// Category Archive for: Reviews

Harry Howard & the Near Death Experience, Near Death Experience

By Julie Finley

If you have never heard of Harry Howard, here is a quick history lesson. Harry hails from Melbourne Australia; he’s the younger brother of the late, great Rowland S. Howard, and is a musician in his own right. He’s had tenure in several bands—most notably Crime & the City Solution and These Immortal Souls—was a brief member in the revolving door of miscreants known as The Birthday Party, and a touring member of Shotgun Wedding (one of the many Lydia Lunch-fronted entourages). All of the aforementioned acts were always along side his brother Rowland, and always as a bassist. Harry was also the lead guitarist of Melbourne-based Pink Stainless Tail for a number of years, and strangely enough, is linked to the electronic act Cut Copy.

Harry Howard is a prominent member of the music scene that has emerged from Melbourne since the 1970s, but hasn’t ever really had the spotlight. Although he may be linked to many musicians, putting out a record is easier said than done. Life happens, and in Harry’s case, Death, and Near Death Experiences happen, too!
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Return Of The Phantom 45: Robyn Hitchcock and KT Tunstall, “There Goes The Ice”

By Cait Brennan

The delightful Robyn Hitchcock is back with two new (and free) songs, “There Goes The Ice” and “Twitch 4 Sam Surfer”—the latest in Hitchcock’s series of “Phantom 45” offerings, and a harbinger of good things to come.

A spare, melancholy duet with Hitchcock and KT Tunstall, “There Goes The Ice” turns George Harrison’s Beatles classic “Here Comes The Sun” on its head, written by Hitchcock as the Arctic ice sheet literally went to pieces around him.

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Silver Jews, Early Times

By Emily Carney

Indie rock was pure, escapist fun in the early- to mid-1990s. I lived in a fairly chaotic household in South Florida and would often lock myself in my room to enjoy whatever Pavement and Sebadoh had to offer. While I didn’t idolize the bands’ personnel (I don’t think anyone should be idolized, because it undermines his or her cultural legacy), records like Slanted and Enchanted and III definitely made the time more than bearable. The music still leaves deep personal resonances for me. Yes, I had the iconic Pavement “Sunny Side Up!” T-shirt. Through Pavement, I discovered Silver Jews around 1993.
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Thoughts On: The Band, MUSIC FROM BIG PINK

By Paul Casey

Part one in a continuing series on THE BAND’s discography.

To read the whole series, go here.

THE BAND is Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson. In common chatter, they are known first for being Bob Dylan’s backing band during the most combative and divisive tour of his career, and second, for convincing Martin Scorsese to film their last concert as The Last Waltz. Those who are fixated on “classic rock” may know them for the issues that existed between the members of the group, and how Robbie was a preening ego-fuck who took glory for himself alone in the last gasps of their existence.

Like The Eagles, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, THE BAND was home to acrimony over songwriting credits, royalties and differing philosophies. It was also home to five multi-instrumentalists, four of whom sang and wrote material. Unlike those supergroups, THE BAND did not come after the fact. They were a supergroup because of their combined talent, not their individual fame. This does not make them superior to those bands, but it is significant to the changing dynamics which resulted in The Last Waltz and their untimely end. To understand why THE BAND are so respected and influential is just to hear their music.

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Unsane, Wreck

By J Howell

If there was ever a band I thought would be easy to review, it’s Unsane. Don’t get me wrong—I LOVE Unsane—they’ve been one of my top five or so favorite bands since Total Destruction, and one of the best things about the brutal NYC trio has been their remarkable consistency.

While I’m loathe to compare them to a band I dislike, Unsane is just a little bit like a post-whatever noise rock AC/DC: While there has been marked evolution in the band and its sound, it’s remained focused enough to more or less know what you’re gonna get going in. This is not and has never been a bad thing, as I can’t think of a single band that has remained so remarkably satisfying to listen to year after year, record after record. Just as sure as fans knew the album cover would be drenched in blood, it can easily be said that longtime fans of the mighty Unsane won’t be disappointed with Wreck.
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Dent May, Do Things

By Chelsea Spear

Over the past few years, the ukulele has become to pop music what corn syrup is to soft drinks—a cloyingly sweet element used to thicken and over-sweeten a product of questionable quality. In comparison to his brodora-rocking peers, Dent May’s music is a glass of raw sugar-sweetened lemonade on a hot summer afternoon. His music shares a catchy, melodic quality, but his cracked baritone, lo-fi production values, and grounded lyrical perspective give his music a tart, refreshing quality.
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John Singer Sergeant

By Jemiah Jefferson

Riffing on the name of the famous 19th Century painter, this intriguing solo project by Apples in stereo alum John Dufilho is a delightfully mixed bag of influences and styles, with each song featuring a singer other than himself. Most of the other instruments are performed by him, though, and as befitting his Elephant 6 associations, he’s good-to-excellent at all of them.
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New Band: Sad Baby Wolf

By Kai Shuart

Sad Baby Wolf is the Albuquerque-based result of the collaborative efforts of Marty Crandall and Neal Langford, formerly of The Shins, Marty’s brother Maury Crandall, and their friends Jason Ward and Sean McCullough. To test the waters, the newly formed band has decided to take their show on the road. They played the Noise Pop festival in February, and are slated to play several music festivals this summer. To whet everyone’s appetite, the band has released their version of the Neutral Milk Hotel tune “Everything Is” to the public.
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Jherek Bischoff, Composed

By Less Lee Moore

Singer/songwriter/producer/etc. Jherek Bischoff spent years working on Composed, which makes its brevity perhaps surprising. The album is fewer than 40 minutes in length, yet it’s anything but slight. Each composition is quite literally bursting with ideas.

Even though Bischoff wrote most of the music (with the exception of an arresting cover of English folk-pop singer Bob Lind’s “Counting”), Composed is an exceptionally collaborative effort. Most of the singers wrote their own lyrics and the 20+ musicians who contributed to the album didn’t even perform in the same room together; the liner notes indicate that many of their instrumental tracks were recorded at their homes or various studios individually.

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The dB’s, Falling Off The Sky

By Less Lee Moore

It’s been 25 years since the dB’s recorded an album; it’s been 30 years since they recorded one with the band’s original lineup of Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Gene Holder, and Will Rigby. Understandably, expectations run high and the urge to compare this new album to their previous ones is strong. As a fan, I wanted to try and avoid this in my review, but damn it if each song on Falling Off The Sky doesn’t sound exactly like the dB’s! Which is a good thing, trust me.

Let’s be clear: the songs on Falling Off The Sky aren’t those of old fogeys. Okay, maybe Holsapple and Stamey can’t hit the high notes like they did in the early ’80s, but there is not one boring or stodgy moment on this album.

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