a. This was one of the best Kickstarter rewards that I’ve ever seen: a private show for people above a certain donation level, and a free download card for a new release with it. I would never have thought of it for a reward, but it was a great one. I was delighted that Dan…
Category: opinions about albums
best of: top 25 albums of 2012
I hate making these lists. Everything was good! If it was bad, I didn’t keep it, thus, all the albums in my iTunes from 2012 are excellent! Agggh. But anyway: I contributed to the Speakers In Code list, of course, but this one is mine and ended up getting a hefty end-of-the-list tweak from my SiC list….
two sentence reviews of reasonably new albums i listened to in november
November: through with you. Black Prairie — A Tear In The Eye Is A Wound In The Heart: I don’t know if any of you (actually, this is a lie, I know some of you have) have spent considerable time driving around Southern Minnesota, but it’s the sort of almost-prairie that’s stark and lovely and…
album rec: the givers and the takers ep
This seems like a good time to tell you that Browan Lollar once saw me in my pajamas, with bedhead, in an elevator, in a hotel in Charlottesville, Virginia. He probably doesn’t remember it, but it’s a true story. Also a true story: after many years as Jason Isbell’s very talented guitarist, Browan has released…
two sentence reviews of new records i listened to in october
I listened to a lot of records in October. Golden Gardens — How Brave The Hunted Wolves: dreamy indie pop from a Seattle duo, this sounds like wind chimes on a lonely porch at twilight. It’s sunrise after a thunderstorm on the beach, the closing credits of a horror movie with a happy ending, goosebumps…
album review: ryan bingham — tomorrowland
Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses — Tomorrowland. Out now, Lost Highway Records. Ryan Bingham, of course, made his name a few years ago when he collaborated on the soundtrack to Crazy Heart with T-Bone Burnett, including Best Original Song “The Weary Kind”. “The Weary Kind” was typical spectacular Bingham: a heartbreaking commentary on how…
album review: chest fever – a canadian tribute to the band
Let’s not front: we all know how I feel about the Band. (Have you missed the memos? Short summary: my favorite band of all time except when it’s the Rolling Stones or Big Star.) So albums full of covers of the Band, I am into those, let us say. “Into” being a polite way of…
frontier ruckus @ local 506
I’ve spent the last two years, since I discovered Frontier Ruckus’ astounding record Deadmalls & Nightfalls, trying to figure out what, for me, and for so many other people, makes them stand out. Partially it’s Matthew Milia’s voice, which doesn’t sound like it should come from him; it’s haunting and eerie and grounded all at…
two sentence reviews of reasonably new albums i listened to in september
California Wives — Art History: sparkling, thickly layered guitar pop that makes great use of vocals as instruments, and repeated choruses as sonic texture. Really compelling listening, and the only word for it really is ethereally beautiful. (Saw them this week opening for Stars, and they fucking blew me away. Get this album now, because…
album review: will johnson — scorpion
Will Johnson — Scorpion. Out today. For about a month, the only thing I had written in the draft of this review was ~~FEELINGS~~, because that was how I felt whenever I listened to it. And when I say listened to it, I really mean got totally hung up on “You Will Be Here, Mine”…
brand new kind of photography 