// Category Archive for: Music Reviews

Music Review: Rene Lopez, Paint The Moon Gold

By Melissa Bratcher

On his new album, Paint The Moon Gold, New York City musician Rene Lopez draws upon the rich musical tapestry of his city and pens a love letter—to New York, his family, and his heritage. The charismatic Mr. Lopez almost has an old school jazz singer vibe, though he calls his style of music “Electric Latin Soul,” which is as good of a descriptor as anything. Paint The Moon Gold is a cohesive, high-energy album that is paced cleverly. In fact, the album picks up in pace in the last quarter, leaving the listener on a high, rather than drifting off to sleep, lulled by quiet songs and quiet ideas. It’s a smart trick.

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Music Review: Nikki Lane, All Or Nothin’

By Melissa Bratcher

On her second album, All Or Nothin’, Nikki Lane (with the help of producer Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys) lets fly with incredibly hook-filled songs about drinking, smoking pot, one night stands, and crappy ex-boyfriends. Nikki Lane is a hard one to pin down: her music easily thematically fits into the “outlaw country” camp, and her voice is a magical mix of Loretta Lynn and Dusty Springfield, and All Or Nothin’ is crazy with the steel guitar of country, but she’s not exactly country. The most striking tracks on All Or Nothin’ sound like they’re straight off of the Red Bird label, the early ’60s girl group record company founded by Leiber and Stoller.

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Music Review: Swans, To Be Kind

By Jeffery X Martin

I have an irrational fear of Swans leader Michael Gira. I imagine him striding through the desert at sunset, taking impossibly long steps, heat shimmering from him in mirage waves, impossible to look at directly. He holds out his arms and silently begins to absorb the encroaching darkness, holding it somewhere deep within himself, perhaps in the fetid abyss he calls a “heart.” He moves through the world like the Walking Man and, in my mind, he sounds like Werner Herzog when he speaks.

To Be Kind, the third album from Swans since their reformation in 2010, does nothing to alter that vision.

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Music Review: St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Half The City

By Melissa Bratcher

St. Paul & The Broken Bones’ frontman Paul Janeway (St. Paul himself) was raised Pentecostal and studied to be a preacher. Upon hearing Half The City, one can only say, “Thank God it didn’t pan out.” Paul Janeway has the kind of voice that you’ll read all kinds of hype about, and for once, that hype is true. The man sings like the second coming of Otis Redding and has a killer band to back him up. Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, St. Paul & The Broken Bones tread the same sort of ground as Alabama Shakes (and Half The City is, in fact, produced by Alabama Shakes’ Ben Tanner): soulful and bluesy, but with the added bonus of an amazing horn section.

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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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Music Review: Denney And The Jets, Mexican Coke

By Melissa Bratcher

There’s an undercurrent of sleaziness running through Denney And The Jets’ debut album, Mexican Coke. Frontman Chris Denney’s bio reads like a cautionary young adult novel: stealing pills from his grandma at nine, smoking two packs a day, and pot at thirteen. On Mexican Coke, Denney writes and sings about these experiences (as well as meth, beauty queens, and the seamy underbelly of society) and is backed by a band that has listened to more than a few Stones records.

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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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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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