Thinking back on SXSW circa 1996 when I first set my virgin sneakers onto the Austin concrete, I had no idea at that time what I should expect, but I felt like a kid in a candy store. I believe I found out about it through this cool thing called the internet or maybe it […]
Caroline Lufkin’s name may not sound Japanese, but her record Murmurs sure does. Not in any bubblegum J-pop kind of way, but rather in some otherworldly lilt to her voice that lends it the sound of some child-fairy or Miyazaki character. I could picture her tunes running in the background at some posh lounge or […]
The Cuts are a ghost of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s with music that would have easily charted on Billboard back in the day. Since they are actually part of our present in the new millennium, the way The Cuts crank out garage pop and sappy, post-hippy ballads, they are instead highly regarded among […]
For fans of modern day metal—If Hope Dies is for you. The five-piece from upstate New York display all the usual trappings on their third release Life In Ruin. Like others in the hardcore based metal movement (God Forbid, As I Lay Dying) that have borrowed from the template of melodic Swedish Death Metal greats […]
I consider myself to be in the loop most of the time as far as music is concerned, but when I received this record for review, I hadn’t even heard of this duo. Apparently I was not the only one. Their first record was listed in the New York Times as one of the best […]
There’s a storm brewing outside. The air is heavy and damp. The depth of field is hard to gauge. It’s as if the static that pulls up the hair on the back of your neck is signaling the near impact of a meteor falling to earth. As the sophomore release from Denver’s Orbit Service, references […]
The talented production duo known as Sound Providers have released, LookingBackwards: 2001-1998, an album full of bouncy, jazzy soundscapes. Not quite a “best of” compilation, the work does consist of a number of highlighted tracks from their short but rather storied career, including previous 12” singles and stuff they had locked in the lab. Beat […]
Vancouver BC delivers They Shoot Horses Don’t They, an eight-piece carnival of orchestral odd-rock in the vein of Dog Faced Hermans, Tom Waits and The Unicorns. The group’s first LP, Boo Hoo Hoo Boo impresses with an ingenuity, solidity and depth that is remarkable for such a new group of musicians.
One thing every adult dreads are the childhood pictures and videos so proudly taken by parents, images of who we once were that come back to embarrass us or reflect beginnings that led us to where we are now. For Gann Matthews, singer, songwriter and urban troubadour, these images take him back to the results […]
