Gnarls Barkley: The Odd Couple
When you have the fluke hit of the decade, the threat of running into the curse of the “sophomore slum” is an understatement, particularly if you’re the psychedelic soul duo of Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo Green. However, if you’re one that appreciate albums as song-cycles verse explosive pop nuggets, than Gnarls Barkley’s The Odd Couple has something going on.
PlayRadioPlay!: Texas
Daniel Hunter is just 18 and he cuts class on occasion (“My Attendance is Bad”) and likes Jello (“Jello”). The brains, voice, producer, and one-man band behind PlayRadioPlay! appears to also love Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, Postal Service), as he’s a dead ringer for the Seattle artist’s emo voice and gentle beat filled electronic pop.
The Black Keys: Marquee Theatre, Tempe, AZ 3/28/08
It’s easy to complain that the Keys should play a little bit longer….after 70 minutes they were hitting that peak. But although the show was short with little stage banter, their bygone swamped up rock still knocks em dead loud & live.
The Black Crowes: Warpaint
Call Warpaint a comeback, but The Black Crowes have proven that their best original music wasn’t just a thing of the past.
Air Traffic: Fractured Life
Air Traffic have revealed that their music “sounds like nobody else,” which might be the case if Snow Patrol, Coldplay and Keane were still playing the pub circuit. Air Traffic’s debut album, Fractured Life, which was released last summer in England before its February American release, gives the listeners more of what we’ve heard before in reference to the above mentioned bands.
Joe Jackson : Rain
Joe Jackson is one of those few artists that despite getting on in years, he can still make biting music. Rain, recorded with three-fourths of the original Joe Jackson Band [ Jackson (vocals/keyboards), Graham Maby (bass/vocals) and Dave Houghton (drums/vocals)] in his new adopted city of Berlin is stripped to the bare essentials but sounds as youthful as any album in his 30 year career.
Grand Archives: The Grand Archives
The sun doesn’t shine a whole lot in Seattle, but Grand Archives reflect an inner vivaciousness typically not heard in the rainy corner.
Widespread Panic – Tickling the Truth with John Bell (JB) (INTERVIEW)
Speaking with Glide a week before the release of Widespread Panic’s tenth studio album – Free Somehow – John Bell had a chance to "tickle the truth" about a number of relevant items before getting on the road to let the new songs “grow.”
Mike Doughty: Golden Delicious
Doughty knows what he’s best at and that propensity makes Golden Delicious comfort food for those that like their lyrics and melody on the quirky side.
Kelley Stoltz: Circular Sounds
With his fourth LP and second release on Sub Pop, Kelley Stoltz is often surrounded by the “fi” words: low, mid and hi His latest Circular Sounds is a departure from the lo and mid-fi’s of his first three releases and explores the sonic rich production of hi-fi.
The Trolleyvox
n today’s modern digital downloading/streaming age of MySpace, iTunes, and Amazon providing listeners snippets and downloads of single songs, the concept of an "album," for many, has lost its plot. Believe it or not, there are still a few artists who are present their art through the musical translation medium of an "album." Philadelphia’s Trolleyvox is one of those few
Widespread Panic: Free Somehow
Few Widespread Panic fans are likely to pick their last two studio albums (Ball or Earth to America) are their favorite release, and even fewer Spreadheads would probably suggest their tenth studio album, Free Somehow, as a top pick (those nods are usually reserved for Everyday or 'Til the Medicine Takes). Give or take a few songs, Free Somehow is a surprisingly bold departure from anything the Georgia rockers have previously recorded.
The Helio Sequence: Eyes Forward (INTERVIEW)
On the full mend from shredded vocal chords following six months of tours in the U.S. and Europe with Blonde Redhead, Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, and Secret Machines, Brandon Summers had the chance to chat with Glide about their latest record.
The Magnetic Fields: Distortion
Magnetic Field fans will find Distortion a must hear, but curiosity seekers should see it as a free art opening – stop by and decide for yourself whether to linger or jet.
U2 3D: The First Live Action 3D Concert Film
$14.50 for a movie isn’t exactly cheap, in fact you can pick up a DVD at Best Buy for less. But a 3-D IMAX film billed as the first live-action movie shot, produced and exhibited solely in digital 3-D, $14.50 for a thrilling hour and a half front-row concert seat is a deal. And if you’re a U2 fan and Bono’s inflated persona jumping into your Goobers doesn’t weird you out, than U2 3D is as good as it gets.
Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
Drive-By Truckers may inevitably be hindered by their “southern rock” categorization – it’s unavoidable given their below the Mason Dixon Line album themes – but at these 19 tracks Brighter Than Creation's Dark is what it is…solid, convincingly strong rock and roll.
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals: Mogollon Brewery, Flagstaff, AZ 1/25/08
Roots rockers from upstate Vermont must have felt quite at home landing a gig in a Flagstaff, Arizona brewery in late January: laid back town, snowy mountains, pony tails and appreciative music fans. After all it was just a little over three years ago Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were regulars at cozy dining/drinking holes like Halvorsons and Nectars in their hometown of Burlington.
Cat Power: Jukebox
The final song, Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” captures the essence of Jukebox: sultry, soft and emotionally fatigued. But predictable is one thing this record is not, as Marshall has made this “covers” Jukebox her very own.
His Name Is Alive
By the time you’re finished reading this, Warn Defever of His Name will have probably recorded a new album. The experimental rock band from Michigan have been around since 1990, landed on a handful of different labels (Silver Mountain Media, 4AD, Ryko, Sony, High Two, Kill Rock Stars, Warner Bros) and have released ten albums, including two in 2007 – Xmmer and High Two; the later is the band's tribute to free jazz saxophonist Marion Brown.