Album Review
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Album Review: Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - "The Lion The Beast The Beat"
June 8, 2012
A full range of foot-stompers, piercing hooks, and driving melody
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Film Review: The Punch Brothers - "How to Grow a Band"
June 8, 2012
"How to Grow a Band" reveals the journey that mandolinist Chris Thile took after Nickel Creek imploded under its own weight.
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Album Review: Rory Block - "I Belong to the Band: A Tribute to Rev. Gary Davis"
June 8, 2012
I Belong to the Band is the fourth CD in Rory Block’s “Mentor Series” of recordings, in which she pays tribute to great blues guitarists that she studied in her youth.
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Album Review: M. Ward - "A Wasteland Companion"
May 11, 2012
"A Wasteland Companion" adds another layer to Ward’s catalog of melancholy, gospel-folk upon which he’s crafted a signature sound.
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Album Review: Anders Osborne - "Black Eye Galaxy"
May 11, 2012
Much like the eats you’d find down on Bourbon Street, the music of New Orleans draws from a smorgasbord of influences.
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Album Review: Ned Evett - "Treehouse"
April 6, 2012
Roadhouse boogie, amped-up folk-blues, and swampy ballads on—get this—fretless electric, flattop, and resonator guitars.
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Album Review: The Cult - "Choice of Weapon"
April 6, 2012
Choice of Weapon will likely have Cult devotees—and newbies alike—in disbelief that it’s been almost 30 years since the band broke onto the scene.
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Album Review: Carolina Chocolate Drops - "Leaving Eden"
April 6, 2012
The Piedmont multi-instrumentalists may be of a vanishing breed who call and respond to their ancestors, arranging classics like “Briggs’ Corn Shucking Jig,” dating as far back as 1855.
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Album Review: Prester John - "Rise O' Fainthearted Girls"
April 6, 2012
Underground guitar hero Shawn Persinger and mandolinist David Miller, both remarkable instrumentalists and engaging singers.
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Album Review: Will Bernard - "Outdoor Living"
March 9, 2012
Will Bernard Outdoor Living Dreck to Disk Records It’s hard to describe guitarist Will Bernard’s latest album, Outdoor Living, without using at least a few hyphens. Is it jazz-funk
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Album Review: The Mars Volta - "Noctourniquet"
March 6, 2012
While "Noctourniquet" isn’t your dad’s prog rock, it does provide some Pink Floyd-inspired journeys in its mellower songs.
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Album Review: Every Time I Die - Ex Lives
February 29, 2012
The hardcore rockers from Buffalo take strides forward in their most elaborate album yet, due on March 6.
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Album Review: Wes Montgomery - "Echoes of Indiana Avenue"
February 10, 2012
Wes Montgomery Echoes of Indiana Avenue Resonance Records The recordings on Echoes of Indiana Avenue show an artist still developing a musical voice while on the verge of taking the
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Album Review: Mark Lanegan Band - "Blues Funeral"
February 10, 2012
Lanegan continues a long line of meaningful collaboration, which includes half a decade with QOTSA and three albums with Belle & Sebastian’s Isobel Curtis.
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Album Review: Rodrigo Y Gabriela and C.U.B.A. - "Area 52"
February 10, 2012
The wildly talented Mexican guitar duo selected nine tracks from their last two albums, reworking them with the ace guidance of British jazz pianist Alex Wilson and the 13-piece C.U.B.A. orchestra.
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Album Review: The Little Willies - "For the Good Times"
February 10, 2012
For the Good Times, the band’s second album, is a collection of country and honky tonk classics by the likes of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, and Lefty Frizzell.
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Album Review: Imperial Teen - "Feel the Sound"
February 10, 2012
In true
Imperial Teen fashion, they deliver just
about the perfect blend of bubblegum
fuzz with shimmery guitar, melodic synth,
danceable beats, and happier-than-thou harmonies.
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Album Review: Van Halen - "A Different Kind of Truth"
February 7, 2012
A Different Kind of Truth—the band’s first full album with Roth in 28 years—is the type of truth that raises a lot of questions.
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Album Review: Sean McGowan - "Sphere"
January 10, 2012
It takes a lot of brass to tackle the music of Thelonious Sphere Monk, and when the musician attempting this feat is a solo guitarist, well, that makes the challenge even more daunting.
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Album Review: moe. - "What Happened to the La Las"
January 10, 2012
On their new album, What Happened to the La Las, the band balances the accessibility of sing-along choruses with fierce guitar playing from Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey.
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