The Greenhornes, “★★★★”

By Adam McIntyre

It doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve heard The Greenhornes before before; a recent hiatus for the Cincinnati trio has only helped their legend grow.

The rhythm section of Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler, once great and intimidating, has only become more effective during their time with other bands (The Raconteurs, Dead Weather, and Loretta Lynn, to name a few). Front man Craig Fox, meanwhile, has created such a lean and well-written catalog of garage, pop, psychedelic, and soul numbers over the last few years that “★★★★” sounds much like a brilliant career retrospective. It’s suspiciously good.
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I Could Observe You All: Gary Numan Pleasures Your Principle

By Christian Lipski
All photos by Deborah Lipski

Click for larger image.

Roseland Ballroom, Portland OR
November 1, 2010

In the tradition of older groups revisiting their seminal works, Gary Numan is playing his 1979 album The Pleasure Principle in its entirety.

The crowd at the Roseland Ballroom skews towards the later 30s, the more experienced fans with serious time in. Some darkwave, some new wave, outsiders and outcasts in black leather trenchcoats (I’m not burning the duster), mixing with younger hip kids who are tracing roots back from chiptune and electro, because as Tron said, “you always forget how good fresh energy feels, till you get to a pure source. . . ” It is generally a core crowd, though. Most of the fairer-weather fans have dried up and fallen off after 30 years without a whisper on US radio after “Cars.” But there are those fans who still prefer Numan’s earlier work, hence “The Pleasure Principle Tour.”
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Doctor Ew Presents Gadzooks At The Imperial Pub!

By Less Lee Moore

From the photo on his MySpace page and the rather suggestive name you might think Doctor Ew is a goofy tribute to Doctor Demento. Nope, try again.
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Scrambles of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record, Remixed by Extraterrestrials

By Emily Carney

In 1977, two separate US spacecraft, Voyager I and Voyager II, were sent into space to explore the solar system and, ostensibly, any worlds that perhaps existed beyond the one with which we are most familiar.

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The Autumn Defense, Once Around

By Less Lee Moore

Wilco fans have known about The Autumn Defense, a side project featuring Patrick Sansone and John Stirratt, for years. For the rest of us, their latest album Once Around is both a surprise and a pleasure.
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show Blu-Ray, 35th Anniversary Edition

By Christian Lipski

The Rocky Horror Picture Show played in theaters in 1975, and was finally released on VHS here in the US around 20 years ago. The movie had been around for 15 years before there was ever a legitimate copy available. People had been dressing up as the characters and mimicking the movie for FIFTEEN YEARS without a way to practice at home (there were bootleg copies around, but oh so rare).

When the VHS tape came out, it was honestly a kind of letdown. Now anyone could practice their part wherever there was a VCR, without waiting seven days to stand in line and pay your money to watch the bug screen for some nuance you forgot. But the old-old-timers eventually dropped their gripe, just as the guys riding buggies stopped yelling at the guys in cars. Time marches on, and so, too does obsession.
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Sarah Kirkland Snider, Penelope

By Chelsea Spear

Photo © Murat Eyuboglu

Monday morning, 10 a.m. The sixth floor of the UMass Boston Healey Library, overlooking Boston Harbor. I have been working on this goddamned paper about Marc Hirsch and Billy Collins and the role of the audience in poetry for two weeks now. The words on the page have calcified into incoherence, but I still feel the pressure of academia goading me towards a conclusion that wraps my argument into a tidy bow.

My eyes shift from the eyestrain-inducing computer screen to a small rowboat in the Harbor, by the Corita Kent gas tanks. A tiny woman, clad in an elegant grey wool coat with the shiniest brass buttons, stands at the hull of the boat, lifting her arms to the overcast sky in a dramatic gesture. I can hear her voice—a high soprano, rich in tone and trembling with vibrato—perfectly.
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Why Aren’t You Listening To Los Lobos?

By J Howell

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Photo © 2010 David Haggard

Folly Theater, Kansas City MO
October 8, 2010

I wasn’t quite sure exactly what to expect when Los Lobos made a stop in Kansas City, at the beautiful and ancient Folly Theater, other than a vague confidence that whatever was in store would be good.
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Weep, Worn Thin

By Less Lee Moore

You may have thought that Weep was just a one hit wonder.

You were wrong.

Worn Thin is the new album from the band and it’s wonderful.
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Erland & The Carnival, Trouble In Mind EP

By Less Lee Moore

If you didn’t know better, you might think that Trouble In Mind, the new EP from British folk band Erland & The Carnival, was recorded sometime in the mid-to-late-sixties and just unearthed last week.

Interestingly, the title track is the most modern-sounding song on the EP, with its gentle, yet catchy, vocals and harpsichord.

After the opening of “My Name Is Carnival,” which recalls the intro to Cream’s “White Room,” the rolling drumbeat, tremolo guitars, spacey keyboards, and striking harmonies conspire to transport the listener into the past, perhaps a concert scene from a documentary about British folk rock or Haight-Ashbury.
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