Ian Hunter Band Featuring Mick Ronson, Live At Rockpalast

By Hanna

While lately the BBC and specialized music channels have finally been repeating and showing their collected musical material, German TV has been far ahead of them, broadcasting their music shows such as ZDF’s disco and comprehensive DVDs of shows like Musikladen, while the BBC still fails to release anything like a Top of The Pops DVD, and its Old Grey Whistle Test issues are limited and, annoyingly, themed.
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Whitejacket, Hollows And Rounds

By Jemiah Jefferson

The debut solo album from former Apples in Stereo member Chris McDuffie has a proud “no synths” rule. Instead of Moog, it offers up plenty of jaunty piano, tambourines, and an earnest guitar that wouldn’t find itself out of place on Let It Be. The Beatles comparisons are not only obvious, but apparently welcome; but rather than shooting for the McCartney wink-and-nod, this album hews closer to the thoughtfulness of All Things Must Pass-era George Harrison. And yet there’s a silly love song, because there must be.

McDuffie clearly loves his early ’70s AM radio sound, more hand claps than anthems, and more lyrically sophisticated than the Bay City Rollers. Would it be out of place to say that this album sounds a lot like Canadian party-rock pastiche masters Sloan? I don’t think Sloan would think so . . . and notable track “Medinah” (click to playclick to play) features densely layered vocal tracks, McDuffie singing along hypnotically with a chorus of himself.

Hollows and Rounds sounds brainy and measured, but comfortable; it breaks no new ground, but encourages the listener to find the new in the same familiar sound.

Hollows and Rounds was released on April 3 and is available to download from Amazon and in physical format and download from CDBaby. For more information check out the Whitejacket website.

An Apple A Day Keeps The Maharishi Away: Strange Fruit DVD

By John Lane

The Beatles’ mythology has become so ingrained in our culture that even I, a self-confessed Beatle nut, rarely have the energy anymore to restate or reexamine their history. If my kids have questions about the Fabs, I’m almost half-tempted to sigh and say, “Yes, they were four guys who all lived in a funhouse together. If they ventured outside for groceries, they’d hop in their Yellow Submarine while being chased by screaming fans. Yes, Paul was the cute one, John was the smart one, George was the quiet one, and Ringo was the minotaur at the end of the maze—so, who wants to listen to some Motorhead?”
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Theresa Andersson, Street Parade

By Chelsea Spear

Theresa Andersson’s 2008 breakthrough album Hummingbird, Go! was no small accomplishment. Serving as a one-woman band, Andersson spun hummable, soulful tunes brimming with hard-won optimism. The straightforward production and elaborate arrangements became even more impressive once listeners knew that she’d performed all the instruments herself, using effects pedals to create loops. (The video for her song “Na Na Na,” in which she demonstrates her one-woman band setup, attracted 1.2 million views on YouTube.) How do you top a left-field critical and artistic success like this?
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Rick Springfield’s Beginnings: Younger Than Tomorrow, Wise As Yesterday

By Cait Brennan

I can’t prove this, but I suspect Rick Springfield‘s career began with the discovery of a magic lamp. A magic lamp with a particularly devious Jinn contained therein. Since he was a teenager, Springfield has been on the receiving end of some of the luckiest breaks a young rocker could’ve wished for in his wildest dreams. Yet too many of them went inexplicably off the rails despite his formidable talents. Such was his major-label debut, the indispensable, shoulda-been-a-smash Beginnings, released in 1972 on Capitol and recently reissued by a great new label called Real Gone Music. It’s one of 1972′s best albums, and one of the best you’ll hear in 2012, too.
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Johnny Headband, Who Cooks For You?

By Less Lee Moore

Who Cooks For You? is the latest release from Detroit’s Johnny Headband, featuring brothers Chad and Keith Thompson (the latter of Electric Six), plus Gerald Roesser and and Robbie Saunders. Like the music itself, Who Cooks For You? poses an unanswered (or unanswerable) question: Who (or what) is Johnny Headband? Who Cooks For You? seems familiar yet it’s not beholden to current “indie” music trends; it refuses to be pigeonholed but all the same, it is one ridiculously enjoyable album. Who Cooks For You? crams a lot of flavor into its 35 minutes.
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The Cabin In The Woods (spoiler free!)

By Lisa Anderson

Do you love the horror genre, but feel like it’s in a rut? Do you like rooting for main characters in a terrifying situation, but find that in recent movies, they’re often one-dimensional or unlikable? Do you enjoy the exquisite treat of being confronted with a Big Bad that’s been built up for over an hour . . . but wish that could happen without a lot of sexism or torture porn?

If, so, fortunately, Joss Whedon agrees with you.
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Battle Royale: The Complete Collection

By Less Lee Moore

For those (like me) who have not yet been seduced by the legendary Japanese film Battle Royale, this new Anchor Bay collection—featuring the theatrical cut, the 2001 special edition, Battle Royale: Requiem, plus a disc of featurettes and extras—is nothing short of jaw-dropping. The four-disc set comes in a beautifully packaged booklet and is available in both DVD and Blu-Ray formats.

Battle Royale was originally released in 2000, and was adapted from Koushun Takami’s controversial 1999 novel of the same name. The film exploded into the new millennium, riveting audiences, breaking box office records, outraging censors, and transfixing a generation of film nerds like Quentin Tarantino. Its synopsis is straightforward:
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The Red Bird Girls: very first time in true Stereo 1964-1966 (Various Artists)

By Melissa B.

There are few moments that can’t be improved upon by a good song from a girl group. Happiness is magnified, heartbreak is more monumental, a pretty summer day shines with sweet harmonies, “yeah yeahs,” and fantastic hairdos. I’m pretty sure that’s a scientific fact.
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Carole King, Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King

By Emily Carney

Some context on Carole King: This singer songwriter, who is rather unfairly relegated to oldies radio stations in the US, had serious credibility within the world of girl-groups in the 1960s. At age 18, she co-wrote “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” with her then-husband Gerry Goffin, which was performed by the Shirelles. This song was covered beautifully in recent years by the late Amy Winehouse.
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