Posts by Shane Handler

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For the better part of ten years, Calexico has sounded like no other experimental rock outfit. Where else can you hear mariachi singers, marimbas and happy trumpets with shades of highway Americana? Recently reaching the Billboard 200 album chart with their 2005 In the Reins collaboration with Iron & Wine, Calexico

Side projects have become a hit or miss avenue. For every novel Postal Service, there is an over-hyped Velvet Revolver with the whole

With a back up band that looks more L.A. than Nashville, it’s hard to take Shooter for straight up country, especially when he says, “we’re country music,” while one guitar riff teases Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf,” and another purges in psychedelic excess.

By now you

These are nice musical variations, and each artist retains their own style, but I Am The Resurrection isn

O.A.R. picked them to open their 2005 summer tour, and now this week

As a collective, the latest from The Minus 5 is summed up by “Cigarettes Coffee and Booze” and “Twilight Distillery,” two substance flavored tracks that toy with rockabilly, country and jangly pop. Sure, we’ve heard this all before with The Minus 5, but it’s the guests that keep you coming back. “The Gun Album” is no exception.

For his latest escapade to the big screen, Young hooked up with director
Jonathan Demme to capture his recent “Nashville phase” during two nights in August of 2005 at the hallowed Ryman Auditorium.

Jenny Lewis, The Rilo Kiley front-woman has struggled with her child star-meets-sex symbol status with grace, yet after a summer of opening the big sheds for Coldplay, you knew her star was about to shine brighter. Rabbit Fur Coat reinvents Lewis as a brainy borderline diva, who merges her indie spunk with cozy bygone harmonies.

With undeniable talent, hot picking and multiple genre bending, The Waybacks are on the verge of breaking the line of question mark to exclamation point. The Mill Valley, CA based five-piece was recently named as Bob Weir's backing band for two April performances – not a bad twist of fate for these middle aged up-and-comers.

Posthumous albums often tend to be a forced effort from record companies to squeeze every last penny out of an unfortunate circumstance. Rarely do you find an artist with an extensive catalog worthy of such legacy. But it

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Even though they’re better known for their touring vehicle- a converted bus powered by recycled vegetable oil and biodiesel – and recently dropped the “String Band” from their moniker, there’s no hiding who Hot Buttered Rum really are. With their aptly titled second full length studio album, Well-Oiled Machine, the roots-grass band goes where fellow pickers like Yonder Mountain String Band have ventured before, successfully churning acoustic bluegrass with folk.

The debut, produced by Aaron Katz (Percy Hill), surfaces with the radio pop of Jason Mraz mingled with the more introspective songwriting of Mason Jennings.

A Wednesday night and a blizzard is basically a promoter’s nightmare, but book a couple of derelict bands in a small venue and surely the promoter’s loss will be the audience’s gain. Reinventing the word tacky with their 70’s Lacoste formal fashions of paisley patterns and heinous ties, OK Go proved they weren’t all a bad fashion statement, while giving the small showcase lounge at Higher Ground something to shout about.

Take the outlandish theatrics away from the Flaming Lips and you get the bare-boned lo-fi twisted pop hymns of East River Pipe. The man behind the New Jersey namesake is none other than F.M. Cornog, whose spacey voice clearly provokes the question holding the title of his latest release

With a recent Boston Phoenix nod as "Best New Band" and the Boston Herald placing them on their “5 Things To Change The Face Of Boston Arts and Entertainment” list, Apollo Sunshine was more of a co-bill than a true opener for fellow New Englanders, The Slip.

With enough Best of 2005 album lists to make even Sufjan Stevens blush, there

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