Skye Sweetnam - Noise from the Basement

Sixteen-year-old Skye Sweetnam's debut sounds more like noise you might hear at the Macy's junior department than noise issuing from anybody's basement. But that's as it should be. Billed as the next Pat Benatar, the pouty-lipped, kohl-eyed Canadian steps out with a solid rocker ringed with a touch of Ramones (hear it on the rebel schoolgirl song "Billy S.," which earned a spot on the How to Deal soundtrack, as well as on the hopped-up, swing-your-hair-around cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass," and the bad-boyfriend basher "Number One"). It's a distillation of all that's right with modern rock--hyper guitars, a heavy dose of the kind of attitude that parents prefer to think of as teen spirit--and girls, the little sisters of Ashlee Simpson fans and those whose love of Hilary Duff is "so yesterday" especially, will slurp it up like it comes in a 64-ounce cup from 7-11. --Tammy La Gorce Amazon.com

Excellent

For a 14 year old girl, this album is stellar. The lyrics are really bad in some songs, but thats what makes this album work. She's like a mini Avril Lavigne, except she seems to have much more of a personality. The songs are catchy and full of punch.

Although Skye is 18 now and her new album 'Sound Soldiers' is already out, I would say, pick this album if you want to know what Skye Sweetnam is all about and not the new one. Because this is where it all started.

Definitely worth it. March 24, 2008

Better than Kelly Clarkson

I like the way she sings."Why have you done this to me?" May 20, 2007

This Is Much More Than Just "Noise From the Basement"

Apparently Canada is full of spunky teenage girls with kicky names and brash fashion sense, ready and waiting to trick out their diary entries with professional mixing and the ragged ring of loud guitars. They'll then take the tapes to our shared border, amassing there under spangled denim signal flags, and their ensuing invasion will lighten our dreary lives with catchy tales of skipping school and kissing cuties. Unlike her predecessors, Toronto's Skye Sweetnam isn't here to complain. She secures the complicated conch Fefe Dobson so briefly held with 13 songs about one thing, which is nicely summarized in the utterly inescapable hook to "Billy S." "Feel for once what it's like to rebel now," she says, and chases it with a 21st century twist on the Bard's phrasing: "To skip or not to skip/That is the question." Noise from the Basement doesn't dwell on weighty emotions, or prop its centerpiece up in entirely unrealistically sexy situations. It's not even down with being bratty, though that style's here like magic-marker doodles on the knees of Sweetnam's jeans. No. Instead of playing rebel, this one wants a widescreen teen movie rewrite of 21st century real life. She and her people (principally a producer/writer/performer fellow named James Robertson) have rewritten the adolescent experience as a feel-good personal power trip, and set it blatantly to a tingly power-chord soundtrack mixed by shop teacher to the stars Tom Lord-Alge. Amazingly, this makes Basement purer than most of these popternative releases, for it fakes neither its immaturity nor its intent to make the notion rock. "You and your friends are dense/You don't make any sense," "It's so frustrating/You're not the type that I should be dating" -- the lines are pulled straight from Sweetnam's text message box, cleaned up with Pro Tools and auto-tuning, and promptly matched to gargantuan sugar-rock guitars. Done, done, and done. Add an opportunistic, soundtrack-ready cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass," fill out Robertson and Sweetnam's songs with a few professionally crafted rockers in the theme of the album (opener "Number One" is gender-opposite, just-as-cocky Sum 41), and suddenly Amanda Bynes is signing on to star. And that's Noise from the Basement. It remixes every impulse and daydream from the eighth through the 12th grades; it's what youth would sound like if every teenager had a production team.

Also check out her upcoming CD, "Sound Sooldiers", coming out on April 4, 2007
December 2, 2006

Amazing!!

WOW!! This CD is great. I came across Skye Sweetnam's music pretty by much mistake, but decided to take a chance and see what her music was like. [...] I went out and bought this album. And what an album, I was dissappointed. It's heavier than your average pop-rock album, with Skye and producer James Robertson adding alot of gain to the the guitars. It more punk rock than pop-rock.

In my opinion, this album puts Avril Lavigne, Hilary Duff, Ashlee Simpson and Kelly Clarkson all to shame.

