REVIEWS

Live at the Fillmore San Francisco, CA Friday, January 14, 2016 Review by Ted Silverman On Friday night, January 14, I headed over to the Fillmore from my house in the hills of San Francisco in order to attend the 50th Anniversary of Bill Graham Presents and the 85th Birthday Celebration of Bill Graham. It was a rainy night but plenty of tickets were available at the box office. I got in the hall around 8pm and missed the always...

Album Review – Brian Eno – Discreet Music; two new interpretations In February of last year, writer Liam Carrol wrote the best explanation and interpretation of Brian Eno’s Discreet Music album that I’ve ever read. Rather than try to rehash his words, please read his article, ‘Fullness of Wind: 40 Years of Brian Eno’s ‘Discreet Music’ yourself. This is important background information to understand if you want to fully appreciate the incredible beauty of this album by Eno. I want...

Release date: November 13, 2015 Artist: Swallow the Sun Label: Century Records Hi, My name is Suvi and this is my first music review for Ground Control Magazine. I chose Songs from the North I, II and III by Swallow the Sun to talk about. They come from Finland, as I do myself, and they´re practically the only doom metal band I listen to at the moment. For ten years (already!?) I have been enjoying their music and many times when...

It has been said so often now that most fans (even the newest, least tested ones) can take this as a fact: David Bowie always rocks hardest and best when he’s making a grand artistic statement. The years have proven that as factual but, as Station To Station, Tin Machine, Earthling and, now, Blackstar illustrate, the singer goes that ever-so-important extra step and ascends to a whole other creative echelon when even his biggest supporters are left pretty sure that...

Divers is the fourth studio album by U.S. singer-lyricist Joanna Newsom, released on October 23, 2015 via Drag City. Release date: October 23, 2015 Artist: Joanna Newsom Label: Drag City Genre: Baroque pop, Avant-garde music Producers: Joanna Newsom, Noah Georgeson   This album was released a couple of months ago – Joanna’s first new album in five years. I never started listening to her until about two years ago. I discovered her when a very good friend of mine said...

Restorations LP3 (Side One Dummy) If The Constantines taught us anything in their decade-long run as the pre-eminent Canadian ambassadors to rock n’ roll before the Arts & Crafts artist roster showed the rest of the world that there was some great music being made in the great white North, they showed us that the secret to a great rock song isn’t always a mind-blowing riff – sometimes it has everything to do with sonic texture and a good vibe....

ARTIST: Adele – DATE: 12-20-15 ALBUM: 25 LABEL: XL Recordings/Beggars Group   There’s no other way to say it: Adele is the rightful queen of pop in 2015. Now three albums into her career, she has set and broken records with an ease which is almost comical, and done it with raw talent – not using salesmanship or clever gimmickry. Her third album, 25, continues in that tradition for the most part but, now, the singer has clearly lay down...

ARTIST: John Grant – DATE: 12-06-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Grey Tickles, Black Pressure LABEL: Partisan/Bella Union Drugged. Disconcertingly deviant. Just plain different. These are just some of the words and phrases which leap to mind as one listens to Grey Tickles, Black Pressure – John Grant’s third solo album. Now, words like that paint a very divisive image in one’s mind’s eye – the implication is that you’ll either “get” it and love it or have no...

ARTIST: All Them Witches – DATE: 12-05-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Dying Surfer Meets His Maker LABEL: New West Records Above all else, the first thing you need to know about All Them Witches is that nothing is exactly as it seems. If all you saw was the album cover, you could justifiably assume it was the work of a metal or stoner rock band – but you’d be wrong. If all you heard was the group’s name,...

ARTIST: Dilly Dally – DATE: 12-05-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Sore LABEL: Partisan/Buzz Records In this age of computer-generated musical perfection, it’s refreshing to hear Sore – Dilly Dally’s debut album. For the first time in what feels like forever, listeners are confronted by a female-fronted (both on vocals and guitar) outfit who is unafraid to have (and bare) some teeth and anger without trying to be cute about it as well as presenting their music exactly as...