mitch easter Archive
17 Feb 2022
Album Re-Review: Two Pound Planet — Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox

Today I’m revisiting a review originally posted more than a year ago. Songs From the Hydrogen Jukebox received what we’ll call a soft release in late 2020. As nice as that set looked, it’s really about the music. And now it’s out with professional packaging worthy of the contents inside. Highly recommended, like I already
12 Jul 2021
Album Review: The Eyebrows – Fight/Flight

Listeners wandering into Fight/Flight expecting some sort of slavishly imitative power pop outing a la [any of hundreds of current artists; pick one] will find themselves in for a shock. The Eyebrows’ latest album starts out with a blast, the yelpy “Have Mercy, Lose Control.” And things never let go. The opening tune plays with
29 Jun 2021
Album Review: Various Artists – Yesterday’s Tomorrow

If you’re at all familiar with the alternate and/or college rock scenes of the 1970s and ‘80s, you’ll know the names Mitch Easter (Let’s Active, producer of R.E.M.), Peter Holsapple (The dB’s, Continental Drifters), Chirs Stamey (The dB’s, work with Alex Chilton) and Don Dixon. This busman’s holiday of a sort is a document of
20 Dec 2020
Album Review: Two Pound Planet — Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox

The story of Two Pound Planet is the story of countless bands: they write and played some great music, got the chance to work with a great producer who understood them, made a great record, and … disappeared pretty much with out a trace. The 1990s were was something of a strange time for the
26 Jul 2018
Album Review: The Eyebrows — Volume

Here’s the thing about powerpop: it’s either very good or hopelessly bland. There’s seemingly no middle ground; artists working in the idiom either knock it out of the park – see Badfinger, Gladhands, Greenberry Woods – or the results are faceless and shamelessly imitative. Happily, Charlotte N.C.-based trio the Eyebrows succeed on Volume, their debut
21 Feb 2017
Sneakers: A Walk Through Powerpop History, Part 2

Continued from Part One … Speaking of wanting (or not wanting) to know, around the time that the original Sneakers EP was released, the band couldn’t get many gigs. In fact, according to Unofficial Sneakers Historian and bassist Robert Keely, Sneakers’ 2016 reunion performance at the Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh was exactly the band’s ninth
20 Feb 2017
Sneakers: A Walk Through Powerpop History, Part 1

In the histories of power pop, indie rock and college rock (and whatever you want to call the musical scene that bubbled under in North Carolina several decades back), there’s one band that elicits approving nods whenever it’s mentioned. Sneakers never released a full album and played only a tiny handful of live shows, but
12 Sep 2016
Album Mini-review: Waiting for Henry — Town Called Patience

File next to: Jayhawks, Wilco, Gin Blossoms Inside the college rock movement of the 1980s, there was a kind of proto-alt-country vibe that informed later groups like Wilco and Old 97s. There are echoes of that scene in the warm and friendly country-rock of Town Called Patience. Sharp hooks and memorable lead guitar lines provide
16 Jul 2014
Short Cuts: July Mini-reviews Part Three
Here are three more shortish reviews, this time all new releases. Randy Jackson – Empathy for the Walrus As a rule, I’m rather wary of tribute albums. More often than not, they’re bereft of original ideas, and too reverent by half. And when they’re not, they seem likely to miss what was/is important about the
29 Oct 2013
This Won’t Be a Waste of Your Time
It’s exceedingly rare for me to (a) post content here more than once a business day and/or (b) provide a stream to music. That’s simply not how I operate. But rules are made to be broken, and here’s a delightfully good reason to do so. The new single from Charleston SC* – based pop group
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