Month: June 2013
Review: Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves – Canyons
Rollicking blues-thumping rock n’ roll bleeds out of these guys. Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves are a full-throttle rock band with a full, rich sound that is as colorful and as it is raw. Wollard, who’s also in Hot Water Music, takes several steps closer to a more roots-influenced rock sound than he’s done in the past. His song writing, always at a high level, seems to have gone even higher, probably due to the fact that he’s the clearly at the helm of these Ship Thieves, and Canyons is very much his vision. … read more
Review: Cold Cave – Oceans with No End
This album is a two-song platter to showcase Wes Eisold’s electro-talents without a backing band. … read more
Review: Cathedral – The Last Spire
Cathedral’s final full-length serves as the dreadful denouement to their career. It seems rather odd that Lee Dorrian and his merry band of self-styled metal outcasts would follow up The Guessing Game with an album so unbearably dull as The Last Spire. … read more
Review: Chad Valley – Young Hunger
Sounding too much like an 80’s act resolvedly stuck in the 80’s–save the occasional auto-tune tweaking–one man band Hugo Manuel (of Jonquil) has a silky smooth and very high-pitched falsetto, which he can impressively drop a few octaves down effortlessly. … read more
Review: Brown Bird – Fits of Reason
It’s hard to imagine so much sound and energy coming from just two musicians, but the Rhode Island duo Brown Bird pull it off well. … read more
Review: Bullet Treatment – Ex-Breathers
For some bands, a rotating cast of musicians is not their most notable aspect, but rather a necessary extension of the transitioning musical nature of the principal member. … read more
Review: Camera Obscura – Desire Lines
Tracyanne Campbell and friends have done it again! Desire Lines is perfect indie pop—an album that you’ll want to listen to while riding your bike through town on a sunny day, or while doing the wash outside your two-flat, or while strolling though the hills above your midsize British city contemplating the next Johnny-come-lately who’s gonna sweep you off your feet.
… read more
Review: Brent Amaker and the Rodeo – Year of the...
When it comes to strange and different bands, Brent Amaker and the Rodeo is at the top of my list. I feel like there’s something I just don’t get. … read more
Review: Burnt Ones – You’ll Never Walk Alone
I pioneered a new rating system to evaluate this record: I drew plus signs next to songs I really liked, minus signs next to songs I disliked, and nothing next to songs that made me feel nothing. Despite sounding uncannily similar to their psych rock peers, the sexy, grimy reverb spiral of “Vision Forever” gets a plus sign, as does the mighty bubblegum fuzz of “Fountain of Youth” and “I Care – I Don’t Care.” The time-changing brain burner “Cloak” gets a plus sign, too. … read more
Review: Carmen Villain Sleeper
Carmen Villain/Hillestad has a history as a model. It’s in every review and bio. I don’t care all that much. However, listening to Sleeper again while writing this review, I am noticing that I am not all that distracted — and at times, her music is of the kind that could easily play in the background during a photo shoot or similar activity. … read more