Nada Surf if i had a hi-fi Mardev Records By Al Kaufman The title of Nada Surf’s CD of cover tunes, if i had a hi-fi, sums up the theme. The title is about wanting and about music. In addition, it’s a fun palindrome. So goes this unexpectedly delightful collection. The chosen songs on hi-fi […]
The Black Keys Brothers Nonesuch By Al Kaufman If looking at names alone, The White Stripes and The Black Keys seem like polar opposites. But while White Stripe Jack White went off and started a new band seemingly every week, The Black Keys quietly moved in and claimed the blue-eyed, fuzzy blues title from under […]
ALO Man of the World Brushfire Records By Al Kaufman Yes, the new ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) CD was produced by Jack Johnson, recorded in his solar powered studio in Hawaii, and distributed on his Brushfire record label. And, yes, it has a certain laid-back surfer sound to it, but while too much Jack Johnson […]
Monte Montgomery Monte Montgomery Eminent Records By Al Kaufman Monte Montgomery is an extraordinary guitarist. Of that there can be no doubt. One need just listen to his tremendous instrumental cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” to understand that. It is powerful enough to make a grown man weep. Montgomery is also adept and writing […]
The Flaming Lips & Stardeath and White Dwarves Dark Side of the Moon Warner Brothers By Al Kaufman To call Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon a rock and roll classic is an understatement of gargantuan proportions. One in 14 people under the age of 50 have owned a copy at one time. It […]
Minus the Bear Omni Dangerbird By Al Kaufman Minus the Bear have grown up. Gone are the frat boy-like titles such as “Hey, Wanna Throw Up?” And while their fourth release, Omni, contains some of the frenetic melodies that encompassed earlier CDs, it mostly contains listener-friendly grooves and jams. They’re memorable jams, but just a bit […]
Justin Currie The Great War Ryko By Al Kaufman You know Justin Currie. He was singer and songwriter behind Del Amitri, the ’90s Scottish pop-rock band that had a knack for playing instantly familiar tracks, such as “Always the Last to Know” and “Roll to Me;” songs that everyone knows, but nobody knows who sings […]
Cinetrope Once I Ruled the World Zombino By Al Kaufman Cinetrope think big. The Atlanta band, whose name means “film music,” have created a concept album about a man-made plague that ends the world (turning people into zombies, of course), the guilt the creator of the plague goes through, and the creator’s ultimate redemption by inventing […]
Jeff Beck Emotion and Commotion Atco By Al Kaufman Jeff Beck loves and respects the guitar too much to just hack out albums when he does not feel inspired. While other guitar legends, such as Eric Clapton or B.B. King, are content to rehash old material or team up with upstarts to put out new […]
Evelyn Evelyn Evelyn Evelyn Eleven Records By Al Kaufman Thankfully, nobody on the planet flies their freak flag higher than Amanda Palmer, and even she needed to find a longer pole for her latest endeavor, Evelyn Evelyn; ukulele-playing conjoined twins who share “three legs, two arms, two hearts, three lungs, and a single liver.” Palmer, a […]
Soundtrack When You’re Strange: A Film About the Doors Rhino By Al Kaufman Jim Morrison will not die. Almost 30 years after his death, the rock and roll shaman still holds many a follower in his drunken sway. By the time he died in Paris in 1971, he was a bloated, alcoholic, ragamuffin, whose poetry […]
Dommin Love Is Gone Roadrunner By Al Kaufman With the Twilight series so popular for the teenage girls, it seems to only make sense that goth-rock make a pitch for them as well. And Kristofer Dommin, the force behind Dommin, is the perfect poster child for the cause. With his pretty boy looks, lovelorn attitude, […]
Krishna Das Heart as Wide as the World Nutone/Nettwerk By Al Kaufman Yes, Krishna Das is a yoga master, and yes, Heart as Wide as the World is a CD of chants, but don’t stop reading just yet. For Krishna Das, born Jeffrey Kagel, is the rock star of the yoga world.
John Milstead Sides of the Soul By Al Kaufman John Milstead sounds so much like Marc Cohn that at any time you would expect him to start singing about putting on his blue suede shoes and boarding a certain plane to Memphis. But if your thing is gravelly-voiced, blued-eyed soul singers the likes of Cohn […]
Bitch Blasted! Short Story Records By Al Kaufman It would be easy to just throw Bitch into the “another Ani DiFranco” category. After all, she’s a political, lesbian singer with a good sense of humor and a militant following. Both singers use alternative tunings and get the most out of their instruments. But DiFranco’s instrument […]
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