Music Review: Tony Lucca, Tony Lucca

Published on January 16th, 2015 in: Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

I liked Tony Lucca’s self-titled album better when I wasn’t paying full attention to it. Full of chunky guitar and “whoo”-ing backup singers, it’s decent, if pedestrian. The songwriting reflects nights out in California and frisky women, and Lucca’s voice is pretty swell; husky in the right places, soulful where it needs to be. The problem is listening to it closely. His voice deserves better than these songs. He can sing, and sing well, but the material isn’t strong enough.

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Music Review: Various Artists, Popcorn Girls

Published on January 9th, 2015 in: Feminism, Music, Music Reviews, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

The songs on Croydon Municipal’s Popcorn Girls defy simple description. They range from R&B burners, to country tinged numbers, to Shangri-La’s-like teen tragedies. Their commonality? In the 1970s Belgian club scene, they were guaranteed floor fillers. There was a certain type of dance endemic of the time, a “slow swing” with a rather specific tempo. As a result, Popcorn Girls is a moody, stone-cold, slow groove from beginning to end.

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Best Of 2014: Melissa Bratcher

Published on December 12th, 2014 in: Best Of Lists, Music, TV |

Omaha Live

10. Friday Night Lights
This is the year that, when I wasn’t watching chickens (see #5), I was watching Friday Night Lights. I also bought an ill-advised pair of cowboy boots because of it. Thanks, Netflix, for making FNL so bingeable. I aspire to be as amazing as Tami Taylor, and I miss her. Tim Riggins, thanks for the smoulder and for being an unlikely moral compass. Jason Street, thanks for the pathos. Matt Saracen, thanks for being the character that makes me cry just thinking about you (and thanks for singing to your awesome Grandma. She’s the best). Coach Taylor, thanks for being inspiring. Tyra Colette, thanks for being completely kick ass. I hope you’re a politician somewhere. Landry, thanks for being Lance. Buddy Garrity, thanks for growing on me. Vince, thanks for letting me know where Wallace is. And damn, Julie. Damn.

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DVD Review: Very Extremely Dangerous

Published on December 12th, 2014 in: Current Faves, Documentaries, DVD, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies, Music, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

Some people are born to be rock stars. Jerry McGill was one of them. He was talented, devilishly handsome, and had the kind of charisma that can’t be faked. He recorded a single for Sun Records, and it was a minor hit in 1959.

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Music Review: Various Artists, An Americana Christmas

Published on December 5th, 2014 in: Current Faves, Holidays, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

The worst Christmas song I’ve ever heard that isn’t “The Christmas Shoes” is its glurgy precursor, Red Sovine’s “Is There Really A Santa Claus?” I heard the song on a country Christmas compilation I picked up at a flea market for a buck. In it, a widower (dead mom alert!) who has been very cross with his children on Christmas Eve (telling them there was no Santa Claus, that jerk) realizes the error of his ways and goes out to get them presents, hoping the stores haven’t closed. He gets hit by a car. The kids’ presents? Delivered by . . . Santa. The song is jawdroppingly awful, yet awesome.

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Music Review: Old 97’s, Hitchhike To Rhome (Reissue)

Published on November 21st, 2014 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

It’s been 20 years since the Old 97’s released their debut album Hitchhike To Rhome. Listening to Omnivore’s reissue, I’m struck by how it sounds like The Old 97’s are a seemingly impossible creation: the bastard son of Merle Haggard and Roger McGuinn. Ken Bethea’s jangly guitar is there and Rhett Miller’s boozy, yelpy delivery is too, along with his witty lyrics that are chock full of wordplay. They’ve refined their sound, only just, over the years, but there’s something remarkable about a band that knew who they were and what their sound was from the get go.

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Music Review: While No One Was Looking: Toasting 20 Years Of Bloodshot Records

Published on November 21st, 2014 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

Compilation albums are usually hit or miss. While No One Was Looking: Toasting 20 Years Of Bloodshot Records is for the most part, quite a pack of hits. This collection of covers of songs by Bloodshot artists, including Neko Case, Ryan Adams, The Old 97’s, Alejandro Escovedo, and Justin Townes Earle, as well as many others, was recorded by non-label artists. Strong songwriting always helps, and these artists’ takes on the Bloodshot songs vary from straightforward, faithful covers to madly inventive versions. Some songs are epically beardy. Some songs sound as if they’ve come down from a mountain in a basket.

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Music Review: Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, A New Orleans Creole Christmas

Published on November 14th, 2014 in: Current Faves, Holidays, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

On their first, and hopefully not last, Christmas album, New Orleans’ own Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse takes Christmas standards and lets them breathe. A New Orleans Creole Christmas rewards careful listening and attentiveness with unexpected grace notes, bent phrases, and excellent playing. While his name is prominently featured, Irvin Mayfield has surrounded himself with supremely talented musicians who complement his brilliance as a trumpet player.

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Music Review: Ronnie Fauss, Built To Break

Published on November 7th, 2014 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

Ronnie Fauss’s Built To Break is the kind of album that musicians strive throughout their whole careers to make. Lyrically honest, with distinctive vocals and excellent musicianship, it’s the kind of lovely surprise that makes me love writing about music. It’s all the better to know that Ronnie Fauss isn’t the kind of musician who yearned to make records his whole life; in fact, he only began writing seriously after his first child was born, and even then it took years for him to share his songs, taking up singing once he realized he would need to to get his songs heard.

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Music Review: Ben Ottewell, Rattlebag

Published on October 31st, 2014 in: Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

Former Gomez singer and guitarist Ben Ottewell has the kind of voice that one struggles to find descriptors of. It’s like an old blues singer sitting on a front porch, like a drunken businessman wearing a suit made of sandpaper, like the honk of a deranged goose (but in a good way). His voice is distinctive and unusual and quite fantastic. As a guitarist, he is solid and makes interesting choices. He’s got a way with melody, too.