I make absolutely no excuses for finding total pleasure in Toby Keith’s take-no-prisoners, buck-the-system, good-time-Charlie tunes. He’s a grown man who sings grown-man songs, and if any proof is needed, I suggest turning up the volume of his new album, Drinks After Work, right from the first track, the sublimely later-era ZZ Top-esque dirt-rocker “Shut […]
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Music Made Me: Chase Kerby
Photo: Doug Schwarz Jeff Buckley, Grace (1994) As cliché as it has become to say that you’re a Buckley fan, I’ll never stop admitting it. This was one of those records I got at the perfect time in my life. His lyrics are poetry, and his melodies are undeniably brilliant. He’s also the one who […]
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Nu sounds
Photo: Sebastien Paquet Twenty years and 11 albums in, Korn is as loud as ever. Backstage, though, things are much quieter, and the toned-down partying has the metal outfit refocused and rejoined by founding guitarist — and born-again Christian — Brian “Head” Welch after an 8-year absence. “I came back and it’s like old times, […]
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It’s a comeback! Maybe.
The Yukon-raised country megastar “retired” after his album, Scarecrow, was released in 2001. Yet a message on his website hinted at a potential return, reading, “It has begun …” It’s not clear what “it” is, but website Country Music Tattle Tale claims 51-year-old Brooks will release a new album and embark on a tour next […]
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Somerset West — Black Cloud
Coming off a lengthy hiatus, the band’s passionate take on rock music (lining up neatly alongside acts like Brand New, Taking Back Sunday and Manchester Orchestra) is back in vogue, thanks to the “emo revival” now in full swing. Black Cloud brings most of the same touchstones found in its 2010 release, The Golden Land, […]
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Married with music
And it’s all done in a way that sounds devoid of polish or stuffy flamboyance. The project is the brainchild of Wil Norton and Danny Davis, two Oklahoma Christian University graduates who bonded over Super Smash Bros. and a common musical thread — though their histories wouldn’t suggest the latter. Norton, 26, cut his teeth […]
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Blades of gory
As Austin outfit The Sword would tell it, it’s a good time to be a heavy metal band. “People are finally trying some different stuff in heavy metal and hard rock,” frontman J.D. Cronise said. “All too often, bands rely on the traditional way … but traditional metal is funny to me because it’s a […]
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Slaid, Slaid songs
Roots rocker Slaid Cleaves’ influences are all of the usual suspects expected from someone of his songwriting ilk: Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash and Bruce Springsteen. But it was a youthful listen to one of his father’s Hank Williams albums that set Cleaves on his songwriting path. “I listened to those lonesome, sad songs, and it […]
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Brian Haas / Matt Chamberlain — Frames
That an artist would become enamored with divination after moving to the sprawling, mountain-laden countryside on the outskirts of Santa Fe, N.M., makes perfect sense. So, too, does Frames. While not improvised, per se, the album does toe the line between boundlessness and structure. A methodically composed exercise through the tempered scale, Frames clocks in […]
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The Younglings — The Younglings
The album bounds to a start with a drum cascade firmly out of the Queens of the Stone Age bible before making a firm turn with an old-school guitar riff that devolves into sparse verses and fleshed-out choruses. “Take My Hand” follows a similar path, if lighter and prettier, that veers into snotty series of […]