David Mayfield The Parade By Al Kaufman David Mayfield has a voice as warm and friendly as a James Taylor smile. If The Parade were full of mid-tempo soft rockers it would be pleasant enough, but Mayfield is more than a Sweet Baby James clone. The bass player who grew up on bluegrass music is […]
Girl Talk All Day Illegal Art By Sam Parvin Gregg Gillis, more commonly known by the moniker Girl Talk, has recently released his fifth full-length album, All Day, a behemoth of mash-ups of songs ranging from Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” to Dorrough’s “Ice Cream Paint Job.”
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 […]
Pigeon John Dragon Slayer Quannum Projects By Giles Turnbull With a title like Dragon Slayer, you may be expecting one of two extremes. If your point of reference is stories of knights in shining armor, that would be swashbuckling songs of a hero vanquishing fire-breathing mythical monsters; if you turn to the Urban Dictionary, you’re […]
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 […]
Sharon Van Etten Epic Ba Da Bing! By Micah McLain It’s been reported that Sharon Van Etten had audiences crying during her intimate performances at this years SXSW – one listen to Epic closer “Love More” and it doesn’t take long to understand why. The track seems as if it’s been slowed down for maximum […]
Martina Topley Bird Some Place Simple Honest Jon’s / Ipecac Records By Giles Turnbull Martina Topley Bird is a name you might have come across, without even knowing. Some Place Simple is her third solo album, but she has been featured on albums by Tricky, David Holmes, Primus and Gorillaz, to name but a few. […]
Sorry No Ferrari Ternary Stickfigure Recordings By Eric Chavez In case you create a band that uses absolutely no lyrics or vocals, period, in your records, there is only one thing to do: create an instrumental album to rock the senses. That is just what Sorry No Ferrari does on their debut full-length LP Ternary. […]
Weapons of Audio Bipolar Unsigned By Eric Chavez If there is one thing you cannot do, it’s define what kind of sound that Weapons of Audio have created for their album Bipolar. There’s a little hip-hop, some electronica, a bit of pop, some rap, even a little slice of blues. With all these sounds, does the […]
The Vampire Diaries Original TV Soundtrack Virgin Records By Ellen Eldridge “Love Sucks” emanates from within layered musical images as the soundtrack for “Vampire Diaries” plays. The idea of pale, bloodsucking walkers of the night is so reminiscent of high school; the torments of pressure to live on even after you feel the cold acceptance […]
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