Mark Knopfler seems to have two desires on this, his seventh solo album: to write some solid songs to add to his already impressive catalog and to relax and have some fun playing the blues. While these two desires are not really in conflict, they often find separate expressions. That may be the reason why Privateering is a double CD set; that gives him plenty of space to explore both inclinations. The song progression flows, more or less, from the...

There are a number of notable sophomore albums which manage to have greater mojo than their predecessors. These aren’t merely good follow-up efforts after a flop of a first album. It’s the sequel which is released in the shadow of a very strong, critically-acclaimed initial album and manages to surpass the debut. Expectations are always high in these cases. Was it a fluke? Have fickle tastes changed such that a band has worn out their welcome? Is the message or...

Let it never be said that Coady Willis and Jared Warren don't know how to work a room full of stoner-rockin' spectators into a froth. While Willis and Coady's Big Business may not be able to boast the name recognition that The Melvins   have, they seemed intent on leaving an indelible mark on the audience when the band took the stage at Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco on September...

If ever someone was looking for a perfect example of a band's sound and its image just not lining up, they'll find it on Semi Truck – the debut album by Silvergun & Spleen. The clash is perfect; gazing at the cover of the album (which features a picture of all four bandmembers – including a ravishing set of twin sisters – mugging it up in the cab of a transport truck), we're given the impression of a rough and...

Awrightcha Junky bastids,So how much – whatchacallit – "rhetoric" are ya up for taday? Are ya itchin'? Well tough! Yer gonna hafta hear aboutit from me, cause I said so! Don' worry though, it'll be worth it! I scored a live tune from Silversun Pickups, I dove inta the vaults over at Aimee Mann's spot an scored four from there, nabbed a couple from California Wives' coffers, swiped a kick-ass tune from Murder By Death an' one from La Armada,...

There's no easier way to say this than to just say it: as satisfying as Dinosaur Jr.'s newest albums have been since the band reconvened in 2007, I Bet On Sky is the one fans have been waiting for. Why? Because this album finally begins to show some new growth and forward motion beyond the fantastic body of work that the band released in the Eighties. On a comparative scale, 2007's Beyond was about as “just okay” as a Dinosaur...

It might sound deliberately contrary, but some records just slide by my sensibilities too easily. For me, the hook in a song isn't so much the device which convinces me to listen as it is the thing which gets stuck in my head and helps me remember the band at all; the hooks are the mnemonic devices I use to associate a band's sound with their image and makes their name both recognizable and memorable. Without that identifier, the sound...

One of the best habits that anyone who calls himself a “critic” can get into is to ignore all the hype which might be swirling around a band and just wait patiently for a new album to come out; it will prove definitively how much attention is actually deserved. That practice certainly served me well in METZ' case; the first time I heard about the band was from some scene-jumping hipster worm. He was singing the band's praises just loud...

After ten years of the band treading and then re-treading the same folky ground, most of those listeners who had run across Two Gallants could have been justified in thinking they probably had the band pegged. Over that time, the band has won a base of respectable (if not necessarily impressive) size, and no one really seemed to be complaining as they picked up what the band was putting down. That may have been all well and good for them...

Since Bob Dylan made his fantastic (second? third?) return with Love And Theft in 2001, the singer's fans have seemed to split into two communities: those who are great big fans and those who are great big critics. Those communities are so opposed in structure that it's almost comical; the fan community is only too happy to take any old thing that Dylan releases and tout it as the new gospel without question, while the “Critics” strike a dubiously high-minded...