Legendary New Orleans blues guitarist's 1987 debut for Black Top Snooks Eaglin - known as "The Human Jukebox" for the unmatched catalog of songs in his head - first surfaced in the 1950s New Orleans scene. As a guitarist with Allen Toussaint, he was on hand for the elemental forging of blues, R&B and rock 'n' roll. He recorded under his own name for the Imperial label until it folded in 1963, and then only sporadically until he caught on with Black Top twenty-four years later. This 1987 album was the first in a [...]
Devastating album of anguished folk, rock and country Austin singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves returns with an album of Americana whose quiet beauty belies lyrics of deep resignation. Just as Springsteen's anthems can obscure his bite, Cleaves presents his songs with an offhandedness that, on the surface, offsets the despondency of his words. The angst of love's vulnerability, the political, social and economic polarization of a new gilded age, and the human misery of war are just a few topics that lead Cleaves to close with the fatalistic proscription "live well and learn to [...]
Stellar twofer of Jones' early work with Billy Sherrill By the early 1970s, George Jones had through lived enough personal and professional experience for several mere mortals. He'd been discovered by producer Pappy Daily, broke as a hardcore honky-tonker in the mid-50s, graduated into a compelling balladeer by decade's end, notched solo and duet classics throughout the '60s, developed a drinking habit that begat his "No Show Jones" nickname, divorce his second wife to marry Tammy Wynette (with whom he launched a successful string of duet releases), and left Daily behind when he signed [...]
Funky southern rock and soul from 1974 Wet Willie hit simultaneous commercial and artistic high points on this 1974 album, their fourth of seven for the Capricorn label. The Mobile, Alabama band cuts a funkier, more gospel-inspired groove than its label mates, which included Southern rock standard bearers like the Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker Band, and their songs re more lyrically focused and concise. Singer Jimmy Hall has a rich, punchy delivery that often soars in a preacher's shout, and the backing vocals of the Williettes give the group the Southern edge of [...]
Sharing the thrill of the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. Though no one could ever capture the visceral thrill of first hearing Meet the Beatles , the Smithereens have waxed a record that shares the feeling U.S. fans get every time they crank up the fab four's Capitol debut. The songs, vocals, harmonies and guitars all resound with the wave of energy brought to U.S. shores in 1964, and though Meet the Beatles was neither the Beatles first album (the UK Please Please Me holds [...]
Cathartic, hard-charging indie guitar rock This Portland band was originally a one-man project of singer-songwriter-guitarist Tommy Harrington. His debut, 2004's Let Go Afterglow led to extended solo touring, but unexpected fatherhood and a regression into drugs shelved the project until Harrington was able to get clean and refocus. Gathering together a bass player and drummer, Harrington self-produced this nine-track release, combining hard-charging guitars and brutally personal lyrics. A few of the tracks, particularly the opener, recall the guitar textures and cathartic fire that fueled U2's early, pre-messianic, albums. [...]
In support of his new release For Crying Out Loud , former V-Roy Scott Miller hits the rails for an East Coast tour. MP3 | Heart in Harm's Way May 9 NEW ORLEANS, LA Amtrak Station, 5:30 p.m. (full band) May 13 GREENVILLE, SC Handlebar (solo) May 15 CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA Gravity Lounge (solo) May 16 WASHINGTON, DC/ALEXANDRIA, VA Iota (solo) May 17 EASTON, MD [...]
In support of their second album Brain Cycles , this hard-rocking Iowa power trio will be touring Europe throughout April and May. MP3 | Broke Down Apr 15 @ Sala Stereo - Alicante, Spain Apr 16 @ Savoy Club - Gijon, Spain Apr 17 @ Helldorado - Vittoria, Spain Apr 18 @ Rock Sound - Barcelona, Spain Apr 19 @ Durango Club - Valencia, Spain Apr 21 @ La Mecanique Ondulatoire - Paris, France Apr 22 @ Inside - Dortmund, Germany [...]
Pop, rock, country and blues from former V-Roy From the top: this is not Scott Miller of Game Theory (or the Loud Family), nor is it the Scott Miller who's self-released five blues albums throughout the last decade, nor the Scott Miller who played drums for Agent Orange. It is, in fact, the Scott Miller who sang, played guitar and wrote songs for the late '90s power-twang band, the V-Roys. Since the group's demise, Miller's been recording solo albums and performing with a revolving aggregation called the Commonwealth. After three studio releases and a [...]
Nile spins another rock 'n' roll classic Talk about a second wind. Fifteen years after his previous studio effort (1991's Places I Have Never Been ) Nile summoned a life in rock 'n' roll as the musical language for his hometown love letter, Streets of New York . Nile seemed to be aging forward and backward at the same time, writing lyrics from the perspective of middle-age and setting them to the fevered musical roots of youth. He was streetwise and urban, a rebel [...]
