Album Reviews

Two years after the break-up of post-metal juggernaut Isis, Aaron Turner once again turned the heavy community on its collective ear in 2012 when he announced that his influential imprint Hydra Head Industries was ceasing to release any more new albums just shy of its 20th anniversary as one of the most adventurous and innovative metal labels America has ever known.

The new album from Toronto–based Trust, entitled TRST, is a very solid album from a young band. Labeled as “synthpop” and “dark wave,” it’s a great merger of danceable, poppy tunes and a darker, heavier edgy sound.

As the band evolves it will be interesting to see if they take a more standard “rock” road or move into the ether.  Either way An Aside is a firm first step. 

Even when played by a full-tilt electric band, Paul Kelly's best songs capture the detail of those moments in life that stop us in our tracks to consider how we will change (or already have) as a result of those moments. In the intimate, spare setting of Spring and Fall, the sound mirrors the lyrics, and each resonates off the other to vivid effect.

To celebrate one of the seminal indie rock albums Dinosaur Jr. (along with friends) pulled out all the stops in an epic show at NYC’s Terminal 5 last Saturday night.  J Mascis Lou Barlow and Murph’s stone cold classic You’re Living All Over Me, turned 25 this year so to commemorate the disk the band advertised that they would be playing YLAOM in its entirety and other music spanning their career at this show only.

Rare it is to hear the Grateful Dead's singing as a key to their overall state of being but on this show from September of 1976 at William & Mary College, the sound of their voices is key indicator of their rested and rejuvenated state of being.

The duality of the word "party" continues to get smeared like a tube of cheap lipstick as The Coup toss another timely molotov cocktail into this most heightened year in American politics with Sorry to Bother You.

Bands 42 years into their career usually don’t offer many surprises. However, no one knew what to expect from Aerosmith’s 15th studio album, Music from Another Dimension! Would it be a loud blues-rock album a la Honkin’ on Bobo; a bland pop-rock release a la Just Push Play? Would it sound like raunchy rock from the guys who became known as the Bad Boys from Boston or more like an album fronted by a former American Idol judge?

When listening to the visceral eponymous debut of Ontario indie-core trio METZ, I cannot help but imagine the idea of Mudhoney's Mark Arm, who works for Sub Pop as their warehouse manager, smacking a copy of the group's demo on the A&R guy's desk lamenting, "Man, why aren't we signing bands like this anymore??"

The former drummer of The Derek Trucks Band stays behind the kit but steps out on his own with his first solo offering.  Be In My World is full of jazzy rhythms, R&B workouts and positive vibes. 

Alex Vans’ first full-length project is ambitious and impressive, skewering contemporary consumer culture while providing memorable melodies, creative arrangements, and sparkling production. 1960s and 70s-era rock and pop echo throughout the project, but this is no tribute album. Vans’ lyrics, often ironic, are a stand-out feature. Vans also proves himself to be as capable an arranger and co-producer as he is a songwriter.

The Infamous Stringdusters traffic in a particularly gripping style of bluegrass, and listening to their new album, Silver Sky, is like sitting on the edge of your seat at the end of a great suspense flick.

Authenticity, among other things, drives this album, and this band, to bridge the gulf between west-coast sunshine-pop and mid-west folksy rock. With the energy of youth and the buoyancy of hope and possibility, The Lighthouse and The Whaler deliver here with an engaging sound that shows room to grow and mature and will hopefully carry forward and be enhanced by their solid production, passionate lyrics and innovative instrumentation.

Are you looking for a great new American indie-folk singer? Look no further than… Faroe Islands native Marius Ziska. Following on the heels of Britons Mumford & Sons, whose songs have reinvented banjo-driven Americana, Ziska is making great American music – far from American shores.

Neil Young’s second record of the year with Crazy Horse, Psychedelic Pill, is an excellent piece of work. With some slightly more astute editing, this long-awaited album might well rank with the best Young’s ever done.   A collection of traditionals and covers, the previous 2012 release, Americana, is permeated with a ramshackle charm that’s in marked contrast to the studied approach of its successor. Still, this record of original material has, as its foundation, the natural chemistry between Young with his beloved backing band.

Diluvia, the group's sophomore release, is at least a few shades darker than Weathervanes, but preserves the oddball pop instrumentation that helped Freelance Whales stand out in a crowded New York indie scene.

With  a simply but eye-catching package inside and out, The Georgia Bootleg Box documents the process by which the original Gov’t Mule trio, two years into its existence, was well on its way towards a mission of fine-tuning a repertoire that provides a foundation for the group even today, in its third formal incarnation.

"Best of” albums are always tough to review: if you already know you like the musicians in question, the album often serves a reminder of why you like them, probably through a replay of songs you know well. If you didn’t find them the first time around, well, are you any more likely now that they’ve been around so long they’re doing “best of” albums?

He’s not the next Hendrix.  Not the next Stevie Ray Vaughan, even though they both honed their craft in Austin, TX and have played in many a same club.  Nor is he the next anything.  He is Gary Clark Jr., a dominant blues guitarist cementing himself as a shareholder in the blues rock revival that is slowly retrofitting this age of music.

A DIY production sound on Sundowning adds to the intimacy as if you are in the dark dank club with them as they thrash away.  Nu Sensae has constructed a messy, noisy, confusing full length album, and all of those things make me want to hear it again.