Posts by Jeff Strowe

Sondre Lerche’s latest new self-titled release is a musical kaleidoscope filled with a plethora of stops, starts, and turns.  Filtered through his trademark classical pop sensibilities, Lerche’s album will ring a few bells of familiarity to listeners.  He pays homage to McCartney-esque Beatles:  the dreamy “Coliseum Town”, Belle and Sebastian theatrical leanings:  the lead single, “Private Caller”, and even hits a Chris Martin type falsetto on “Domino” before borrowing Wilco’s searing guitar squeal for the song’s ending. 

News of their split took many by surprise, but like a number of talented and introspective songwriters that have come before them, Ivan and Kelly have taken their unfortunate circumstances and turned them into a work of great art, emotion, and perhaps even catharsis.  The result is Loud Planes Fly Low, ten bouncy, yet emotionally stark tracks that acknowledge, critique, and examine the delicately affecting emotions that result from a relationship in crisis. 

For the past several months, The Kinks have been in celebratory mode as many of their albums are being re-released in the deluxe format that has been all the rage amongst record companies of late.  The latest installment here presents three of the band’s strongest ‘60’s releases into a repackaged format: 1966’s Face to Face, 1967’s Something Else, and 1969’s Arthur. 

Few artists have achieved the type of glowing recognition in such a short period of time as has Justin Vernon over the past three years.  By now, his back story is well-known: fronted DeYarmond Edison with members of Megafaun in North Carolina, became disenchanted with life there, left the band, moved back to Wisconsin, and […]

Dum Dum Girls’ leader Kristin “Dee Dee” Gundred is a rock star.  One glance at the cover of her band’s new release, He Gets Me High, makes this clearly evident. However, don’t mistake the look for nonchalance.  If other musicians put as much effort into their full-length releases as she has for an EP, then the music scene would be an even more interesting place. 

Kurt Vile has put together a release worthy of an early candidate for Album of the Year with Smoke Ring For My Halo.  By including his touring band, The Violaters, here Vile has upped the sound quality and density, forgoing the low-fi aesthetic that had somewhat muddied his previous albums by giving them a little too much of a DIY-feel.

Drawing heavily from their forthcoming album, Nothing Is Wrong, Dawes wowed the room, getting people shaking and pumping their fists and even inspiring a sing-a-long during the set-closing “When My Time Comes”, no easy feat as Cradle patrons are usually a bit sedate in showing their enthusiasm.

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With their new release, I Am Very Far, Okkervil River has made a musical slow-burner.  Unlike some of their previous work, there is no immediate song that blasts out and catches the ear

Hayes Carll and Jason Isbell are modern-day troubadours, constantly crisscrossing the country while becoming distinctly familiar with the beer-stained walls and sticky floors of rock club dressing rooms, not to mention the occasional belligerently drunken fan such as the old-enough-to-know-better jackass that doused Isbell and his bandmates almost as soon as they took the stage this night. 

Acerbic, arcane, and completely chaotic, Reggie Watts is one of the hottest names in comedy right now.  Part funk musician, part beat-boxer, and full-time improvisational humorist, Watts has gained a great deal of exposure largely due to Conan O’Brien, who championed him as the opening act on last summer’s Legally Prohibited From Being on Television tour (Watts hilariously refers to him as Jimmy Fallon during this set).  Since then, he has been touring worldwide and making frequent guest spots on Conan’s new late-night TBS talk show. 

Rhett Miller wears many masks: the borderline creepy voyeur in “The Dance Class”, the ruthless libertine of “Won’t Be Home”, or the devotedly romantic lover in “Question”.  The personalities that populate Miller’s landscape are complex and constantly shifting in their views, thoughts, and actions.  In short, they are human: capable of being loved or loathed depending on the scene and situation

Building upon the diverse styling of last year’s Dead Flowers EP, Caitlin Rose and her band continue their jumps and dives all over the musical map, sounding timeless yet fresh and new at the same tim

Although not exactly household names, these three are no strangers to acclaim, as all three of their respective outfits’ work ranks equal to or above those of the more recognizable Monsters.  And such is the case here, on Middle Brother’s gorgeously lonely self-titled debut collaboration. 

For a band that features three uniquely talented songwriters, it’s no surprise that the members would find themselves stepping out for a diversion or two in the form of a solo record.  And so it is that we find Ben Ottewell following the lead of bandmate Ian Ball’s 2007 sojourn with the release of Shapes and Shadows, a charming and impressionistic assemblage of tunes t dothan’t reinvent the Gomez sound, but serve as a nice addendum to their sturdy catalog.

Smith Westerns is a band with potential and they deserve the opportunity to develop and grow into their sound and style.  However, with the raves coming in hot and heavy for Dye It Blonde, the peak may have crested and the accolades may never be as strong as they currently are.  Here’s hoping the opposite comes true, and the youngsters are given the chance to do even bigger and better things. 

Once again they have bucked the system.  Released worldwide this past Saturday through their website, Radiohead’s eighth studio album arrived for consumer download roughly one week after a succinct press release hailing its completion.  While it was no secret that Radiohead had been hunkering down in an English studio working on a follow-up to 2007’s […]

Baseball and rock music make for great debate, so why not combine the two?  Such has been the ethos of The Baseball Project; a whimsical collaboration between Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, and Linda Pitmon. 

Where previous releases found the band plodding along with ten to twelve minute meditations about murderous butchers, mysterious fowl, and shape-shifting lovers, The King Is Dead hearkens back to the earlier days of the band where Colin Meloy and company littered albums like Castaways and Cutouts with compact, yet charitably worded, pastoral folk rock.  Boosted with appearances by alt-country superstars Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and graced with guitar stylings courtesy of the legendary Peter Buck, this album gallops along like a pleasant country breeze, projecting an aura of calmness and satisfaction and providing a concise rejoinder to the stylized grandeur of releases like The Tain EP and The Hazards of Love. 

As long-time fans know, Escovedo, however, is not a one-trick pony.  Like kindred spirit, Neil Young, he can tone down the bombastic tempest and enrapture the audience with his brilliant songwriting and storytelling.  Back catalog classics like “Five Hearts Breaking” and “Rosalie” slowed the pace and brought a reverent hush over the crowd.  And as the name would suggest, “The Sensitive Boys” can follow suit, adding subtle accompaniment and elegant grace that match the introspection of Escovedo’s words and images.  The arrangements at this show stood on their own and came to life just as they do when Escovedo tours with his “Orchestra” and plays a more intimate setlist.