this track, Cordero shows off the higher side of his vocal range. However, this band is not all about showing off on their instruments, they have deep meaning behind their songs. In “Precious Flaw” we are reminded about how inconsiderate we are of the environment when driving around in our gas guzzling cars all day. The band says, “The fumes that I breath are toxic, why are these fools inconsiderate? Precious flaw, nothing I do is perfect, I don’t wanna be a part of it.” The album ends with the track “Lightbulb” again we hear Cordero’s talented vocal abilities, along with a catchy underlying bass line. This track talks about the future and how its path its unknown, its starts with confusion, but eventually moves into a more positive light, “It’s a beautiful morning, the sun it is rising, the clouds are colliding”

Disalto is definitely a band worth checking out. With so many bands coming and going, Disalto will be one of the ones to stick around for quite a while. Check them out at disalto.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/disalto/92825409332?v=wall

Mark Ayala is a music enthusiast originally from Florida who now resides in Southern California. He likes all kinds of music, particularly but not limited to, punk, jazz, and rock in every incarnation.