The New Wave Of American Cock Rock is here!!!! Lock up your daughters! And your sons for that matter because it’s a new day and age, ladies and gents! Like the bratty younger brother of Every Time I Die (Probably thanks in part from frequent ETID producer Steve Evetts sitting behind the boards…), Wilson bring the short blasts of pure rawk furiosity (Yeah, it’s a made up word. What of it? I think I’d have to pay Clutch if I […]
Album Reviews
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, That’s It!: album review
Somewhere recently (I believe it was a radio interview with Louis Armstrong archivist Ricky Riccardi), I heard someone make the claim that no other American city is as musical as New Orleans. Sure, there are numerous cities that have been integral to the evolution of American music: Detroit, Nashville, New York, Chicago, Memphis, San Francisco, on down the line. But in accordance with the aforementioned claim, I’m hard pressed to think of another city where music is so much a […]
The Editors, The Weight of Your Love: Album Review
On The Editors fourth full length long-player, they turn to Kings of Leon mainstay producer Jacquire King, presumably to emulate the former’s crossover success here in the U.S. It’s a notable goal and vocalist-guitarist Tom Smith seems more than a little eager to meet the task. Ditching the electronic heavy sound of 2009’s In This Light and On This Evening in favor of a more straight-ahead rock sound, the loss or original guitarist Chris Urbanowicz is immediately evident. The resulting album […]
Front Line Assembly, ECHOGENETIC: Album Review
I first got into Front Line Assembly in the ’90s when I would pretty much buy anything that was put out by Roadrunner Records. Luckily FLA was signed to the label and I happened upon Millennium, the riff-laden Pantera-sampling industrial masterpiece that was my essential gateway drug into the world of Front Line Assembly. Cut to twenty years later and I’m still voraciously eating up everything they have to offer. With Rhys Fulber. Without Rhys Fulber. With guitars. Without guitars. […]
Deep Purple, Now What?!: Album Review
Let’s start with a bit of an opinionated, music snob mini-rant: Deep Purple is one of the most important and too-oft overlooked bands in rock history. If one looks at their obvious and strong influence on hundreds of bands and the multitude of musicians who flat-out credit Deep Purple with inspiring them to do what they do, it’s shocking how frequently their music is completely absent from the collection of many rock fans. Quite often, the average […]
The Popblerd! Halftime Show: Cassandra’s Best of 2013 So Far
Coming up with this list was actually somewhat easy, since the majority of my top albums I knew were “the ones” when I first listened to them. I’m going to spare the long blurbs, and try to just do some key points, but we all know how that will probably turn out. For fun, I added some notables, some EPs, some local bands (gotta rep my Local 92.9 [shameless plug]), and some looking forward to-s. Enjoy! Biffy Clyro – Opposites […]
Rogue Wave, Nightingale Floors: Album Review
Rogue Wave records have in the past always been this sort of comfort food for me. They’re magical and uplifting despite being so dark at times. The beauty of their records is probably that, regardless of the subject matter, one would never be able to tell because of how uplifting and beautiful the music is which has always appealed to me. On the band’s latest record, Nightingale Floors, Rogue Wave again take beauty from the breakdown to limitless new heights. […]
Jason Isbell, Southeastern: Album Review/Irish Java 2013 Halftime Report
I put off writing up a 2013 Best of so far list until I got a chance to listen to Jason Isbell’s latest, Southeastern, that was released recently. I’d heard enough of it to know I’d like it, but now that I’ve had time to soak with it, I’d say it’s easily the best album I’ve heard this year. The record was getting a lot of press in places you’d not expect to see ( feature story in the Sunday New York Times magazine , Wall Street Journal) and […]
PJ Morton, New Orleans: Album Review
When Maroon 5 announced their Overexposed album, I did a double take when I realized that there was a new member. Keyboardist PJ Morton joined Adam Levine and co. for their most recent album and tour, and has since gone on to release his first major label album, New Orleans, on hometown label Young Money. So, to encapsulate, the black dude from Maroon 5 just released an album on the hottest rap label around. Roll that around in your head […]
Chrisette Michele, Better: Album Review
R&B and I have had a rough run of it over the past few years. With the exception of a couple of outliers (Ne-Yo’s Libra Scale, Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, Janelle Monae’s The ArchAndroid), there have not been R&B albums that spoke to me the way that old school Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott and Robin Thicke did in the late 90s and early 2000s. Chrisette Michelle fell right into the middle of that rut, despite getting off to a […]
Jimmy Eat World, Damage : Album Review
It’s hard to believe Tempe, AZ’s Jimmy Eat World are now on their seventh album. Yet here we are with the boys who created such college radio staples like ‘Lucky Denver Mint,’ ‘The Middle,’ ‘Sweetness’ and ‘The Authority Song,’ confronting relationship issues and converting them into four-minute rock songs. The new album is entitled Damage and once again, its tackling life in the mid- to late-30’s. As a listener, I suppose you could say I’ve spent the past fifteen years growing […]
Barenaked Ladies, Grinning Streak: Album Review
Barenaked Ladies grin themselves into complacency on their latest album.