// Category Archive for: Music Reviews

Music Review: Janiva Magness, Love Wins Again

By Melissa Bratcher

Dear Janiva Magness, thanks for making me cry.

On her follow-up to 2014s Original, Janiva Magness is letting it all out. She’s happy (her self-penned liner notes are completely delightful), she’s in killer voice, and her continuing collaboration with producer Dave Darling is positively fecund. Love Wins Again is a worthy successor to Original, with heartfelt songs of love and hope, and songs of heartbreak.

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Music Review: Tombs, All Empires Fall

By Tim Murr

While it may be an EP that’s only 24 minutes long, Tombs’ All Empires Fall is still one of the better black metal albums I’ve ever heard.

Black metal is a genre that I’ve rarely been able to connect with, but does include some bands that are truly innovative and exciting. All Empires Fall is the first Tombs recording with new keyboardist Fade Kainer and while I can’t claim any depth of knowledge about earlier recordings from the band, he’s a welcome addition here.

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Music Review: Graves At Sea, The Curse That Is

By Tim Murr

There was a photo that accompanied the press release of Graves At Sea’s debut full-length album, The Curse That Is, and I love it. The picture of the four members (Nathan Misterek on vocals, Nick Phit on guitar, Bryan Sours on drums, and Sketchy Jeff on bass) shows a group of guys who won’t be having any of your shit. Not now, not later. These are some tough-looking, sick-of-it-all dudes and their faces match the music perfectly.

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Music Review: Shark Toys, Outsider Sect

By Brian Baker

I don’t know who you are, but I know I can cruise with your surfer punk rhythms like Johnny Fain carving the California coast, Shark Toys. (more…)

Music Review: Iggy Pop, Post Pop Depression

By Less Lee Moore

I followed my shadow and it led me here
What is the problem if I disappear?
—Iggy Pop, “In The Lobby”

There’s Iggy Pop and then, there are The Stooges. Or at least, there were, since Iggy himself is the last surviving original member. And while Iggy’s solo work has always been distinctly different from his work with The Stooges, a look at his discography reveals a history of playing well with others: David Bowie, Steve Jones, Ivan Kral, Whitey Kirst, Glen Matlock, James Williamson, and others. Post Pop Depression is the latest in a long line of Iggy Pop collaborative albums, this one with Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and Dean Fertita, as well as Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders.

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Music Review: Robbie Fulks, Upland Stories

By Melissa Bratcher

There’s a strong vein of Southern literacy that thrums through Robbie Fulks’s Upland Stories. The characters in these songs tread the same ground as Hazel Motes or Rufus Follet. They tell their stories with graceful turns of phrase and through Fulks’s wonderful twangy tenor: sometimes high lonesome, sometimes quietly, just in your ear.

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Music Review: The Currys, West Of Here

By Melissa Bratcher

The Currys’ sophomore effort, West Of Here, is, as always, a family affair. The Currys are brothers Jimmy and Tommy Curry, and their cousin Galen. Together, they make easy, harmony-laden folky Americana. Their harmonies are incredibly lovely, close and fluid, and are a focal point for the group.

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Music Review: Wolfmen Of Mars, Danger! Peril! Threat!

By Tim Murr

What the hell can I possibly say about Wolfmen Of Mars that I haven’t already said across multiple reviews? If you are new to Boston’s lycanthropic rockers, then allow me to introduce you to a kick-ass, groove-heavy, instrumental synth-rock unit inspired by 1970s and ’80s horror movie soundtracks. And they are prolific! Check their Bandcamp page; they’ve had 10 releases since 2013 and each one is a winner.

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Music Review: Witching Waves, Crystal Café

By Tim Murr

I woke up with Witching Waves’ Crystal Café yesterday and jammed to it all morning over a pot of coffee while doing some writing. The album gives off a particularly spectacular energy that consumed my little kitchen and inspired my fingers to fly across the keys for hours. When my wife woke up and came in, her first question was if I writing a review or listening to an old band.

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Music Review: Bleached, Welcome The Worms

By Melissa Bratcher

Bleached’s follow up to 2013s Ride Your Heart lets their intentions be known right out of the gate. Welcome The Worms is a heavy, swaggering album that conjures up sunbaked Los Angeles (and the attendant debauchery) and destroyed romances. That’s all wrapped in furiously catchy songs that are just delightful.

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