July 2010

Event Reviews

Tim Fite

Tim Fite demonstrates to a Chicago crowd that a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down.

Off With Their Heads

Encores at tiny punk rock shows?! They're rare, but Jen Cray and a whole bunch of hungry fans dug this one.

Screeching Weasel

As Carl F Gauze reports, every Mohawk and black t-shirted punk in Central Florida dropped in to pogo at the feet of Screeching Weasel and The Queers at the Hard Rock in Orlando.

Silversun Pickups

Jen Cray was absorbed in Silversun Pickups' sonic swirl of gorgeous distortion and dreamy pop as the band opened its summertime tour at Orlando's Hard Rock Live.

Surfer Blood

Surfer Blood stole the headlining spot right out from under tour mates The Pains of Being Pure at Heart for a semi-hometown Orlando gig, but Jen Cray doesn't think that they earned it.

Though The Melvins were official headliners, soon-to-be defunct Isis stepped in as the closing band for a Philadelphia show that shook the rafters of the TLA. Get the scoop on the show and read Mike Hanan's revealing chat with Isis frontman Aaron Turner. That's a twofer, folks!

Too Fast For Love Tour

Ian Koss has seen the future of boy bands, and boy, does it have one #&@% of a potty mouth. Skip the bar, and settle in for the latest batch of music to piss off your parents.

Interviews

Tom Casino

After spending decades as a session musician, Bay Area blues artist Tom Casino carves his own identity in the aging genre by adding drunken wit and Ramones pop-punk to the mix.

Music Reviews

Alejandro Escovedo

Street Songs of Love (Concord Records). Review by James Mann.

Athlete

Black Swan (Original Signal). Review by Tim Wardyn.

The Beatin's

A Little Give and Take (Civilian Art Projects). Review by Matthew Moyer.

Danny Barnes

Pizza Box (ATO Records). Review by Tim Wardyn.

Dragonforce

Valley of the Damned & Sonic Firestorm (Spinefarm Records). Review by Tim Wardyn.

Ed Harcourt

Lustre (Nice Music Group). Review by Sean Slone.

Foghat

Last Train Home (Foghat Records). Review by Matt Parish.

Gary Wright

Connected (Larkio Music). Review by Matt Parish.

Goatsnake

Flower of Disease (Southern Lord). Review by Carl F Gauze.

Indian Jewelry

Totaled (Monitor). Review by Matthew Moyer.

James Holden

DJ-Kicks (!K7 records). Review by Carl F Gauze.

John Prine

In Person and on Stage / Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows (Oh Boy Records). Review by Carl F Gauze.

Kode9

DJ Kicks (!K7 records). Review by Carl F Gauze.

Neverever

Angelic Swells (Slumberland). Review by Jen Cray.

Pumice

Persevere (Soft Abuse). Review by Aaron Shaul.

The Gary

Logan (Cedar Fever Records). Review by Eric J. Iannelli.

Twilight

Monument to Time End (Southern Lord). Review by Matthew Moyer.

Various Artists

Twistable, Turnable Man: A Musical Tribute to Shel Silverstein (Sugar Hill Records). Review by Tim Wardyn.

B003J7HOJG

To Rococo Rot

Speculation (Domino Recording Co). Review by Carl F Gauze.

Music B

Band of Horses

Infinite Arms (Columbia). Review by Sean Slone.

Music C

Club 8

The People's Record (Labrador). Review by Carl F Gauze.

Cotton Jones

Rio Ranger EP (Quite Scientific). Review by Aaron Shaul.

Steve Cropper and Felix Cavaliere

Midnight Flyer (Stax). Review by Carl F Gauze.

Music D

Dark Meat

Truce Opium (Emergency Umbrella). Review by Michael Crown.

Music H

Hexes and Ohs

Bedroom Madness (Noise Pop). Review by Matthew Moyer.

Music L

Emily Long

Cosmetic Liquor Love Songs EP. Review by Al Pergande.

Gary Lucas and Dean Bowman

Chase the Devil (Knitting Factory). Review by James Mann.

Music N

The New Pornographers

Together (Matador). Review by Sean Slone.

Music R

Rasputina

Sister Kinderhook. Review by Carl F Gauze.

Music S

Dan Sartain

Dan Sartain Lives (One LIttle Indian). Review by Jen Cray.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Up From Below (Community). Review by jeff schweers.

Small Black

Small Black EP (Jagjaguwar). Review by Matthew Moyer.

Angelo Spencer

Et Les Haut Sommets (K). Review by Carl F Gauze.

Music W

The Whigs

In The Dark (ATO). Review by Joe Frietze.

Print Reviews

Undeleted Scenes

Jeffrey Brown draws his life in very small panels.

The Secret Life of Glenn Gould

It wasn't all Bach and hypochondria in the life of mercurial pianist Glenn Gould. Shelton Hull finds this new biography awash in details of the great musician's love life and other psychological insights.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Another inside Tell All about the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, and the deadly Altamont Concert told by road manager Sam Cutler.

Modern Masters 24: Guy Davis

Carl F Gauze digs TwoMorrows' Modern Masters interview with cartoonist Guy Davis, despite the artist's nipple defect.

500 45s

Do you remember sifting through the 45 bin back in the day and that one cover caught your eye and you just had to have it? That feeling is what 500 45s is about. Tim Wardyn is pointedly interested in at least one cover in particular.

Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah

Tim Footman's biography describes the sexual, intellectual, depressing romantic that is Leonard Cohen, leaving Jessica Whittington no choice but to put a little whipped cream on it and eat every word with a spoon.

Superf*ckers

James Kochalka's Superf*ckers is a raunchy, dark, proudly toilet-humored takedown of every superhero team going. Matthew Moyer recommends you keep this one out of kids' reach.

Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen

Author Jimmy McDonough is no stranger to tortured artists, difficult personalities, and musicians in hopeless thrall to their muses. Tammy Wynette was long dead by the time McDonough pondered this book, but Matthew Moyer thinks the distance makes it even more special and sacred.