Posts by Shawn Donohue

Harmonicraft isn’t paint by numbers hard rock, but it also isn’t breathing life into arena rock at the moment.

The North Mississippi All-Stars seemed right at home during the second night of their two show stay at Brooklyn Bowl.  While Williamsburg is a far cry from Hernando, the love of southern fried electric delta blues is universal, noted by the varying ages and races of the fans in attendance. 

Carnivale Electricos straight through represents one of the group’s famous Lundi Day concerts, playing the jambalaya funk til sun up.  Galactic are already ambassadors to the town, but now they add one more staple to their collection and in doing so show the rest of the world just how vital New Orleans is to the sound of life. 

Herzog are a new band (much like Surfer Blood) that swims in the same waters of late 90’s indie guitar rock made popular by Modest Mouse and Built To Spill.  The guitars are layered and textured at times reaching arena ready levels while the grooves always seem incredibly bouncy.  The lyrics are secondary and at times buried to deep but focus on heartbreak or distance without ever becoming bitter. 

The emotional rock and roll comes back to close things as “Be Mine” and “On Your Way” both burn in the vein of a textured, rich Southern style.  Boys & Girls is a song focused effort from Alabama Shakes, showing off their talent as writers excellently; those searching for blissful blues/soul/rock in 2012 need look no further.     

The New Brunswick, NJ punk/power trio Screaming Females have continually produced some of the most kick ass music in this country over the last few years, now they release their newest effort that keeps the bar high, Ugly.  The disk has a lot in common with the band’s 2010 Castle Talk but also steers a bit darker, especially when it comes to the lyrics/vocal theatrics from front female, Marissa Paternoster.    

Playing with a dynamic group of musicians that includes Nels Cline, John Medeski, Alan Licht and SY drummer Steve Shelley (as well as others) has Lee Ranaldo focusing on song oriented offerings that are tight yet far from restrictive. 

Craig Finn’s first solo tour made its stop in the singer/songwriter’s home town of Brooklyn on Thursday night, but with the troubadour having played multiple shows in the area, tonight’s attendance seemed sparse throughout the Music Hall.

On “Phantom In The Valley” lead singer/guitarist/song-writer Ethan Miller sings about “Dusty notes of music/at the far end of the world!” but you don’t need to travel all that way to find Howlin’ Rain’s inspiration.  Just head into your parents basement and dust off the milk-crates that host your big brothers mid 70’s “classic” rock albums from a time gone by.  This is a big meaty album, a return to arena rock pomp and excess; knowing that in advance will clue people into the pluses and minuses fairly early of Howlin’ Rain’s newest release The Russian Wilds. 

The Tiny Universe can encompass a lot these days, including one of the greatest rock albums known to man, Sticky Fingers.  This group has been performing the album live across the country with the help of their special guest Anders Osborne on guitar, but before the 70’s swagger was broken out both outfits did a bit of their own playing. 

A Friday night just weeks before Mardi Gras saw the New Orleans bouncing brass boys cruise up north on their nationwide tour to promote their newest release Unlock Your Mind.

The wild fluctuations of Storm Large come at the reader fast and heavy while she describes her life and growing up in not the most normal of circumstances.  She is a sentence or sometimes a mere word or syllable away from proclaiming something The! Best! Thing! Ever! before wanting to destroy whatever it was.  Grand statements don’t always end up as amazing events, but Storm has an obvious flair for the dramatic that is on display instantly

The Brooklyn band Lowry’s newest release is a long running mid-tempo opus which is the end of a trilogy the band started back with 2005’s Awful Joy.  Playing at over an hour the disc can lull and blend into the background with its soothing guitar lines and piano melodies floating over vocals that never want to disturb the tranquil mood, no matter what the subject matter addresses. 

If you thought Craig Finn could get wordy with his Hold Steady band mates behind him wait until you get him alone on Clear Heart Full Eyes and his cinematic tendencies aren’t under any restraints.

The trio of Dan McCurry, Nick Jenkins and Ash Hopkins comprise the Charleston, South Carolina group Run Dan Run and their newest album Normal is a slice of danceable white indie rock.  Songs run long with hazy/lazy intros each containing a light airy vibe even when the lyrics border on vengeful.   

Grumpy-Old-Pissed-Off-Man might have been a more apt title for Nils Lofgren’s newest solo album, Old School.  He bluntly comes out and says as much via the title tracks first verse: 

Opening with an instrumental workout that builds to the lyrical proclamations of “Stand” you witness immediately that MTO Plays Sly is not your ordinary cover album.

Thanksgiving is certainly one of the most family friendly holidays and Robert Randolph & The Family Band made the days surrounding it an extended family throw down.  The group decided to host a residency from Tuesday until Saturday, taking Thursday off for the obvious turkey obligations.  On Friday night the venue was approximately half to three quarters full for  the band's third show at this fantastic location.

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue have gone from opening shows at Terminal 5 to headlining and selling them out in seven months, a great accomplishment, but what was even more impressive was the rabid response the crowd gave him over and over again.  There were tons of cheers, full on dance parties and a whole lot of toasting to the New Orleans group as they rocked the Big Apple.

With 2010’s epic Brothers, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney were propelled to superstar status and with good reason as the band found inspiration in broken marriages and Muscle Shoals Studio.  The expanded musical instrumentation and focus on crafting heartfelt songs paid huge dividends for the band, producing a new album a year later is unexpected and when first announced smelled of leftover tracks.