“The Music is You: A Tribute to John Denver gathers up an oddball team of contemporary artists with a shared love for the late Muppets/Rocky Mountains loving singer/songwriter, and lets them strut and fret their hours upon the stage by paying homage to a rich assortment of Denver classics.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
Category Archive for 'Alt Rock'
“Mala streamlines Banhart’s multifaceted muse, and the songs all fit together, if in a somewhat roundabout manner. Apart from the increased cohesion, the quality of the songwriting is far higher, reminding us of the astonishing promise and tossed-off ease of Banhart’s early material…” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
Shooter Jennings: The Other Life
Posted in Alt Rock, Country, Hard Rock, Indie, Rock/Pop, Roots Rock on May 4th, 2013
“Jennings truly came into his own on Family Man, but on The Other Life, he pushes the boundaries further, offering some of the finest songs he’s written to date. He fully realizes here what he’s been attempting all along. Box these sounds whichever way you want to, but they are all Shooter Jennings, and as [...]
Son Volt: Honky Tonk
Posted in Alt Rock, Alt-Country, Country, Indie, Rock/Pop on May 4th, 2013
“The whole album accumulates in a powerful, meditative way, and its themes are less about drinking and trying to forget the past than they are about making peace with the past and trying to remember it and use it as a spark and a springboard to the future. Honky Tonk is country facing forward informed [...]
Josh Ritter: The Beast In Its Tracks
Posted in Alt Rock, Contemporary Folk, Folk, Indie, Rock/Pop on May 4th, 2013
“The resulting Beast in Its Tracks, written in the wake of his divorce, treats the situation with anger, warmth, despair, humor, honesty, and most importantly, empathy for both of its subjects, something that many records of a similar disposition fail to achieve.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
“[T]hey know how to turn a phrase, plant a seed, and build a bridge and tear it back down again without losing the audience in the process. Simply put, they can bend the relative simplicity of traditional folk music to their collective wills, which is exactly what they do on their sophomore outing, Babel.” –All [...]
“Sophistication is a given, but there’s a surprising undercurrent of sensuality that runs throughout the album, a sleekness that suggests a distillation of the stiff club-soul of Elle Goulding, a shimmer that blends quite seamlessly with Dido’s sculpted songs… Halfway through, Girl Who Got Away sucks you into its sway, its comforts as alluring as [...]
“A virtual unknown in his English homeland but a chart-topping star across the Channel, Cornwall singer/songwriter Charlie Winston followed up his number one sophomore album, Hobo, with an equally eclectic third effort inspired by the likes of Nick Cave, Steve Reich, and Jacques Brel.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
“The first solo outing from Frames leader and Swell Season co-conspirator Glenn Hansard doubles down on the prolific Irish singer/songwriter’s penchant for crafting soulful, slow burn ballads that ache like the sliced-open underbelly of a terminally swollen rain cloud.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
“On his tenth album under the Eels moniker, Mark ‘E’ Everett continues to follow his musical muse wherever it’ll take him with Wonderful, Glorious. After so many records it seems like E would be well past the point of any new firsts, but this is the first album to be recorded in his expansive new [...]
“It’s not surprising that David Byrne and St. Vincent’s Annie Clark were drawn to work together. While they’re hardly sound-alikes, they are both keen but somewhat detached observers of the human condition who make music that’s equally cerebral and passionate… Given all the things Byrne and Clark pack into Love This Giant, it’s a remarkably [...]
“Oshin was released by Captured Tracks and bears all the hallmarks of that label’s quintessential sound: jangly guitars, winsome vocals, cavernous reverb, and an overall murky, underwater production aesthetic. Oshin is a pleasant listen, especially for anyone partial to Beach Fossils or the Captured Tracks sound in general.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
“Though the term ‘witch house’ is often thrown around too loosely (and often derisively), Grimes’ wispy vocals and four-on-the-floor beats are probably the closest to what the style would sound like if its name were taken literally… Fresh and surprisingly accessible despite its quirks, Visions is bewitching.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
“There isn’t a note out of place anywhere, even though the band is adventurous and skews off in any direction imaginable within the arrangements of the songs. This is a wonderful album, full of great players playing like the best back-porch string ensemble one is likely to hear, and with Tornfelt’s vocals giving things a [...]
Merchandise: Children of Desire
Posted in Alt Rock, Indie, New Wave, Rock/Pop on Mar 5th, 2013
“The lean, no-nonsense attack and baritone crooning found on 2012′s Children of Desire might make it seem like Merchandise would be more comfortable in the ’80s Manchester scene than in their home stomping grounds of Tampa, Florida. But then, a statement like that is oversimplifying the depth of this record… They have no gimmicks to [...]
“Put Your Back N 2 It shows how much Hadreas learned from Learning: it’s more confident but still subversive, like the work of someone who’s come through troubles stronger and can comfort others… Hadreas is as brave an artist as ever, and Put Your Back N 2 It is a heartening follow-up in so many [...]
“[I]ts 13 tracks do for nu-folk what Everything Everything’s equally ambitious debut did for indie rock, breathing new life into the genre with an intriguing but accessible series of art rock twists and turns.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
“T’he Boys Are Back’ is the perfect prelude to a night on the town you’re not likely to remember in the morning, and the rest of the album follows suit with an energy that mixes in just the right amount of mirth, mayhem, and maudlin, making Signed and Sealed in Blood an album that’s sure [...]
“Even after selling nearly three million copies of her debut album worldwide, Lana Del Rey still faced a challenge during 2012: namely, proving to critics and fans that Born to Die wasn’t a fluke. In that spirit, she released Paradise, a mini-album…” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
“Regions of Light and Sound of God is intriguing and quirky; its songs often pose big questions inside informal, loosely developed pop song structures that are instantly accessible yet whose lyrics are often metaphysically elusive.” –All Music Check Our Catalog