Label: self-released Released: April 20, 2010 Campaign’s It Likes to Party EP is as full of gritty half-harmonies and beer-soaked melodies as any punk rock out there. The tunes are raw and in your face with hooks sneaking in that almost require a singalong. There is a certain drunkenness to this record, yet it is not steeped in the stupidity… Read more »
Released: August 17, 2010 Label: UMe After waning over the last couple of albums during Bruce Dickinson’s first stint, two ill-conceived releases with Blaze Bayley and a lackluster return for Dickinson on Brave New World, Iron Maiden stormed back to life with their last two albums and an outstanding tour documentary. Perhaps no other band in their third decade could… Read more »
Released: August 24, 2010 Label: Black Numbers It seems like a strong sense of melody is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the raw, tattered edges of pure passion, but the two do in fact occasionally find common ground…like they do on Go Rydell’s The Golden Age. What’s particularly interesting is how the band’s sense of both melody… Read more »
Released: April 13, 2010 Label: Ninth Street Opus Carrie Rodriguez’s last effort, 2008’s She Ain’t Me, was an album full of potential, but good as it was, it suffered from restraint. Her voice needed to soar. It yearned to soar. Yet, it never quite did. Two years have passed between that album and Love and Circumstance and if anything, Rodriguez’s… Read more »
Sorry I missed the last two weeks. The first I just spaced on and the second I was on vacation with a very, very poor internet connection. Anyway, I’m back now and I’ll try to be a little more consistent. My playlist is thin, because I haven’t had a lot of time for personal listening lately, but that should change… Read more »
Yesterday’s post aside, I haven’t been overly focused on music this week. I am reading a book about bluegrass, so I’ve been randomly running through the Bill Monroe lately. Bluegrass has often been associated with “hillbilly” music, but the reality is it’s very structured and provides maybe the best mix of technical skill and heart of any genre. One thing… Read more »
This post’s title comes from Paul Simon’s “Boy in the Bubble,” a song about the trials and tribulations of the modern world. We can certainly say that we have come to a very skewed reality when we find our heroes on the pop charts instead of working in orphanages, hospices and soup kitchens or devoting their lives to the cause… Read more »
Released: October 13, 2009 Label: Seafoam Recordings Stegosaur opens up this 7″ by discussing the trials and tribulations of making (and selling) a record. If a commercially successful record was made by packing a lot into a short record, they’d be in great shape. Sadly, the “industry” isn’t quite like that. “A Headache” is a driving tune with a touch… Read more »
Well, I didn’t pick up anything new this week, but I spent a good bit of time with a few releases that I need to review. Everyone Everywhere’s new self-titled album, on Tiny Engines, has hints of Hüsker Dü mixed in that made me instantly like it and Stegosaur’s Adventure 7″ is a clever and creative indie gem that packs… Read more »
Released: July 13, 2010 Label: Ripple Music I like pop music, but there’s always this underlying sense that I’m being hoodwinked by it. Are the hooks and the glossy sheen that make it so easy going down distracting me from fundamental flaws? Is it all based more on head than heart? Perhaps it’s unfair, but those questions pervade my enjoyment… Read more »