glossary @ aquarius music hall, originally uploaded by minervacat.

Two-sentence reviews of reasonably new albums I listened to in February:

Surfer Blood — Astro Coast: I love this album and find all press about it to be vaguely irritating for no reason I could explain. But damn, this is a great rock and roll album.

Have Gun, Will Travel — Postcards From The Friendly City Somewhere between indie pop and Americana, and teetering on that line in a way that seems fresher than usual. Recommended if you like Ha Ha Tonka, Hoots & Hellmouth, or A.A. Bondy’s first album. (Extra sentence: hoping they’ll be at Bristol Rhythm & Roots this year. Extra extra sentence: this will probably get a full review later in the spring.)

Ginger Ninja — Wicked Map: Danish electro-indie-pop. I downloaded it because I am digging the electro-indie-pop this year, and also because of Joe Cox, late the QB of the University of Georgia, better known as the Ginger Ninja, susceptible to sunlight and also being crap. But the album is really good! That’s three sentences, and crap, now, four. Pretend there’s a comma somewhere that hooks some of those sentences up somewhere.

Butch Walker & the Black Widows — I Liked You Better When You Had No Heart: oh, man, this is a Butch Walker album I love! Previously, he was a dude who I felt like I should love but who always left me a little cold, but this is a rollicking album full of California crunchy guitar Americana that’s pleasantly underproduced (something Walker doesn’t always do), and I really dig it, particularly “Trash Day” and “Don’t You Think Somebody Should Take You Home”.

Carolina Chocolate Drops — Genuine Negro Jig: one of those albums that’s sneakily, stealthily excellent, and it’s only sneaky and stealthy in that way where it’s probably too niche a genre for Real Reviewers to pay attention to, which sucks because it’s a great traditional Americana disc and the Drops are all phenomenal musicians who deserve way more attention. May not hold up at the end of the year, but whoa, boy, it’s great now.

In other news, I can’t stop staring at this photo of Rick Danko. God damn, that’s a gorgeous photo. And a very handsome man.