// Category Archive for: Music

Rob Crow, He Thinks He’s People

By Jemiah Jefferson

Once in a while a full-length album comes out that is nearly flawless; every track is worthy and exciting, the songs get stuck in your head and you don’t mind, and it demands regular re-listenings. Sometimes this is the culmination of an artist’s career, or maybe the opening salvo. With his latest solo record, part of the excitement comes from knowing that this is just another mile post in Rob Crow‘s journey. If his songwriting, vocals, and musicianship continues growing exponentially as they seem to have done over the course of his 18-years-and-counting history of making music, there will be even more joys to discover in the future.
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T Bone Burnett, The Speaking Clock Revue

By Chelsea Spear

Writing a negative review of an album like The Speaking Clock Revue is an almost painful thing. The album comes with an impressive pedigree, drawn as it is from a concert organized by T Bone Burnett to benefit arts education. Most of the assembled artists—among them Elvis Costello, Neko Case, the Secret Sisters, and Jeff “Lebowski” Bridges—are almost above reproach. The production is clean and listenable, and the money raised from the sale of the CD goes to a good cause.

All of this is noble and worthy, to be sure. But the well-regarded clutch of artists and the laudable cause aren’t enough to make the whole experience anything greater than snooze-worthy.
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Electric Six, Heartbeats And Brainwaves

By Megashaun

With the release of its eighth studio album, Heartbeats and Brainwaves, Electric Six shows us its mastery of time, its appreciation of punctuality, and most importantly, its musical relevance.

Heartbeats and Brainwaves introduces us to a different sound than what we’ve come to expect from Electric Six, yet it’s exactly what we should have expected. Whereas Zodiac was gleefully deranged, Heartbeats and Brainwaves sits somewhere between seductive and downright weird (yes, weird even for Electric Six).
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Oh Honey Watch That Man: The Chain Gang Of 1974 In Toronto

By Less Lee Moore

The Phoenix, Toronto ON
October 6, 2011

If you haven’t yet heard of The Chain Gang Of 1974, that’s likely to change very soon. Based on last night’s Toronto show at The Phoenix, they’ve got a big future.

Sandwiched between the exceedingly earnest (and exceedingly fresh-faced) White Arrows and New Zealand’s The Naked and Famous, Chain Gang were almost anachronistic. White Arrows sound a bit like The Strokes with a more sunny-California, reggae quality; while they weren’t exactly my cup of tea, they were so obviously thrilled to be on stage, it was fun to watch them. They made their own tie-dyed T-shirts for the merch table and singer Mickey Schiff encouraged everyone to “come talk to us after the show; we’ll be around all night.” It was quite sweet and endearing. I’m sure that The Naked and Famous played a great set, but I didn’t stick around to see it (no offense, guys and gals).

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Catching Up With The Chain Gang Of 1974

By Less Lee Moore

Photo © Taylor Boylston

Wayward Fire is the latest album from The Chain Gang of 1974, which is the brainchild of singer/songwriter/musician Kamtin Mohager. It’s an eclectic, intriguing, and downright addictive mix of influences and styles with some of the catchiest songs you’re likely to hear this year. (Read our review here.) I caught up with Kamtin when he was en route from the West to the East coast for the band’s upcoming tour dates with The Naked and Famous.
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thenewno2, EP002

By Paul Casey

Thenewno2‘s EP002 starts well. “Wide Awake” is an addictive opener, showing Dhani Harrison as a convincing front man. EP002‘s combination of meditative rock with electronic concerns works well here, as it does on the Regina Spektor collaboration “Live a Lie.”

Regina Spektor is a divisive talent, and in no short supply of the magic of Quirk. She does well here, proving her ability to go straight-laced and abandon musical jokes for a bit. As a taster of what thenewno2 has in store for the next album, these two songs are encouraging. The other two tracks, less so.

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Craig Wedren, WAND

By Ben Sullivan

Craig Wedren has patiently, tastefully, and with seeming ease produced one of this year’s strongest albums in WAND, and I’d like to dispense with any scant appeals to critical distance or reportorial objectivity and simply enthuse about it.

In our cultural moment of diminishing attention and mile-long listening queues, WAND‘s 16 songs have me enthralled and inspired (and my last.fm account will testify to this). From the ringing Andrew Bird-isms of “Fall In” to the liminal bedroom contours of “Lady Ghost” and all points in between, I have retraced the album’s swift 48 minutes from their immediate impact—like hearing Wedren’s importunate falsetto for the first time—to the warm blanket of familiarity.
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Buck Owens, Bound For Bakersfield

By Melissa B.

A couple of months ago, I bought a compilation album of old country music artists because the first track listed was by Buck Owens. The song “Rhythm and Booze” was unlike any Buck I’d ever heard: jangling, frenetic, and rock and roll, all slinky and naughty. I was mystified, and not at all sure it was Owens. This was kind of amazing.

Imagine my delight to find “Rhythm and Booze” on the brilliant collection of Buck Owens’ pre-Capitol Records demos Bound For Bakersfield. I can’t lie: I was freakishly excited to hear this CD and I am delighted to report that it has not disappointed. This is an often-surprising collection of songs written and recorded by a 21-year-old Buck Owens, who had not yet found the sound that would make him famous and define the “Bakersfield Sound.” However, there are little flashes here and there of the man and musician that Buck would become later in his recording career.
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Such Dulcet, Horrifying Tones: The Music Of Silent Hill

By Jonathan Barkan

When I was 14 years old, my friend Alex rented Silent Hill, the first of the now infamous Konami series. He invited me over that night, full well knowing that this game would appeal to my horror fanaticism. Little did he know that he was going to ignite a passion for the Silent Hill franchise that has yet to diminish. Also, little did he know that after turning the game off that night, the two of us were so scared that we sat back to back the whole night, steel baseball bats in hand, ready to fend off whatever creatures came our way.
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Batman: Arkham City—The Album

By Paul Casey

Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s Arkham Asylum, the very surprising critical and commercial success from Rocksteady Studios. This soundtrack of “interpretations of the stories surrounding Batman” features a set of Indie Rock Heads doing songs that are in no real sense representative of 1) why Arkham City has a shot at game of the year or 2) why Batman is such an enduring character. As a collection of low-grade Indie Rock, it is mostly intolerable.
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