pop Archive
01 Sep 2016
Album Mini-review: Bubblegum Lemonade — Beard on a Bike
File next to: Television Personalities, Jonathan Richman, The La’s With a simple, straightforward DIY approach, this Glasgow group named after a Cass Elliot album makes winsome, unaffected pop. Their gentle […]
24 Aug 2016
Emitt Rhodes: Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Part 2)
Continued from Part One … Word has it that Emitt Rhodes does like his privacy. What that means in practical terms, I am told, is that when I telephone him […]
23 Aug 2016
Emitt Rhodes: Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Part 1)
In the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the “great and powerful” title character is revealed to be a mere mortal. And while for some viewers the takeaway of that […]
01 Aug 2016
Album Review: The Long Distance Relationship
I sometimes joke (or as Senator Al Franken says, “kid on the square”) that I avoid reviewing music made by artists local to Asheville NC “because I gotta live in […]
11 Jul 2016
Album Review: The Traveling Wilburys Collection
I’m not at all certain when the term supergroup first entered popular usage. I do know that it’s been badly misused more often than not: I recall seeing it used […]
08 Jul 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for July 2016, Part 5
Today wraps up my week-long collection of new album reviews in concise (read: exactly 100 word) form. Rogue Wave – Delusions of Grand Fur While nothing on Delusions of Grand […]
05 Jul 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for July 2016, Part 2
More quick reviews. Some good’uns in this batch, including titles from the always-reliable Omnivore Recordings. Brian Cullman – The Opposite of Time Moody and atmospheric are the first two adjectives […]
01 Jul 2016
Album Reviews: Five LPs from Flying Nun Records
The New Zealand-based Flying Nun Records has a well-earned reputation for interesting, largely DIY sounds, all emanating from the small island country off Australia’s east coast. You won’t find any […]
28 Jun 2016
Album Mini-review: Anton Barbeau — Magic Act
Often swimming in the quirkier end of the power pop pool, the prolific Anton Barbeau most recently made a pair of albums fronting Three Minute Tease; there he applied his […]
28 Jun 2016
Album Mini-review: The Monkees — Good Times!
Call them a guilty pleasure if you must: at their core The Monkees were as “real” a group as many others of their era. And there’s no denying that they […]