review Archive
29 Feb 2012
Album Review: The Diodes – Action/Reaction
I remember when I first heard about the Sex Pistols and this new thing called “punk rock.” It must have been around 1977 or so; a news piece on the […]
28 Feb 2012
DVD Review: Composing Outside the Beatles
I have to admit it: as a music journalist/critic myself, I absolutely love this sort of thing. When it’s done well, a documentary such as Composing Outside the Beatles: Lennon […]
27 Feb 2012
Album Review: Michael Mazzarella – Songwriter
I’ve noticed an interesting mini-trend of late: high-quality but relatively obscure (commercially speaking) recording artists are putting together and releasing multiple-disc sets. These are taking the form of Odds and […]
24 Feb 2012
Album Review: The Well Wishers – Dreaming of the West Coast
I play in a cover band. And I make no apologies for doing so: my thinking is, until I or a bandmate can write songs as good as the ones […]
23 Feb 2012
Album Review: Steve Kusaba – Centrifugal Satz Clock
One of the most outré submissions I’ve ever accepted for review is the new work entitled Centrifugal Satz Clock: Morning by Steve Kusaba. The work very nearly defies accurate description. […]
15 Feb 2012
Album Review: Frank Sinatra – The Concert Sinatra
Stereophonic sound recording – what we call stereo – has been around a lot longer than one might think. It didn’t become popular and enjoy wide commercial use (i.e. on […]
14 Feb 2012
Album Review: Air – Le Voyage Dans la Lune
When it comes to – if you’ll forgive the obvious pun – atmospheric music, you can’t do better than Air. Never exactly a rock group, the French duo has carved […]
13 Feb 2012
Book Review: If You Like the Beatles…
When I heard the title, I was immediately hooked: Bruce Pollock‘s If You Like the Beatles sports the irresistible tag line/come-on, “Here are over 200 bands, films, records and other […]
10 Feb 2012
DVD Review: The New York Dolls – Lookin’ Fine on Television
The title Lookin’ Fine on Television is something of a misnomer: the grainy, blurry, timeworn black-and-white film footage of the New York Dolls onstage (and off) never exactly looks good […]
09 Feb 2012
Album Review: CAVE – Neverendless
A full-length followup to 2010’s Pure Moods EP, Neverendless continues and builds upon CAVE‘s sonic approach. That approach involves a driving, heady beat (almost – but not quite – a […]