Ropeadope Records Fuzzed-out, rock-infested, funk-strewn jazz: That’s what’s on “Copperopolis,” the latest album from Charlie Hunter, who remains one of the few truly innovative-yet-accessible jazz musicians on the scene today. With two familiar cats by his side’ Derrek Phillips on drums and John Ellis lending not only his always killer horn work, but also some […]
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Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet-Husky
Hyena Records “Husky,” the new studio album from sax man Skerik and his Syncopated Taint Septet, takes a few listens for the traditional jazz fan to adjust to it, but quickly becomes compelling. Skerik is becoming a mainstay on the modern jazz scene, having worked with the likes of Charlie Hunter, Ivan Neville, Stanton […]
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The Meat Purveyors-Someday Soon Things Will Be Much Worse!
Bloodshot Records If Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver were mean drunks, they would be The Meat Purveyors. When last I saw them six years ago in Dallas, Jo Stanli Walston was ripping through roots songs about pain and resentment as if she was confronting the audience for doing her wrong. Though the band has tempered that […]
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Long Distance Runner-The Fire of Cumulative Hours
Existential Sounds Perhaps the best argument for the melding of man and machine since Steve Austin went bionic is “The Fire of Cumulative Hours” EP from Long Distance Runner. Essentially a one-man show starring Portland-based K. Briggs, “Cumulative” marks a masterful DIY debut of breakbeat electronica, both imaginative and playful, like the best of DJ […]
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John Legend-Once Again
Sony Urban Soulful vocalist and ubiquitous music-video fixture John Legend follows his acclaimed debut “Get Lifted” with “Once Again,” an equally mellow sophomore album and one which doesn’t alter his proven formula so much as stretch it in subtle new directions. Legend is understandably more visible this time around and his terrific first single, […]
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My Chemical Romance-The Black Parade
Reprise Taking a page from the Green Day playbook in a transparent bid for critical and commercial validation, New Jersey-based punk-poppers My Chemical Romance have unleashed the ambitious, somber “The Black Parade.” Overdosed on Pink Floyd and Queen to a spectacular degree, My Chemical Romance spend much of their third full-length album providing a nation […]
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Sean Lennon-Friendly Fire
Capitol I’d imagine being of Beatles stock is both a blessing and a burden’ on one hand, you’ve got an impeccable pedigree; on the other, there’s not much margin for error, which would explain why John Lennon’s sons have stepped cautiously into creative arenas. Sean Lennon, whose debut record, “Into the Sun,” dropped way […]
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John Ellis-By a Thread
Hyena Records This is some solid jazz. When he’s not been collaborating with guitar maestro Charlie Hunter, saxophonist John Ellis has found time to start recording albums with his own quintet, lately for Hyena Records. On “By a Thread,” his second album for the New York label, Ellis and his crew weave elements of […]
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Jay Bennett-The Magnificent Defeat
Rykodisc Jay Bennett is best known as that dude that got kicked out of Wilco in that film about Wilco. One could get booted from worse bands, but the whole debacle has haunted Bennett, who has released three albums that hint at his gifts but mainly underscore why he was an excellent sideman. Perhaps […]
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Crackjaw-Giants From the Stereo
I Scream Records Michigan’s Crackjaw is making pop-punk with metal sprinkled on top. This particular style is a big cash cow and Crackjaw could be the next Fall Out Boy’ if you dig those guys, run with the speed of a bullet to the local CD shop and get Crackjaw to go. “Giants from […]