Released: June 29, 2010 Label: No Sleep Records Frontier(s), featuring Elliott / Falling Forward front man Chris Higdon, offers two strong tracks on this 7″ that are reminiscent of TSOL’s often under-appreciated mid-80s period where their meanderings into art punk began to take on a bit of a hard rock edge. In fact, this EP’s dark, haunting sound would have… Read more »
Released: June 15, 2010 Label: SideOneDummy Records The '59 Sound, Gaslight Anthem's 2008 release, got a lot of comparisons to Springsteen. That was fair enough as there is no doubt that the band's sound was influenced by the godfather of their home state's rock and roll scene. However, what seemed to get lost in those comparisons, was that weren't simply… Read more »
Label: Blackheart Records Released: April 13, 20 and 27, 2010 An album of covers travels over sketchy ground any way you slice it. There are more opportunities to screw it up than to succeed. If you break down the elements of a good cover, things like knowing and loving the song, being true to it while simultaneously taking ownership of… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: October 12, 2009 True to the form they set with last year’s full-length, In Drug City, Mighty High’s new EP is nothing if not unabashedly fun. This 7″ EP features two songs that waste nothing (except perhaps brain cells). “Cable TV Eye” is full-on stoner paranoia propelled by riffs they learned from hard rock leaning punk bands… Read more »
Label: No Sleep Records Released: August 11, 2009 I love when a record is really busy, but doesn’t get lost in the busyness. On the four song Only Boundaries, Balance and Composure fully live up to their name, balancing intricacies with listenable sensibility and remaining composed while the music swirls. “I Can’t Do This Alone” combines a tribal rhythm with… Read more »
Label: Released: October 6, 2009 The progression of an artist from a seminal band to a solo career usually tells us more about the artist now that they’re freed from the shackles of band unity (in whatever form it existed). What’s interesting about Grant Hart’s Hot Wax is that it tells us some things about him, but more of where… Read more »
One of the Clash’s finest moments was “White Man in Hammersmith Palais,” a 1978 UK single that also appeared on the re-sequenced 1979 US issue of their self-titled debut. The beginning of the song was inspired by a reggae show Joe Strummer attended (and was disappointed in) and mentions three arists who performed. The song goes on to make serious,… Read more »
Label: Blackheart Records Released: June 2, 2009 Coming two years after their promising debut, Trio BC shows a young band that has done some significant maturing as musicians. The album maintains their early punkish edge, but expands the sound well beyond that. Nina Diaz elevates herself to a rough-around-the-edges Patsy Cline, particularly on the yearning, tender melancholy of “El Monte.”… Read more »
Label: Narnack Records Released: October 20, 2009 Trapped Animal is the first studio album from the Slits since 1981 and comes 30 years after the seminal punk/reggae fusion of their debut, 1979’s Cut. The passage of time and only returning with two-thirds of the band’s core (Ari Up and Tessa Pollitt) certainly give reason to be skeptical of a new… Read more »
Label: DC-Jam Records Released: July 21, 2009 This five song EP, in classic punk fashion, clocks in at just under eight minutes, but we all know it’s quality, not quantity, that counts. These tracks, culled from two different shows, reflect GI’s hardcore heyday in 1982-83. The recordings are good for early hardcore live material and the band is clearly in… Read more »
