Rick Bain first made a splash on the Oregon underground music scene with his reproduction of the Beach Boy’s Pet Sounds. He managed to do it on a four-track recorder in his home, while playing all the instruments. This should give you an idea of his talent and influences.
Warning: this is not for Sunday morning stereo play if you’re nursing a hangover from too many Manhattans the night before. After releasing a number of EPs over the course of the last two years or so, Colorado Springs band Colonial Excess come out of the gates kicking and screaming, causing havoc and frightening the […]
As I recover from my tryptophan haze, one thing I’m grateful for this year is that Norman Cook saw to it that his fanny got going on a new album. And he’s delivered. I felt like a kid at Christmas unwrapping Palookaville in great anticipation, just waiting for those first juicy chords to come through […]
From time to time, artists find themselves on the wrong side of esoteric. Defying description, the sound will simultaneously be lauded by its members for its originality and blasted by critics for failing to connect with even the most modest-sized audience. With its sophomore release, Demons, Liars Academy does little to establish an identity, instead […]
If you’ve spent any amount of time observing the modern-day tactics of record labels and their artists, then you’ll certainly agree that live albums these days are more about filling up a label’s catalog and less about capturing a unique and profound moment in musical history. And although the industry has yet to sink to […]
I guess this is supposed to be a concept album. Each of the track titles is suffixed with a declaration of either ‘shy’ or faux’. Apparently, the super-rockin’ cuts are ‘faux’ and the emo-er stuff is ‘shy’. The latter makes more obvious sense; but, this I not the most important discussion about this album. Mango […]
If you’re into Nick Cave and 16 Horsepower, you will love this band. You may recognize Munly from Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, or you may not. Either way, his southern gothic country-folk-rock is utterly hypnotic. Reminiscent of Cave on “Tupelo” or David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower, there’s something that brings to mind the hellfire […]
Maybe it’s the astronaut reference, the astral keyboard tricks, or voyage into the vortex trip that causes many, including the band itself, to use the space rock categorization quite frequently. Yea, these Denver cosmonauts are trippy indeed (i.e. their band shot taken by some unwilling relative in a bathroom). But their feet are planted right […]
I had a discussion with Steve Smith from Dirty Vegas recently about the progression of dance music, how it’s no longer just a DJ spinning records but the producer making original music. Although this trend seems to have become more prevalent in recent years with new software and hardware tools coming to market, it’s artists […]
Nick Urata: vocals, theremin, guitars, piano, trumpet Tom Hagerman: violin, accordion, piano Jeanie Schroder: sousaphone, upright bass, Vocals Shawn King: drums, percussion, trumpet After what seems like forever, DeVotchKa has finally released another amazing album, How It Ends. In a world full of war, politics and hardship, one thing is for certain: they will be […]
