Hello Shiquers and welcome back to Nerdy Shique Universe! It’s time for a music review and glad to do something music again. What is it this time? Let’s see!

This starts off with Ranger Stop, I know you thought I was done but not really! Johnny Yong Bosh was there as a guest this year and found out while I was meeting him again (last time I met him was at AFO 2011) and found out that among all the items he had on his table was his newest album with his band Eyeshine. I know you’re thinking, he is a musician? Yep! I got into their music through a friend of mine that Johnny remembered and even have their radio station on Itunes added to my list. Let’s see what I think about this album!

Album Name: Sidewalk Dreams and Chalk Dust
Artist: Eyeshine

As you know, my favorite genre of music is rock and some bands I do like, especially in alternative and punk, include New Found Glory, Soul Switch, Boys Like Girls, and so many more. Eyeshine to me at least remind me of a combination of Third Eye Blind with a mix of Boys Like Girls but this album shows more of their Boys Like Girls side with the first two songs having a harder sound and they are known as”Paper Hearts” and “Play in Two (I’m Getting Out.)” Then once track three, “So Majestic,” it brings their softer side and to admit I like Eyeshine’s softer side than the harder because it shows Johnny’s voice range a lot better. Even on ITunes when they play the ballads by Eyeshine I feel like turning up the volume and sit back while I write as they play, heck I did remember one really good ballad on one of the old CDs I borrowed from that friend and played it over and over on my old MP3 player because it was beautiful. I wished Ranger Stop had Eyeshine perform because not only I never got to see them live which I am kind of kicking myself for not doing that during AFO 2011 but I can imagine how this album would sound.

There is one song that does pop out to me and it’s called “Break Free” break Free” and it is another one of the ballads on this album. To me the lyrics kind of remind me when I graduated from college since it talks about leaving one world in the soft guitar that starts it and then the other instruments join in. I remembered how back in college I wanted to break free from it and live my life again without college holding back. This song is pretty much my favorite on the album and I think one other.

My other favorite would have to be “Myself to Lose” because I like the sound of it and I do like the lyrics about being twenty-one and have to grow up. When I was that age, I didn’t feel grown up at all, especially meeting Gondras at the time. One thing I did take from the song is the chorus because it talks about doing something in your life again and you have yourself to lose. To tell you the truth, I feel like I want to draw again but lost it due to my eye sight again and if I were to go back to that time in my earlier twenties I would definitely do it again before my reality did hit. I do say that right now doing this blog is what I like to do the most.

My Thoughts on the Album as a Whole: I say Eyeshine has definitely changed their sound and the audio sounds better on this as well. What do I mean by that? The older stuff felt a bit echo-like and I feel like this one had better recording style, editing, and so on. Plus, it shows that Johnny has grown as a musician with his band and if I would definitely have this played at a gathering among friends or even in Hot Topic.

My Rating: Five Cat Paws out of Five!

Well, that is it for this review of the album! I hope to see more from Eyeshine and hoping if Johnny is back for Ranger Stop that they perform. That is one thing that they needed and that was Special Events. Anyways, glad to know that they put something new out there for all of us and glad that I can find their music on ITunes, which their list is interesting because it also has anime music to go with. If you have an IPhone or IPad, I would say check out their playlist on ITunes Radio to see what other stuff they have done.

What is next? Definitely doing Doesn’t Sound the Same on Fall Out Boy. And follow us on Twitter @Nerdy SHique if you haven’t gotten a chance! We will be posting about our experiences from Holiday Matsuri during that weekend so you can see what is going on with us during the convention and what other posts we have and so on. Stay tuned!