Album Reviews Archives - Page 548 of 706

J Mascis: Several Shades Of Why

Shawn Donohue February 16, 2011 No Comments

J Mascis has traveled down multiple musical paths on drums and guitar but this is his first proper solo acoustic venture, and Sub Pop is the lucky label that gets to release Several Shades of Why. Upon first listen you may mistake this for a demo which points to the delicate nature of its recording but upon multiple listens the tracks unfold with grace. A piano sprinkled here, a tambourine tapping there and strings from all over allow Mascis to do what he does best; first person songs of nervousness that ache in front of guitar majesty.

The Baseball Project: Volume 2: High and Inside

Jeff Strowe February 14, 2011 No Comments

Baseball and rock music make for great debate, so why not combine the two? Such has been the ethos of The Baseball Project; a whimsical collaboration between Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, and Linda Pitmon.

Birds of Avalon: Birds of Avalon

Chris Calarco February 11, 2011 No Comments

Birds of Avalon must be one of the few touring bands that sports a dueling, husband and wife guitar attack. Paul Siler and Cheetie Jumar’s churning, melodic and quirky axe work propels the LP forward alongside a vibe that mixes melodically rhythmic bass patterns, Merseybeat’s steady, thunder pop drumming and pleasantly spacey vocals.

Amos Lee: Mission Bell

Jeremy Lukens February 10, 2011 No Comments

On his fourth album, Mission Bell, Amos Lee decided to take his time to get it right. Though the previous two releases weren’t bad, Lee admits that they were rushed and were easily lost among a myriad of rootsy singers strumming an acoustic guitar. The result of that deliberation could be a career-defining album.

Mogwai: Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will

Jason Macneil February 8, 2011 No Comments

On Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will, as was the case on earlier albums and more recently on 2008’s brilliant and often under-appreciated The Hawk Is Howling, Scottish rock outfit Mogwai knows how to set a mood early and occasionally explode from that jumping off point. With a bit more texture in spots a la The Cure-meets-Coldplay which fuels “White Noise” (and later during “Letters To The Metro”) Mogwai settle things down with a decent if not delectable “Mexican Grand Prix” with, dare I say it, vocals?

The Decemberists: The King Is Dead

Jeff Strowe February 7, 2011 No Comments

Where previous releases found the band plodding along with ten to twelve minute meditations about murderous butchers, mysterious fowl, and shape-shifting lovers, The King Is Dead hearkens back to the earlier days of the band where Colin Meloy and company littered albums like Castaways and Cutouts with compact, yet charitably worded, pastoral folk rock. Boosted with appearances by alt-country superstars Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and graced with guitar stylings courtesy of the legendary Peter Buck, this album gallops along like a pleasant country breeze, projecting an aura of calmness and satisfaction and providing a concise rejoinder to the stylized grandeur of releases like The Tain EP and The Hazards of Love.

Matisyahu: Live at Stubb

Nick Gunther February 1, 2011 No Comments

Since the release of his highly acclaimed 2005 album, Live at Stubb’s, Matisyahu has grown as a singer, songwriter, artist and beat box virtuoso. So when Matisyahu returned to Austin, Texas last August it was somewhat of a homecoming. Stubb’s [Volume I] was a defining album that separated critics and identified his voice in a music community that, at the time, did not have a Hasidic reggae rapper-singer-songwriter present.

Bob Marley & The Wailers: Live Forever

Nathan Rodriguez January 31, 2011 No Comments

Live Forever is the 40th posthumous Bob Marley-related release. Fortunately, it’s one of the better efforts, thanks to generally pristine audio quality and the significance of the show itself – Marley’s final concert, in which nearly all his utterances seem imbued with a prophetic quality.

PJ Harvey: Let England Shake

Peter Zimmerman January 28, 2011 No Comments

It’d be easy to file Let England Shake as a political missive—an accessible but dense album of musings about the state of our world through the lens of Harvey’s home country England. Yet, PJ Harvey’s continual (and in many ways insatiable) desire to reinvent both her persona and music make classifications exceedingly difficult. She does not seek to push the limits of her catalog but wholly redefine it, experimenting with vocal techniques, varied instrumentation or poetic structures that both destabilize her oeuvre while creating new spaces in which to exist.

Cake: Showroom of Compassion

Jeff Strowe January 27, 2011 No Comments

One can’t help but wonder if this is John McCrea circa 2010, looking back on his band’s heyday and comparing the earlier glory to the difficult task ahead of starting over, attempting to acquire a new audience while at the same time inspiring a new group of fans who may have missed Cake’s previous chart-topping run of hits. Like the syndicated sitcoms, Cake may not be must-see TV, but they are good enough to get you through the evening.

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