Music Reviews

How does a band continue to grow, yet not change so much that their audience becomes disgruntled? Calexico's previous album, 2006's Garden Ruin, took a slightly different path from their mariachi/indie beginnings and took a hit from critics and fans alike for doing so. Carried to Dust

As a recording engineer I can't even count the number of albums I've worked on where my participation didn't end up on the final album - hell, some records never even came out. I'm by no means saying that I'm a bad engineer - I'm just pointing out how the record-making

Thomas Brenneck, guitarist for Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Amy Winehouse, busts out some sweet lo-fi soul on his debut as the all-instrumental Menahan Street Band. Intricately arranged, with an orchestral touch, the album is filled with tasty textures, while being driven along by raw drums

Hey Larry did I ever play you Jonathan Wilson's album, Frankie Ray? It's one of my favorite albums that I picked up last year. He's an amazing musician with a beautiful voice. His songs are moody and atmospheric gems. I met Jonathan when he and Thom Monahan were in The Hangar last

Some of you might know that M. Ward and I worked on part of her amazing last album, Rabbit Fur Coat [with the Watson Twins] (and that Mike Mogis [issue 51] did the majority of it). Since I bought Acid Tongue as an MP3 download at Amazon.com, it's damn hard to find any credits for this album. I

Some bands exist by situation. Bleaks are a band because they gathered and created a record in Chicago at Semaphore Recording in a few days. Kyle Bruckmann (Pink Mountain, Lozenge), Jeremy Lemos (Semaphore co-owner, engineer, sound guy) and Steve Silverstein (Christmas Decorations, long-time Tape

I grew up near a magical town in the foothills of California called Nevada City. Back when I was in high school we'd see Jonathan Richman walking down the street or Gary Snyder reading his poetry, and the town was full of musicians, artists and interesting people. My friends and I learned to

This is a reissue of the first album by the group of former U.S. G.I.'s with the tonsure haircuts who baffled audiences in Germany with their droney garage rock with weird lyrics and noisy guitar parts. The album has been available in "semi-legit" form on CD for years, but now we get

For sake of honesty I should confess that I recorded a few songs for Transistor Radio, M. Ward's 2005 album, and I consider Matt a friend even if our busy schedules make hanging out difficult! But one can also be a fan of the people they record, and as many of you know it's much easier to

Cracker's ninth studio album. Damn. I'd always made life tough for Cracker in my little world, as I'd been friends with and a fan of David Lowery's previous (but now back) group, Camper Van Beethoven. These bands are different from each other, and a number of Cracker shows and

are really just two, Terri Moeller (Walkabouts drummer) and Paul Austin (Willard Grant Conspiracy). They recorded this at Flora Ave Studio with the fabulous Tucker Martine (look for an article on him soon). This record is like a journey, and the mood is perfect. (www.transmissionarysix.com)