Brain melting heavy blues-psych guitar rock Iowan Parker Griggs returns with Radio Moscow's second album of power-trio electric blues. The trio here is one of instruments rather than players, since Griggs accompanies his bluesy psychedelic guitar leads by pounding out flamboyant, full-kit drumming. He's surprisingly accomplished at both, and with bassist Zach Anderson (replacing the debut album's Luke Duff) and the magic of overdubbing, the duo brings to mind the heavy sounds of Hendrix, Cream, Blue Cheer, Jeff Beck, Montrose and other pre-metal hard rockers. If anything, Radio Moscow's gotten heavier, riffier in its [...]
1990s progressive pop by Kevin Gilbert and Patrick Leonard Toy Matinee was a one-time recording collaboration between Patrick Leonard and Kevin Gilbert. Leonard had found international success writing and producing Madonna on True Blue ; Gilbert was a multi-instrumentalist who'd recorded a pair of progressive rock albums in the late '80s as Giraffe , and would become a key player in the Tuesday Music Club from which Sheryl Crow's debut album sprang. The crossing of Leonard's commercial instincts and Gilbert's prog-rock background resulted in an album that leans [...]
Hypnotic two-man guitar-and-drums electric blues This Northwest duo could be loosely lumped in with a half-dozen other bands playing blues as a duet of guitar and drums, but where minimalists like the Black Keys, Soledad Brothers and Radio Moscow are driving, Hillstomp is more droning. Even when they increase the beat to a toe-tapping (or hillstomping) tempo, their music remains more hypnotic than frenzied. Guitarist Henry Kammerer plays both straight six and slide guitars and vocalizes through distortion that sounds enough like a cheap microphone (which it may very well be) to give this [...]
Single-disc sampler of Charles on Atlantic and ABC Songwriter, pianist and vocalist Ray Charles may be one of the most anthologized pop artists in history, with several hundred collections and repackagings issues on LP and CD. But even with so many facets of his career having been explored, there remain essential sides that have yet to see official digital reissue. Concord is kicking off an extensive redevelopment of Charles' post-1960 catalogs on the ABC-Paramount and Tangerine labels with this 63-minute 21-track disc of career highlights, including ten R&B chart toppers and three pop #1s. [...]
All too brief EP of haunted despair and melancholy Karaban's released a trio of exquisitely beautiful pop records, 2006's Doomed to Make Choices , it's cohort Leftovers , and last year's Sobriety Kills . Now busy in the studio on a follow-up, he's issued this striking three-song EP. Each of Karaban's releases seems more pensive than the last, and these stripped-down piano-and-voice arrangements are at once meditative in instrumental tone and expansive in melodic heft. Inspired by a letter [...]
You can pick up free indie MP3 sampler albums from a dozen indie labels: Anti Arts & Crafts Bar/None Barsuk Dead Oceans Jagjaguwar Saddle Creek Secretly Canadian Slumberland Sub Pop Victory Worn & Grazed No doubt these will be posted for a limited time only - so check them out!
Celtic-flavored rock from Toronto This Toronto quintet has been kicking around for nearly ten years, releasing CDs and touring clubs and festivals with their Celtic-flavored rock. There are tin whistles and bagpipes here, but they're threaded into guitar-bass-and-drums that rock in 4/4 time as well as spicing up hearty jigs and reels. Purists may puzzle over the band's eclectic influences, but their anthems and love ballads fit easily into the current streams of rock, pop and country. The combination of fiddle, electric leads and power chords on "The Death of Johnny Manning," for example, [...]
Fine 1975 reunion album from 1960s legends After helping usher folk-rock onto the pop charts during their 1960s run on San Francisco's Autumn records, and branching out more experimentally on albums for Warner Brothers, the Beau Brummels finally came apart in the wake of 1968's Bradley's Barn . This reunion session, recorded in 1974 and released the following year, is a surprisingly fine album, avoiding the temptation to wallow in nostalgia and also the inclination to fully contemporize the band's sound. Which isn't to say that the group - [...]
In support of their debut release Everything's For Sale , Henry's Funeral Shoe takes to the road in their native Wales. MP3 | Henry's Funeral Shoe April 4 Cardiff Mavis (Clay Statues) Birthday April 10 Cardiff Promised Land April 12 Live Tracks in Session BBC Radio - Adam Walton Show April 18 Aberdare Cwmaman Institud April 30 Cardiff Barfly May 2 Porthmadog Gwyl Porthmadog Festival May 3 Swansea [...]
Heavy two-man guitar-and-drums blues-rock The minimalist blues formula brought back to popular prominence by the White Stripes, has been equally effective for guitar-and-drums duos like the Black Keys, Two Gallants and Soledad Brothers, and bass-free groups like Black Diamond Heavies and Radio Moscow. The Welsh duo Henry's Funeral Shoe, featuring Aled Clifford on electric guitar and vocals and his younger brother Brennig on drums, debut with heavy blues-rock originals that drift briefly into psychedelic jamming. Aled's twanging low strings and Brennig's heavy kick drum and tom-toms fill up the rhythmic and tonal space made [...]
Hyperbolium
Avicii – Two Million
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
iamamiwhoami: kin - Teaser
