Label: Ace Records Released: August 7, 2007 Superdude seems to rely an awful lot on his reputation. Unfortunately for him, that reputation isn’t very current. I don’t even think it was ever all that substantial. His entire being seems to stem from some time he spent at the Factory with Andy Warhol. I’ve heard of the Factory, of course, and… Read more »
Label: Mystic Records Released: 1985 Punk covers albums are a dime a dozen these days, but back in 1985 this album was a pretty good novelty. Twenty mostly fine efforts were committed to vinyl under the tag line, “Our favorite bands mutilate your favorite songs.” How true that was. Some of the covers are typical choices and some are more… Read more »
Pimlico Racecourse, Baltimore, Maryland August 4, 2007 Catching Day one of Baltimore’s Virgin Fest was a bit of a surprise. A friend had tickets she couldn’t use, so she gave them to me. With that bit of kind good fortune, I headed off to Pimlico with Ray (of The Metal Minute) for 10 hours of rock n roll in the… Read more »
Label: Wicked Cool Records Release Date: September 18, 2007 The Chesterfield Kings get frequent comparisons to the Stones in their mid-60s prime. It’s pretty accurate, because the they’re a better Stones than the Stones have been in over 30 years. But it’s also only a piece of the picture, because there are plenty of Stones knock-offs, but the Chesterfield Kings… Read more »
Label: Idol Records Release Date: September 11, 2007 As Watershed well knows, a live album is a difficult proposition. Their 1994 debut (on Epic Records) didn’t pan out the way I’m sure they’d hoped and now, 13 years later, they’re trying again. The real difficulty with live albums is that it’s hard to find that middle ground between too live,… Read more »
In response to Myspace’s generic “sounds like” field, Birds of Maya state that they sound like “like a gg allin demo played through a megaphone.” It’s a fair description and it’s certainly colorful, but it leaves out an awful lot. If they really sounded like dear-departed GG, I wouldn’t be writing about them. They are loud and they are chaotic,… Read more »
Label: Sugar Hill Records Released: June 12, 2007 Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles do more than just channel the past. True, Diamonds in the Dark is partially images of days gone by, but the package is fresh. Touching on every raw influence of rock music, the end result is an album that is both clean and warm, touching the… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: June 2007 They certainly got the title right. Pop culture Nintendo reference aside, the name is just awful. But the music is another story and that’s how they get away with it. Building on their layered indie rock past, Up Up Down Down (I’m skipping the rest for the sake of brevity) take significant strides forward with… Read more »
Label: Screaming Ferret Wreckords Released: July 17, 2007 The opening track of Spider Rockets’ Ever After kicks right in with that churning metalcore sound that is a dime a dozen these days. It doesn’t raise any hopes for the album even if the song itself is listenable enough. Don’t stop listening there though unless metal or hardcore just isn’t your… Read more »
I thought this was an interesting story. Singer/songwriter Peter Katz (You don’t know him? Well, neither did I, but he seems to have minor following in Canada) recently wrote a song about breaking the chain of hatred that seems to be entrenched in our society these days. Like so many songwriters, he saw something in the world that made him… Read more »