06 Sep

Posted on Sep 6, 2011 in Album Reviews by

EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints Souterrain Transmissions | May 2011 I admit that I checked out the EMA album because Pitchfork told me to (on their list of best-reviewed records). I didn't know anything about them/her when I first listened to this noisy and dirge-like set of pop songs. Feedback and melodrama meet in equal parts to create a sound-space that could easily be at home in the late 80s, early 90s or even now. More likely “now” for an album recorded solo by a woman (gasp!) that seems inspired by Nirvana* (Anteroom), NIN (Milkman), and even Prince at his chattiest (California almost seems like a response to Purple Rain). EMA or Erika M. Anderson is a former member of Los Angeles bands Amps For Christ, and Gowns, and this is her debut solo release. She uses her fragile and sometimes raspy/husky voice well as she sings and chants softly (sometimes loudly) over...

05 Sep

Posted on Sep 5, 2011 in Rants + Raves by

I really like Steely Dan. Over the past ten or fifteen years they have served a welcomed role as a recurring interest that unexpectedly returns every other year or so, always bringing new lyrics to unpack, unusually crafty musical phrases to discover, a previously buried yet thoroughly riveting guitar solo or even an entire song[2] that, for some reason, chose to remain hidden on previous listens....

25 May

Posted on May 25, 2011 in Music News, Tech by

We live in a world where, thanks to ever-evolving technology, things we need and want come to us faster and easier all the time. News, information, and (yes) digital music all come at us through the internet with no waiting. Twitter is spitting out information even faster than blogs and news sites. So, when the new Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks album was announced on the Matador Records’ Matablog with a release date in late August, someone posted this question: If the album is in the can, why not just sell it now? I’d BUY it now. I suppose everyone would just steal it in the end either way. But why the wait? Just for the retro aspect of how things used to be? Patrick from Matador was nice enough to explain...

12 May

Posted on May 12, 2011 in Album Reviews, Everything by

Danger Mouse’s Cinematic Mish-mash Somehow Works Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi | Rome Capitol Records | May 2011 Upon first listen, there is no denying the influence of the spaghetti-western on Rome, the latest work from super-producer Danger Mouse (Danger/Doom, Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells…the list goes on) and composer Daniele Luppi. But if you go further, the album reveals a film score connection with classic James Bond films; maybe more John Barry then Sergio Leone. To continue it’s cinematic theme, Rome “casts” singers Jack White and Norah Jones in the lead roles; where White serves as an adequate male voice (think Johnny Depp replacing Clint Eastwood), this album really is more a coming out party for the talented, but heretofore reserved, Norah Jones. Ms. Jones is more than able to serve as the glue between Bond-esque tunes (“Season’s  Trees”, “Black”) and the Ennio Morricone-referencing “The Rose With the Broken Neck”, a tasteful duet with White. Reportedly...

05 May

Posted on May 5, 2011 in Album Reviews by

Beastie Boys | Hot Sauce Committee Part Two Capitol Records | May 2011 I have to admit that I haven't listened to the previous Beastie Boys’ album, "To the Five Boroughs" so my last exposure to their mix of hip-hop, punk and lounge (yes, lounge!) was with "Hello Nasty" from the late 90s and 2007's somehwat less satisfying collection of grooving jams, "The Mix Up." But, the Beasties are back, and on the surface it's like they never left. The album’s tracks may at first sound familiar, full of snark and witty word-play, but the textures are more sophisticated and the grooves more indelible than past albums. “Make Some Noise" starts with some noodling 80s sounding keyboard lines then breaks into a perky Super Mario-worthy synth riff with some old school raps that only Ad-rock, Mike D and MCA can deliver – Ad-rock often sounding like an amphetimine-riddled Dana Carvey doing his best...

28 Mar

Posted on Mar 28, 2011 in Album Reviews by

Radiohead | The King of Limbs TBD Records | March 29, 2011 As I'm sitting here listening to a copy of Radiohead's latest outing, The King of Limbs and getting ready to make some sort of commentary about it, I wanted to bring up two quick points: A) Writing a review of a Radiohead album is like asking to be used as a human piñata in every hip neighborhood in the known world, and B) I have been known for many years as The Guy Who Doesn't Like Radiohead! That said ...

03 Mar

Posted on Mar 3, 2011 in Rants + Raves by

Just over a year ago, I learned about Vic Chesnutt’s suicide on the radio:  “Those of us who work on Fresh Air were upset and shocked…” The usually unflappable Terry Gross sounded shaken by the news, having interviewed the enigmatic singer just a month prior. He had told her the story of his southern childhood and its sudden about-face when he was partially paralyzed in a one-car accident. He had played “Flirted With You All My Life,” explaining that the intensely personal and bittersweet tune was a “break-up song with death.” He had even told her about his past attempts at suicide, joking, “it didn’t take.” Vic’s ability to craft stories with quirky wordsmithing and self-deprecating humor came through just as much in his interview as in his songwriting, and Terry Gross, like so many fans he left behind, was clearly charmed. I first came across Vic Chesnutt in 1993’s Drunk,...

28 Feb

Posted on Feb 28, 2011 in Videos by

Fuse, Fuse Music TV, or Fusic TV as I like to call it, has a quick 4+ minute overview of the Portland music scene. Yes, they only talk to some of the bigger names in town like The Thermals, Menomena, and Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, but it's not as cringe-worthy as the first episode of Portlandia. Are you an indie band in need of a town? C'mon down (or up) ...

19 Feb

Posted on Feb 19, 2011 in Album Reviews by

PJ Harvey – Let England Shake Vagrant Records | February 2011 Polly Jean Harvey has never been an artist cautious in her approach, or particularly concerned with what her listeners might think of her sound. She's been making her own path in the music world since her debut album, Dry for which Rolling Stone called the then-22-year-old Harvey the year's Best Songwriter and Best New Female Singer. Raw, emotionally-bare, experimental, shocking, but always beautiful, even when the guitars are shredding and the drums are blasting like cannons. Her follow-up, Rid of Me took the back-and-forth of sober beauty and rock bombast to new heights – loud-soft-loud-soft was the sound of the 90s. Since 1993, PJ Harvey has been recording as a solo artist (without her original trio) but often with songwriting partner, John Parrish and producer Flood. Her latest album is no exception, but instead of a recording in a studio, it was recorded...

01 Feb

Posted on Feb 1, 2011 in Album Reviews by

Iron and Wine | Kiss Each Other Clean Warner Brothers | January 2011 It’s easy to look at Iron and Wine musical development in terms of the listening to a radio on a farm. Sam Beam now lives outside of Austin, but his roots are firmly in the South (born and raised in South Carolina), his early music reflecting Nick Drake-via-Appalachia on songs like “Southern Anthem” (from his first album, The Creek Drank the Cradle). Churches, crosses, the countryside and cattle – his low-fi, stripped-down songs like AM-radio lullabies to a rustic life. But with each subsequent record, Iron and Wine continues to distance itself from Beam’s folk troubadour roots; on 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog, they’d become more of a band, Beam’s trust in other musicians pushing their recordings into new territory - his radio had added the FM band. Where Shepherd’s Dog was more sonically ambitious than its predecessors – Kiss Each Other Clean...