Label: Teenage Heart Records Released: August 11, 2008 Perhaps nowhere did the earliest marriages of punk and metal produce better material than in Boston. The early 80s found the likes of Gang Green and the FUs infusing their street punk with more than just a hint of metal. A lot of this was forgotten later in the decade as thrash… Read more »
Label: Alaska Records/No Breaks Released: July 2008 If one word could describe this 7″, it would be visceral. Nothing seems calculated or planned. Benard blasts through two songs of dissonance, frantic rhythms and pure passion in just under five and a half minutes. In that short time, they leave everything out there, their hearts on their post-hardcore sleeves. Saying that… Read more »
Label: Alive Naturalsound Released: July 8, 2008 It would be easy to get tired of hearing the 70s rehashed over and over if there weren’t a few bands really doing something special with it. Buffalo Killers is just one of those bands. Though not quite as raw as their debut, Let It Ride turns up the soul, an ingredient not… Read more »
Label: Youth Club Records Released: October 28, 2008 There is a lot of music out there that isn’t rock music in any way, shape or form…and yet it thoroughly rocks. None of this is headed for mainstream success, but it is often some of the most interesting music in even the broadest sense of the rock sphere. Fall Horsie is… Read more »
Label: Blackheart Records Released: November 18, 2008 Every year at Christmastime we’re treated (or subjected) to another collection of rock artists’ takes on our favorite holiday songs. These albums tend to be a mixed bag made up of songs that will appeal to fans of the particular artists at least as novelties and others that are real bombs. The best… Read more »
Label: Jagjaguwar Released: November 4, 2008 Over the years, the term art rock hasn’t had a real solid definition, but it has consistently included bands that push creative limits even if some sacrifice the raw ability to rock in the process. To not call Wilderness an art rock band would be a mistake, but to limit them to the trappings… Read more »
Label: Stax Released: October 14, 2008 Soul has become a genre dominated by artists that have a real shortage of, well, soul. Sure, there’s Jill Scott and a renaissance for Sharon Jones and Bettye Levette. That first Joss Stone album a few years back was even pretty good. But for each of these artists, there seems to be bazillions of… Read more »
Label: Geffen Released: November 23, 2008 Chinese Democracy is an album almost a decade and a half in the making. For this album alone, Axl Rose and his revolving door of musicians that make up what he still calls Guns N Roses have been at it longer than most bands take for an entire career. The Beatles changed the face… Read more »
Label: Sony Released: September 16, 2008 I had a few preconceptions coming into this one: David Gilmour is easily in my top 20 guitarists of all time. He clearly did great work in Pink Floyd and his diminished role on the Waters-dominated albums of the late 70s and early 80s show just how vital he (and Rick Wright) were to… Read more »
Label: Myspace Records Released: September 30, 2008 Polysics make no secret of their love for Devo. The jumpsuits, the scientist-rock image, it all points to one thing. Their music however, goes further. Devo is clearly in the mix on this collection of synth-heavy, agitated new wave tunes and the result is fun, energetic…and entirely contrived. But they mix that 80s… Read more »