Seth Glier The Next Right Thing MPress By Al Kaufman The late Chet Baker and Jeff Buckley had them. Rufus Wainright and KD Lang have them. We’re speaking of voices that transcend gender in their beauty. They are gorgeously androgynous voices that make you want to sleep with their owners regardless of your gender or […]
Eddie Spaghetti Sundowner Bloodshot By Al Kaufman You can tell spaghetti is done by throwing it against the wall and seeing if it sticks. Eddie Spaghetti takes the same approach to his music. He grew up in the south where his parents listened to a lot of country. Eddie found solace in punk rock and […]
Wild Nothing Gemini Captured Tracks By Al Kaufman Jack Tatum, the man behind Wild Nothing, loves his anguished ’80s synth-pop. After disbanding his punk band, Facepaint, he made a bit of a splash as Wild Nothing covering Kate Bush’s “Cloudbursting.” On Gemini, he digs a little deeper and unearths the likes of New Order and […]
The Moondoggies Tidelands Hardly Art By Al Kaufman Seattle’s Moondoggies have captured their town’s old grunge mentality while softening the sound. There is no fuzz and feedback on Tidelands. It is simply a gentle and melodic album of soul searching.
Young the Giant Young the Giant Roadrunner By Al Kaufman Young the Giant conjures up the melodic grandeur of The Killers in their prime. Although Sameer Gadhia’s vocals do not resonate with quite the same authority as those of Brandon Flowers’, there is no denying the band’s music is captivating and, at times, downright thrilling.
Sahara Smith Myth of the Heart Playing in Traffic Records By Al Kaufman At the tender age of 22, Sahara Smith sings like an old soul. If her voice is as beautiful and fragile and butterfly wings, they are also the toughest wings ever a butterfly possessed. They may flutter with the breeze, but they […]
The Head Stockwood By Al Kaufman The Head is an Atlanta trio who released a glorious power-pop CD, Puckered, in 2009, reviewed here. Their next CD will come out later this summer. In the meantime, they have offered a peek at what’s to come with this three-song EP. The lead cut, “Stockwood,” is a bit […]
The Dirty Guv’ners Youth Is in Our Blood By Al Kaufman Most band members aren’t exactly known for their academic intelligence. Make it a bluesy, southern rock band and the odds are even greater. Make it a good southern rock band and it’s a pretty safe bet that Dirty Guv’ners is the only such band. […]
My Chemical Romance Danger Days: The True Lies of the Fabulous Killjoys Reprise By Al Kaufman It’s been four years and numerous personal problems since My Chemical Romance released their last studio CD, The Black Parade. During that time, My Chemical Romance have grown and matured. Guitarist Frank Iero said when the band started out […]
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 […]
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 […]
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