One of my absolutely favorite bands from the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC, area during grad school was The Mayflies USA . Catchy songwriting and shiny guitar sounds of the Brit-pop variety with a smidgen of Big Star overflowed within this four-some, and it was a sad day for all of us when their operations ceased. Mayflies guitarist/co-vocalist Matt Long moved to Brooklyn to help co-found Sound Foundation, a " music resource for advertising, an industry-guide for multi-level creative searches, and a sound studio for the moving picture ," and started up a new band, The Library . [...]
With fall here, music writers are starting to ponder the choices for their lists of best new releases of the year. The more I think about mine, the more I can't see another record coming close to Lucero 's latest, 1372 Overton Park which dropped yesterday. Why? Every other release I've listened to this year, after a few listens, I feel like I've heard all it has to say. While there may be a couple standout songs that stay with me, there's not enough to keep me listening to [...]
by Dave "Scout" Tafoya Welcome to the cabaret of Joel Gibb. The Berlin-based frontman of the Toronto-based musical collective, The Hidden Cameras , has found what he likes best and made a highly efficient machine out of it. What does he like? Hooks. Hooks so theatrical they border on kitsch. Switching between showmanship mixed with operatic presentation of otherwise ordinary (if splendid) tunes, soft inward-looking balladeering, and Pleasure Principle-inspired new wave, Origin:Orphan , The Cameras' fifth album, finds them delivering non-stop niceties, whether you want them or not. The songs [...]
Sam Roberts is a committed songwriter, someone who understands that timelessness isn't something you strive for, it's something you achieve through forward thinking, championing human beings, and using art to do good. Roberts latest release, Love at the End of the World , is perhaps more memorable lyrically than musically, with songs that transcend the moment they were recorded in and in doing so, achieve a sort of timeless quality. And you get the feeling that Roberts is grappling with his exterior and interior worlds at the same time. The tracks on LATEOTW feel like the [...]
M. Ward may be one of the few artists who truly understands the potential of a studio recording. Having long been regarded as something of a sonic loner – both in spite of and because of his friendship with Conor Oberst – Ward's recordings started off sounding like bedroom angst recorded through a tin can. But with 2005's Transistor Radio , the world at large began to see Ward had more to offer than his mournful crooning and virtuosic acoustic guitar picking. Finally on 2006's Post-War , Ward burst from his shell with a collection of Jim James-produced [...]
(Editors Note: Recently, Between Love and Like added a new writer, Dave 'Scout' Tafoya , to our crew. This review is Scout's first contribution to us, the first, we hope, of many. Welcome Scout!) When an established band changes its sound – the size of the shift notwithstanding – they take a risk. They risk alienating an existing fanbase, they risk not finding an audience for their new sounds, they risk opening themselves up to new pressures, and they risk criticism from everyone with a voice loud enough to whisper. With this [...]
WARNING: DO NOT LISTEN WHILE OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE THIS PRODUCT IS NOT FAULTY - ALL SOUNDS ARE INTENTIONAL AND VALID AS A WORK OF ART As you may have read here Friday , Paul Westerberg was set to offer a group of new songs via a $.49 download here Saturday, "July 49" (or July 19 to you and me). Technical issues pushed it back until today. Now here at work where I downloaded it, I had to use headphones to listen to it but I highly suggest you do the same [...]
(Photo Credit: Bruce Fyfe) If the first words that pop into your head after reading that title are "Who is Alejandro Escovedo ?" then cross yourself you pagan and go directly to Itunes. Download this (a seminal record to have if you love music at all and it's oh so beautiful to hear), and his brand new one, Real Animal . I had the distinct pleasure of hearing a live version of all the "Real Animal" tracks in March at Escovedo's annual Sunday-night-of-SXSW show (since about 2000 he's played Austin's [...]
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