Label: Goodfellow Records Released: April 29, 2008 There are two kinds of anger: one based on love and one based on hate. I’ve always found myself more attracted to the former. New Model Army’s fury on “I Love the World” has always seemed both fuller and deeper than something along the lines of the Circle Jerks’ “World Up My Ass.”… Read more »
Label: Alive Naturalsound Released: January 8, 2008 “Billy Gibbons, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” That’s likely what goes through Left Lane Cruiser guitarist Freddy J IV’s head as he pines away for his guitar hero. Gibbons’ influence on Freddy’s playing is unmistakable and perhaps wearing his influences on his sleeve like that should count against… Read more »
Label: VH1 Classics Released: June 3, 2008 A few months back, I heard a few pre-release tracks of this project which reunites Def Leppard’s Phil Collen with former Girl bandmate Simon Laffy and brings in ex-Sex Pistol Paul Cook. The line-up certainly sounds like it could be flirting with disaster, but that preview raised my hopes that this would be… Read more »
Label: Flightplan Records Released: January 29, 2008 Some time in the 90s, pop punk generally began placing the pop over the punk in its approach to the point that it might be difficult to tell the difference between A New Found Glory and Avril Lavigne. That’s sad, because punk has a long pop tradition that dates back at least to… Read more »
Label: Count Your Lucky Stars Released: January 2008 Sometimes there is a very fine line between great and terrible. Great bands stay just on the good side and awful bands may only take a single step over. Queen’s bombast pushed right up to the line and they’re one of rock’s truly great bands. Meat Loaf (or really Jim Steinman) took… Read more »
Label: Deep Elm Records Released: May 13, 2008 Pneuma is an album that works more in noise than structure. Ambient layers and ambling indie rock rhythms are grounded by a more common vocal approach that alternates between whining and screeching and screaming. There is nothing pretentious about Moving Mountains’ deconstruction of rock though. It is experimental, but not simply for… Read more »
Label: Rhino Released: April 22, 2008 Love is a second rate band, but at perhaps the creative peak of rock music. They existed at a time when the old marriage of R&B and C&W that was rock n roll was experimenting with a lot of new partners. Love was a part of that. At times, the result was brilliant, making… Read more »
Label: Atlantic Released: May 13, 2008 You and I are about to engage in the most intimate act that a critic and a reader can share: the record review. But before the door closes behind us and I lift my shirt to reveal four stars tattooed on my chest, you need to know a secret that will color every word… Read more »
Label: Maniac Squat Records Released: March 3, 2008 There are plenty of bands revisiting the 80s, but most stick to post-punk and new wave rather than punk and hardcore. The Eruptors are certainly an exception. They avoid anything refined and go straight for the throat with noisy punk that sounds about as DIY as it can be. The downside is… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: January 25, 2008 I seem to be using the word “angular” an awful lot these days and while that usually means I’m listening to something I enjoy, the post-punk influence is becoming so commonplace that it also begs the question, “What’s special about this one?” With Brass, the answer is that they take their mathy angles and… Read more »