How does one call an album a “new release” when it was recorded over a decade ago? How can one call an album a reissue when, in truth, no one has ever heard it before? Such is the quandary that listeners and critics will find themselves wrestling with as they listen to Happy – Bush Tetras' ill-fated third and final album. As the legend goes, Happy was scheduled for release in 1998 after being recorded and produced by Don Fleming...

Awrightchu bustas,So I guess youse know what's comin' doncha? No, not Christmas junkie – Christ… well i's good ta know that at leascha c'n think o' two things at once – no. I's comin' up inna numbas when ol' fi' dollar Billy's gonna delete a buncha SWAG Reports ta make space fer new stuff on GC (an' ta keep my swifty ass from gettin' caught – hahaha…). Thing is though, I broke one o' da cardinal rules o' dealin' –...

Anyone who thinks playing in a touring band isn’t actual work is wrong, but standing quietly watching Beach House perform their meditative swoon, it would seem they have the most relaxing job in music today. 

 One of burgeoning dream-pop scene's biggest acts, Beach House set up their minimal gear, took the stage and played music so mellow it was as though they were putting themselves to sleep. That is not to say the sound didn’t translate exceptionally well to...

No matter how much noise (read: promotional salesmanship) gets generated behind the making f a new album by a controversial artist, eventually one has to ask is that album justifies the hype which surrounds it. Is it really possible that this newest release is the great white hope and creative salvation for both the artist who made it and the music industry too? Is it the sort of record which could unify the disparate communities and cults of personality littered...

Wow. I just finished listening to Grey Kingdom's newest album, Light, I'll Call Your Name Out “Darkness,” from top to bottom and I couldn't move the whole time. It's worth mentioning that I didn't write a word of this review during that whole first time through the record's run-time; those who know me know that I often write my reviews within the time it takes to play through the album I'm reviewing because I feel like that first impression is...

Sice the first demise of the Velvet Underground – when all the band members went their separate ways – it has just been taken as a given that Lou Reed would always be the most successful solo performer. It seemed logical for Reed to still be up front; his was the voice people heard and he was the primary lyricist, not to mention the fact that he had the most accessible image and musical sensibility. On a comparative scale, John...

On “Driftin’ Back,” the opening number on Psychedelic Pill, Neil Young and Crazy Horse don’t fuck around. They get right down to business. The business of, well, fucking around. For  twenty-seven minutes. And that should tell you whether you want this album. If “Heart of Gold” is your favorite Neil Young song, you should probably steer clear, but if you think “Down by the River” just isn’t long enough, then, ladies and gentlemen, you're going to have a brand new...

Once upon a time there was a little album called The Who Live at Leeds. Merely six songs long, that was still enough for it to be rated one of the best live albums ever. If not THE best, depending on the circle with which you ran. Those six songs captured The Who at the absolute peak of their power. It was high energy and insane soloing all the way through. That was back in the days of vinyl. Then...

Ever heard a record and known exactly where it's coming from, but you find that you're still surprised by the result because it ends up delivering something a little different from what you expected? The experience of listening to Rapido's debut album, Pistols At Dawn, is like that; even though the band is fleshing out an alt-country muse pretty clearly through the eight tracks which comprise their debut, the form which becomes apparent sounds exactly nothing like that of any...

Now sixteen years after the last time Soundgarden entered the recording studio to make a new LP, there had to have been a moment when everyone needed to try and actively remember how they used to work together. How could there not have been? When Soundgarden folded up in 1997, singer Chris Cornell was beginning to indulge too much in the excesses that would dog him through most of his solo career, and the rest of the band was really...