indie Archive
15 May 2019
Even More Hundred-worders for May 2019
I’m determined to keep my backlog of music-for-review to a manageable size. Making that happen means that once again it’s time for ten of my quickie reviews. So off we go. These are all new or very recent titles of new music. Girls on Grass – Dirty Power I really like this record. Right off
05 May 2019
New Releases from Asheville-based Artists
Three new record releases from Western North Carolina artists explore different musical styles, but they all share a focus on themes of love and optimism. Tellico – Woven Waters For its second album, Asheville folk/bluegrass band Tellico – formed by former members of Dehlia Low – weighs in on world events. The album’s centerpiece is
03 Apr 2019
Purple Image: Funk-Psych Lost and Found, Part Two
Continued from Part One… First setting up in Adams’s basement, the new group began work. To insulate the sound and avoid annoying the neighbors, Adams says, “I put out an edict that each member bring a mattress. We had eight mattresses on the walls and windows.” They worked collaboratively to develop a full arrangement of
02 Apr 2019
Purple Image: Funk-Psych Lost and Found, Part One
The late 1960s and early ‘70s provided inspiration for young musicians around the globe. In the wake of the success of bands like the Beatles and Rolling Stones – and literally hundreds of others – the idea that one could make one’s own original music and bring it to a receptive audience took hold nearly
25 Mar 2019
Hundred-word Reviews, March 2019 Part One
I can’t point to specific reasons as to why this is the case, but in recent months there has been more than the typical amount of really good music finding its way onto my desk here at Musoscribe World Headquarters. What that means, of course, is that it’s time once again for a clutch of
31 Dec 2018
Musoscribe’s Best of 2018
Even having shifted my focus these last few years toward interviews and feature writing, I still manage to listen to and review quite a few albums. In one form or another, I covered some 170 albums of new music in 2018. It’s no surprise that a few have risen to the top, deemed worthy of
02 Dec 2018
Album Review: Daydream Creatures — Qalupalik
Look online for details about Daydream Creatures and you may come away with the impression that the female-fronted group plays high-energy rock ‘n’ roll. With performance photos featuring three of its members – Loren Carty, Jessica Korn and Brooke Randle – out front in matching mini-dresses and clutching electric instruments, it’s easy to make such
13 Sep 2018
Album Review: Brother Reverend — The Tables Turn Too Often
I think the publicist – however well-meaning he may be – was having a bit of fun when writing the one-sheet that accompanies promo copies of The Tables Turn Too Often. Sure, it’s useful to provide potential reviewers with some musical signposts, occasionally dropping of names in a RIYL (“promo-speak for “review if you like…”)
01 Sep 2018
Album Review: Taylor James — Insane
For me, the use of numbers and capital letters in place of, y’know, actual words is a red flag: it was kinda dumb when Prince did it, and it’s wholly unoriginal now, a generation later. So the discovery of the opening track “Back 2 U” caused me to lower my expectations in regard to finding
24 Aug 2018
EP Review: Poet Radio – Horseflesh
On the band’s website, Asheville-based Poet Radio describes itself as “a dark psych rock band with occultist undertones.” New listeners shouldn’t be warned off by that description; the trio’s new Horseflesh EP starts off accessibly enough and gets more even listenable as it goes along. “I’m Clean” begins abruptly, almost as if the band had