Tortoise: It’s All Around You
The latest from Tortoise – It’s All Around You -moves in slow transcendental fashion, with a swirling, new age psychedelic force that is hypnotic, but as a result carries non-stimulating results.
TV On The Radio: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
By making music out of a bit of everything, with the assistance of loops galore, TV On The Radio meld woozy break beats with cryptic energy that hits hard in the originality department.
Easily Amused: Simple Stuff
Renee Lamoureux and Keith Macpherson, who make up the Canadian pop/rock duo Easily Amused, are passionate musicians. The two have performed nearly 400 shows over the past two years and have kept the bus rolling in 2004. For this, I salute them. For their latest record, Simple Stuff, I have many reservations.
Tim O’Brien: Traveler
Tim O’Brien has spent most of his life on the road. Thankfully, when he sets his hand to writing about travel, the result is a wonderful montage that captures both giddy fun and personal costs the road extracts.
Leftover Salmon: Leftover Salmon
With a handful of new musicians added since their last album five years ago, Leftover Salmon has returned with a more mature edge, that blends their unique bluegrass with new spicy ingredients.
Dizzee Rascal: Boy in Da Corner
Leave it up to a 19 year old from London, England to put out one of the very few albums in years to be true to the
Todd Sheaffer: Dream of Love – Live From Whitney Chapel
Recorded in 1999 after the dissolution of Todd Sheaffer’s old band, From Good Homes, this performance predates Railroad Earth but stands as a document of Sheaffer’s nascent talents and burgeoning skills that play such a pivotal role in the RRE sound today.
David Byrne: Grown Backwards
Grown Backwards, stems from a “top down” approach to songwriting, with David Byrne developing melodies first and then figuring out which chords and structures best fitted his vivid imagination. It wasn
Bob Weir: Weir Here
Weir Here is a two-CD retrospective, the first being a chronological journey through his studio work, the second a collection of essential Weir moments caught on stage. And yes, two full albums of Bobby tunes comes with more yelps, hollers and high-pitched screams than you can shake a pair of tight shorts at.
Ben Kweller: On My Way
The songs might not be as catchy as those on his debut album, but On My Way exhibits Kweller