Album Reviews

Album Reviews


Article

Saturday July 15, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
New releases by two second-generation bluegrass artists clearly show the old saying is true: The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree. In recent years bluegrass has moved into the spotlight for several reasons, and distinctions within the genre have become clearer, even to the inexperienced listener. The style of Ralph Stanley Sr., long recognized as one of the two pivotal figures in bluegrass... | more...

Article

Saturday July 15, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
New York-based drummer Franklin Kiermyer has recorded with luminaries such as Pharoah Sanders, Dave Douglas and John Stubblefield. His latest efforts include the inauguration of his own label, SunShip, via deliverance of two disparate, heartfelt recordings. One release finds Kiermyer’s propulsive drumming underpinning Buddhist chants, while this quartet outing uses the mid-’60s John Coltrane... | more...

Article

Saturday July 8, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Ever since this whole Americana/roots rock/alt-country craze kicked into high gear a decade ago, pundits have been looking for the act that’ll break the genre into the mainstream. However, those pundits forget the mainstream is decided by teenage whims and, for the most part, the kids don’t dig on the twang thing. In that light, the possibility of any of this new bunch of country rockers... | more...

Article

Saturday July 8, 2000 12:04 AM EDT

Since 1997, across a series of ten 12” singles, Swayzak has evolved from their simple tech-house beginnings, and the duo’s previous album Snowboarding in Argentina (named after their dream vacation once they hit it big) was awarded 1998 album of the year by Mixer magazine. Now the London James Taylor and David Brown return with their second full-length, Himawari.

Swayzak make house music...

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Article

Saturday July 8, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
This is the second installment of songs that quirky popticians XTC have been hoarding throughout the ’90s, when contractual hassles saw them lay low and bide their time. Whereas last year’s Apple Venus Volume 1 was acoustic and pastoral, the new release is not only plugged-in, it features more loud drums and wires than anything the (now two-member) band has done since the mid ’80s. Better yet:... | more...

Article

Saturday July 1, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Among the top tier of established blues artists, the exponents of fully orchestrated big-city blues are led by Chicago lights B.B. King and Koko Taylor. Over the years, both have established a style heavily weighted toward large, multi-layered productions that steam along like the Queen Mary, seductive and luxurious. So it’s a nice departure to cue up Taylor’s new Alligator release, Royal Blue,... | more...

Article

Saturday July 1, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
In the distant future, when academics are deconstructing the folkways of the late 20th century, a phenomenon identified as “country music” will be the focus of attention among many historians. What will stand out more than any other characteristic will be the simple profundity of the words in the songs. A few certain names will be considered the masters of the genre — Hank Williams, Merle... | more...

Article

Saturday July 1, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Now here’s a million-dollar idea: guitar-dominated house music. We’re not just talking about plinky rhythm licks, either. Rinôçérôse goes in for fuzz guitar, acoustic guitar, talk-box guitar, bottleneck guitar, e-bow guitar, wah-wah guitar, even lap steel guitar — almost all the steel-string flavors house-resistant music lovers go for. The French group isn’t coy about its crossover... | more...

Article

Saturday July 1, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
A caipirinha is a Brazilian cocktail made with sugar-cane brandy; a caipirissima is version made with rum, a non-Brazilian substitute. The New York-based Caipirinha label, run by Brazilian-born filmmaker Iara Lee, serves up Caipirissima , a compilation of new music from a new Brazilian beat culture that is taking European and North American electronic-music paradigms and shaking and stirring... | more...

Article

Saturday April 22, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
An unexpected blast of horns ignites the sophomore mission of Athens’ Little Red Rocket. As the brassy countdown nears zero, a second stage of voices propel “I Believe in What You Do,” adding a delicate counterpoint to the swinging launch-pad of slide trombone and trumpet. The band, on traditional rock guitar, bass and drums, joins the crew of heavenly voices for a successful lift off.... | more...

Article

Saturday April 22, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Purveying that other New York sound (not the Velvet Underground/CBGB’s-subway rumble kind, but rather the pointedly self-conscious, artfully eclectic variety) has long been Sue Garner and Rick Brown’s specialty. Their collective musical pedigree, far too extensive to detail here, includes such seminal arty outfits as Fish & Roses and Run On. In both bands, Garner and Brown freely indulged their... | more...

