HockeyMind ChaosCapitol By Eileen Tilson Attention Attention, all ye New Wave kids! There is a new band in town that will seriously start making dance night at MJQ intensely aerobic. Hockey, the four piece hailing from a basement in Portland, Ore., are only interested in making music that will help you channel your inner Reverend […]
The Kentucky HeadhuntersLive/Agora Ballroom — Cleveland, Ohio — May 13, 1990Mercury By Al Kaufman With all these terms out, such as "outlaw country," "renegade country," or the tamer "Americana," to describe country artists too original to be played on the ultra conservative (in format as well as politics) country radio stations, it's easy to forget […]
Pride Parade Dose By Beverly Bryan Pride Parade’s Dose is an enjoyable, if not beautiful, mess. If you love Nirvana, late-’80s SST bands and hate having to take your music seriously you will love it. Something about its extremely unfocused nature makes the album impossible to take seriously. Raw, intense, stoned and utterly pointless, […]
Jer CoonsSpeak By Al Kaufman Jer Coons missed his chance at becoming a national star when he slept through his audition for American Idol. But who knows how far he would have gone? After all, people with actual talent and songwriting skills don't generally win on that show. Jer Coons, at the tender age of […]
Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ Great American Bubble Factory Vintage Earth Music By Scott Roberts Revered veteran Atlanta band Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ have always suffered from a split personality disorder. Their songs run the gamut from loud, anthemic arena rock to hushed, contemplative, country-tinged, front-porch sing-alongs. On their first CD in 12 years, Great American Bubble […]
The Ettes Do You Want Power Take Root By Beverly Bryan The Ettes’ lovely minimalist name has come to signify lovely minimalist rock. There’s always been a touch of the blues and a lot of grit in their rock n’ roll and on Do You Want Power it has been produced to a high sheen. […]
Various AristsCiao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy Mezzotint By Eileen Tilson Thom Yorke described Mark Mulcahy’s voice as the most beautiful he has ever heard, and Nick Hornby reflected that Mulcahy’s music was “only ever going to find its audience through word of mouth and recommendations by the like-minded.” To the average […]
Islands Vapours Anti- By Chris Homer Islands' third album Vapours marks a reunion for frontman Nick Diamond and collaborator Jamie Thompson, who has returned to the group after departing following the release of 2006’s Return to the Sea. Vapours showcases Diamond and Thompson’s work as collaborators. The album is packed with catchy synthesizer melodies and […]
Attractive Eighties Women The Ancient Cry of the Tyrannosaur Mammogram Music By Bryan Aiken You’ll often read that Attractive Eighties Women, Atlanta’s equally preferred and maligned “comedy-core” outfit, are better seen than heard, that the band’s debut studio LP fails to capture the charm of its ridiculous, costumed performances. While that may be true, it’s […]
MuseThe Resistance Warner Brothers By Eileen Tilson The odds are fairly good that Matt Bellamy probably is not sleeping very well. Plagued with problems, real or imaginary, Bellamy’s world is filled with back alley government conspiracies and apocalyptic endings, which he so descriptively portrays in his Muse’s fifth studio album, The Resistance. Muse is declaring […]
Monsters of FolkMonsters of FolkShangri-La Music By Al Kaufman Supergroups are often hit-or-miss affairs. For every successful Traveling Wilburys (George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne), there are two or three extremely disappointing Thorns (Matthew Sweet, Sean Mullins, and Pete Droge). Monsters of Folk would certainly fall in the former category.
Joshua James Build Me This Northplatte/Intelligent Noise By Scott Roberts Once in a while, an artist or an album bursts on the scene that seems absolutely destined to be huge, both in critical accolades and sales. Of course, there are always intangibles that come into play that inexplicably stop a CD or musician from […]
Rose Melberg Homemade Ship K Records By Scott Roberts In the mid- to late-1990s, Rose Melberg was one half (along with Jen Sbragia) of the duo The Softies, a band who carved out their own brand of delicate, melodic music — whisper-pop, if you will — employing only quiet electric guitars and goose-bump inducing harmonies […]
Whip ItSoundtrackRhino By Al Kaufman "This soundtrack is my mix tape for you," writes Drew Barrymore in the liner notes for the soundtrack for Whip It, the film she directed about an indie girl in Texas who falls in love with roller derby. This collection sounds like Drew Barrymore. It's got fun, attitude, feminism, sappy […]
Alberta Cross Broken Side of Time ATO Records By Eileen Tilson In 1931, Salvador Dali painted one of his most famous pieces, The Persistence of Memory; a painting that all the world is familiar with, it depicts melting clocks down by the ocean side. Many claim this was Dali’s way of depicting the irrelevance of […]
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