// Category Archive for: Current Faves

Music Review: Acid Reissues from Cherry Red Records

By Tim Murr

Probably every town has some awesome band the rest of the world will never see. These days, thanks to the Internet it’s easier for some Oklahoma punk band to reach listeners in Japan, but back in 1980, forget it. Victims, perhaps, of the glut of metal bands from all over Europe and the UK, Acid fell through the cracks. There wasn’t a huge metal scene in their native Belgium when they formed, and little in the way of avenues out of the country. So they formed their own record label, Giant, and between 1980 and 1985, when they broke up, released three solid albums.

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Can Iron Maiden Save Rock and Roll? New Single “Speed Of Light”

By Jeffery X Martin

The venerable British heavy metal band Iron Maiden is returning with a new double album, The Book of Souls, and the first single, “Speed of Light,” is a five-minute-long, arena-sized rollercoaster ride through a thunderstorm, with a hot riff so slinky, the Lord of Darkness could floss with it. It’s a swift kick in the ass for a rock and roll scene grown stale and over-inflated with buttrock and pseudo-Satania. There’s more energy in this one single than there has been in the last three Foo Fighters albums. Leave it to a bunch of 50-year-old Brits to rear back up and bring a whole genre back to life, like a collective of Victor Frankensteins.

That’s pretty heavy praise for just one song, and I know that, but listen, you guys.

No, I mean, listen to the song.

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Music Review: Sharkmuffin, Chartreuse

By Tyler Hodg

It’s incredible to think that Chartreuse is Sharkmuffin’s debut full-length album. The duo’s aggressive punk-rock sound is realized to its fullest, and amplifies the idea of the importance of a cohesive unit. In addition to the band’s music, the all-female Sharkmuffin proves rock’n’roll is not limited to the male gender.

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Music Review: Grace Potter, Midnight

By Melissa Bratcher

Damn, that Grace Potter can sing. In stepping away from her band the Nocturnals to make her first solo album Midnight, Potter stretches her poppier wings, making an album that features dance beats and thumpers. The focus, though, is Grace Potter’s soulful, incredible voice.

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Music Review: Mynabirds, Lovers Know

By Melissa Bratcher

The newest Mynabirds album, Lovers Know, has an intoxicating quality. Featuring shimmering synths, electronic drums, and reverbed guitars, there’s a hint of ‘80s electronica, as well as a shoegazey dreaminess, but there’s also a vitality that could only be borne of today. Frontwoman Laura Berhenn’s splendid vocals are by turns touching and exhilarating, and always beautifully intimate.

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Music Review: Craig Marshall, After All

By Melissa Bratcher

Austin-based Craig Marshall strives to make music that is timeless and familiar. On his latest album, After All, he has achieved that in spades. With the help of his producer, Robert Harrison of Cotton Mather, Marshall dips in and out of genres easily, and handles each with great deftness.

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Dark Palms Release Heavy, Amazing Single “Ghost Horse”

By Tim Murr

Oh, Dark Palms, where have you been all my life? Their new single, “Ghost Horse, is a post-punk, fuzzed-out trip into pure American noir. I’m officially very excited for Dark Palms’ forthcoming debut album, Hoxbar Ghost Town on Rock Therapy Records.

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Music Review: Vince Guaraldi Trio, Peanuts Greatest Hits

By Melissa Bratcher

Is there a more perfect marriage of image and sound than Peanuts and Vince Guaraldi’s music? Guaraldi’s loose, jazzy scores brought a rich dimension to Charles Schultz’s gang of cartoon kids, elevating the Peanuts TV specials beyond simple cartoons. They were fine art.

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Music Review: Daniel Romano, If I’ve Only One Time Askin’

By Melissa Bratcher

Daniel Romano’s new album, If I’ve Only One Time Askin’, is the best kind of time machine. It shares both DNA and feeling with country classics (Romano covers George Jones’s “Learning To Do Without Me” and does it with an panache that’s admirable) but there’s a modern edge to it as well. The songs bleed into each other, sometimes using a plucked bass line, a hum of neon. a chorus quietly fading, or a lo-fi version of the track that just played. This adds a rich dimension to the album, making it cohesive and fascinating, and keeping If I’ve Only One Time Askin’ from feeling like a self-consciously retro pastiche.

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Music Review: ¡Vamos!, Spiderbait

By Tim Murr

Chicago’s ¡Vamos! have released their debut full-length album, Spiderbait. It’s a raw, passionate, hook-filled, garage-punk slab of rock brilliance. This trio creates a big noise that may remind the listener of Teenage Fanclub by way of The Stooges without necessarily sounding like either band. They also remind me a fair bit of another great Midwest punk band, Columbus, OH’s Grafton.

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