Label: Coming Home Media Released: November 11, 2008 In June of 2007, the reunited Smashing Pumpkins (or Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlain and some new members) decided to forgo a US tour and instead do two residencies, one in Asheville, NC and the other at the vaunted Fillmore in San Francisco. This was, as Jimmy Chamberlain said in the documentary portion… Read more »
Label: Legacy Recordings Released: September 30, 2008 The term “supergroup” may be popular music’s greatest misnomer. Sure, supergroups are typically made up of musicians who have done some super things, but more often than not, the meeting of their superness is just not all that, well, super. So, as legendary as the meeting of Jaco Pastorius, John McLaughlin and Tony… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: July 19, 2008 What would happen if the unabashed rock of the Who and the spunky power-pop of Cheap Trick took a drive down the twisting sharp turns of post-punk? Lanterns. If there is one quality that persists their Apocaplypse Youth EP, it would loud. Loud in the way mastered by big rock bands like the aforementioned… Read more »
Label: Vendlus Records Released: November 11, 2008 Symphonic metal seemed like a good idea, but every time someone gives it a try, we either get Metallica’s S&M, where classical is merely superimposed onto metal, or Dragonforce, where we get all the soul (or lack thereof rather) of classical dummied down for the average rock fan. It should work, but it… Read more »
Label: Red Leader Released: September 9, 2008 So, what do you expect from a band called Scream Hello? I mean if it was Say Hello or Scream I Hate You, it’d be easy to form some preconception, but Scream Hello? Who knows. As it turns out, the name fits the band perfectly. There’s plenty of screaming to be sure, but… Read more »
Label: Sudden Death Released: October 7, 2008 DOA is DOA and will likely always be, God bless them, DOA. If you’re expecting something other than aggressive politico-punk from these guys, guess again. They still wrap up left-wing politics into simple, heartfelt songs whose anger and outrage never overarch their equal doses of life and fun. DOA has always managed to… Read more »
Label: Kranky Released: October 27, 2008 The first time I listened to Original Darkness, I wondered what in the world I’d write about it. Now that I’ve listened to the CD a half-dozen times, I wonder how I can possibly say everything I want to say within the confines of a record review. My notes alone are nearly 600 words,… Read more »
Label: Hellcat Records Released: July 8, 2008 State of Grace is an album of roots: family roots, community roots, ethnic roots…and musical roots. Don’t confuse that with being about the past though. The album doesn’t break out on any new musical paths, but it is every bit about the present and future as it is about the past. That’s quite… Read more »
Label: Q Division Released: April 29, 2008 Last month, I drove to a funeral in another state. Funerals, especially funerals for a man who sort of became my surrogate father when my own dad was 2,000 miles away, aren’t usually enjoyable experiences, so I made sure to pack the car full of fun music. I threw a couple of classic… Read more »
Label: RCA Released: August 5, 2008 The story of Elvis’ 1968 comeback special is well known. By that time, the music that Elvis, not begot, but certainly laid the groundwork for, had passed him by. While Elvis was busy making silly movies like Blue Hawaii and Harem Scarum, rock and roll was broadening its horizons and beginning to take itself… Read more »