Album Reviews

Grouplove: Never Trust a Happy Song

Jeremy Lukens October 17, 2011 No Comments

Three years after meeting up, Grouplove has released their full-length debut, Never Trust a Happy Song. This indie pop effort has all of the passion and intensity that inspired the individual musicians to join up originally. The album’s title may bring to mind introspective, shoegaze songs about loss and rejection to the tune of bitterness. However, Grouplove delivers songs that are anything but downers.

My Brightest Diamond: All Things Will Unwind

Peter Zimmerman October 17, 2011 No Comments

On All Things Will Unwind, Shara Worden delivers a tour de force that stands far above the majority of contemporary music. It’s a masterpiece that will prove quite difficult to surpass, but the fact that this is only her third album as My Brightest Diamond makes the future look even more the brighter.

Deer Tick: Divine Providence

Jeff Strowe October 17, 2011 No Comments

Deer Tick live and in person is always a spectacle to behold. Regardless of the day of the week they play your town, the band members will whoop it up like a revved-up start to the weekend. With Divine Providence, they’ve made a recorded document that spreads around the debauchery and rock decadence for all times sake.

Wooden Shjips: West

Shawn Donohue October 14, 2011 No Comments

The tone and feel draw you in but the final product doesn’t do much to stick around when the disk ends; unfortunately West is more numbing instead of expanding.

Trombone Shorty: For True

Shawn Donohue October 13, 2011 No Comments

Just last year Trombone Shorty introduced himself to the world with Backatown, a blistering effort which had his beloved New Orleans flowing via it’s hot instrumentals and hip soul get downs. A year later we get For True which continues the same blueprint but expands the guest list to a wider range of non-NOLA based contributors without sacrificing the southern spice. The albums are similar in style and substance and could almost be viewed as a double album.

Parlor Snakes: Let’s Get Gone

Matthew Mowatt October 13, 2011 No Comments

[rating=3.50] After replacing their drummer and bassist numerous times, releasing multiple tracks on some compilations and scattering a handful of singles around Europe, the Paris-based band Parlor Snakes have finally

SBTRKT: SBTRKT

Gabriel Scheer October 12, 2011 No Comments

Glitchy, techy, not too upbeat but not too down… this is a great album. It pulls together quality elements of the likes of Dntel and Royksopp while retaining a distinct enough sound to be interesting. Listening to it, one feels both comforted by its familiarity and yet uncertain of quite where it’s going next.

Chickenfoot: Chickenfoot III

Nick Gunther October 11, 2011 No Comments

Chickenfoot III is a hint that the band is skipping through the second chapter, but if a quad level wants to be reached successfully, the collective might need to further define the musical mesh.

Yellow Dubmarine: Abbey Dub

Chris Calarco October 10, 2011 No Comments

It is highly unlikely the Fab Four considered the possibility of infusing Abbey Road with the rhythms of Jamaica when they recorded the landmark album at the end of their career in 1969. It takes a lot of gusto for a young band of white musicians from the east coast of America, named Yellow Dubmarine no less, to attempt a full-fledged reggae reinterpretation of an album long considered one of the greatest records of all time and a pinnacle of the LP format.

Grateful Dead: Europe

Doug Collette October 10, 2011 No Comments

Carefully selected by archivist David Lemieux from various tour stops on the Grateful Dead’s first trip abroad, this package is deliberately conceived as a companion piece to the original Europe ’72. As such, Volume 2 functions brilliantly as a complement to that seminal inclusion in the Grateful Dead discography.