REVIEWS

ARTIST: Dr. Dre – DATE: 08-25-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Compton LABEL: Aftermath/Universal Music It’s not easy to know how to feel about Compton, Dr. Dre’s first new album since 2001 came out in 1999. On one hand the excitement that even the mention of a new Dre album generates makes it deserving of attention but, now well over a decade since the emcee really did anything important anywhere other than behind the mixing board, it’s hard to...

ARTIST: Primus – DATE: 08-15-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Primus & The Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble LABEL: Prawn Song/ATO/Maple Music Recordings Even before they hear a note of music, sometimes listeners already know why a band elected to cover an album/film score/collection from front to back: it just makes sense that they’d do it. Sometimes, it’s almost like both the band and its members were born to cover that particular piece of music, and the only...

ARTIST: Ex Cops – with free mp3 download for ‘Black Soap’ from Daggers by Ex Cops DATE: 08-12-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Daggers LABEL: Downtown/Fontana North/Universal Music It might seem a little dubious but, in listening to Ex Cops’ sophomore album (and also keeping the band’s sensational 2012 debut in mind), it’s hard not to feel as though the band is earnestly trying to establish some roots by rebuilding the progression of punk’s development into new wave in...

ARTIST: Benjamin Booker – DATE: 08-11-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: s/t LABEL: ATO Records/Maplemusic The thing which has been missing from both pop and rock for the last few years has been a sense of spontaneity. With the “digital revolution” has come a terrible epidemic of artists thinking too much and/or treating their work with too gentle a hand; they build (and build upon), develop and activelyproduce ideas rather than simply walking into a recording studio, plugging in,...

ARTIST: Finger Eleven – DATE: 08-06-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Five Crooked Lines LABEL: Bicycle Music Company/Concord/Universal Music It was very reasonable to assume that Finger Eleven had totally sold out years ago. Back in 2003, the success of “One Thing” – a mid-tempo, melancholy and balladesque number found in the late-playing of the band’s fourth album – dangled the gold-plated chain of pop prosperity before the group and they took it. After that, they jumped from point...

ARTIST: Best Coast – DATE: 08-05-15 REVIEW BY: G.Murray Thomas ALBUM: California Nights LABEL: Harvest/Universal Are Best Coast trying to be the new Ramones? Not by copying their music, but by repeating their career model. That is, by developing a signature sound and sticking with it album after album. Both bands have a style which is both catchy and hard edged; where the Ramones crossed the Beach Boys with Stooges, Best Coast blend Phil Spector with grunge. It’s a...

ARTIST: The Mothmen – DATE: 08-05-15 REVIEW BY: G.Murray Thomas ALBUM: Pay Attention! LABEL: On-U Sound At first I was surprised to see that this CD originally came out in 1981. It has a very contemporary feel to it, like some of the farther out fringes of today’s music. But then I remember that 1981 was actually a prime year for experimental rock. The initial punk explosion of a few years prior had been spurred by an intense burst...

ARTIST: Radioactivity – VENUE: O\’Brien\’s – Allston, MA – 29/07/15 DATE: 07-31-15 REVIEW BY: Ollie Ottoman PHOTO: Ollie Ottoman It’s an indescribable feeling when an album just hits you, but it’s even better when it’s an album you’ve been looking forward to all year. It really does feel special when you put on that first song and you just know you’re going to be at a familiar place, like being home with old friends. That’s what it feels like...

Neil Young + Promise of The Real The Monsanto Years (Reprise/Warner) Can we all just agree to stop picking on Neil Young for a couple minutes, readers? Granted, the singer has left himself open for lots of critical abuse over the years (the most recent event that nobody wants to talk about is Pono), but there’s a time and place for everything and trying to rip apart The Monsanto Years on the basis of past errors isn’t it. So is...

NEEDS s/t (File Under: Music) It’s funny how, while the sound of an album might not seem particularly interesting upon a listener’s first exposure to it, it’s possible for something to spontaneously change, shift the focus of the music ever-so-slightly and suddenly make it totally captivating.Such a thing happened for me the first time I heard NEEDS’ self-titled debut; when I put it on, I was less than thrilled to discover that almost none of the usual trappings which qualify...