the Gaslight Anthem, American Slang. Out 6/15, SideOneDummy Records. Let’s get this out of the way first, because it’s the only thing reviews will be able to talk about until it’s said: American Slang is not as good an album as The ’59 Sound. And now, lest you think everything else I say is a…
Tag: album reviews
two sentence reviews of new albums i listened to in may
benji hughes @ cat’s cradle, originally uploaded by minervacat. Short and sweet, stuff I dug this month: The Black Keys — Brothers: this might just be the dirtiest album released this year. Not a bad track on it, and inevitably the soundtrack to my summer. Utterly unsafe for work, my god, and phenomenal. Good Old…
the national — high violet
the national @ the lincoln, originally uploaded by minervacat. The National — High Violet. Out 5/11, 4AD. I have a big vocabulary; I know a lot of multi-syllabic words and generally can string together a sentence pretty well. But I’ve been trying for two weeks, and I can’t write about the National’s new album. I…
american aquarium — small town hymns
american aquarium ‘small town hymns’ cd release party, originally uploaded by minervacat. American Aquarium — Small Town Hymns. Out 5/1, Last Chance Records. “The song is the story of a broken heart and the story of society’s expectations, built to the tastes of a producer, an engineer, a mixer and a master. And if you’re…
two sentence reviews of new albums i listened to in april
frightened rabbit @ cat’s cradle, originally uploaded by minervacat. Two sentence reviews of reasonably new albums and EPs I listened to in April: Annuals — Sweet Sister EP: this is deliciously sweet, cleverly layered indie pop, and it’s really good, and it just pisses me off all the worse that Annuals remain one of the…
josh ritter — so runs the world away
josh ritter @ the cat’s cradle, carrboro, nc, originally uploaded by minervacat. Josh Ritter — So Runs The World Away. Out 4/17 on limited release vinyl for Record Store Day 2010; out wide release on 5/4, V2 Records. Thank god for Record Store Day vinyl releases, is all I’m saying. There’s not much that Josh…
dr dog — shame shame
isle of palms, sc, april 2010, originally uploaded by minervacat. Dr. Dog — Shame, Shame. Out 4/6, Anti- Records. Dr. Dog is a band that I probably would have paid very little attention to, if not for Bristol Rhythm & Roots and my friend Hank. I’d snagged their last two albums prior to Bristol, because…
two sentence reviews of new albums i listened to in march
shearwater @ local 506, originally uploaded by minervacat. I slacked on album reviews this month — I had very important baseball things to attend to, yo — but here’s a grab bag of stuff I acquired and listened to this month. Sea Bear — We Built A Fire: Icelandic indie pop; this album sparkles in…
drive-by truckers — the big to-do
drive-by truckers @ the lincoln, night one, originally uploaded by minervacat. Drive-By Truckers, The Big To-Do. Out 3/16, ATO Records. Okay, true confession time: when I think of Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, I think of it as an album I don’t like very much. This is a bizarre fallacy of logic, because I love every…
the morning benders — big echo
wrightsville beach, originally uploaded by minervacat. the morning benders, Big Echo. Out 3/9, Rough Trade Records. This is going to be kind of a big statement, but trust me, I don’t make it without having considered and considered and considered the new record from New-York-via-Berkeley’s the morning benders: I think that album-opener “Excuses” might just…
brand new kind of photography 