// Category Archive for: Current Faves

Flogging Molly, Speed Of Darkness

By Magda Underdown-DuBois

Speed of Darkness, the fifth album by Flogging Molly comes in low, Perfect Circle-style, for a full 30 seconds and then crashes into one’s ears like a comet of sound.

Full of working contradiction, the band is a proud member of the new Celtic rock music generation along with The Pogues or The Secret Commonwealth. From their own record label Borstal Beat, Speed of Darkness is a self-professed concept album in an age of MP3s and singles, with the pounding rhythm of punk, but the articulated lyrical message of traditional Irish music.
(more…)

A Sci-Fi Fairy Tale: Hanna

By Lisa Anderson

One of the best movies of the year has already arrived, without much fanfare. If you’ve gone to see a movie rated PG-13 or higher in the past few months, then you’ve seen the trailer for Hanna, where the thrumming score by the Chemical Brothers provides the background for a teenage girl’s acts of derring-do. What you can’t tell from the trailer is that Hanna is one of the most innovative science fiction movies to come along in a while.
(more…)

Tindersticks, Claire Denis Film Scores 1996 – 2009

By Michelle Patterson

How I judge whether or not a soundtrack feels organic to its cinematic equal is whether or not it can stand on its own. This does not determine whether or not it is good—the apparent strength of the music isn’t a question—but if it can genuinely remind me of the film when I am listening to it in the quiet of my own bedroom or on the chaotic bus to work.

The clearest role of the soundtracks as experienced in the Tindersticks‘ Claire Denis Film Scores box set is as passive listener. This music stands on its own, without its marriage to the visuals; better yet, it imports another sense of value when associated with an entirely new set of identifiers, all depending on the situation of the listener.
(more…)

Iggy Pop, Roadkill Rising . . . The Bootleg Collection: 1977 – 2009

By Less Lee Moore

Who is the target audience for Roadkill Rising, Shout! Factory‘s four-disc “official” Iggy Pop bootleg collection? Fans get excited about concert albums; diehards and lifers hoard bootlegs like those suffering from OCD. Certainly the latter will be thrilled by the improved quality of these remastered bootlegs.

However, trying to determine if Roadkill Rising will appeal to non-Iggy Pop fans is an exercise in futility. I can’t imagine not being a fan of Iggy Pop so I am incapable of thinking like one.

(more…)

Creepy Video For Newest Erland & The Carnival Single, “Springtime”

By Less Lee Moore

Reading the press release on Erland & The Carnival‘s latest video made me squirm: “Much like the terrifying conclusion of the film Creepshow, we find our hero, Erland Cooper, buried and overcome by roaches.”

Full disclosure: I am mortally terrified of roaches. Thankfully the ones in this video are the less grotesque “Palmetto bugs” and not the standard horrifying, flying cockroaches that are the state bird of Louisiana.

The song is wonderful and the video is perfectly creepy, especially for those of use who appreciate morbid delights. Enjoy . . . and check out Erland & The Carnival’s excellent Nightingale album (reviewed on Popshifter here) if you haven’t already.

Booker T & The MGs, McLemore Avenue

By Matt Keeley

Look, you’re busy, I know that. If you don’t feel like reading this whole thing, just read the next sentence, and you’ll know the truth:

McLemore Avenue by Booker T & The MGs is a fucking amazing album.
(more…)

Sloan, The Double Cross

By Jemiah Jefferson

Canadian four-piece Sloan is one of the world’s most enduring cult-item bands (for everyone living outside Canada, that is; in the wily north, Sloan has been a ubiquitous source of pride for a large part of their twenty-year history). There’s a reason for this continued affection, slavishly on display at any of their raucous, friendly live shows: Sloan is a known quantity, and all ten of their albums lie on the spectrum between pretty damn good and iconically brilliant.
(more…)

Free Chiptunes Music Download: Oxvylu PASSWORD

By Less Lee Moore

If you like Chiptunes, you should check out PASSWORD, the latest release from Oxvylu. It’s the perfect addition to your weekend . . . and beyond! Enjoy!

From the press release:

This is your PASSWORD to a lavish trip . . . just imagine endless lounge rooms decorated with plastic trees, poofy couches, cheap perfume and slot machines overlooking a wonderfully fake beach scenario. Fill your world with easy listening chiptune music featuring bossanova drumbeats, foxtrot basslines and shiney hihat taps any 5-star hotel elevator would envy. Please enjoy PASSWORD by Oxvylu. Yes please thank you.

Download the Oxvylu PASSWORD album at no cost http://oxvylu.com/password/

About Oxvylu:
Oxvylu is a chiptunes artist from the gritty streets of Toronto, Ontario. He has been making videogamesounding music since he realized he could hook his Intellivision up to a stereo system. Seldom seen but often heard, Oxvylu produces some of the brightest yet darkest chiptunes you’ll ever hear. His 4th album PASSWORD is dedicated to rock’n’roller ‘Sam I Am’.

The Definitive Miles Davis on Prestige

By Magda Underdown-DuBois

For the most part, I tend to be attracted to bluesy lyrics that grip my gut and pull me involuntarily into sound and words. Instrumental jazz, like classical music, usually blends into background for me. Yet, I was introduced to the trumpeter/band leader Miles Davis by a dear ex-housemate, whose taste for adventure extends from Frank Zappa to Hot Chip. With that recommendation in mind, I committed to the experience of a two-disc set—The Definitive Miles Davis on Prestige.
(more…)

Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, No Help Coming

By Danny R. Phillips

Country music as a genre, in my self-deluded opinion, has been on a downward, pop-infused shit spiral since the 1990s Garth Brooks era, culminating in the current supremacy of Carrie “Screech” Underwood and Taylor “Let’s Go To The Mall” Swift.

I feared all was lost, that the world would be contented with pop songs passed off as country because they contain one of the following things: a fiddle, a steel guitar, or the word “y’all.” Then I heard Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs latest release No Help Coming. Rejoice traditionalists; this record is for you.
(more…)