Album Reviews

[rating=8.00] When it came to quality power pop in 2013, pardon the pun but there was nobody better than Ezra Furman. For both Year of No Returning and Day of the Dog, the Oakland-based songwriter opted to record without his longtime Tufts University-born group The Harpoons, instead utilizing the skills of his current touring band […]

[rating=9.00] Even apart from their historical significance, the relative rarity of live recordings by the Beatles makes both volumes of Live at the BBC valuable on their own terms. Half a century after the iconic quartet captured the fancy of the world, listening to the infectious energy captured on this second edition, progressing more or […]

Quite apart from its Black Friday release date, Dawes’ Stripped Down at Grimey’s comes at just the right time for both the band and its fans. It should remind both parties what brought them together in the first place, a bond that might well have become tenuous due to the anonymous nature of the group’s […]

[rating=6.00] The duo Psapp are back making quirky electro based tunes that play with found sounds and odd/invented instrumentation all structured around standard pop filaments; things aren’t artsy for art’s sake rather artsy for pop-sake. The band hadn’t made music in four years because life got in the way but there is no bad blood […]

[rating=8.00] Neil Young’s Live at the Cellar Door follows in the footsteps of previous entries in his archival performance series, bearing marked resemblance to Canterbury House, the Riverboat and Massey Hall. All sterling documents of brilliant solo performances, this one is only slightly less so due to the paucity of spoken interludes that, on its […]

[rating=8.00] When the original guitarist for the Rough Seven Michael Aaron passed away recently the band looked internally for solace. Aaron had not been in the band for some time but was vital in its construction and was still tight with the present day group. In tribute the band went back to an early session […]

[rating=7.00] There’s a lot going on throughout the 38-minutes that comprise Corsicana Lemonade, White Denim’s sixth LP, and third since expanding to a quartet with the addition of guitarist Austin Jenkins. The Austin, Texas-based band has long specialized in chaotic and harried jams that burst forth with snippets of kinetic energy. Where one song stops and […]

[rating=6.00] The Melismatics have put together a spunky collection of tunes that run the gamut of upbeat disco flavored bubble gum rock. The four piece from Minneapolis has been honing their sound for most of the millenium and Rising Tide shows the band is still experimenting while bouncing along. The dueling male and female vocals […]

[rating=7.00] Having released an engaging solo record with 2012’s Between The Time And The Tides, Lee Ranaldo and company toured heavily, gelled, record a new disk, and added a moniker. The now titled Lee Ranaldo and The Dust four piece (Steve Shelley, Alan Licht, Tim Luntzel) have stretched out with songs routinely running seven plus […]

[rating=7.00] If you follow any of the social media channels from Anacortes, WA based four-piece, The Lonely Forest, you’ll know that they’re mighty proud of where they come from. It’s understandable – the place is beautifully situated on a jut of land surrounded by water, with a view towards far off islands as the Pacific […]

[rating=8.00] Setlists may not tell the whole story of a performance (by a long shot), especially when it comes to an improvisational band like the Grateful Dead. Yet the absolutely galvanizing performance contained on the two cd’s of Dick’s Picks #22 reaffirm impression given by the song titles listed. This release, part of the Real […]

[rating=6.00] Sophomore albums find themselves in an awkward situation of trying to recapture the success of the debut while still being able to stand on their own, avoiding becoming a Xerox of everything that worked the first time. With Cults, their 2011 debut rode on a wave of buzz following the viral success of “Go […]

[rating=8.00] The genius in indie rocker Cass McComb’s latest effort Big Wheel and  Others lies in the intricate musical arrangements.  The opening, driving “Big Wheel” starts the listener on a musical journey filled with catchy guitar fills poured over a variety of bass lines and back beats.  Perhaps the album’s strongest track “There Can Only […]

[rating=6.00] Something About Knowing is the perfect album to listen to on a downer day when you need a serious pick-me-up. The tones and moods that fill the album are warm, rich and easygoing, and if you are looking for something to lift your spirits, then it is hard not to see the beauty in […]

[rating=6.00] If you are familiar with The Devil Makes Three then you know the type of energy they are capable of, and they bring more of that on their latest release. At ten tracks and just over 30 minutes, this is a quick album that wastes little time getting to the meat of things. With […]

[rating=5.00] Despite its provocative title, Tim Kasher’s second full-length album, Adult Film, has little, if anything, to do with pornography. Instead, the Cursive and Good Life frontman’s latest offering merely revolves around complicated grown-up themes such as relationships, death and money. This litany of topics is familiar territory for the veteran singer-songwriter. Since his earliest […]

[rating=8.00] The key line on Graveyard Lovers’ fantastic first full length release comes early in the opening song “Manifesto”, when lead singer Zach Reynolds let’s you in on his one line credo, “Don’t let nothing ever get you low.”  This is uplifting, heavy hitting, rock and roll. Dreamers, however, is no digital ray of sunshine, […]

[rating=9.00] Sunshine Daydream is an instance of magnificent serendipity. Originally conceived as a benefit concert that would fill a space in the Grateful Dead’s summer 1972 tour schedule, the endeavor blossomed into a film project that, some four decades after it happened, has come to fruition as yet another splendid archive project from this iconic […]

[rating=7.00] It is easy to appreciate the beauty of a record like Let’s Be Still. It has a generally even pace to it with some perfectly placed rousing moments, the songs are crafted meticulously with regard to structure, sing-ability and theme, and the vocals are top-notch. In short, Let’s Be Still is everything a solid […]

[rating=9.00] The latest edition of Bob Dylan’s ongoing archive project, Another Self-Portrait (1969-1971) The Bootleg Series Vol. 10, will probably have great appeal to those music lovers who found pleasure and insight in the man’s return to his folk roots in the early 90’s with World Gone Wrong and Good As I Been to You. […]