Scout Niblett -- The Calcination of Scout Niblett
When you employ Tibetan singing bowl as a lead instrument, and when your drumming makes Meg White sound like Art Blakey, there is a chance that you will never duet with Beyonce on the Grammy Awards. So don’t look for Scout Niblett to show up on your TV screen anytime soon. ... read more
Barry Dransfield
There is a lot of music out there, far more than even the most dedicated fan can take in. That inevitably means that good and sometimes great music goes unheard and unrecognized.Take the case of one Barry Dransfield. I knew Barry’s name. I had read of his music here and there, probably in Dirty Linen, the kind of niche music rag that focused on English hippies who played the traditional music of their forefathers. I even owned a bit of his music. Barry’s grinning visage stares out from under a top hat on the cover of Richard Thompson’s 1972... read more
Kate McGarrigle
In very sad news, Kate McGarrigle has died.... read more
Nick Curran and the Lowlifes -- Reform School Girl
Nick Curran has been around for a long time, making soulful garage rock and rockabilly that almost nobody hears. His latest album Reform School Girl, out February 16th on Electro Groove Records, doesn't vary the tried-and-true formula much, so there's nothing to suggest that this will be a breakout album. But it surely captures everything that made the kids go crazy fifty years ago. The great critic Greil Marcus once described Bruce Springsteen's song "Born to Run" as a "'57 Chevy running on melted down Crystals records," and there's a similar sound at work on Curran's album. Any one... read more
A Very Personal, Highly Idiosyncratic Musical Overview of the Aughts
This is not about American Idol, Kenny Chesney, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Beyonce, Wilco, or The Arcade Fire. If, for the past ten years, you’ve followed popular music beyond the narrow confines of Top 40 radio, you already know the big albums and the major musical trends of the decade. This is not about that. The Aughts were ushered in by a cavalcade of short-lived (sometimes all too literally) rap stars, pre-fab boy bands, and pop divas, and they will be ushered out by a cavalcade of rap stars and pre-fab artists who made their names by covering classic rock and... read more
Favorite Albums of 2009
The usual disclaimers apply. I’ve made no attempt to calibrate what I like against the rest of the culture. This is what I like. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. But if it doesn’t appear on the list, it either means a) I didn’t hear it, or b) I heard it, but didn’t like it better than the 100 or so albums that appear here.Oh, another thing: ten means ten. Yeah, I listed a bunch of Honorable Mention albums. That means I cheated a bit. But over and over again I’ve seen people pissed off at these kinds of... read more
Evolution Is So Overrated
Dinosaurs are extinct because they couldn't evolve. Dinosaur Jr. is alive and well because it can't evolve. You win some and you lose some. Too bad for the stegosaurus. Two opposable thumbs up for music fans.Stubbornly stagnating in the same late '80s scene of sweet melodies, slacker sentiments, and skronky, overdriven guitars that they pretty much inaugurated, guitarist, singer, and songwriter J. Mascis and sidekicks bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph just keep on bashing out the same old same old. After a nineteen-year hiatus, the original trio re-united in 2007 with Beyond, and followed that up with the... read more
Stefanie's Day
People in Columbus, Ohio are crazy. They worship muscular young men between the ages of 18 and 22. If the young men keep their noses clean and do and say the right things, they are set for life. The muscular young men may or not end up playing in the NFL. But at some point the football career ends, and that's when the real community payback starts -- the business careers, the celebrity commercial endorsements for local establishments, the inspirational speaking engagements at high schools and churches. Once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye. You bleed scarlet and gray, you... read more
Favorite Music of the '00s
Here's my current take. This could change, as early as tomorrow. I'll try to add some commentary in the days ahead. It might be worth noting that "Favorites" does not translate to "Best." "Best" would imply some overarching knowledge of the music released in this decade, and I don't have that knowledge. It also would have to account for cultural impact, general popularity, musical innovation, and all those other factors that typically cause reviewers to agonize long into the night. I didn't agonize over this. I also didn't think about jazz, classical, or several other genres of music... read more
Only a Flesh Wound: Bob Dylan as Sadistic Boxer
Andrew Ferguson, music critic for The Weekly Standard, throws a haymaker at the fans of Bob Dylan:If you needed more evidence, the release this month of Bob Dylan's Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart, should close the case. Dylan fans are like Baby Huey dolls, those inflatable figures with the big red nose and the rounded bottom, weighted so that when you punch them--punch hard, punch with all your might--they bounce right back, grinning the same frozen, unchangeable grin. We can only make a guess how Bob Dylan truly feels about his fans. But it can be a good,... read more
Bob Dylan - Christmas in the Heart
It strikes me that the way one hears this album is very much dependent on the assumptions one brings to the holiday table. Some reviewers give Bob a pass for his charitable inclinations. And certainly donating the proceeds to charity is a noble gesture. Other reviewers have given him a pass because, hey, it’s a Christmas album. ‘Tis the season to be jolly. Still others have reveled in the contrast between the polished schlock (backing choir consisting of the heavenly host) and the gruff bark of Dylan’s “singing.”... read more
