// Category Archive for: Current Faves

Music Review: Various Artists, South Side Story Vol. 23

By Less Lee Moore

It’s always a challenge to step out of your comfort zone.

Although I certainly enjoy my share of R&B and Soul music, I would never claim to be an expert. This made Numero Group’s soul compilation South Side Story Vol. 23 all the more interesting, especially with the release’s lack of liner notes. A PR rep referred to it as a “cool mix tape,” and that’s an apt description. Mix tapes were always a labor of love, with homemade artwork and only the band names and song titles included. South Side Story is definitely a labor of love for the Chicago-based label who included relative unknowns in the soul genre, at least unknown to those outside of the Chicago area. This required a lot of digging on the Internet, and unsurprisingly, there was not a wealth of information found, although thanks to soul fanatics and collectors, I managed to find some information on each performer included.

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Movie Review: Every Everything: The Music, Life, And Times Of Grant Hart

By Chelsea Spear

At first glance, the afterlife of Hüsker Dü illustrates the cliché “History is written by the winners.” In the quarter-century since the legendary power trio disbanded, drummer and co-songwriter Grant Hart frequently gets depicted as a hapless figure whose drug problems and personal woes overshadow his considerable creative efforts. Every Everything, director Gorman Bechard’s latest documentary, shines a light both on Hart’s heyday and his surprisingly eclectic post-Dü career.

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Music Review: The Howlin’ Brothers, Trouble

By Melissa Bratcher

Sometimes I get albums that are so firmly in my wheelhouse I suspect they were made with me in mind (because I am very humble). The latest from The Howlin’ Brothers, Trouble, is one of those records. Trouble, described by multi-instrumentalist Brother Jared Green, is a gumbo. From bluegrass to cajun swing to reggae (!), this extraordinary trio plays with style and charm.

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Music Review: Glen David Andrews, Redemption

By Melissa Bratcher

Glen David Andrews’s Redemption is an album about a man who is on a journey. Having gone to rehab and still in the process of recovery and turning his life around and rebuilding his career, Andrews has documented this with the deeply personal and revealing Redemption. And while an album about recovery could be a heavy, less than fascinating listen, Andrews and his producer Leo Sacks turn up the funk, gospel, and goodness to make a very compelling record.

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Music Review: The Dramatics, Greatest Slow Jams

By Paul Casey

The Dramatics had the funky, harder sound. Then they had the smooth and low-down sound. That falsetto by Ron Banks put them in that category of magical 1970s Soul with The Delfonics and The Stylistics. L.J. Reynolds brings some of that rougher and gruffer vocal love. This Greatest Slow Jams compilation grabs a bunch of the sweetest and sexiest tracks from 1971-1976, excluding the group’s collaboration with The Dells. It also includes the L.J. Reynolds single “Tomorrow” from his 1987 album Tell Me You Will. This would sound great next to a James Ingram track or Between the Sheets-era Isley Brothers or hell, something from The Dramatics’ reunion album from ’85! Out of print, yes, but placed next to the very 1970s sound of the rest of the songs, it breaks the mood. And with slow jams, the mood is everything. If you have to stop having sex, that playlist needs to be tweaked, pal.

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DVD Review: Wrong Cops

By Less Lee Moore

There are people who will love Wrong Cops. Others will probably cringe with embarrassment and/or confusion. Some might even run from the room screaming. These are all normal reactions to a Quentin Dupieux movie. His absurdist humor is certainly not for everyone.

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Music Review: Odonis Odonis, Hard Boiled Soft Boiled

By Less Lee Moore

“Keep your halo tight until you choke us/But I would like to carry on”
—”Alexa Wait”

If you’ve been following the career of Toronto’s Odonis Odonis, Hard Boiled Soft Boiled will be a mild revelation. It’s way heavier and louder than the band’s previous releases. The Surf Goth tones of Hollandaze and the Better EP are almost completely gone, or perhaps just sublimated within all those layers of noise. Yet, under the distortion and grime, there are brutally gripping melodies. Relying more on guitars and bass than synths, Hard Boiled Soft Boiled is a nightmarish vision of jangly, reverbed dream pop.

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Music Review: Bobby Rush With Blinddog Smokin’, Decisions

By Melissa Bratcher

On his new release Decisions, bluesman Bobby Rush is not only joined by the band Blinddog Smokin’ but also by longtime friend Dr. John, the latter providing piano and vocals on the lead single “Another Murder In New Orleans.” While tracks like “Another Murder In New Orleans” and the titular song “Decisions” are straightforward, serious songs, the bulk of the record is composed of much lighter, sillier fare. It’s an interesting combination.

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Music Review: Bobby Bare, Jr., Undefeated

By Melissa Bratcher

I was watching a Hee Haw rerun a few weeks ago, and Bobby Bare was on with his kids. He was joined by two little boys for “Marie Laveau” and then sang “Daddy What If” with just one of them, a sprightly little fella with an excellent haircut. This, of course, led me down the Internet rabbit hole of finding out who that cute little boy was, and I arrived at the conclusion that the adorable kid was Bobby Bare, Jr.

While he could have carved out a career in music following in his father’s footsteps, Bobby Bare, Jr. has instead made his own way. His latest, Undefeated, is a grab bag of musical styles and influences, shot through with a thorough dose of clear-eyed realism and the occasional wrenching heartbreak.

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Music Review: De Lux, Voyage

By Less Lee Moore

“I wanna say we’re doing great/but there’s something wrong, something wrong”
—”Better At Making Time”

De Lux’s self-titled, four-song 2013 EP was fantastic. I think I listened to its first track, “Better At Making Time,” three times a day for a straight week. Now they’ve got a full-length album, with a few of the songs from that EP and the added bonus of more great songs. Don’t let the deceptively simple cover art fool you. Voyage is 55 minutes of extravagance in musical form. (more…)