Tag archive for ‘REVIEWS’
Short Takes: Ray Charles, The B-52s, The Gathering And More
The B-52s With The Wild Crowd (Eagle Rock) Rating: Nobody throws a party like this Athens, GA quartet so it’s unclear why it has taken 35 years for them to release a full length live album. Recorded in a single night on their home turf, the generous career spanning 18 track, 76 minute platter hits [...]
Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam Twenty
Pearl Jam Pearl Jam Twenty (Monkeywrench) Rating: Pearl Jam are the reigning kings of nineties rock, an unlikely gang of elder statesmen dressed up in flannel shirts and worn-out jeans. Twenty years since their debut album helped establish grunge as a radio format, fashion choice and buzzword for an entire generation, the guys have thrown [...]
Software Review: Peavey ReValver MK III.V
Peavey ReValver MK III.V List Price: $299.00 www.peavey.com For any guitar player, a new tube amp is something to celebrate. So imagine the celebrating you’ll do when you unleash the arsenal of amps and effects the Peavey ReValver Mark III.V has to offer. Not your average amp simulator, the software allows near infinite tweaking options [...]
Say Hi
Say Hi On “Lookin’ Good,” one of the best songs on Say Hi’s new album, Um, Uh Oh, Eric Elbogen sings, “I tell you what, things are gonna be fine.” Acoustic guitars form a backbone rhythm for electric guitar and synth lines that squirrel up perfectly next to Elbogen’s multi-tracked vocals. Everything is recorded flawlessly, [...]
Junk Culture
Junk Culture Oxford, Mississippi inspired Junk Culture’s Deepak Mantena’s eclectic sense of sound, and there’s plenty of the swirling weirdness of the South on his new EP, Summer Friends. While Junk Culture’s 2009 debut full-length, West Coast, leaned a little more toward experimental dance samples and loops – the title track explores long sections of [...]
Ensemble
Ensemble Ensemble is Olivier Alary, remixer to Bjork, who this week is releasing his second album, Excerpts, for Brighton’s Fat Cat label. His self-titled 2006 album – actually his sophomore release, after 2000′s Sketch Proposals on Rephlex Records – featured vocal performances by Cat Power’s Chan Marshall, and no one can forget her haunting voice [...]
Tennis
Tennis “Take Me Somewhere” Tennis may be Denver’s answer to Beach House, though they’re a real husband and wife duo, and don’t just sound like one. Patrick Riley plays perfectly charming electric guitar lines while his better half, singer Alaina Moore – like Victoria Legrand – uses her voice as an incredibly evocative instrument, which [...]
Software Review: Big Fish Audio Nashville Sessions
Big Fish Audio Contruction Kits: Nashville Sessions List Price: $99.95 www.bigfishaudio.com For songwriters, composers, cowboy boot enthusiasts, or anyone looking to employ some of the most talented Nashville session players into their projects (for far less money than a live session’s costs), Big Fish Audio brings you Nashville Sessions. Meticulously recorded, and performed by Nashville [...]
Braids
The first track on Braids’ Native Speaker, “Lemonade,” opens with a little synth fugue, and faint background vocalizing. These elements remain as undercurrents in the song, as other textures — lead vocals, lots more background singing, a jazz drummer’s touch for minimal pop — emerge. Braids actually classifies their band as texture pop, and maybe [...]
PUJOL
Nashville’s favorite son, garage-punk boy wonder Daniel Pujol – who’s keeping it simple with band/moniker PUJOL – is starting to get his due. After two Third Man Records releases — a Live At Third Man 12″ and a 7″ in the Blue series — and some recent love in Spin and Nylon mags, PUJOL released [...]
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