Aloud Exile Lemon Merchant Records By Al Kaufman To those in the know in Boston, Aloud was Henry Beguiristan wailing on the guitar and Jen de la Osa screaming out vocals, as well as a rhythm section that thundered along with them. The key word in that last sentence is “was.” Gone is the rhythm […]
The Posies Blood/Candy Rykodisc By Al Kaufman A shade over 20 years ago, when everyone else in Seattle was donned in flannel and singing about slitting their wrists, The Posies released Dear 23, and, for some people in Seattle, the rain stopped, the clouds lifted, and the coffee tasted a little less bitter. The few […]
Cee-Lo Green The Lady Killer Elektra By Al Kaufman Was it gimmicky, stupidity, brilliance, or just plain arrogance to release a first single with a title that all but guaranteed no radio airplay? For Cee-Lo, it was clearly the latter two. “Fuck You,” like his monster hit with Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy,” is just too powerful […]
Black Mountain Wilderness Heart Jagjaguwar By Al Kaufman Seventies’ rock will never die. At least not as long as folks like Stephen McBean are around. McBean has dabbled in everything from folk-rock to noise (with bands Jerk with the Bomb and Pink Mountaintops, respectively), but seems to have found a home with classic rock. Wilderness […]
Never Shout Never Harmony Loveway/Sire By Al Kaufman Christofer Drew, the brains and talent behind Never Shout Never, is a good hippie. He writes lyrics like, “So trade your guns and fire with dove/We fight for love, and peace will find us with harmony.” He even supports the American Community Garden Association by inserting paper […]
One EskimO One EskimO Shangri-La By Al Kaufman There is more to One EskimO than their breakthrough single, “Kandi.” Sampling from Candi Staton’s “He Called Me Babe,” the song is reminiscent of Primitive Radio Gods’ “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand,” in which the B.B. King sample was better than […]
Grinderman 2 Anti By Al Kaufman Nick Cave and Halloween go together like Christmas and Santa. Even when he’s not sporting the porn star mustache, there are none more creepy than Nick Cave. When part of Grinderman, Cave turns his creepiness up a notch or five. It’s almost as if Cave had been holding back […]
The Sword Warp Riders Kemado Records By Al Kaufman There’s something about metal and fantasy. Gods, Norsemen, and epic battles seem to be the perfect stories to tell in front of crunching guitars.
Ben Folds/Nick Hornby Lonely Avenue Nonesuch By Al Kaufman If there is a rap against Ben Folds, the wildly talented pianist and songwriter, it is that he is too white. It is a flag he flies with pride in songs like “Rockin’ the Suburbs.” His characters are mostly slacker youths whose problems are akin to […]
American Bang American Bang Reprise By Al Kaufman American Bang is a rock and roll band; of that there is no doubt. Their debut CD opens with what sounds like a wild sound check, then blasts into “Whiskey Walk,” which contains the type of spiraling guitars that were Living Color’s trademark back in the early […]
Girl in a Coma Adventures in Coverland Blackheart Records By Al Kaufman Girl in a Coma are cooler than you. Deal with it. The all-female San Antonio trio formed over their love of all things Smiths and Nirvana when Jenn Alva and Phanie Diaz were still in high school. They took in Phanie’s then 12-year-old […]
For a musician, Roger Clyne has had a good life. His band, the Refreshments, put out two brilliant rock albums in the ’90s that mixed the dirt and dust of their native Arizona, along with the strong Mexican culture. They caught some radio airplay with “Banditos,” (“I got the pistol, so I get the pesos/ […]
Rachael Sage Delancey St. MPress Records By Al Kaufman Rachael Sage is a pop goddess. Equal parts chutzpah and glamour, her songs are glittery and shiny, but carry enough weight that they never never fly away. She’s constantly in fishnets of some sort, but she’s smart enough to start up and maintain her own record company. […]
Philip Selway Familial Nonesuch By Al Kaufman You know a band has made it big when its drummer releases a solo CD. Seriously, can anything else explain Ringo Starr’s recording career? Radiohead is that big, but drummer Phil Selway is no Ringo Starr. That is to say Selway has actual musical talent.
By Al Kaufman The Asylum Street Spankers have been a band … scratch that … The Asylum Street Spankers have been a musical experience for over 16 years now. Born out of a chemically enhanced after party at the Dabbs Hotel in Llano, Texas, the Spankers have been doing whatever they’ve felt like doing ever […]
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