review Archive
02 Oct 2013
Fall Capsule Reviews, Part Three
I wasn’t kidding when I wrote of having a massive backlog; here are four more capsule reviews. Don’t infer that these releases are somehow lesser than those receiving more in-depth […]
01 Oct 2013
Fall Capsule Reviews, Part Two
Once again, here’s an entry in my occasional capsule review series. This go-round I’ll take a quick look at four brand-new, nominally jazz albums. The New Gary Burton […]
30 Sep 2013
Fall Capsule Reviews, Part One
As regular readers know, periodically I engage in a desk-tidying activity whereby I cover a pile of albums – discs deserving of coverage, but ones I haven’t gotten to as […]
27 Sep 2013
Album Review: The Dirtbombs — Ooey Gooey Chewy Ka-blooey!
A lot of people credit The Ramones with giving bubblegum music a second chance. And I hear that; I know what they mean. There’s an undeniable, delightfully lunkheaded, intentionally-throwaway bubblegum […]
23 Sep 2013
Concert Review: Superhumanoids at Asheville’s Orange Peel, 20 Sept 2013
Doubtless you’ve heard the old saying, “If you remember the 60s, you weren’t there.” Well, for whatever reason – perhaps because it didn’t host the ascendancy of the baby boom […]
18 Sep 2013
Album Review: Estrangers — Season of 1000 Colors
If there was a common musical thread connecting most of the several dozen acts at Hopscotch 2013, it was edginess: an approach to songwriting and performance that leaned in an […]
16 Sep 2013
Album Review: The Monochrome Set — Volume, Contrast, Brilliance
Note: be sure to read all the way through; there’s a new Monochrome Set DVD reviewed as well. The Monochrome Set were one of those bands who never broke stateside. […]
12 Sep 2013
Hopscotch Festival Part 3: The Breeders and John Cale
Saturday was the third and final night of Hopscotch 2013, and our second night. Equipped with a more realistic game plan, we ventured forth with plans to take in a […]
10 Sep 2013
Hopscotch Festival Part 1: Brett Harris, Mikal Cronin
“Best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray,” wrote Robert Burns (and not, as I had thought, Shakespeare, though he wrote pretty much every other quotable quote). My significant […]
30 Aug 2013
Album Review: Agony Aunts – Big Cinnamon
Readers of a certain age will remember an early Saturday Night Live faux commercial for a product called Shimmer. It was, we were told, both a floor wax and a […]