Released January 27, 2014 The opening track, “Forgiven,” creates a grey mood from its first notes. Its factory-like drone stretches for over seven minutes, the two chords changing in small and interesting ways yet staying the same. It’s the kind of song that could be annoying but makes me excited to hear more. Unfortunately, Ghettoville doesn’t deliver on the promise… Read more »
Released: April 22, 2016 Appearances are a strange part of being a music fan. Sometimes it feels more important to like music that has been accepted by cultural tastemakers than to vulnerably and proudly wear our own tastes. Upon listening to Therapy Session, I immediately recognize that NF is the kind of musician that tastemakers love to ridicule. He’s Christian… Read more »
Released: January 29, 2021 When Lester Bangs’ character in Almost Famous said the Guess Who had the “courage to be drunken buffoons,” I always remembered it as the “courage to be stupid,” which while incorrect, really got to the character’s point in that scene. The notion of that kind of courage made sense to me even as I so often… Read more »
Released: March 22, 2019 This is night music. This is music that waits until the party is over and the doors are locked and the beats are tucked snugly into the DJ’s case of records. This is music that guides you home when the sky is black and the streets are deserted and your feet are throbbing. This is music… Read more »
Released: February 18, 1966 In the 1960’s, Motown was in the business of making money and they accomplished that by producing a great product. The Supremes’ I Hear a Symphony is one of the crowning achievements of that plan. It is an album that existed somehow in the past and present simultaneously. Originally conceived as a Motown take on old… Read more »
Released: February 5, 2021 Usually, it’s a good thing when a group tries to move beyond the strict confines of their sound. Without that impetus, we’d have no Sgt. Peppers, no Heroes, no Achtung Baby. It’s the boldness that moves the art of making music forward. That being said, it is not something to undertaken lightly or carelessly. The artist… Read more »
Released: Juneteenth 2020 Untitled (Black Is) opens with a gospel chant of revolution that rises to a fever pitch similar to how calls for racial justice rose to a fever pitch in the days leading up to its release on Juneteenth 2020. Then it does something interesting. The chant fades away to gentle chords and warm ambience and a reassuring… Read more »
At first, Unfiltered seems like another nostalgic throwback to jazz of the ‘50s and ‘60s, an imitation of the greats at their greatest. Soon, however, it becomes clear that Sorey and his sextet aren’t imitating the greats, but instead are channeling their energy. Imitation is easy: you practice, you learn a style, you steal it. Channeling energy, however, is much… Read more »
Released: February 5, 2021 We all know covers are a tricky business. So many fall into one of two categories: Too little of the covering artist or too little of the covered artist. Jim Bob’s short collection of covers somehow manages to do both at once. There are some great punk and new wave tunes here, but too often they… Read more »
Released: December 15, 2020 Before calling it quits, Mystic Inane released this four track EP in late 2020. It’s basically just early 80s American punk (think pre-metal Black Flag and Circle Jerks or JFA) that leans to the somewhat angular side à la the Minutemen. Yes, it’s been done before, ad nauseum even, but there is something to be said… Read more »