album

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Drowns’ Blacked Out LP. While the number of ways that a band may choose to change their sound in the name of refreshing it or updating it are almost innumerable, what The Drowns have done on Blacked Out is genuinely impressive. This time out, the band has left most of the punk and hardcore are forms that the band has been developing and refining over the last few years behind and...

Son Henry & T. Rogers Band Grace (Twang House Records) In 2009, American blues musician and lap steel virtuoso Son Henry arrived at a music festival in Estonia with only his lap steel. The rest of his equipment was stuck at Heathrow Airport, where it remained for six months. He was rescued by T. Rogers band, “a group of mad Hungarians,” as he put it. They loaned him equipment and gave him stage time. A lifelong connection was established. Ten...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Dwarves’ Concept Album LP. To say that The Dwarves have been around and weathered a lot of pop cultural storms is an understatement. Since forming in Chicago in the mid-Eighties, The Dwarves have reinvented the concept of the revolving door; they’ve gone through band members (dozens of them – but guitarist Pete “HeWhoCannotBeNamed” Vietnamecheque and singer Paul “Blag Dahlia” Cafaro are the group’s core members), record labels (at least five) and...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Kepi and Friends – Full Moon Forever LP by Kepi Ghoulie. After having already reviewed Kepi Ghoulie’s “other” album released this year (the Ramones In Love LP), I can say with regret that I approached Ghoulie’s output this annum in the wrong order. Full Moon Forever is a really good album which features covers of songs by bands like The Cure, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, The Cars and the Jesus and...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the ; ) LP by The Shouldies. It’s uncommon enough an occurrence that one can never hope to count on it, but sometimes an album comes along at precisely the moment a listener needs to hear it. In my own case, I’ve been listening to a surprising amount of very moody, very texturally-centered music lately; things like The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode’s Ultra and Psalm 69 by Ministry...

John Cale Mercy (Domino) I will admit, with rock stars dropping all around us, listening to this CD made me a little nervous. It sounds like John Cale is reviewing his life, looking back with a critical eye and looking forward with trepidation. Initially, I found myself wondering if Mercy was to be another Blackstar, The Wind or You Want It Darker. Musically, however, this is a forward looking album – as Cale collaborates with a number of fresh musicians,...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Flatliners’ New Ruin LP. In the twenty-year duration of The Flatliners’ career to date, it’s actually pretty remarkable to observe the turns that the band’s music has taken. After beginning with some respectable (if not terribly memorable) ska-core in 2005 and then taking a couple of years to develop (see how it works with 2007’s The Great Awake), The Flatliners really hit the big time hard with 2010’s classic Cavalcade and...

Lou Reed Words and Music, May, 1965 (Light In The Attic) One question repeatedly comes up in writers’ groups, especially with beginning writers: “How do I copyright my work?” I resist the temptation to say, “Do you really think someone is going to steal your poetry?” and tell them, “Mail it to yourself.” As long as you don’t open the package, the postmark establishes that you wrote the enclosed material on or before that date. Lou Reed did that with...

WHO: Colleen Green WHAT: Cool WHY: They don’t come much catchier, chiller, breezier, and harmonically lovely than Cool. And we’re not just saying that because Colleen Green is a local gal. In her latest effort, Green’s focus is to satisfy and cater to your sweet tooth, whether you’re 2 or 82. There are highlights on this album (I Wanna Be a Dog is just a chef’s kiss), but regardless of where you look, these 10 tracks are fun, poppy, and…cool....

Reverend Beat-Man and The Underground It’s A Matter Of Time (Voodoo Rhythm Records) It doesn’t happen every day but, every now and again, an album sometimes comes along which is just so fucking weird and good that it totally short circuits listeners’ synapses and leaves them wide open to the possibility of being both won over and perverted all at the same time. Such an idea may leave those unfamiliar with the potential value of such albums with the impression...