A simple Google search of “Girls” is utterly fruitless and a huge distraction when you are trying to write a record review. However, typing in “Girls Album” will take you directly to review after review praising this duo from San Fran’s woozy, sunny pop songs and comments on lead singer Christopher Owen’s Axl Rose like …
There are just some albums you can’t listen to on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Black Flag’s Damaged is one of them. Still Life Still’s Girls Come Too is another. On first blush there is really no reason why Toronto’s newest addition to the Arts and Crafts label shouldn’t fit in between naps and Miyazaki films. …
STILL LIFE STILL – “GIRLS COME TOO” (ARTS AND CRAFTS, 2009) Read More »
Mew has really outdone themselves. They have successfully put out an album with a title longer than Marnie Stern’s This is It and I am it and You are it and So is That and He is It and She is It and It is it and That is That and A Silver Mt. Zion’s He Has Left …
MEW – “NO MORE STORIES/ARE TOLD TODAY” (EVIL OFFICE, 2009) Read More »
Some people don’t believe in auetuers. I do. I really like works of art that call as much attention to how they are made as to why. There is a great scene in Ingmar Bergman’s late film Persona where the classic close up shot is reversed. Instead of the audience seeing the camera close in …
GERMAN SHEPHERD – “ALPINE MELODIES” (SUNRISE ACOUSTICS, 2009) Read More »
Question: What do you get when you take equal parts Bob Dylan, Suicide-inspired-Nebraska-era-Bruce-Springsteen, Jay Reatard, Yo La Tengo, No Wave pioneers Mars, Wooden Shjips, and Times New Viking? If you guessed Kurt Vile you either: A) read the top of this review, or B) have a basic grasp on the English rhetorical structure or C) …
Musical trends have the life span of sea monkeys in 2009. Blogging compresses musical timelines to a fraction of a second as we all know. Last summer Deerhunter, Women, No Age, and the newly formed Wavves were on the forefront of critics best-of-lists or on the receiving end of harsh derision. These bands buried their …
TIMES NEW VIKING – “BORN AGAIN REVISITED” (MATADOR, 2009) Read More »
I know that this is waaay after the fact, but I am still hoping that for some of you Animal Hospital’s Memory is a new experience. I initially read about Kevin Micka in an awesome Forest Gospel review (if you want an excellent song by song break down, seriously, read this article), and then after picking …
Last I heard, Jim O’Rourke had sadly given up on recorded music entirely to pursue a steady film career. How I cried, how I wept. The Chicago musician/producer is behind a number of my very favorite albums – from his work with Stereolab in the 90s to Sonic Youth’s brilliant album Murray Street, and dozens of …
Remember when Public Enemy recorded those tracks with Anthrax? Or when Aerosmith preformed “Walk This Way” with Run-DMC? No? Well, me neither. All these were a little before my time. However, thanks to VH1 these moments are part of my musical history. Ok, how about Fred Durst and Method Man…Ahhh, now I’m in my demographic. …
As a year in music 2009 has seen two distinct trends. The first, and most rewarding, has been established bands reaching the pinnacle of their career by making epoch defining albums i.e Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Dirty projectors. The second has been established bands making albums that fit consistently in their oeuvre both thematically and …