There was a time  when I used to worry about the future of rock music. I always had fears that the growth of hip-hop would render the genre irrelevant and that the musical landscape of the future would be a hard one to live in. Well, the future is now and rock n roll hasn't gone anywhere. In my tenure here at ROCKWIRED, I've come across dozens of young, eager-beaver rock bands ready to take on the world but the Kansas City-based band INLIKE boasts an assuredness and confidence that is uncharacteristic of a band that ain't quite drinking age. In January of 2011, INLIKE will be releasing their debut album and the results of their time in the studio will no doubt strike a chord with listeners who fancy the heavier and louder side of pop.
The aughts was mired by war and terror yet the music of that turbulent decade  embraced an electronic sensibility that mirrored the very decade that I came of age in - the eighties. LOUSY ROBOT was one of those electropop torchbearers of the decade past with their releases - 'THE STRANGE AND TRUE STORY OF YOUR LIFE' (2005) and 'SMILE LIKE YOU ARE SOMEWHERE ELSE' (2006). With the first year of the teens coming to a close, the Albuquerque-based band is giving me hope for music in the New Year. Their forthcoming CD 'HAIL THE CONQUERING FOOL' is set for release in January and the coming together of electronics, primal drumming and lead singer JIM PHILLIPS' robotic delivery make the band's latest musical adventure one worth living over and over again.   
Singer-songwriter ADAM RADER is at a very exciting stage of his career - the very beginning. Despite the fact that he had not picked up a guitar until he was student at Californian State Univeristy of Fullerton, his eagerness to mix words with chords couldn't be denied. As a matter of fact, it was one of his professors who advised him to stop pursuing Business Management and go into music making full time. Now, RADER is on the verge of releasing his forthcoming debut CD WHAT DREAMS BECOME in the New Year but is giving listeners a taste of what they can expect with the release of a two song EP featuring a haunting rendition of the ELVIS PRESLEY Classic IN THE  GHETTO.
The "rock instrumental"  album is a dying art but guitarist and musical prodigy BRENNAN DYLAN is keeping the art alive with his debut instrumental album BULLET RIDE.  It is easy to understand the hesitation from a listener with more of a pop rock leaning to embrace the idea of an album that shows off guitar theatrics in favor of  your typical pop format but I've got a feeling that BRENNAN may be that instrumentalist that could break through to a pop crowd. Rather than producing an album filled with endless guitar solos, BRENNAN adds electronic  hooks and loops to the project making BULLET RIDE a decidedly dancier affair.  Rarely have I ever come across an instrumental release that stressed groove over mood and  BULLET RIDE has got to be the only instrumental release around thathas what it takes to get that proverbial party started.
5. DiSTORTED FATE - 'HAUNTiNG'
Antelope Valley California doesn't boast the the kind of grit and glamour that one finds in Tinseltown, but it is home to a band with a big thunderous metal sound that brings back a memory or two of that old metal sound before it became 'nu'. DISTORTED FATE was the brainchild of drummer BRIAN BANNER and guitarist BOB SPEARS (both former members of a band called FOREWARNED). Vocalist MIKE WEINBERG walked in on one of the jam sessions between drummer and guitarist and provided the growl that SPEARS's riffs and BANNER's drumming demanded. The bands search for a bass player proved fruitful with AARON CROSS who came from the IRON MAIDEN tribute band SEVENTH SON. In the band's pursuit of big time success, they have teamed with producer MATT GRUBER (QUEENSRYCHE, SCORPIONS) which has resulted in the band's electrifying debut album HAUNTING - a 10-song catalog of reflections on anger and betrayal that proudly and loudly proclaim to the world that DISTORTED FATE has arrived.
6. OF GOD AND SCiENCE - 'BLACK RABBiT'
Throughout ROCKWIRED's editorial within the past couple of months, we've made it clear that showcasing recording artists in our own backyard (New Mexico to be specific) was a priority. Now it seems as if we've finally hit pay dirt with the indie band OF GOD AND SCIENCE  who are on the verge of releasing 'BLACK RABBIT - the follow-up to their self-titled 2007 debut. The musical partnership of MATT DOMINGUEZ and JEREMY FINE  goes back fourteen years when the two of them were students at the University of New Mexico. Over the years, the two of them had been in a series of bands together before easing into the project that would eventually become OF GOD AND SCIENCE. On the forthcoming BLACK RABBIT, the band interprets the human condition with musical textures that are ENO and LANOIS-esque in scope from tribal sounding percussion to billowy electronic backgrounds with DOMINGUEZ's immediate pur up front.
7. ELEVEN DOLLAR LiFE - 'SHATTER THE SiLENCE'
Just when you thought that much of the indie rock lot was all about keeping it simple (or is minimal the word?), along comes ELEVEN DOLLAR LIFE to show us that sometimes a few jazzier chords ain't a bad idea. The midwestern troubadours fronted by lead singer BRYAN PRAY have just released their first ever LP SHATTER THE SILENCE and that is exactly what these fellas set out to do. Musically, you can't put a finger on ELEVEN DOLLAR LIFE's sound. Sometimes it rocks. Other times is grooves and sometimes it sways and that is a testament to the musicality and the dexterity of the band. Due for release in the new year, SHATTER THE SILENCE is an album to keep your ears opened for.