CD Review Devo Something For Everybody (thru Warners Music) What is the point of Devo at this stage of world history? Once they were a nice, idiosyncratic band who made funny, catchy poppy rock songs that went down a treat and they used the-then relatively novel medium of film clips to add another dimension to [...]
READ MOREJune, 2010
The Republic of Petty
CD Review Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Mojo (thru Warners Music) If you think of, say, Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan as superpowers of a certain type of music, the sort of artists who others pay a lot of attention to and who are capable, in and on their day, of upsetting the existing boundaries [...]
READ MORE
Liz Stringer
CD Review Liz Stringer Tides of Time Liz Stringer is a class act. That deep, smokey voice, backed up by a genuine songwriting ability, not to mention some decent musicianship, means that it is just about impossible for her to turn out a bad album, even a bad song. The other thing I like about [...]
READ MORE
Ghosts of Australia past
CD Review The Paradise Motel Australian Ghost Story (Independent) This new album from enigmatic Hobart/Melbourne band The Paradise Motel is the sort of thing that I’m inclined to view favourably, just because it exhibits some real ambition. The fact that they have had a crack at engaging with an enduring Australian story/legend/psychic rupture — the [...]
READ MORE
It Might Get Loud
CD Review It Might Get Loud Davis Guggenheim (dir.) (thru Sony) I finally got around to watching this documentary and am happy to report that it turned out to be much better than I thought it would. In fact, I pretty much dare anyone who likes guitars and/or guitar-based rock and blues to not like [...]
READ MORE
Dark side of the why bother
CD Review The Flaming Lips & Henry Rollins & Peaches Dark Side of the Moon (thru Warner Music) They’re taking the piss, right?
READ MORE
Here’s to Here’s to Taking it Easy
CD Review Phosphorescent Here’s to Taking it Easy (Dead Oceans) Sometimes you get sent new albums and you just want to say thank you. This is one of those times. Love this album. Phosphorescent — largely the work of one Matthew Houck — come under the broad heading of alt.country, though to my ears, there isn’t always [...]
READ MORE
