Album Reviews

2007’s personality-driven Marry Me and the production-forward Actor have been rounded out by Strange Mercy’s maturity, honesty and skill to make a solid, progressive and enviable career trilogy that showcases Annie Clark’s talent, innovations and development as an all-around artist.

The whole production envelops, from the layers of perfectly produced instrumentation to the quiet, emotional vocal performances, Father, Son, Holy Ghost has it all. 

Still Right Here fits nicely into her catalogue and reminds listeners why Melissa Ferrick is such a venerable force in the music industry, and, despite some missteps, it’s a fine work from a wickedly gifted artist.

You would think St. Louis and not Helsinki would be the backyard of The Latebirds, but alas they seem to nail a gorgeous, deliberate Americana style on the opening title track of Last Of The Good Ol' Days could be mistaken for a Jeff Tweedy solo track and not a seasoned Finnish-cana outfit. The bombast at the close might not be to everyone’s liking, but it seems to gel nicely. Meanwhile the sweet roots pop of “Among The Survivors” shines with its tight rhythm section and barroom keyboards.

Recording with The Combo makes all the difference in the world in the presentation of John Hiatt’s songs. A craftsmanlike composer schooled in Nashville, Hiatt may forever skirt a pro-forma approach to songwriting, but the unified punch of this band brings realism to his material and his performance on Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns.

After more than a decade making ends meet as a solo act, Mike Doughty has emerged from beneath the shadow of his former self with Yes and Also Yes.  Perhaps age, antidepressants, the healing passage of time, or a combination of each have contributed to his lighter outlook. 

[rating=4.00] On their official MySpace page, Wild Flag humorously describes themselves as both "the sound of an avalanche taking out a dolphin, and the cross between a hamburger and a hotdog." While it’s difficult to comprehend the exact audible quality of either of these, consider this: Wild Flag is a band made up of Carrie […]

Two years after Crazy Heart’s release, one gets the impression that Bridges got a taste of the Bad Blake character and liked it too much to let it go. That said, it’s also easy to picture Bridges standing outside the recording studio like a painter in front of a blank canvas, determined to create something that’s never been done before. Likely to be embraced by the alt-Country ccmmunity and college radio, let’s hope this is the first of many records like this from Jeff Bridges.

If the lyrics weren’t so sharp and the wry observations so focused, you’d swear Stephen Malkmus just invited some friends over and recorded an album over a quiet evening in the garage after work.  The 15 tracks that comprise, Mirror Traffic, Malkmus’ latest endeavor with his band of collaborators, the Jicks, flow by with that breezy feeling that has become a hallmark of Malkmus’ solo work.

Building from the open-hearted honesty of her debut, Tori Amos has amassed one of the most impressive discographies of any artist over the last twenty years. The one thing, however, that she has never shied away from is concept, and its first truly successful fruition in the last ten years is Night of Hunters, out September 20 on Deutsche Grammophon Records.