Music Review: Galactic, Into The Deep

Published on July 17th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

One of the genius things about New Orleans’ Galactic is their use of wildly diverse vocalists on their albums and tours. Each singer brings their own flavor, but no matter who is singing, the sound of the finely tuned Galactic machine is unmistakable. Their newest, Into The Deep, eschews their previous concept album themes (2007’s urban From The Corner To The Block, 2010’s bonanza of incredible NOLA artists Ya-Ka-May, and 2012’s Mardi Gras-themed Carnivale Electricos) and embraces a number of disparate singers, but never loses sight (or sound) that it is a Galactic album. And it is ripping.

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Music Review: The Rollers, Voxx and Ricochet

Published on July 10th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

In 1979, The Bay City Rollers shook things up. Eager to shrug off the mantle of being a teeny bopper band, they refused to do the cover versions that their record label Arista demanded and parted ways with their lead singer, Les McKeown, along with their exploitative manager (whom I will not name because he was a dreadful person), yearning to show the world that they rocked. On their last album for Arista, Voxx, they did just that. Mostly.

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Music Review: Fraser A. Gorman, Slow Gum

Published on July 10th, 2015 in: Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

Fraser A. Gorman’s Slow Gum is a curious album. The Australian’s folk-flavored debut flirts with country music, boasts some clever lyrics, and features Gorman’s likable voice. There’s good stuff here, but there’s also a weirdly loose, “I recorded this in my bedroom” vibe.

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Music Review: The Old Ceremony, Sprinter

Published on July 10th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

There is a terrible problem with Sprinter, the new album from Durham, North Carolina’s The Old Ceremony: it only includes ten tracks. These ten songs are incredible: transporting, literate, cinematic. I yearned for more.

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Music Review: Heather Woods Broderick, Glider

Published on July 10th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Feminism, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

There’s an air of wanderlust to Heather Woods Broderick’s Glider. A gifted multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Broderick has toured and recorded with Efterklang, Horse Feathers, and Sharon Van Etten’s band. On Glider, Broderick gently coaxes out her vision, one that is introspective with lovely layers of vocals.

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Music Review: Royal Jesters: English Oldies

Published on June 26th, 2015 in: Music, Music Reviews, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

Chicago-based Numero Group wants to fill your summer with eclectic songs you’ve never heard: songs to watch submarine races by, songs to fill your tear ducts, songs to catch that first kiss on the dance floor, songs that make you need to get up and shake that thing. Their latest carefully curated reissue is a 28-track collection by San Antonio’s the Royal Jesters. Active in the 1960s and ‘70s, the Royal Jesters never had that big breakthrough hit, but their marriage of doo wop harmonies and mariachi horn sensibilities, as well as some fine, sometimes wildly experimental organ playing makes this compilation, Royal Jesters: English Oldies, well worth a listen.

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Music Review: T. Hardy Morris, Hardy And The Hardknocks: Drownin’ On A Mountaintop

Published on June 26th, 2015 in: Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

On the new album from Athens, Georgia’s T. Hardy Morris—Hardy & The Hardknocks: Drownin’ On A Mountaintop—Morris makes a music that is the logical marriage of country and grunge. Imagine Nirvana had a pedal steel guitar; imagine Mike McCready played with the Buckaroos. It works, and it works incredibly well.

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Music Review: Various Artists, 60 Songs From The Cramps’ Crazy Collection

Published on June 19th, 2015 in: Culture Shock, Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

The record collection of The Cramps’ Lux Interior and Poison Ivy was massive and eclectic, as well documented on the Internet, the truest of all informational sources. In 2013, Cherry Red Records released Loose Lips Might Sink Ships (review), a 26-track album of instrumentals from their collection, and now, a follow-up has arrived: 60 Songs From The Cramps’ Crazy Collection: The Incredibly Strange Music Box. It’s the kind of riff-filled, oddly charming, mish mash of things that one would expect and hope for. There’s exotica, rockabilly, novelty singles, and a curious preoccupation with voodoo and fancy words (“Ginchy” “Groovy” and “Limbo”!). It’s enormously fun.

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Music Review: The Wooden Sky, Let’s Be Ready

Published on June 19th, 2015 in: Canadian Content, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

Imagine that Boz Scaggs, Dr. John, and Van Morrison somehow had a baby and that baby happened to sing for a Toronto-based rock band. That band would have to be The Wooden Sky, who have just released their newest album, Let’s Be Ready. Lead singer Gavin Gardiner has the kind of bluesy, soulful voice that sometimes sounds remarkably like the three previously mentioned titans. And that’s great. Sometimes, though, Gardiner’s yawp could benefit from a little enunciation.

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Music Review: Kevin Jenkins, Til The Story’s Told

Published on June 19th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

To attempt to pigeonhole Kevin Jenkins would be a mistake. On Til The Story’s Told, Jenkins’s sophomore effort, there are hints of soul, Americana, face-ripping funk, and gospel. His diverse influences come together to make songs that have depth and range, that sound both familiar and quite unusual.