After listening to Zelazowa’s latest, Elephants on a Mousehunt, I felt that I needed tongs or a potholder to eject the CD from my stereo – their music is searing. I imagined the album actually smoking from the scorching music it contained. But, a “Caution: Contents May Be Hot” label is not needed. Sure,...
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This Monday, Stardeath and the White Dwarfs will be coming to Bob’s (inside Cain’s Ballroom) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and concertgoers can be sure to expect a high-energy, experimental performance. Dennis Coyne, singer and guitarist of Stardeath and the White Dwarfs, describes the group’s live shows as having “a lot of lights, a lot of...
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Blag’ard – Bobcat I have to admit something. In the stack of CDs Stephen gave me to review over the last several weeks, I put Bobcat by Blag’ard toward the bottom of the stack. Why? Because the girl in the cat-ish costume on the front and back gave me the heebie-jeebies. That being said,...
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Intricate instrumentals compliment Tiffany Christopher’s smooth vocals. This Arkansas native roams around these here Midwest parts laying down her sweet voice and jamming on the guitar. Complex finger picking in the style of Ani Difranco and Bela Fleck swings in and out of her strong, smooth vocalizations. In places you can hear an early-Regina...
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Lords of the Underground came into the hip-hop world with the 1993 underground, East Coast near-classic Here Comes The Lords. Little has been heard from them in recent years, except for an album in 2007 that was released so under the radar that they might as well not made it. So, to have the...
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The Sess - Agendumb “Distortion” is the name of the game that is played by San Diego rockers The Sess with their album Agendumb. It would seem that The Sess believe not only in turning the volume up to eleven, but also the gain. Everything, right down to the vocals, has a distinct crunch...
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Voluntary Mother Earth band leader, Akihiko Hayahawa (a.k.a. “Aki”), thinks that we live in a weird world. “The world we came to know is an extremely absurd place, where a humongous aluminum pipe is flying in the sky with people in it,” Aki says. “We roll a chain around an animal’s neck and call...
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Country has long been a component of Josh Caress’ singer/songwriter sound, so it’s not surprising that he’s dedicated Wild Wild Love to exploring that element of his style. While he plays within the conventions for most of his first foray into Ryan Adams-esque alt-country, he does create a handful of beautiful, adventurous tracks that...
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There’s two types of hard music to me: intelligent hard music and chugga chugga. There are many genres, but when I’m listening to hard music, the only thing of importance is that the band not be “chugga chugga.” Futants’ album Pass the Butter never devolves into mindless loudness (or what I call “noise for...
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Released in 2008, All My Days is perhaps the most heartfelt album I’ve reviewed this year. Corinne Gooden’s voice has a warm country twinge which simply arrested me on first listen. Her voice is intimate and makes you have to sit and listen. Corinne’s feelings are obviously completely entwined in her words and notes. It’s impossible...
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