Label: Vagrant Records Released: October 16, 2007 Some bands seem to have potential, but early on, it’s unclear whether they’ll fulfill that. When I first heard Thrice open for Hot Water Music at the 9:30 Club back in 2002, that’s exactly the way I felt about them. The live show was dynamic and energetic, but the two studio albums were… Read more »
Label: self-releassed Released: 2007 Pomegranates have crafted an EP that knocks on the doors of Casiotone indie pop, pop punk and everything in between. The first few bars of “The Children’s Progress” sound an awful lot like Postal Service, but before you can get settled into that, it takes a turn down a crooked post-punk street. They follow that with… Read more »
Label: Smithsonian Folkways Released: October 23, 2007 When listening to a Smithsonian Folkways release, it’s important to keep in mind that their mission is far different from a strictly commercial label. Their eyes aren’t on Billboard, but on culture. There is always a clear educational goal on their albums that is incidental at best when it exists elsewhere. Still, they… Read more »
Label: Vendlus Records Released: February 14, 2007 Prog rock’s faults aren’t usually related to technical skill at any stage of the process, from writing to playing to producing. In fact, the genre’s greatest difficulty stems from its artists being too good, too musical. Prog bands have a tendency to lose the emotional connection with their audience that is essential in… Read more »
Label: Eschatone Records Released: November 13, 2007 Clearly, some novelty records are just silly and others are, at least on some level, actually quite serious. Words of Wisdom is certainly of the more serious variety. That’s not to say that it isn’t light-hearted, just that it has a real purpose. Brian Dewan apparently found these songs in old schoolbooks, garage… Read more »
Label: Released: October 9, 2007 While the resumes of some members the Mystix may look impressive (Jerry Lee Lewis, Ben E King, Peter Wolf, even studio work at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals), don’t be fooled. This is a group of session players, not a real band. They do play well together as session players often do, but there is… Read more »
Label: Deep Elm Records Released: November 13, 2007 Dartz! mix agitated math rock with a punk edge and British quirkiness (or is it quirky Britishness?). They produce songs whose layers are the many moving parts of an efficient machine. The parts feel loose and rambling when they’re really quite tight if you concentrate. But that’s not the point. They’re meant… Read more »
Label: Get Off My Bach/MRV/Caroline/EMI Released: November 20, 2007 In light of the number of 80s hair metal has-beens trying to cash in on a sadly nostalgic public, I didn’t have tremendously high hopes for Sebastian Bach’s latest, his first album in eight years. The upside of this record is that Bach didn’t entirely bow to the past. From the… Read more »
Label: Universal Music AB Released: October 3, 2007 Even as an undercurrent to mainstream rock, a glam revival was one of the last things I expected to see. But this year has proved that a genre that was crumbling under its own bloated self twenty years ago might still have a little bit to offer. Sure, it’s full of “reunions”… Read more »
Label: Arclight Records Released: 2007 Over the course of rock history, “Louie Louie” has been covered countless times. Its simplicity and infectious hook make it an easy task for even the most pedestrian bands. On the other hand, to my knowledge, only one band has covered Lungfish’s “You Are the War.” There’s a few reasons: Lungfish is fairly far outside… Read more »