rawk Archive
29 Nov 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for Nov./Dec. 2016, Part 7 of 10
Farewell Milwaukee – FM Style: heartland jangle-rock Jangling guitars, good-timin’ harmonica, well-worn chord changes … those are the key ingredients in the musical recipe for this album. Familar echoes of […]
28 Nov 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for Nov./Dec. 2016, Part 6 of 10
All through last week, I plowed through my to-be-reviewed CD shelf, covering 50 discs (45 CDs, 5 DVDs) in five days. All of the music was reissues, compilations and/or archival […]
23 Nov 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for Nov./Dec. 2016, Part 3 of 10
Five more quick reviews of archival/reissue material. Three of today’s five are from Grammy-award winning label Omnivore Recordings. One of these days I’ll write liner notes for one of their […]
22 Nov 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for Nov./Dec. 2016, Part 2 of 10
Rolf Trostel – Inselmusik When we think back to synthesizer-based innovators circa 1980, names like Gary Numan pop right up. But German musicians had been exploring the possibilities of synths […]
21 Nov 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for Nov./Dec. 2016, Part 1 of 10
Time to clear out the backlog before the year’s end. Here’s the first installment; lots of great titles here. Consider doing your holiday shopping, and note that I’ve provided purchasing […]
18 Nov 2016
Outside Now: A Conversation with Dweezil Zappa, Part 2
Continued from Part One … While Dweezil Zappa‘s tour will include a few tracks from Via Zammata, most of each show will center around performances of Frank’s challenging material. And […]
17 Nov 2016
Outside Now: A Conversation with Dweezil Zappa, Part 1
Last month I interviewed Dweezil Zappa; I wrote three features based upon that interview: one each for papers in Chicago, Richmond and Pittsburgh. But even with that, a great deal […]
16 Nov 2016
Blue October: Not so Blue Anymore
Texas-based Blue October enjoyed a half dozen or so charting singles in the first decade of the 21st century; their angst-filled songs struck a chord with listeners who – though […]
14 Nov 2016
Making Success out of … Failure
Though Failure‘s third album, 1997’s Fantastic Planet received good reviews and spawned a moderately-successful single (“Stuck on You”), the band couldn’t capitalize or build on that success. Though the group […]
10 Nov 2016
Album Mini-review: Beach Slang — A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings
File next to: Replacements, Paul Westerberg One one level, there’s nothing wrong with wearing one’s influences proudly; just be sure not to lose your individuality in the process. The very […]