Reviews Archives - Page 849 of 1000

The Black Lillies: Runaway Freeway Blues

Chris Calarco April 1, 2013 No Comments

Following the dissolution of both his marriage and his first band, The Black Lillies’ founder Cruz Contreras spent a year on the road as a truck driver for a stone company in East Tennessee. Thus, after playing more than 200 shows in 2012 upon the release of The Lillies’ critically acclaimed debut, Contreras has lived a relentlessly nomadic existence. With its mix of pedal steel guitar, banjo, and crystalline harmonies, the melancholic and modern Appalachia-meets-Americana sound of second LP Runaway Freeway Blues is firmly rooted in the wandering spirit of a restless heart on the run.

Josh Rouse: The Happiness Waltz

Brian Palmer April 1, 2013 No Comments

Josh Rouse has delivered a record which plumbs the depths of the ups and downs of love and life with surprising richness and delicacy. While much of the material is more cheery than not, even the more wistful material—namely the closing title track—is imbued with a beauty that evokes tears of joy if anything, rather than sadness. Rouse has a way with melodies that draws you in and The Happiness Waltz is filled with melodies you will likely get stuck in your brain for a long time to come.

Ivan & Alyosha: Brick + Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco, CA 03/24/2013

Joan Bowlen March 29, 2013 No Comments

Seeing a band exist so fully within their songs and get such pleasure out of performing them is what makes live music great and what makes Ivan & Alyosha a must-see performance.

Milk Carton Kids: The Ash & Clay

Brian Palmer March 28, 2013 No Comments

The Ash & Clay, the latest album from The Milk Carton Kids, is no-frills, utterly simple folk music, and it is beautiful. Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale use nothing more than acoustic guitars and their effectively intertwining vocals to tell a series of tales that are both timely and timeless. The emotions are expressed subtly, the subjects are deep and the payoff is big. If you long for a return to the old days of folk music, then this is your ticket to happiness.

The Wolfe Tones: Connolly

Shawn Donohue March 27, 2013 No Comments

Sure you know that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play marathon shows and at their age it is impressive, but have you ever heard of this little trio of elderly men from Dublin who play just as long as the Jersey boy? Meet The Wolfe Tones, the quintessential Irish Rebel Band who kept going and going into the early morning at Connolly’s while a Guinness fueled festive crowd sang along.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Push the Sky Away

Ron Hart March 27, 2013 No Comments

After a good decade embedded in electric brimstone both with the Seeds on such masterpieces as Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus and Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! as well as the pair of aces conjured with his short-lived blues-punk outfit Grinderman, the Australian modern rock icon returns to the tender subtlety of 2003's Nocturama or, better yet, 1997's brilliant The Boatman's Call as songs like opening track "We No Who U R", "Water's Edge" and "We Real Cool" testify.

Puscifer: Donkey Punch The Night EP

Andrew Bruss March 26, 2013 No Comments

Puscifer’s Donkey Punch The Night offers a few unique tunes and a cover worth listening to once, but as a whole, the EP is the most lacking studio product Maynard James Keenan has put out in recent memory.

Billy Bragg: Tooth and Nail

Patrick Flanary March 26, 2013 No Comments

Billy Bragg calls this latest set the follow-up to Mermaid Avenue he never made, and he’s right: a single listen confirms Tooth & Nail tops anything he’s recorded since those 1997 sessions with Wilco, which drew from Woody Guthrie’s poetry archive and yielded 47 songs and a trio of exceptional albums. The difference this time lies in the words, which belong to Bragg and not Woody, though his spirit turns up in a cover of “I Ain’t Got No Home” from Tooth & Nail, interpreted in the way only Bragg has mastered.

Electric Hot Tuna: Jormas 70th Birthday Celebration

Doug Collette March 26, 2013 No Comments

A constant stream of guest musicians, planned or spontaneous, usually doesn't lend itself to generating any discernible momentum during a concert as each successive unit invariably begins to gather individual steam with the entrance of a new player. At least on this DVD, Jorma's 70th Birthday Celebration avoids that drawback largely because the solidity of the core band has continuity in line with its repertoire.

They Might Be Giants: Nanobots

Bryan Rodgers March 25, 2013 No Comments

Listening to a They Might Be Giants album can be a bit like homework. That's probably not what the two Johns (Linnell and Flansburgh, respectively) envisioned when they started the band over thirty years ago. By now though, as the duo have released their 16th studio album, Nanobots, there's no denying that it takes some work to fully appreciate this band.

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