Springsteen’s New Dream

By JBev
January 26th, 2009

We’ve come to rely on Bruce Springsteen so much for his meditations on the state of the world as seen through the eyes of the hardscrabble characters in his songs that it’s quite a shock that his new album sounds so happy.

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Brass Trax

10 Essential Cuts from Old School Hip Hop

By Rick Sawyer
January 23rd, 2009

Here, in ten jams, is a crash course in old school rap.

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The Daily Deep Cut

The Jesus and Mary Chain “Tumbledown”

By Douglas Newman
January 23rd, 2009

I vividly remember the day when I purchased JAMC’s 1992 triumph Honey’s Dead. It was during a particularly difficult summer in New York City in between my sophomore and junior years in college. The album was a much needed remedy to my self-pity, a loud, squalling musical rampage to take the edge off.

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Album Review

The Bird and The Bee in Outerspace: Rayguns Are Not Just the Future

By Brian Castleberry
January 22nd, 2009

In the eclectic world of indie pop music, there’s nothing particularly new in the idea of mining historical periods of music for inspiration. But L.A. duo The Bird and the Bee have taken this notion to an extreme with Rayguns Are Not Just the Future a love letter to the kitsch-pop of the mainstream ‘60s.

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Vinyl Vault

For the Sake of the Song:
Townes Van Zandt (1969)

By JBev
January 22nd, 2009

Revered by his peers and immortalized by cover versions of his songs, Townes Van Zandt’s idiosyncratic approach to country music made him an uneasy fit for the mainstream. Today we’ll take a song-by-song look at his 1969 self-titled album to see if the cult surrounding his work is justified or if his reputation outpaced his talent.

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The Daily Deep Cut

The Smiths “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”

By Douglas Newman
January 21st, 2009

Like the day you first laid eyes on your wife or the moment you heard that the Challenger exploded, many people can recall their introduction to the glory that is the Smiths. This occasion usually occurs sometime during adolescence, just as puberty is starting to wreak havoc on your already confused brain.

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Album Review

Antony and the Johnsons The Crying Light

By Douglas Newman
January 20th, 2009

It’s hard to find too much fault with The Crying Light as long as the amazing voice of Antony Hegarty is front and center. If you’re hearing it for the first time, it may be startling. But stick with it and The Crying Light will reward you with moments of unmistakable beauty you won’t find very often on any scene.

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Album Review

Raised From The Grave: Debut from Swervedriver Gets the Reissue Treatment

By Dryw Keltz
January 19th, 2009

Swervedriver will forever be a band without classification. Many try to lump them together with My Bloody Valentine and the early 90’s shoegazer movement, but their songs are simply too rocking to oblige. They are too spacey to be a plain old rock band, but a bit too traditional to fall in line with the likes of Sonic Youth or Pavement.

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