// Category Archive for: Music

Music Review: Daniel Romano, Mosey

By Melissa Bratcher

It’s difficult to call Daniel Romano’s new album, Mosey, a follow-up to last year’s country-flavored If I’ve Only One Time Askin’ (review). It follows the prior album, but stylistically, it’s an exciting left-hand turn.

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Music Review: Big Thief, Masterpiece

By Melissa Bratcher

Nearly every person who will write about how Big Thief’s debut for Saddle Creek, Masterpiece, will note how nervy it is to name an album that… blah blah blah. I wanted to write that, too (because we’re all so very clever). And then we’ll all come to the same conclusion: it’s a pretty apt title.

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Music Review: Voyag3r, Are You Synthetic?

By Tim Murr

Following up 2014’s Doom Fortress (review), Detroit, Michigan’s Voyag3r returns with a spaced-out concept album called Are You Synthetic? Artist and Acid Witch singer Slasher Dave provides the gorgeous album cover, outdoing his iconic cover for Doom Fortress. Musically Voyag3r continues to give fans what they want while growing and evolving.

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Music Review: The Monkees, Good Times!

By Tyler Hodg

Nearly everyone has a personal anecdote about The Monkees, but in their 50th year, a commemorative album destined to be a throw-away discount bin item is sure to create an entirely different set of memories. Good Times!, the first record from the band in 20 years, is a collection of new and unreleased (but recently finished) songs that few people asked for, but many will enjoy.

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Exclusive: Third Single From Popincourt, “Happy Town”

By Less Lee Moore

The third single from Popincourt, “Happy Town,” provides an answer to what might have happened if Paul Weller had been French instead of English.

Check out our exclusive stream of Popincourt’s latest single from their upcoming album A New Dimension To Modern Love, released on June 17 from Jigsaw Records.

Popincourt says of the track:

On this one, I really wanted to have an up tempo beat, mixing Soul and Pop. I had “Dancing In the Streets” by Martha and the Vandellas in mind, but as well “The Gift” by the Jam. Then came the first terrorist attack in Paris early 2015: I was at this Unity March in Paris on January 11. Something you cannot forget: great sadness but at the same time this massive feeling of fraternity. People were even kissing cops!

I finalized the lyrics having this in mind, in a very naïve and optimistic way: the power of the street, the music that could change the world, the fact to live any minute “now”! Sadly enough, I received the master of the album two days after the second terrorist attack where 130 people were shot dead, some of them at this rock venue, le Bataclan, in November 2015.

In Case You Missed It: May 9 – 20, 2016—Please Stand By

By Less Lee Moore

It’s Good News/Bad News time. The good news is that I am submitting a chapter to an upcoming book anthology. The bad news is that the deadline is quickly approaching and I need to finish!

This means that Popshifter will be going on a bit of a break until June. In the meantime, please enjoy the following articles that you might have missed over the last couple of weeks.

What about movies? If you’re looking for something to see this weekend that is the exact opposite of The Nice Guys, you might try Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise. Tyler Hodg enjoyed the videogame adaptation of Rachet and Clank, while Christine Makepeace was appalled by the sexism in documentary All Dolled Up.

If you want music recommendations, look no further than Popshifter! Melissa Bratcher enjoyed the self-titled debut of Big Star’s Jody Stephens with Luther Russell, a.k.a. Those Pretty Wrongs; adores by Ominivore’s reissue of two albums from The Blind Boys Of Alabama; thinks the latest album from Gregg Martinez, Soul of the Bayou, is a charmer; and is thrilled by the way On The Ropes shows that the Honeycutters keep getting better.

Tim Murr thinks Black Absinthe could be as big as AC/DC after hearing Early Signs of Denial; Tyler fondly reminisces about Sloan’s album The Double Cross on its five-year anniversary and praises Royal Tusk for adding some spice to the frequently stale genre of rock on DealBreaker; and Eric Weber describes his history of discovering Divine’s music in his review of the Cherry Red Records anthology, Shoot Your Shot.

Finally, Sachin Hingoo catches us up with what’s happening on Lucha Underground.

Music Review: The Honeycutters, On The Ropes

By Melissa Bratcher

Asheville, North Carolina’s The Honeycutters have followed up 2015’s sublime Me Oh My with the completely wonderful On The Ropes. It’s good to have them back with such strong, satisfying material. Vocalist and songwriter Amanda Anne Platt’s voice is a treat: maybe older and wiser (by a year), but still hopeful. Hearts have been broken and mistakes have been made, but she’s not giving up. Ever.

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Music Review: Shoot Your Shot: The Divine Anthology

By Eric Weber

The time was 1991; the place was Wax n Facts in Atlanta, Georgia.

Flipping through the packed cardboard box, my jaw dropped when I saw the huge white letters emblazoned across the top of the record sleeve: DIVINE.

I quickly snatched it up, examining every inch of the album. I couldn’t believe it. Divine: Greatest Hits. He had hits?

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Music Review: Gregg Martinez, Soul Of The Bayou

By Melissa Bratcher

Louisiana Swamp Pop king Gregg Martinez has the kind of powerhouse voice that seems to grow slow and deep, like the roots of an ancient tree, straight up from the earth. It’s an incredible voice, and Martinez has a gift for adding an extra lagniappe of soul to everything he sings.

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Music Review: Royal Tusk, DealBreaker

By Tyler Hodg

Debut albums are meant to hook to a listener, and make a fan out of them. Royal Tusk, a Canadian rock’n’roll band, is sure to accomplish such a feat with their graceful premiere effort titled DealBreaker.

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