Album Reviews

The Vaccines, one of the UK’s most buzzed about rock bands of the last few years just released their sophomore album, Coming of Age, on Columbia records.  The record debuted at #1 in England as that provincial land loves to push its native lads to the top of the pops fast, brash, and loud.

In contrast, a more straightforward and earnest Newman appears on Shut Down The Streets, his first album in three years, and this new-found openness is a direct result of a tumultuous time period that saw Newman experience the extreme ends of adulthood.  Like most middle-aged men, his life changed quickly and forcefully, as his first child was welcomed into the world around the same time that his mother passed away.

A full decade after the release of their debut album Highly Refined Pirates, Minus the Bear continue to prove their transcendence of hipster cool with yet another impressive collection of expert musicianship and great songwriting .

If you like your pop rock with an exotic flair give Diego’s Umbrella’s crisply produced fourth album, Proper Cowboy a whirl.  While the band has drawn lazy comparisons to Gogol Bordello, the San Francisco group is noticeably more commercially bent on Proper Cowboy showcasing easy dance beats, clean vocal choruses and short catchy numbers that wouldn’t be out of place selling hip products to 16-24 year-olds.     

In lieu of the litany of great female groups who've emerged since Sleater-Kinney's demise–Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Lights, Brilliant Colors, Pussy Riot, even Wild Flag featuring former members Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss arguably speaking–none can truly match the unbridled intensity that made the Olympia trio's decade in rock so memorable.

Carefully compiled and co-produced by chief archivist David Lemieux (who contributes an essay of fond remembrance), So Glad You Made It displays the same impeccable logic as its companion piece culled from 2011’s Europe '72: The Complete Recordings.

Virtually impossible, but with Beyond, Farm and now I Bet On Sky, Dinosaur Jr. has perhaps matched their initial famous trio of Dinosaur, You’re Living All Over Me and Bug.

It is extremely rare for a band to achieve a creative advance simultaneous to its breakthrough to a mainstream audience. But that's exactly what R.E.M accomplished with the ever so appropriately titled Document. Accordingly, more so than perhaps any other of its anniversary reissues (except perhaps the two CDs of the Fables of the Reconstruction box), this landmark album deserves the deluxe treatment it receives.

The Mountain Goats’ latest release, Transcendental Youth comes complete with something new and shiny.  No, it’s not the lyrics or subject matter.  Rest assured, longtime listeners, John Darnielle is still eloquently mining the depths of the fragile human psyche for some of his best material, dropping lines like “Long black night/Morning frost/I’m still here/But all is lost” with aplomb throughout the album’s twelve tracks.  However, this time around, the songs are buoyed by a rousing and sometimes even uplifting horn section, expertly arranged by the emerging and proficient musical jack-of-all-trades Matthew E. White

In a photo on the inside liner of his thirty-fifth album Tempest, Bob Dylan stands in the middle of his decidedly-roguish looking band, assuming the body language and facial expression of a musician knowing he’s produced something memorable and daring those about to listen to think otherwise.

The North divulges the intense heartfelt-ness of this band, that is the cornerstone of exactly what Stars as a group is– sometimes excessive, but never without sincerity, profundity and the type of passionate enthusiasm that few bands possess.

Centipede Hz is a step forward for Animal Collective while not really coloring to riskily outside the lines.

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood’s chemistry informs their material as much as their musicianship.

John Hiatt's last two albums (The Open Road 2010, Dirty Jeans Mudslide Hymns 2011) are among the most memorable of his career, in large part because of the assertive yet sympathetic accompaniment of The Combo, a streamlined three-piece band consisting of guitarist Doug Lancio, bassist Patrick O’Hearn and drummer Kenneth Blevins. No doubt inspired by their intuitive savvy, Hiatt writes with the confidence of a craftsman who knows his band can handle anything he composes and the mutual surety of the four men permeates Mystic Pinball.

Overall, The Sound of the Life of the Mind stands up to the band's back catalogue, and should leave any BF5 fan who might have feared a by-the-numbers reunion album pleasantly surprised.

It seems that though The xx’s distinctness had put them on the map, it might also be the very reason that held them back in Coexist, as there was only slight evolution from their debut album, leaving us wanting more in the end. The question remains whether they’re up for the challenge of adding a unique and fresh sound in the future.

On his most recent album Grand Ukulele, Jake Shimabukuro showcases the lengthening of his ukulele and range of coverage the instrument provides.  In the opening trio of songs on the album, Shimabukuro identifies with several musical setups, including a tight-tempo jazz combo style on “Ukulele Five-O,” a more orchestrated foundation on “Gentlemandolin,” and his solo acoustic version of Adele’s “Rolling In the Deep.”

An ideal companion piece to The Complete Beat, the comprehensive chronicle of the Two-Tone band's recording output, this combination CD/DVD set captures the bulk of the Beat's two performances at the groundbreaking US Festival. And though the second of the two appearances occurred near the end of the band's initial run, they acquit themselves equally stylishly on a span of material from their three studio albums.

On the duo’s fifth studio album, Negotiations, The Helo Sequence continues to build on their sound of enthusiastically percussive, melodic tunes. Singer Brandon Summers’ vocals remain as dreamily light and airy as always, though still, as always, suffused with an emotive intensity that drives the listener forward.

Punishing and brutal; sweeping and cinematic, are just several adjectives that would not be out of place to describe Swans’ 12th proper studio album, The Seer.  And at nearly two hours in length, the allusions to film are not that misleading.