Archive for August, 2011

Vinyl

John Hiatt – Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns (2011)

Productive and consistently good are two attributes that don’t usually go together in the record making business, but it’s been John Hiatt’s hallmark for a while, now. You May Also Like: No related posts.

Vinyl

Mikey Wax – Constant Motion (2011)

The best pop songs are about more than their surface allures — the hook, the voice, maybe the lyric. The best pop songs are bound up both in simplicity and mystery, bringing you over a ridge to these stunning emotional vistas, even as you are still trying to get theRead More

Vinyl

Mark Segger Sextet – The Beginning (2011)

Debut albums can often be fun to explore, since you’re not just exploring the music, but the artist, too. They’re funner still when the artist bolts out the gate with his/her own unique plan of attack You May Also Like: Peter Brotzmann + Heather Leigh – Ears Are Filled WithRead More

Vinyl

Half Notes: Pugwash – Eleven Modern Antiquities (2008)

by Tom Johnson Leaving aside the goofy name, Pugwash was that weird bastard child we music writers like to talk about — you know, the “this meets that”: They sounded like latter day XTC meets Jellyfish. In one album, in addition to Pugwash’s own Thomas Walsh, we find friends fromRead More

Vinyl

Sparks Fly On E Street: Bruce Springsteen, "For You" (1973)

Relationships heading toward their end can often impart a kind of repelling force between the couple involved. In “For You,” a relationship has run off the rails and there’s no small amount of soul searching. You May Also Like: Reevaluating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wild, the Innocent and the E StreetRead More

Vinyl

Steely Dan Sunday, "East St. Louis Toodle-oo" (1974)

Some fun facts about this track: 1. “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” is the only Steely Dan track in which Becker and Fagen are not in the songwriting credits. This one was written about fifty years earlier by Duke Ellington and his trumpet player, Bubber Miley. You May Also Like: FiveRead More

Thom Yorke - The Eraser (2006): Half Notes

Thom Yorke – The Eraser (2006): Half Notes

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke must have had a bunch of material laying around after ‘Kid A,’ because that was exactly what this follow-up album felt like.

Vinyl

Stoney LaRue – Velvet (2011)

by Fred Phillips When I reached into the envelope from B Side Music Group and felt something fuzzy, I wasn’t sure what, exactly, was going on. It soon became clear You May Also Like: Steven Tyler – We’re All Somebody From Somewhere (2016)

Vinyl

John Zorn – Masada Guitars (2003)

John Zorn’s Masada is an interesting group. The way I’ve come to describe them is “Ornette Coleman-listens-to-klezmer.” While that’s not the only way to get there, it’ll do. You May Also Like: How ‘Wish’ Scuffed Up Joshua Redman’s Initial Melodicism Why You Should Give Pat Metheny’s ‘Rejoicing’ Another Listen

Vinyl

Stan Killian – Unified (2011)

Stan Killian’s Unified is an attractive album right from the first listen. Actually, even before that first listen. Checking out the names of horn players playing alongside Killian listed on the back cover of the CD case, I saw there was already a recipe for success You May Also Like:Read More