The new album Diver from Lemonade, is what happens when the music of the 80s comes back after the club years of the 90s. The album layers "classic" synth tracks with a vocalist whose sound is both understated and also clearly influenced by the singers under whom the likes of Paul Oakenfold (think Bunkka) has laid down beats.
If you’re looking for a benchmark of grassroots support for a rock and roll band, you needed go no further than Waylon Speed’s CD release party at Higher Ground’s Showcase Lounge on April 28th. Guitarist Kelly Ravin and bassist Noah Crowther were probably no more or less earnest than any other local band would be in their expressions of gratitude to a comfortably full house on a return home from tour, but this Saturday night audience responded intelligently to a single set that was as unpredictable as this band is eclectic.
Nashville-based Heavy Cream’s third release Super Treatment contains plenty of evidence to justify the band’s importance in the vibrant garage band movement percolating in Music City and various scenes around the country.
Votolato has delivered another gem of a record, one which should be on year end lists without much question.
Bethany Cosentino, one half of Los Angeles, CA, indie rock duo Best Coast, is a firm believer in the age-old idiom, “Home is where the heart is.” Based on the cover art of the band’s latest album, The Only Place—which depicts a cartoon bear embracing an outline of California—her heart clearly resides in her home state.
Thanks to a fan who recorded an appearance at Detroit’s Fox Theater we can now hear Fela Kuti and his band Egypt 80 thrill the audience in a venue that once hosted legendary Motown performers.
Jack White never intended to make a solo album. However, after Wu-Tang Clan abbot The RZA was forced to cancel a session he had scheduled at Third Man to record a 45 as part of the label’s acclaimed Blue Series, White decided to keep the musicians he hired on the clock to lay down something for himself.
In the midst of the band’s busy schedule, Nelson found the time to pen brand new songs, which he then brought to the band to help with the arrangements and sounds. Once the songs were fleshed out, the band left their home base in Venice, California and headed to Nashville, where the band recorded this new album, Wasted, live in the studio.
Over the course of ten tracks, Mancini leads his band-mates through an infectious bounty of sharp rhythmic, reggae-inflected tunes that pulse through with sharp energy and positive vibes. There’s no deep rooted catharsis taking place on this album, nor are there veiled metaphors or exercises in haughty self-aggrandizing. It’s not an album that demands your attention or begs for close introspection. What is it, then? It’s a fun listen filled with crafty grooves and sharp musicianship; listen to the twinkling keys that interlock with the horn section on “Trouble”, the rat-a-tat snare fills that anchor the Buddy Holly-esque “Little Things”, or the sneaky guitar work of “Blue Bag”.
The first of two live recordings set to be released in 2012, Sky High effectively captures all the charm and empathetic musicianship The Wood Brothers have demonstrated on both their previously released studio recordings and in their frequent live performances.
