I wrote about the Head and the Heart’s Let’s Be Still for Speakers in Code: A band like THATH, whose first album exploded in such an organic way, has a lot of weight on their shoulders in producing a second one, and while I don’t think there’s a song on Let’s Be Still that’s as…
Category: opinions about albums
album review: ha ha tonka — lessons
i’m close to the age that i only do things that i know how to do i can make coffee and i can make small talk ’cause who wants to try something new? And so starts “Dead To The World” and Lessons, the astonishing 4th LP from Missouri quartet Ha Ha Tonka. I have spent…
album review: two cow garage – the death of the self preservation society
The new Two Cow Garage starts off with a blast of static and feedback, before it gallops into opening track “The Little Prince and Johnny Toxic”, and what may very well be their finest album to date. Over the last few albums, Two Cow has polished their recording sound up, and one of my favorite…
album review: the julie ruin – run fast
From the first count off on “Oh Come On”, the Julie Ruin’s Run Fast is a hard-driving masterpiece of the bratty female-fronted punk that Kathleen Hanna pioneered with Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. Her little girl vocals tail off into sighs and escalate into screams, and the guitar of Sara Landeau is heavy enough that the instrumental…
two sentence reviews of reasonably new albums i listened to in august
Dash Hammerstein — Bito Cabrito: sort of slinky ’50s garage pop, lots of keyboards and drawling vocals and weird orchestration. Charming as hell. Great songwriting, loads of earworms, A+ recommendation from Fuel/Friends. Have Gun, Will Travel — Fiction, Fact, or Folktale?: this is the fourth LP from Florida’s Have Gun Will Travel, and it’s just…
album review: the breedings – fayette
I slid the CD version of the Breedings’ Fayette into my car’s CD player a few weeks ago, and like many records in my car, it stayed in the CD player for weeks and weeks, and I listened to it over and over again. Here is a partial list of artists I considered comparing this…
two sentences reviews of reasonably new albums i listened to in july
Two Cow Garage — The Death of the Self-Preservation Society: not out until September, and obviously given my history there will be a big fat wordy full review later, but basically, if you’ve never heard of Two Cow Garage, this record is about to find you your newest favorite band, and there’s not a band out…
from the archives: holy ghost tent revival – the blood beneath
Back in 2008, I met a bunch of kids from Greensboro who called themselves Holy Ghost Tent Revival, and with whose music shep. and I immediately fell in love with. Over the next two and a half years, we saw HGTR play probably upwards of 50 times, all over the Southeast. We drove to Norfolk…
two sentence reviews of albums i listened to in june
Boxed Wine — Cheap, Fun: cheerful, complex synth pop with choruses full of hooks and funky ’70s garage rock and hand claps. These guys hooked me when Katie from Speakers in Code found their EP, and their full-length isn’t a letdown. Fuzzy and shiny and distorted summer dance party music. Also, it has a song…
two sentence reviews of albums i listened to in may
Basically I listened to the new National record all month, so I’m behind. Again. Futurebirds — Baba Yaga: more delicious Southern pedal steel flavoured freak out psych-folk from Athens rockers Futurebirds; I occasionally forget how much I enjoy their music, and how soothing and inspiring and visually compelling I find it. Visually compelling seems like…
brand new kind of photography 