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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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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True Blood: Music From The HBO Original Series, Volume 3

By Melissa B.

There are some songs so perfect for TV shows, that when I hear them, I wonder why on earth the producers haven’t picked them to be on the soundtrack. The producers of True Blood have so far not needed my help and have done an amazing job of choosing evocative and intriguing music that enhances the show. The songs on Volume 3, the latest soundtrack release, are in so many cases the perfect True Blood songs.
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Halloween Nation: Behind The Scenes Of America’s Fright Night, By Lesley Bannatyne