Led by vocalist Greg Prevost (who sounds like a cross between Mick Jagger and David Johannsen and looks like a cross between Chris Robinson and the late Johnny Thunders back in his New York Dolls’ days), the Chesterfield Kings are all about the rock ‘n’ roll and aren’t afraid to show their influences.
Detroit Female Punks unite with the formation of Gorevette. The group is a linking up of Nikki Corvette and Amy Gore from the Gore Gore Girls, bringing together some powerful pop punk chops crafted into a bouncy sing-along worthy effort titled, The Lustfully Yours EP.
Emmitt Nershi Band is a newly assembled outfit that is comprised of two of the founding members of Colorado’s biggest acts on the jamband circuit, Drew Emmitt (Leftover Salmon) and Bill Nershi (String Cheese Incident). On their studio debut, New Country Blues, they deliver a slice of breezy Rocky Mountain Americana complete with their blend of pickin’ and grinnin’.
Charlie Hunter has used horns on a number of past projects, but he's never used them quite like he does on his latest studio effort. Gentlemen I Regret to Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid is an example of the seven-string samurai's ingenuity as a musician and recording artist.
Although she’s a California girl these days, don’t be fooled—Lissie still writes and sings about matters close to Midwestern life. And boy can she sing—her voice has an eerie quality of a transient churchgoer who needs no practice to call the angels down from the sky; her pipes are soothing and quite heavenly. The songs on her EP, Why You Runnin,’ offer a bit of folk, an ounce of soul, and healthy dose of realism that you just can’t deny, no matter what mood you’re in—a stunning and charming debut.
This four piece shoegazing crew from Norway is a rocket blast out of the frozen north. A Thousand Years of Deconstruction contains all the elements for future success, it has punchy fuzzed out punk (“Acid Blues” and “Son of J”), dramatic guitar interplay with dueling vocals (“Exploding Eyes”) even an acoustic come down gets an airing (“Everytime (oxygen)”). The gravy for these disco fries is the EP’s centerpiece; an exhilarating drawn out escapade of deep space audio adventure called “Mad Mary”.
The latest edition of Neil Young's Performance Series, Dreamin' Man, is a composite of a number of liver performances Neil Young gave prior to the 1992 release of Harvest Moon, his return to Reprise Records after a tumultuous stint on the Geffen label.
Both in their recordings and stage performances, Los Lobos take a child-like pleasure in their playing, so it makes perfect sense for them to produce a CD exclusively devoted to music from Disney movies. Los Lobos Goes Disney is not a children's album, however, but rather an album for the inner child–and music lover– in all of us.
Fans of Chad Smith's other endeavors, the funk/punk of Red Hot Chili Peppers and the generic hard rock of Chickenfoot, will find his Bombastic Meatbats project to be a surprise to say the least. It owes more to 70s fusion artists John McLaughlin and Herbie Hancock and jazz-oriented prog than it does to any mainstream rock influence.
Debates will go on ‘til the end of time itself about when the Dead was at the peak of their powers. The Winterland box set makes a pretty damn good case for the summer of ‘77.
