// Category Archive for: Music

Music Review: Sumerlands, Sumerlands

By Tim Murr

I hope Philadelphia, PA is super proud of Sumerlands, whose debut album just dropped. Their self-titled LP, released by Relapse Records and also available on the group’s Bandcamp page, is pure metal that hits all the sweet spots. The group does a fantastic job balancing the sounds of classic metal from the 1970s and ‘80s with the technical aesthetics of modern metal. In other words, imagine classic Black Sabbath being produced today.
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Music Review: The Black Black, Adjusted I

By Tim Murr

When the song “Meticulous” exploded from my speakers, I said “Shit!” and stopped the song, turned the volume up, backed the track up to the beginning, and let it fly. Because, shit, you gotta play something like this loud! The Black Black debuted in 2014 with their LP Boogie Nights. Now they’ve returned with a fantastic EP that will blow your doors off.
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Music Review: Luke Winslow-King, I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always

By Melissa Bratcher

Luke Winslow-King’s new album, I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always, begins like you’d expect one of his albums to begin: killer bottleneck riffing and sonic space. Then, it quickly becomes something unexpected. He’s no longer playing stripped-down, front porch-blues. He’s moved boldly into the realm of contemporary blues players (Gary Clark, Jr. is an apt comparison) with a full band, with any trace of whimsy eradicated, and Winslow-King’s fine voice prominent. It doesn’t sound like him, though. Not the him that we’ve come to expect.
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Music Review: Various Artists, Afterschool Special: The 123s Of Kid Soul

By Melissa Bratcher

Have you ever listened to an album that is so charming that you just can’t bear it? I have. The fine folks at Numero Group have added to their considerable catalogue of genius compilations with Afterschool Special: The 123s of Kid Soul. Think: bubblegum pop + funk = sheer delight. Think: the Jackson 5. Think: infectious beats, voices so sweet you just want to curl into a ball and giggle, and true love. It’s hard for me to be objective; it’s so darling.
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Music Review: Amanda Shires, My Piece Of Land

By Melissa Bratcher

Some pregnant women nest by painting walls, decluttering, pasting photos in albums. Amanda Shires wrote an album. My Piece Of Land was written and recorded as a way of dealing with her pre-motherhood anxiety when she was pregnant and unable to travel. The result is introspective, incredibly honest, and furiously lovely.
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Music Review: Riley Etheridge Jr., Secrets, Hope & Waiting

By Melissa Bratcher

There’s always a trickiness to concept albums. Do the songs work on their own merits, or do they need the framework of the concept to bolster them? Is the concept explicit, or do you need to read copious press materials or liner notes to ferret out a theme? Will I need to take psychedelics to understand this album?
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Music Review: St Paul and the Broken Bones, Sea Of Noise

By Melissa Bratcher

It would be hard not to like St. Paul and the Broken Bones. You can call them what you like, soul revival or neo-soul or just soul, but the end result is the same: a band that makes bracingly soulful music that feels both classic and modern. Lead singer Paul Janeway vocally brings to mind the greats (Otis Redding in particular) and adds his own particular twist, with his testifying vocals (as you may recall, Janeway studied to be a preacher, and it certainly shows in his voice).
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Music Review: The Meters, A Message From The Meters: The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Brothers Singles 1968-1977

By Melissa Bratcher

We truly live in an age of miracles. You can stroll down to the record store and pick up A Message From The Meters: The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Brothers Singles 1968-1977, and then you will hold in your hot little hands, a collection of ALL of the Meters’s singles, with B-sides. And you will be given a fantastic entry point to the best funk band of all time (Oh yes, I will die on that hill because it is a true fact). You could even download it digitally, if that’s your jam, and then you’ll at least have it. But the point is, you need this album.
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Music Review: Farewell Milwaukee, FM

By Tyler Hodg

Wisconsin may get bitterly cold, but Farewell Milwaukee’s music is nothing but warm. Their fourth studio effort, simply titled FM, wraps around you like a heavy blanket, comforting you with familiar folk-rock sounds that are reminiscent of artists like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. The album may not be the most original collection of music, but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t have a lasting effect. (more…)

Music Review: Various Artists, Close To The Noise Floor

By Less Lee Moore

Cherry Red Records has done it again. This time, their triumph comes in the form of Close to the Noise Floor, a four-disc set which gives music junkies a taste of the “quiet electronic revolution that took place across the UK in the late 1970s and early 1980s.” The contents are staggeringly impressive and endlessly fascinating, with each disc flawlessly sequenced and boasting its own unique essence.

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