DestroyerTrouble in DreamsMerge Records By Micah McLain Dan Bejar makes unique music – whether it be flawless indie rock as a part of the New Pornographers, challenging avant-garde pieces with Swan Lake or laid-back orchestral pop under the cover of Destroyer. Trouble in Dreams, Destroyer's eighth release on the Merge imprint, picks up right where […]
T Bird and the BreaksLearn About It By Al Kaufman T Bird and the Breaks bring the funk. They bring the soul. The bring the horns, the soul, the swagger, the sweat and everything else that comes with being a 10-piece soul/funk ensemble. While critics have been drooling over themselves trying to come up with […]
Dave DanielsJust Like Ghosts By Al Kaufman Atlantan, by way of Florida, Dave Daniels has a cute little story in the liner notes of his CD. It seems he was arrested for jaywalking and when the jail guard asked him what type of music he played, he couldn't answer him. The angry guard locked him […]
ElonzoAll My Life By Eileen Tilson Dan Bourdeau, drummer for South Carolina band Elonzo, explains that a lot of the inspiration his wife and brother-in-law received in putting together their debut album, All My Life, comes from the post-Victorian home on E. White St. in Rock Hill, S.C., that the three of them live in: […]
Drew SmithDrew Smith's Lonely ChoirFat Caddy Records By Al Kaufman Austinite Drew Smith is everything that's right with CDs, both musically and aesthetically. For the visual sense, this is a gorgeous CD. Dave Schwab's intricate pen and ink drawings are whimsical, and the artistry on the liner notes is brilliant. This is a wonderfully packaged […]
Yourself and the Air Friend of all Breeds EP Hands Organic By Samantha Parvin If “indie” has come to describe a particular style of music, Yourself and the Air are the poster children for the genre. The Friend of all Breeds five-song EP is polished and well-rehearsed; it makes sense, which is less easy to […]
Lord Cut-Glass Lord Cut-Glass Chemikal Underground By Julia Reidy Ex-Delgado Alun Woodward’s lilting Scottish accent wraps itself around the haunting, intricate instrumental arrangements in his songs. His debut LP under the moniker Lord Cut-Glass — named for a character in the radio play Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas — turns seamlessly from folk to […]
PhoenixWolfgang Amadeus PhoenixGlass Note Records By Eileen Tilson When most people visit Paris, they are overwhelmed by how incredibly beautiful and luminescent the “City of Lights” is; the city literally glows, and at night can be a spectacular sight. Ironically, most of these tourists do not realize that underneath Paris lies an entire city of […]
The EmptiesThe Empties Slush Fund Records By Eileen Tilson There must be something in the water of Athens. It draws musicians in like the Pied Piper, giving them the belief that maybe one day Micheal Stipe or John Bell is going to walk into Tasty World on the night you are playing and decided to […]
By Scott Roberts; photo by Sue Volkert During the initial heyday of Athens music back in the early to middle 1980s, most of that city’s bands were purveying either a sort of quirky, danceable artsiness (Pylon, Love Tractor, Method Actors) or a folk-fueled, Southern jangle-pop (REM, Buzz of Delight, Art in the Dark). One band, […]
Regina SpektorFarSire By Al Kaufman Regina Spektor is a poet. As such, she has license to be nonsensical and downright weird if she so desires. She can talk about making a "computer out of macaroni pieces," or boldly state that "blue is the most human color." But she can also utilize beautiful metaphor. When she […]
Little Boots Illuminations Elektra By Leila Regan-Porter British people (disclaimer – I am one) have no problem with hailing a pop princess as leader of the future of great music. We've gushed over Robbie Williams, Sugarbabes, Duffy and Sophie Ellis Bextor in the same sentence as Coldplay, Razorlight, Amy Winehouse and Jamiroquai. We birthed the […]
CitifiedAbsenceeskimo kiss records By Eileen Tilson The Five Physiological Methods of Perception are used by the human body to mentally grasp something outside of our bodies. These senses: Sight, Touch, Smell, Hear and Taste, have been repeated to us since childhood as the tools needed to fully comprehend the world around us. On the EP […]
By Scott Roberts; photos By Sue Volkert Any trepidation I had about seeing a legendary L.A. punk rock band whose members are in their mid-50s (at least!) playing 30-year-old songs was joyfully and powerfully obliterated approximately 10 seconds into the opening song of their set at Variety Playhouse on Saturday, June 13. All four original […]
Carley TanchonPeridot By Al Kaufman Carley Tanchon is one of those young women who is as fat in voice as she is lithe in body. There are plenty of pictures on the accompanying booklet of her exposing her long, limber arms. Just as there are plenty of moments on this album that allow her to […]
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