Skye and James Robertson have crafted a sound which is original and all it own (It may seem to some that the pop-rock genre all the same). But this album really has a mix of genres (pop, heavy metal, punk rock).

Some compare Skye to Avril Lavigne, but the only thing they have in common is that they're both Canadian. After as songwriting is concerned, ulike those before her (Avril Lavigne; Hilary Duff; Kelly Clarkson), Skye Sweetnam isn't afraid to turn it up and really rock out. Those critics who say "She's ok, but nothing special" are wrong cause Noise from the Basement is VERY special album indeed!!

1. Number One. 10/10. Great opener, catchy song. I love the intro guitar riff. Awesome.

2. Billy S. 10/10. One of my favourite songs, cause it says get out of
school, what teenager can't relate to that.

3. Tangled Up In Me. 8/10. Very catchy song

4. I Don't Really Like You. 10/10. Another of my favourite on the album, it's kind of a heavy metal/hard rock cross-over song. I love the guitar riff at the chorus.

5. I Don't Care. 8/10. I like this song, the lyrics are great and the guitar is really catchy.

6. Heart of Glass. 10/10. A great cover, I think Skye's take on this Blondie song is far better than the original (no offense, I like the original version as well).

7. Sharada 10/10. Catchy guitar riff, great melody. What else can I say, everything this song rocks!!

8. It Sucks. 9/10. It's a short song. Great lyrics, catchy guitar riff.

9. Fallen Through. 10/10. I really like this song. It's a great ballad, with a great melody, and lyrics. The guitar is very melodic.

10. Hypocrite. 10/10. My FAVOURITE songs. It a very fast, up-beat song with great lyrics, great guitar riff. The "Hey!! Hey!!" chant in this song reminds of Metallica's song, Creeping Death. I love everything about this song.

10. Unpredictable. 10/10. I love how she sing it, and I can totally relate to the lyrics.

11. Shot to Pieces. 10/10. I love this song. It's fast, up-beat song, with a catchy guitar riff.

12. Smoke + Mirrors. 10/10. A great ballad, with a great meaning.

13. Split Personality. 10/10. I love this song, it's probably the heaviest song on the whole album, apart from Hypocite and Shot to Pieces. It starts off like music from a horror movie, then ROCKS out!! It a kinda like Nine Inch Nails/Marlyn Manson song, but it's very punk.

Some music critics have called Skye Sweetnam is another manufactured product of the music industry, who is just a rip-off of Avril Lavigne, it's ironic 'cause Skye Sweetnam is everything that Arista Record believed -wanted- Avril Lavigne to be (maybe that why some critics compare Skye and Avril). After having listened to both of Avril's album and Skye's debut, they don't really sound alike. The fact that they're both Canadian are where the similarities end.

Skye really stands out from those pop-rock artists who came before her because Skye has a different sound, which is very rock orientant. She'll definitely give Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson and others like them a run for their money. And with Avril Lavigne working on a new album, and giving acting a shot at the moment. Also with Hilary Duff and Kelly Clarkson maintaining a somewhat low profile, I think Skye Sweetnam has pretty much stolen the spotlight from all 3 of the artist which I've mentioned. Capitol Records have definitely found someone, in Skye Sweetnam, who has surpassed both Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson.

Overall, this is a very impressive debut album. But if you're open minded when it comes to music. And looking for something a little different. Skye Sweetnam definitely has talent. I can't wait for her 2nd album, it'll surely give Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson a run for their money, much like her debut album has.

November 16, 2006

Great debut

Canadian Skye Sweetnam's format isn't revolutionary--put an attractive girl who writes her own music doused in the faux-punk pop music scene that Avril began, a guitar in her hands and a mic at her mouth, and you're sure to sell. But this singer-songwriter has something more that makes her debut album Noise From The Basement easily one of 04's better listens. First single "Tangled Up In Me" is an indulgent, likable listen that received a significant amount of airplay in her native Canada in addition to the US market. Opener "Number One" is just as good (more rock than pop) and rocks it out with its grooving guitars. "Sharada" makes for one of the more musically intriguing tracks here and the big ballad "Fallen Through" could make Jessica Simpson jealous. "Unpredictable" has a great beat too. Skye Sweetnam's record may surprise listeners because (her young age aside) she's actually got a great record here. October 26, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...