Label: Exigent Records (available through CDBaby.com) Released: July 15, 2008 Microtia clearly loves the Mars Volta, but the Mars Volta they are not. Of course, that’s not the worst knock in the world. Trying to play TMV’s game and not fully succeeding is kind of like being a guitarist that isn’t as good as Hendrix or a sax player that… Read more »
Song: Movement of FearArtist: TweakerAlbum: 2 a.m. Wakeup Call Chris Vrenna’s cover of Tones on Tails’ “Movement of Fear” starts off like fairly typical darker-than-thou swill, but cooks into a densely orchestrated stew of sound by the end of the song. This one’s a fine treat.
Label: eMusic Released: June 17, 2008 DIY is a term often associated with punk rock, not soul, but soul artist Mingering Mike embodies that ethic as well if not better than the most serious punk purist. Super Gold Greatest Hits is a homemade album of Mike’s soul songs recorded with only vocals and percussion (which amounts to whatever was around… Read more »
Label: Astralwerks Released: August 19, 2008 From the opening seconds of Strawberry Weed, Caesars make it clear that they’re not afraid to make noise. Committed to the mod tradition of the Who, they are loud, abrasive and willing to run wild, yet they never lose their raw pop sense. They tap into that point in rock history when bands realized… Read more »
Label: A&M Released: 1988 In the liner notes of this album, Joe Jackson writes perhaps the best case for this album’s greatness: “I’ve always had two stubborn rules about playing live. Firstly, no matter how small the audience, how bad the acoustics, how smelly the dressing room, etc, every show is important. It’s possible to play to about a dozen… Read more »
Song: Black Magic WomanArtist: Fleetwood MacAlbum: The Pious Bird of Good Omen I never knew this was a Fleetwood Mac song before it was a Santana song. The Mac’s version is dark and bluesy, kind of like “House of the Rising Sun.” It’s different than Santana’s version, but it’s equally as good.
Song: I Lost (My Mind)Artist: Angry SamoansAlbum: STP Not LSD The Angry Samoans are best remembered for the silly manic punk tirades of their first couple of albums, but they released an EP and an LP of cool, fun psych/garage/punk albums in the mid-to-late 80s that often get overlooked. This one comes from 1988’s STP Not LSD which, for all… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: 2008 Ah, pop punk the way it was meant to be played. No sappy, whiny singer fronting a band with all the punch of Muzak. No songs by a band more interested in posing as “sensitive guys” than in expressing discontent. No boring, fake sentiments. No calculations to “make it.” Yeah, Canine 10 is the real deal…. Read more »
Label: SideOneDummy Records Released: August 19, 2008 Finally, someone has married punk with Springsteen. On one hand, it seems like a daunting task and on another like something that should have been done long ago. Springsteen is, after all, one of rock’s biggest artists, racking up bazillions in album sales and selling out arenas the world over. There’s not much… Read more »
Label: Wood & Bone Released: May 27, 2008 I’m not going to write a record review of Albertine. If I were, the review would be short and sharp: generic Christian adult-oriented pop, blah blah blah, whatever. But there’s something great about this album that I can’t dismiss with a handful of snarky words and superficial judgments. So instead of writing… Read more »