Full Light Records If Garth Brooks were to make a predominantly acoustic album, it would probably sound a lot like Darrell Scott’s “The Invisible Man.” Concerned mostly with spirituality and everyday struggles, Scott has created a collection of anthems that straddle the line between country, contemporary bluegrass, pop and even rock. The opening “Hank […]
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Current 93-Black Ships Ate the Sky
Durtro/Jnana Like Antony Hegarty and his Johnsons, Current 93’s “Black Ships Ate the Sky” comes from a place so dark, it’s hard to imagine the melodious cubism being consistently imagined by the artists (in this case, industrial veteran David Tibet and the many guests introduced here). Here, “Sunset” bows down to cello with chivalric Tibetan […]
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Tab Benoit-Brother to the Blues
Telarc How can I not say nice things about a guy who does a fantastic cover of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me,” without a doubt one of the best songs ever? The answer is, I can’t. “Brother to the Blues,” guitarist Tab Benoit’s new album, mixes blues, country, rock ‘n’ roll […]
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Frank Black-Fast Man Raider Man
Back Porch The ongoing metamorphosis of Frank Black takes another interesting turn in “Fast Man Raider Man,” a two-disc outing in which the former Pixies front man veers further away from the diabolical shrieks that made him famous. Like last year’s “Honeycomb,” this latest batch of songs from Black brings together an assemblage of […]
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Dr. John-Right Place, Right Time: Live at Tipitina’s – Mardi Gras ’89
Hyena/Skinji Brim A lot of New Orleans music tends to have several common qualities: kinda jazzy, kinda funky and lotsa fun. One of the best-known ambassadors of the New Orleans sound, Dr. John, and his music tend to embody these same qualities. That’s more than evident on “Right Place, Right Time,” the newly released […]
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We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen
2005 Nihilism, not rebellion, tended to guide the punk rock that exploded on the West Coast in the Eighties. But three guys from San Pedro, Calif., had something different in mind. Forming a band called the Minutemen, the trio of D. Boon, Mike Watt and George Hurley cranked out angular art-punk stuffed with tasty […]
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V for Vendetta: Special Edition
2006 Perhaps my biggest complaint about the Wachowski brothers-scripted “V for Vendetta” is that it reduces the ideas of rebellion and terrorism to prosaic speeches, delivered just before punching the detonator; passionate concepts about change are espoused but they’re empty theatrics “? you’re not incited to do much beyond crunch some more popcorn. It’s […]
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Sonic Youth-Rather Ripped
Geffen It’s hard to hate an album when the hottest bassist in rock history tells her daughter “you keep me coming home again” while Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo tightly wind the baby’s stationary with deft riffs, classic Sonic Youth guitar atmospherics and drums that rumble and subdue with ease. But this album isn’t […]
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Stolen Babies-There Be Squabbles Ahead
No Comment Stolen Babies is a four-piece art school outfit from sunny Los Angeles, where a lot of it happens. Stolen Babies’ debut CD is a fantastic combo platter of circus music, old school horror movie jams, pop, goth, new wave, funk-rock, hardcore, screamcore, show-hall jazz and fierce rock ‘n’ roll. Lead singer Dominique […]
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Electric Edwardians: The Lost Films of Mitchell & Kenyon
2006 Forget Blu-ray or HD DVD “? the most staggering digital images I’ve yet seen this year originated over 100 years ago. Thought to be lost to the ages, the astonishing recovery of footage shot by pioneering English filmmakers Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon has been described as the cinematic equivalent of discovering Tutankhamen’s tomb. […]