Album Reviews

Here, the Bottle Rockets pile into the Lucas School House, a former one-room building dating back to 1898 and strip the sound down to the bare essentials.  The 13 tracks provided serve as a well-rounded and diverse sampling of the band’s excellent catalog, but prove even more memorable for the insights provided before, during, and after each performance.

As evidenced by the varied nature of the Nomad Series, the Cowboy Junkies do a lot of genres and styles well.  For those that like the meandering whims and see-where-we-go improvisation of their stage dynamics, this album is made for you. 

The poppy-punk trio of Male Bonding may not have the best band name in rock and roll but they craft some catchy tunes that will have you shimmying along for the brief (32 minute) full length release, Endless Now.  Nothing here is going to weigh down your mind or soul, but sunny tracks like “Tame The Sun” will put a smile on anyone’s face and the quick changing “Seems To Notice Now” is just one of the single worthy jingles. 

Do you like folk with a twangy country feel? If so, Dehlia Low will leave you feeling fulfilled. The album is a perfect blend of old timey, almost familiar tunes, presented with beautiful vocals, impressive instrumentation, and kickin’ rhythms. Starting with the songs: with song titles the likes of “State of Jefferson,” “Living is Easy,” “Drifting on a Lonesome Sea,” and “Cannonball Blues,” Dehlia Low has followed the traditional path of folksy, oft-depressed lyricism, a mirror of the Appalachia from which their musical tradition stems.

As a blues-based rock duo, Moreland & Arbuckle will always be compared to the White Stripes and the Black Keys, but that is not a fair comparison. The White Stripes used excessive fuzz to mask average musicianship while the Black Keys, until recently, used massive riffs to mask average songwriting. Moreland & Arbuckle, with a deeper and rootsier sound, doesn’t have either of those shortcomings.

Starting with what sounds like a dying siren, Rat City’s title track brings forth the garage rock jangle that Jack Oblivian has become revered for in some circles. Co-founder of The Compulsive Gamblers and The Oblivians, Jack Oblivian (aka Jack Yarber) has been an elder statesman in these lo-fi parts for some time, but he may have hit a high point as far as his solo efforts go with his newest release.

Future Islands have made their name by delivering the kind of “blood, sweat, and tears” live show that can inspire legions of fans to blindly follow the band across the miles.  The members don’t look like your typical indie-rock darlings; instead they resemble the type of guys in the cubicle next to yours who you depend on for a daily dose of levity or to complete a fantasy football trade.

It’s the growing pains of Only in Dreams that capture and pull in something novel to an already saturated 60’s garage-pop revival. The Dum Dum Girls have taken a risk in trying something new, but this risk, for the most part, has paid off.

The second volume of Los Lobos’ Live Recordings series supplies multiple reminders why this is not just another band from East LA. The scholar/academician might look for more background content on the locale of such a recording as One Night One /Time Vol.2, and perhaps some rationale from the band (especially archivist/producer of this title, Lobos’ Cesar Roas), as to why this particular show deserves preservation for posterity.

We pushed as far as we possibly could within the realms of reality."  That’s a pretty bold claim from Lou Reed regarding his collaboration with Metallica, a collaboration most view as bizarre, but Reed seems to think is quite natural.  Unfortunately, those are only words and not a true reflection of what the two disparate rock forces achieve throughout most of their album, Lulu.