The mighty Tris McCall. Straight out of Jersey (City). Track one clarifies (as in butter) the narrator's inability to portray himself in life as he feels with the ultimate college radio station (which eventually lost …
April 28, 2010
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Stories by Andrew Hamlin
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Let the Night Fall
Indie-pendent
Kristin Gundred, late of America’s Finest City, got her showbiz start singing and banging drums with San Diego hopefuls Grand Ole Party, although she refuses any party or scene affiliation now (see below). Moving to …
April 28, 2010
Malaikat Dan Singa
"Dammit people, I am NOT up here casting spells!" my band teacher often brayed when rehearsals got stuck. Arrington de Dionyso, though, just might be casting spells. Sure sounds like it. He sings everything on …
April 12, 2010
The Mercury Albums Anthology
So maybe manager Kim Fowley did want to sheath them in transparent togs and call the whole thing statutory rape. That's one of many myths you won't find addressed in Bud Scoppa's liner notes, settling …
April 6, 2010
Introducing
In case you're confused (I was too), this album is called Introducing and then the band is called Brilliant Colors. I hope that clears everything up. They look a little out-of-focus on the cover. They …
March 28, 2010
Sisterworld
So the new Liars album sounds exactly right whilst reading about a 12-year-old Indiana girl tortured and killed by an impromptu gang of female teens. But that's not the surprising part. No, the surprising part …
March 15, 2010
Rock n' Proverbs
Hard-rocking, Christian, and proud, Thieves & Liars pulled no punches on their debut, When Dreams Become Reality, a concept album based on the Old Testament story of Joseph. Now they’re back with a more straightforward …
March 10, 2010
The Life of the World to Come
Yes, the new Mountain Goats revolves around Bible verses, and no, you don't need to run away. The Mountain Goats remain the Mountain Goats. Main mountaineer John Darnielle apparently bought an Amy Grant box set, …
March 4, 2010
Thunder Hips and Saddle Bags
A few lifetimes ago. I sit listening to the local college radio station. I've heard of Human Skab but never heard him. I phone in a request. The DJ with the confident, sexy voice tells …
February 24, 2010
Chomp
More, indeed, than any other American band of their era, Pylon (the amazing-est Athens, GA act you never heard of) sounded like semaphore, like ordinary communications forced into a code and forced upon you without …
February 16, 2010
Under Stellar Stream
Communion. That's the one-word take I settled on for Richard Youngs's latest. Not without some mental struggle -- "prayer" covers the feel of the thing, but prayer is usually private. "Meditation" comes closer, but the …
February 10, 2010
Normal as Blueberry Pie
First off, how normal is blueberry pie? Serious question. As far as Zen koans go, I'm sticking it right up there with “Why has Bhodi-Dharma left for the East?” or “Why are those car wheels …
February 3, 2010
Bleach Deluxe
Some noise, yes, very nice. And that was my only thought on this white-vinyl Sub Pop thingy my brother dragged home. I wish I could tell you I was hip to the game from the …
January 24, 2010
Frank Fairfield
Frank Fairfield wants nobody to know much about Frank Fairfield, which is his right, up to a point. His debut contains no bio, no liner notes, and damn few credits. From an online article I've …
January 17, 2010
Plastic Guitar
Genial Sacramento eccentric Anton Barbeau travels to England for this one, and writes about same for his first song, no less. Other selections highlight the thin line between Esperanto and joyous gibberish, with backwards- and …
January 6, 2010
The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Mika's second album dials down excess (just a few hairs) to prove that nothing succeeds like forthrightness. Even more than his three-strip Technicolor debut Life In Cartoon Motion, Boy works best as an Original Cast …
December 28, 2009
How Great Is Your Love
Sean Ardoin, heir to the Zydeco throne of Bois Sec Ardoin, calls this the first Christian Zydeco album, and indeed (at least) I can't think of any others. As one of the several rappers dropping …
December 14, 2009
The Good Earth
The Feelies’ second album was released in 1986, six years after their Crazy Rhythms debut, a gap mystifying a lot of people but not bandleaders Glenn Mercer and Bill Million, who said, long story short, …
December 9, 2009
Crazy Rhythms
The Feelies sure look like geeks against the ocean-blue on their debut album cover (yes, Weezer ripped it off), and Glenn Mercer’s lightly clogged intonation suggests Jonathan Richman’s taking the lonely boy in the corner …
December 9, 2009
Only Life
Only Life, the Feelies' third album from 1988, finds Bill Million wandering away from the songwriting, and Glenn Mercer, possibly to fill that gap, pondering more on concrete matters. "Got a ways to go/and so …
November 24, 2009
The Incident
Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, itching to create a prog-metal masterwork with the audacity of Tales From Topographic Oceans or The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, at last materializes his wish. The Incident takes up 55 …
November 16, 2009
Break Up
First bold and underlined rule when approaching the new Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn duo disc: forget Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. I mean, remember Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin if you want to. They …
November 11, 2009
Pieces of Jade
A novice bassist at 17, a professional bassist at 18, sideman to legendary trumpeter Chet Baker at 20, sideman to legendary pianist Bill Evans at 23, dead in a car wreck at 25: Scott LaFaro …
November 10, 2009
God Is Good
Wikipedia calls the two-man bass-and-drums OM a “stoner metal band,” but as the Good God is my witness, they don’t sound that stupid. Trying and esoteric, yes — if you’re looking for rough noisy explosions, …
November 3, 2009
Welcome Joy
For sophomore set Welcome Joy, I wondered if Seattle trio the Cave Singers’d stick with the electro-folk of 2007’s Invitation Songs. Turns out they need the beeps and warbles like Kojak needs aftershave. Some lady …
October 27, 2009
Live at the Folklore
A few months before the Summer of Love (a long way from San Francisco, though) in a living-room-sized space above Sixth Avenue, Tim Buckley is 8 years, 3 months, and 23 days away from the …
October 26, 2009
Won't It Be Joyful
You probably knew Sam Hinton’s voice without knowing his name. Our grade-school teachers played his records. Hinton was the jocular guy avowing, “Whoever shall have some good peanuts and giveth his neighbor none/ Then he …
September 30, 2009
Eskimo Snow
First thought on this latest from Why? How the hell did they clone They Might Be Giants? No, wait, I don't believe in human cloning. Okay, how did they get They Might Be Giants to …
September 26, 2009
Childish Prodigy
Kurt Vile wants you to believe that's his real name, and it certainly provides a hook to hang the heavy hype this disc, his first for Matador, gets. Confidentially, though, a guy writing lines like …
September 24, 2009
Watch Me Fall
Jay Reatard's got one of the stupidest handles in what we call pop. Of course, he also has one of the sharper minds in what we call pop. Singing, arranging, playing many instruments, the self-dubbed …
September 19, 2009
Popular Songs
Yo La Tengo's 12th album runs 72:49. The closing tracks ratchet up from 9:37 to 11:22 to 15:51, making up over half the record's run time. But Popular Songs isn't "Set The Controls for the …
September 17, 2009