Country Music in the Aughts
I don’t follow mainstream country, so I have no idea what’s happening in Nashville. That said, I think there are many artists in the aughts who have made stellar country music. “Country,” in this case, refers to any music that has a twang, and that roughly falls into the general categories of country, alt-country, and roots music. If it sounds like country to me, it is, regardless of marketing demographics. Favorite/Best Artist of the Decade Buddy Miller, without a doubt. He’s been consistently excellent, whether recording solo albums, recording duets with wife Julie, or contributing as a sideman to... read more
Muse - The Resistance
My name is Andrew Whitman, and I am a Muse fan. The admission doesn't come easily. I realize what it means; I have outed myself as a hopeless dweeb. I don't care. I also have a bit of a soft spot for Yes, early Radiohead, U2, Rush, Queen, and every other melodramatic musical precursor this album conjures. You want understated? Look, they don't wear clown makeup or breathe fire. That's the best I can do.The Resistance, the latest from the Devon, UK trio, ups the already supersized ante. Not content with releasing merely overblown songs, Muse here adopts the... read more
Too Much Music -- C Edition
Today's installment is brought to you by the letter C. There is a lot of mediocre music out there. This is some of it, of fairly recent vintage. None of it is terrible, and it might be worth a listen or two. Or not.The Cave Singers -- Welcome JoyMembers of The Cave Singers can claim a great but underappreciated punk band as part of their legacy -- Seattle's Pretty Girls Make Graves -- so I had high hopes for this Americana incarnation. Alas, two chords may make for bracing punk anthems, but they quickly grow tedious as the foundation for... read more
Loudon Wainwright III -- High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project
This one's a lot of fun, although it will leave a lot of Loudon's longtime fans scratching their heads. But hey, kids, the 1930s and Depression-era stringbands are cool. And it's fascinating to hear Loudon eschew the ironic, smartass approach. Some of these songs are so treacly sweet that they will raise your blood sugar after just a few bars.Charlie Poole, it turns out, visited more than a few bars himself, and he lived out the short, dead-at-39 self-destructive melodrama that would later be followed by Hank Williams and a hell-raising host of country outlaw musicians. But his songs... read more
Forgotten Gems -- The Move
Roy Wood had it going both ways. His hair was not only long, it was wide. Aside from his sometimes fearsome, leonine appearance, he was also a first-rate rock 'n roll synthesist, mixing influences as diverse as Vaudeville, Syd-Barret-era Pink Floyd psychedelia, Elvis rockabilly swagger, and The Beatles' effortless melodicism.Wood's primary musical vehicle was The Move, the late '60s/early '70s British band that eventually spawned the better-known Electric Light Orchestra. You've no doubt heard the latter, but you're a serious rock 'n roll fan indeed if you've heard the former. Although The Move had several Top 10 hits... read more
Random Musical Thoughts -- Dave Perkins, Apples in Stereo, The Knickerbockers, Cotton Mather, Frank Turner
-- Dave Perkins' searing album Pistol City Holiness, which I've previously written about on this blog, has been nominated for a Grammy in the Contemporary Blues category, and a song from that album, "Cherryfish and Chicken" has been nominated for a Grammy in the Rock Instrumental category. This is great news, and it would be even more fabulous if he won. Dave is a one-man music-making, marketing, and distribution company, and an all-around good guy, so it's particularly gratifying when the lofty Musical Powers That Be notice and appreciate his work. Please check out his wonderful album and spread the word.--... read more
Hallelujah the Hills -- Colonial Drones
Boston's Hallelujah the Hills release their sophomore album Colonial Drones today. If you were one of the 73 people who listened to and liked Collective Psychosis Begone, the debut, you'll like this one too. I did, and I do. It's more of the same indie angst and angular guitars, with cellos and trumpets thrown in for good measure. Members of Titus Andronicus help out. If anything, the new one is a little more focused, and lead singer/songwriter Ryan Walsh's songs are acerbic, and sometimes quite humorous in a self-deprecating way. They remind me of a slightly more ramshackle Beulah,... read more
The Record Store Guy
Once upon a time there were establishments called record stores. These were dubious enterprises, often dank and dark, housed in subterranean passages under city streets, and if the surroundings didn't scare you off, the employees often would. On a good day, a dubious purchase might merely merit a smirk or a raised eyebrow from the guy behind the cash register. More typically, an album by, say, Abba or Olivia Newton John, would elicit guffaws, chortling, and outright ridicule. I knew people who would rather lose money than sell you an Olivia Newton John album. It might have been bad for... read more
Bob, Ty Cobb, and the Macabre
Normal 0 0 1 472 2694 22 5 3308 11.1282 0 0 0 A few random thoughts strung together by means of a forced rhyme … The fact that Bob Dylan is recording a Christmas album is disconcerting. Rumor has it that Bob had his band listen to Andy Williams’ Christmas music for inspiration. This cannot turn out well. If the band manages to capture the schlockmeister’s uniquely saccharine approach, then the album will suck. And if they are unsuccessful, it’s still Bob Dylan singing “Here Comes Santa Claus.” This has got to be the most wrongheaded Dylan venture since... read more
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