Label: Count Your Lucky Stars Released: March 3, 2009 Any post-hardcore album worth its grooves (or bits and bytes as the case may be) ought to make one think of Fugazi, right? Well, this EP from Kalamazoo, Michigan’s The Reptillian reminds me of…well…Cake. Yeah, the quirky, jazzy, hipper-than-thou hipsters of the 90s. Now, don’t get me wrong though. The Reptilian… Read more »
Label: MVD Released: May 19, 2009 A reunion can be viewed in one of two ways. On one hand, it could be an attempt to cash in on the current popularity of the band’s genre, something they may not have been able to do in their prime. On the other, it could be a way to expose the band to… Read more »
Label: self-released and free! Released: May 16, 2009 Thank You‘s title may prefigure last year’s You’re Welcome, but the sound is moving forward. THe BAcksliders don’t refine their previous effort, so much as distill what’s clearly in their hearts. Whether it’s the flat out energy of “Have You Ever Been Down” or the hard-edged soulfullness of “Last Call,” the band… Read more »
Back in 1988, I caught an Amnesty International benefit show at the Towson Armory in Towson, MD. Having seen locals Black Friday a few months before, I was anxious to catch them again along with Pearl Fishers, Sunday Cannons and the Unknown. While the latter was fairly rotten (one of the few bands whose set I walked away from), the… Read more »
Check out this rough mix of the title track from the Gypsy Pistoleros’ forthcoming album (due in October on Lime Records). “Welcome to the Hotel de la Muerte” mp3 Myspace
Label: Warner Bros Released: June 23, 2009 Straightforward. Subdued. Accessible. If Octohedron had been recorded by just about any other band, those words would never cross anyone’s mind. However, the Mars Volta has pushed the boundaries of their music and their mania time and again, leaving the expectation that each album will be a further exploration of psychedelic insanity. This… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: March 10, 2009 Folk and punk has found some common ground over the years. From Billy Bragg’s incendiary love and politics to Elliott Smith’s dark beauty, the two genres have occasionally met in strange ways that have never been entirely one genre or the other, yet clearly rooted in both. Brian Bond is a similar artist in… Read more »
John Mellencamp will release Life Death Live and Freedom, the eight song live companion to last year’s Life Death Love and Freedom. Get a sneak preview mp3 until the album is released on June 23rd. “If I Die Sudden” MP3
Label: Hear Music Released: June 9, 2009 Elvis Costello has had quite a long and varied career to say the least, making albums bordering on punk on one hand and working with the likes of Burt Bacharach and Allen Toussaint at others. The genres he’s avoided, like metal or hip-hop, are surely more by choice than inability. There’s no question… Read more »
Label: White Elephant Records Released: September 29, 2008 Even those who love prog rock often understand that its shortcoming stems from putting the head before the heart. While no genre in rock can compete with prog’s technical prowess, it’s still often dismissed as self-indulgent and lite where the true spirit of rock n roll is the exception, not the rule…. Read more »