Article

Saturday April 22, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Foregoing the darker sounds of his last Eels effort (1998’s Electro-shock Blues) and the post-grunge surge of his band’s debut (1996’s Beautiful Freak), Mark Oliver “E” Everett is up to his old tricks again on Daisies of the Galaxy. Using the studio talents of hip friends Grant Lee Phillips (on bass), R.E.M.’s Peter Buck (piano, guitar and bass) and longtime drummer Butch, E’s tunes haven’t... | more...

Article

Saturday April 22, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Chip Taylor is probably the most famous unknown songwriter in America. A recording/writing deal in the ’60s resulted in several big hits, including “Wild Thing,” “Angel of the Morning” and “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder),” then Taylor left music to pursue other interests. In the past decade, he has re-emerged and released a series of independent recordings, featuring his own unique brand of... | more...

Article

Saturday April 22, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
As the old cliché goes, Tommy Womack has paid his dues in full. The singer/songwriter spent the better part of the ’80s in the infamous rock outfit Government Cheese, later telling the tale in the excellent book Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of a Band You Never Heard Of. He fronted the roots-rock Bis-Quits and his first solo release, Positively Na Na, was an incredible collection of smartly... | more...

Article

Saturday April 22, 2000 12:04 AM EDT

Apparently Apollo 440 and Tony Montana have a lot in common. Neither heeded the advice to “never get high on their own supply” - and you know how “Scarface” ended. This U.K.-based sextet claims to be direct descendants of Kraftwerk, Aphrodite and the Beastie Boys. However, their rock based techno-pop lite comes across more like “Mr. Roboto”-era Styx set to a dance beat.

Now all the news isn’t...

| more...

Article

Saturday April 22, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Situated somewhere between old-guard techies like John Michel Jarre and the ambient excursions of the Orb’s Dr. Alex Paterson, Melbourne’s New Waver bring psychosis, monotony and the common man’s anxiety to their debut CD. By piecing together bits of real world sound from self-help sources, talk radio and documentaries, the trio and assorted friends work at illustrating the clinically... | more...

Article

Saturday April 15, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Sometime in the early- to mid-’90s, emo separated from its hardcore. Since then, however, the genre has, for the most part, consisted of pop punksters whose only connection to the Rites of Spring was getting worked up on a Green Day. If emo only meant getting worked up, ’90s emo bands were definitely doing that. But along comes (for the most part) confessionally acoustic Pedro the Lion, and... | more...

Article

Saturday April 15, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Ian Moore presents something of a problem to the way things are supposed to be done. After all, shouldn’t an Austin-bred guitarist with a soulful voice be bending out blues notes like falling rain and lapping up acclaim as heir apparent to Stevie Ray Vaughn’s blues-rock throne? It’s not that Moore doesn’t have the licks to pull off what the legions of SRV wannabes wish they could do; his muse... | more...

Article

Saturday April 15, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Chip Taylor is probably the most famous unknown songwriter in America. A recording/writing deal in the ’60s resulted in several big hits, including “Wild Thing,” “Angel of the Morning” and “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder),” then Taylor left music to pursue other interests. In the past decade, he has re-emerged and released a series of independent recordings, featuring his own unique brand of... | more...

Article

Saturday April 15, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
As the old cliché goes, Tommy Womack has paid his dues in full. The singer/songwriter spent the better part of the ’80s in the infamous rock outfit Government Cheese, later telling the tale in the excellent book Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of a Band You Never Heard Of. He fronted the roots-rock Bis-Quits and his first solo release, Positively Na Na, was an incredible collection of smartly... | more...

Article

Saturday April 15, 2000 12:04 AM EDT

Apparently Apollo 440 and Tony Montana have a lot in common. Neither heeded the advice to “never get high on their own supply” - and you know how “Scarface” ended. This U.K.-based sextet claims to be direct descendants of Kraftwerk, Aphrodite and the Beastie Boys. However, their rock based techno-pop lite comes across more like “Mr. Roboto”-era Styx set to a dance beat.

Now all the news isn’t...

| more...

Article

Saturday April 15, 2000 12:04 AM EDT
Situated somewhere between old-guard techies like John Michel Jarre and the ambient excursions of the Orb’s Dr. Alex Paterson, Melbourne’s New Waver bring psychosis, monotony and the common man’s anxiety to their debut CD. By piecing together bits of real world sound from self-help sources, talk radio and documentaries, the trio and assorted friends work at illustrating the clinically... | more...