mystery lawn music Archive
03 Dec 2019
Hundred-word Reviews for December 2019, #1
As 2019 heads toward its end, there’s time for one more house-cleaning set of quick reviews. Here’s a look at notable new releases in jazz, blues rock and even country. Junior Watson – Nothin’ to it But to Do it Let’s not hold it against the artist that the cover art for this album is
01 Apr 2018
Hundred-word Reviews: New Releases
There’s quite a massive stack of new (or at least new-when-I got-’em) releases here at Musoscribe World HQ. Time to review them. 6-String Drag – Top of the World (Schoolkids Records) This Raleigh-based group was at the forefront of the Americana scene, back when it didn’t even have a name (some called it alt-country). After
07 Oct 2017
Hundred-word Reviews for October 2017: New Music
Here’s ten more hundred-word reviews. All new releases. All worth a spin, and in most cases, several spins. The Fresh & Onlys – Wolf Lie Down (Sinderlyn) I’m not sure what wave of psychedelia revival we’re on these days: fourth? Fifth? No matter. And anyway, the Fresh & Onlys have long since moved beyond the
23 Sep 2017
Hundred-word Reviews: September 2017
Time for some more hundred-word reviews; new music from many different genres. Linsey Alexander – Two Cats (Delmark) A lot of modern-day blues has a sterility that makes it the sonic equivalent of a museum display: too perfect, too slick, soulless. Linsey Alexander is having none of that on Two Cats. The 75-year old blues
03 Jan 2017
Album Mini-review: Various Artists — Friends and Frenemies
File next to: Sloan, Matthew Sweet Based in the redwoods of Northern California, Allen Clapp‘s Mystery Lawn Music has in recent years become a trademark of pop music quality. Originally formed as a vehicle to self-release 20/20 – perhaps the best album by his group the Orange Peels – Clapp’s label has become a collective
04 Nov 2015
Anton Barbeau’s Traveling Magic Act, Part 3
Continued from Part Two… Anton Barbeau feels similarly about progressive rock. “At one point, I decided, ‘Oh, I don’t like that stuff at all.’ But not long ago on one of the XTC [online] forums, people were debating how much of a prog band XTC was.” He continued, “And I see it now, even though
03 Nov 2015
Anton Barbeau’s Traveling Magic Act, Part 2
Continued from Part One… Once Anton Barbeau realized that the new album wouldn’t be a Three Minute Tease project, he “started looking around for other ways of doing it. I was back in Sacramento, and I had always had musician friends there. So I called some of them up. And,” he added, “that’s normal for
02 Nov 2015
Anton Barbeau’s Traveling Magic Act, Part 1
From my point of view, it’s a strange world in which a recording artist can craft highly melodic, accessible tunes, release a long string of consistently well-regarded albums, and still go largely unnoticed in the commercial marketplace. But of course, such circumstances happen all the time. Even if one allows for the lack of commercial
31 Aug 2015
Hundred-word Reviews for September (sic), Part 1 of 8
Time to clear the backlog of discs – worthy ones all – cluttering my office. Beginning today, and occasionally interrupted by other content, here’s a solid two weeks of hundred-word reviews. Terell Stafford – BrotherLee Love Lee Morgan was a hard bop trumpeter who recorded between the mid 1950s and 1971, mostly for the Blue
17 Jun 2015
Album Review: The Orange Peels — Begin the Begone
On Begin the Begone, the sixth album from northern California pop group The Orange Peels, the group continues to redefine its stylistic parameters while still crafting that winning ear-candy pop with which it has built a solid reputation. Begin the Begone rocks a bit harder than earlier albums like the near-perfect 2020, and while part
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