March 2012
13 posts
3 tags
Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour (Vagrant Recordings)
It has been three years since Band of Skulls’ debut Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, and this time out the band sets its sights on “beefier songs for bigger stages.” The Southampton, U.K. trio fill the space between The Kills and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with vitriolic tunes such as The Devil Takes Care of His Own and You’re Not Pretty But You Got It Going On. The group’s love for...
3 tags
The Darcys - AJA (Arts & Crafts)
Less than a year ago, The Darcys were dealing with some serious flux. Having recently lost its lead singer, and in the midst of a messy legal battle over the release of its self-titled sophomore album – which was eventually released for free – the band somehow soldiered on with guitarist Jason Couse taking over vocal duties. The band finds deliverance through follow-up AJA, an adaptation of...
3 tags
Zeus - Busting Visions (Arts & Crafts)
Like a bunch of shaggy-haired Rip Van Winkles who overslept 40 years, Zeus’ brand of retro rock was written with the 1970s, Trans-Ams and Lynyrd Skynard on the brain. This time out, that boogie rock fare that Zeus has been working to perfection is crisper and more badass. The chugging Are You Gonna’ Waste My Time and Anything You Want Dear could be Foghat jams if the lead singer was British,...
3 tags
Field Music - Plumb (Memphis Industries)
Seven years since its squalling debut — and all of the ‘post-punk revivalist’ tags that followed —Field Music is back with more of that intelligent, envelope-pushing wonk it does so well — and this time, the band seems hell-bent on pushing the envelope even further. Plumb comes off as a sonic pastiche: a sophisticated mélange of disjointed sounds. Post-punk guitar spasms pop up, but there’s also...
3 tags
Said the Whale - Little Mountain (Hidden Pony)
Said the Whale meanders its way towards maturity on its third album. Little Mountain is a musical road trip of sorts with narratives touching on locales from The Rockies to Arkansas and the band’s signature sprightliness guiding the voyage. Big Sky, MT, a folk-tinged tribute to vocalist/guitarist Ben Worcester’s grandfather, and Jesse, AR, about a boy from Arkansas who finds love in Edmonton,...
5 tags
ZZBRA - ZZBRA: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack...
The newest incarnation in Moka Only’s lengthy oeuvre comes in the form of the conceptual ZZBRA: a motion picture by Stuey Kubrick that never was starring Moka and his West Coast pal Evil Ebenezer. We’re told that all that remains of the Pan-African adventure epic set deep in the jungle is the soundtrack. The Draft Dodgers (Stuey Kubrick and U-Tern) handle the beats and the beats come big and...
2 tags
Camobear Green: 10 Years of Camobear Records...
Vancouver’s Camobear Records has prided itself in “the tradition of dope hip hop” for over 10 years. And this latest anthology is a testament to that ethos. The 20-track LP features some of the finest artists in Canadian indie-rap from coast-to-coast — from the easy beats of The Lytics (Last Bit) and Josh Martinez’s tree-hugging love note to BC (BC Trees) to Snak the Ripper’s scary...
3 tags
Forever in Debt (Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials)
(Photo credit: Paul Natkin)
Lil’ Ed Williams was born with the blues in his blood. The Chicago native grew up learning the tricks of the trade under the direction of his Blues Hall of Famer uncle, J.B. Hutto. “He would take me to the clubs on the north side of town. Seein’ him crawl on his knees and walk the floor and stand up on the tables, yeah he was pretty wild,” Williams...
5 tags
Dirty Ghosts - Metal Moon (Last Gang)
The debut for San Francisco-based Dirty Ghosts — made up of fragments from pysch-rock group Parchman Farm (singer/guitarist/keyboardist Allyson Baker and bassist/keyboardist Carson Binks), along with drummer Michael Urbano and underground hip hop juggernaut Aesop Rock (Baker’s husband) on drum programming — skillfully bridges retro rock with supreme hip hop beats. Baker, a Canadian expat and...
3 tags
Ariane Moffatt - MA (Audiogram)
Francophone pop chanteuse Ariane Moffatt has been turning heads since 2002’s Aquanaute, which earned her a strong following in the franco music scene, along with plenty of critical lauds. Now, with her seventh full-length, Moffatt seems intent on extending that reach into the hearts of Anglos by singing nearly half of MA in English. The LP was produced with little outside help and Moffatt...
