Label: self-released (CD Baby) Released: February 24, 2009 JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound hail from Chicago, have a song about Baltimore and sound like Detroit…in the 60s. That was the time and place where the local airwaves were a battleground between Motown and garage rock. While not the greatest to emerge from that scene, it was probably Mitch Ryder… Read more »
Label: Old Sombrero Music Released: March 17, 2009 Some albums are amazing in the way they push the boundaries and change the rules while others are amazing in the way they perform within existing boundaries and prove long established rules. There isn’t much that’s new in Paula Sinclair’s music. She plays something that walks a fine line between country and… Read more »
Label: VH1 Classic Records Released: March 3, 2009 Probably the biggest trap into which a live album can fall is that of sounding too much like a studio album. After all, if it sounds pretty much like the studio cuts with crowd noise in between, what’s the point? A live album should inject different energies or arrangements into the songs… Read more »
Label: Columbia Released: January 27, 2009 “The Wrestler” is the bonus track on Springsteen’s latest album, Working on a Dream. It’s a honest tale set to poignant music. It connects in the way we expect Springsteen to connect. However, it is appropriately labeled as bonus material, because it really doesn’t fit the rest of the album. The strings on the… Read more »
Label: Steamhammer/SPV Released: January 27, 2009 There’s a fine line between grand and grandiose. Most concept albums are so much the latter that they never even get close to the line. Sepultura, veterans of the concept album, aren’t close to that line either, but they’re on the good side. Their new album, A-Lex, is based on Anthony Burgess’ novel A… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: January 13, 2009 Copper Sails seems like one of those bands that could be poised for the big time. I mean, this thing they’re doing worked for Coldplay, didn’t it? Hiding Place is carefully thought out, constructed and performed. They steal form all the right indie and alt bands on both sides of the Atlantic. The melodies… Read more »