Author Archive

Album Review: The Poster Boy – Melody

One of the many fascinating discoveries one finds when diving into the sprawling 4CD set Nuggets, Vol. 2: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond is in the “beyond” […]

Album Review: 20/20 — 20/20 / Look Out!

Unless you were deeply immersed in the powerpop/new wave scene of the late 1970s and (very) early 1980s, you probably didn’t know about 20/20 during their initial heyday. (I wasn’t, […]

Album Review: Lannie Flowers – New Songs, Old Stories

Lannie Flowers‘ vocal style is occasionally reminiscent of John Lennon, and the slide guitar fills he often employs are from the George Harrison school. The Dallas/Fort Worth guitarist is the […]

Album Review: Ruby Free – Introducing Ruby Free

I wasn’t at all sure what to expect when I received a press release along with a review copy of Introducing Ruby Free. I knew Rick Hromadka as the leader […]

DVD Review: The Beatles – Their Golden Age

The story of The Beatles has been told countless times. So the first question that comes to mind – even before popping the new DVD The Beatles: Their Golden Age […]

Concert Review: Hopscotch Festival, Part 4 – The dB’s

In one sense, the Long View Center is an ideal venue to catch a show: unobstructed lines of sight, comfortable seats, and – best of all – a building purpose-built […]

Concert Review: Hopscotch Festival, Part 3 – Field Report, Azure Ray

I had hoped to catch a few minutes of Yo La Tengo‘s 11:30 set at Memorial Auditorium, but (a) that venue was in the wrong direction and (b) The dB‘s […]

Concert Review: Hopscotch Festival, Part 2 – The Jesus and Mary Chain

A bit after 9pm, The Jesus and Mary Chain took the stage. Though I bought Psychocandy on vinyl upon its original release (1985), this was another band I had never […]

Concert Review: Hopscotch Festival, Part 1 – Zammuto, Built to Spill

The Hopscotch Festival was a three-day event (September 6-8, 2012), but my schedule only allowed me to make a single-day trip to the festival in Raleigh, NC. I made the […]

Hundred-word Reviews: September 2012

Here’s another installment in my occasional series of capsule reviews, generally covering indie releases. My self-imposed limit for this particular exercise is 100 words on each album. The Spiracles – […]