The Red Bird Girls: very first time in true Stereo 1964-1966 (Various Artists)

Published on April 3rd, 2012 in: Current Faves, Feminism, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

red bird girls cover

There are few moments that can’t be improved upon by a good song from a girl group. Happiness is magnified, heartbreak is more monumental, a pretty summer day shines with sweet harmonies, “yeah yeahs,” and fantastic hairdos. I’m pretty sure that’s a scientific fact.

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Carole King, Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King

Published on March 27th, 2012 in: Current Faves, Feminism, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Emily Carney

pearls goffin and king

Some context on Carole King: This singer songwriter, who is rather unfairly relegated to oldies radio stations in the US, had serious credibility within the world of girl-groups in the 1960s. At age 18, she co-wrote “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” with her then-husband Gerry Goffin, which was performed by the Shirelles. This song was covered beautifully in recent years by the late Amy Winehouse.
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Paul Weller, Sonik Kicks

Published on March 27th, 2012 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Jemiah Jefferson

sonik kicks cover

This is Paul Weller’s eleventh solo album and “The Modfather” shows no signs of becoming complacent, stymied, or anything less than a phenomenal songwriter and musician. Sonik Kicks contains almost too much variety in style and approach, and while it doesn’t necessarily smoothly flow from track to track, there is excellence aplenty to admire.
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Frank Sinatra, The Concert Sinatra

Published on March 20th, 2012 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

the concert sinatra

I believe that there are Dean Martin people, there are Frank Sinatra people, and that they are rarely the same sort of people. I love Dean Martin for the thread of good humor that runs through his music, but I’ve always thought of Frank Sinatra as immensely talented, yet a bit dour. The Concert Sinatra changed my mind.

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The Melismatics, Mania!

Published on March 8th, 2012 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Danny R. Phillips

the melismatics mania cover

There are many things in life that I find perplexing, things that occur or don’t despite what the world thinks or needs. Why did MTV give Pauly D. from The Jersey Shore his own show while still ignoring videos? How can someone listen to Skrillex for more than two minutes without committing ritual suicide? How in the world is Keith Richards still alive? Why aren’t the Minneapolis, Minnesota band The Melismatics famous yet?
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The Hobart Brothers and Lil’ Sis Hobart, At Least We Have Each Other

Published on March 6th, 2012 in: Current Faves, Music, Reviews |

By Kai Shuart

hobart brothers album

The Hobart Brothers and Lil’ Sis Hobart is a collaborative effort between Jon Dee Graham, Freedy Johnston (whose song “Bad Reputation” I really enjoyed back in the day), and Susan Cowsill of the Cowsills musician family and the Continental Drifters (a band which included, among others, Vicki Peterson of the Bangles). The group’s debut album, At Least We Have Each Other, is finally available after being in the works for a couple of years thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign.
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School Of Seven Bells, Ghostory

Published on February 28th, 2012 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Less Lee Moore

“So fair, yet so cold like a morning of pale Spring still clinging to Winter’s chill.”
The Two Towers, 2002

sviib ghostory

Althouth the name of the band is from a “mythical South American school for pickpockets,” School of Seven Bells could just as easily reference singer Alejandra Deheza’s magical vocals. On Ghostory, the band’s latest release, Deheza’s voice is crystalline, like ice fragments melting and freezing, re-melting and re-freezing. From a musical standpoint, too, Ghostory has a much chillier sound than the band’s previous albums. However, it is anything but off-putting. Ghostory is so marvelously seductive that I have listened to nothing else for the past week. I am in love with this album. It is the perfect soundtrack to the spring and perhaps even the rest of 2012.

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Dirty Three, Toward The Low Sun

Published on February 28th, 2012 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By J Howell

dirty three toward the low sun

It somehow doesn’t feel like it, but Toward The Low Sun marks the first proper full-length from Dirty Three in seven years, as well as the Australian trio’s first record for Drag City. For better or worse, it may be exactly what fans of the band were expecting: It sounds . . . well, pretty much exactly like a Dirty Three record—any Dirty Three record. After such a long wait though, it’s surprising how predictable a record it is. While there’s no denying that Toward The Low Sun is an achingly beautiful piece of work, it doesn’t expand much on the band’s aesthetic or break any particularly new ground for them.
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Amy Ray, Lung Of Love

Published on February 28th, 2012 in: Current Faves, Music, Reviews |

By Kai Shuart

amy ray lol cover

There’s a lot familiar in Amy Ray‘s new release Lung of Love. The urgent lyrics and heavy guitars that have long marked her as the more rock-oriented half of the Indigo Girls are very much present. The emotional territory of this album is also familiar, dealing with interpersonal relationships (such as in the opening track “When You’re Gone, You’re Gone”) and politics (such as in “From Haiti”).
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Maggie and Terre Roche, Seductive Reasoning (Reissue)

Published on February 21st, 2012 in: Current Faves, Feminism, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Chelsea Spear

maggie and terre roche seductive reasoning

One could pinpoint 1975 as one of the first years of “The Woman in Rock.” Patti Smith’s Horses had just hit the racks; Heart released their first single and began recording their debut album; and The Runaways and Blondie had just formed. All these artists and bands created fierce and highly idiosyncratic rock, and their various images—tough, cathartic, slightly cartoonish—would inspire many girls to start making music.
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