David Musto spent 2008-2010 writing his own music blog where he wrote album and concert reviews, as well as revisited classic albums and artists and analyzed their place in the pantheon of popular music. He is currently the editor of Hannibal Collector a blog about the perils and passions of collecting. You can follow him on Twitter @TipSacredCows
This is no mere coffee table book. While there are plenty of pictures, there is also a good amount of substance with autobiographical info, recording details, and a complete gigography.
There is something instantly familiar and appealing about Chicago’s brightest new band, Bare Mutants, the prom band you’ve always wanted.
At under 7 minutes of running time, you’d be surprised at how much time you’ll want to spend listening to it.
The band could have just done properly recorded versions of these songs and fans would have just ate them up but they fleshed out and perfected these sought after tracks.
Newman takes a wide left turn from the expected.
The weren’t the Ramones but I didn’t hear any complaints.
This trio is also capable of top notch quirky indie pop.
One of the very best 7” singles this year, Nones’ debut LP should be impatiently awaited.
The band is almost exactly the abandoned love child of My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus And Mary Chain and that is awesome.
Angel Olsen cements a reputation as a skilled and soulful siren with heartstring-tugging songs.
Just when you thought the dream pop revival was getting stale, Wild Nothing shakes it all up.
A surprisingly good album full of cool tracks of the fun or sinister variety.
So, maybe they took the album title from Best Coast but Koko Beware is the new title holder of best beach band.
The most complete and enjoyable album of new material Susanna Hoffs has ever released, including Bangles records.
Jen Schande opens a nineties time capsule and reminds us what we’ve been missing.
An album that turns down the volume a bit still has some rambunctious moments.
With new bass player, the experimental rock supergroup returns with new album and tour.
In less deft hands, all the style-hopping would just seem that the artist was trying to show off but in the hands of Saraiya, it all makes a weird kind of sense.
Cold, calculating, angry, and everything you want from a Fear Factory record.
The Men deliver the best Matador subscription single so far. No surprise because they’re great.
Energy in the building was kind of uneven in the early going, akin to the slow build the the band walked out to but the slow start was more than negated by the rails coming off in the end, in the best way possible.
Powell & The Exports have served up a fine brand of soulful, catchy rock that grows on you more with every listen.
It had been a long five years, waiting for any release from Airiel, and this has not been a disappointment. Would a full-length be preferable? Yes, but in this case, quality trumps quantity.
Second album from Tortoise member and experimental guitarist balance bombast and drone.
I can honestly say that I have never seen anything quite like this and may never again. But I’m sure as hell going to try.
A lot of energy come out of the duo on the fourth entry in their 7” series.
As I think most fans of Dinosaur Jr would, I went into my first listen with great trepidation.
Ambient drone with more in common with post-rock. Records like this, when done well (as this certainly was), become kind of a Choose Your Own Adventure.
Since the death of Elliott Smith, there is been a gaping hole in my musical heart for a singer/songwriter of gorgeous emo rock. Here, Rocky Votolato submits his application.
A brief cross-section of material from Austin’s answer to Jay Reatard.
There are no Bushes to be burned but still Relapse excels when making a point and drills it into the listener’s head and the loudest voice gets heard.
Traditional pop song structures filtered through the artistic mind of Ranaldo make for great results.
Bird delivers an album that invites you in and embraces you in a completely unawkward manner.
Big, boisterous hardcore sound collides into pop sensibility and explodes to form The Men’s brilliant third album.
This record beats you like a blunt instrument and finishes you off.
One shouldn’t need prodding to listen to this abundantly melodic EP with just the proper amount of fuzz.
I won’t even attempt to follow that with some sad, blurry cell phone pics taken from the balcony. I will, however, regale you with some words.
The Melismatics are so palatable that even the most sour critic will have a tough time not becoming enamored with their irresistible brand of indie pop.
Shifting back away from the heavier rock of their latest LP, this release delivers some mostly excellent results.
What makes this film special is the rare opportunity to chronicle an emerging punk rock artist on his ride to stardom only for him to fall and never live to see his legendary potential.
The album is supposed to evoke the feeling of the end of a relationship. And since it is not as fun as the start led me to believe, I guess that makes sense.
In our jaded times, Young Jesus proves that Home can be where the heart is.
The album is good on the whole but the band’s celestial aura is fading.
Al Jourgensen’s country alter ego has delivered his best non-Ministry effort in ages.
While not nearly as bombastically poppy as their debut, there are still moments of big fun but also some surprisingly poignant moments worth experiencing.
The second coming of Naked Raygun? I don’t know but these guys are good.
A collection of shelved material turns out to be a treasure trove.
It’s accessible and relatable because who hasn’t had a few years of living dangerously.
Happy Black Friday. If you go anywhere to shop today, head to your local indie record store and give thought to this, the second Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings review of the week.
An album against cheap fuel and capitalism, it actually is indisposable.
White Wives demonstrate really anthemic songwriting chops with very interesting concepts and influences, mainly from the Provo Movement of the 1960’s.
This former Revolting Cock reinvents himself by taking a fresh approach to the past.
It’s important to keep your expectations in check since this is a mixtape but his talent is so much greater than most hip-hop artists that even his leftovers are better than those artists’ singles.
This is easily Iced Earth’s best collection of tunes since 1998. If you jumped off the bandwagon like I did, now’s the time to get back on.
Like Deerhunter’s debut for 4AD last year, this is my favorite in Atlas Sound’s respective catalog.
Take this for what it is: a great band dialing it in to fulfill a commitment. But with some great tracks in spite of themselves.
This DVD is an essential for any Jesus Lizard fan as well as a primer for those who were always curious about the band but too afraid to ask.
Sludge riffing combined with atmospheric foreboding makes this an interesting debut EP.
Mostly gone is the flamboyance that is sure to piss off more than a few diehards. The raw, dangerous, funk element is missing. But with The Great Escape Artist, Jane’s Addiction proved that they can age gracefully and still be relevant.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s ninth album is full of unsettling beauty and unabashed emotion. It is not for the faint of heart.
This is one of those bittersweet moments where I get to chastise Jerry Only for another lackluster effort but, at the same time, I am panning a Misfits album.
If this was an EP of the first five songs, it would be magic. However…
There are so many shoegazey bands at this point that I don’t feel like I have any room for more in my life. Well, let me squeeze I Break Horses in somewhere because Hearts is wonderful.
Chicago trio Ornery Little Darlings’ full-length debut is definitely an interesting listen. Nearly every song evokes a different influence. The album is so diverse that it borders on identity crisis.
Cymbals Eat Guitars’ sophomore album is an even more challenging, rewarding, and enjoyable listen than their debut.
As an EP, this 12” would have been better off as a 7” split of the NASA tracks.
While they lacked the garage punk punch of the Reatards and some of Jay Reatard’s quirky catchiness, Jay’s next best band had some gems too.
Follow That Bird burst onto the national scene last year with the lead track on Matador Records’ Casual Victim Pile comp and their first 7” whets the appetite even more for a full-length.
Bauer may have cemented himself among the top indie folk acts with this album.
With his third solo effort, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore makes his most mature effort to date.
The Gospel of Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) is a series of hymns worth preaching.
Some post-rock bands choose to concentrate on bright sounds of hope while others try to capture what doom feels like. This Will Destroy You falls into both categories.
Misogynistic, crude, racist, and generally offensive. But what did you expect from the final backing band of GG Allin? Did you even look at the cover? If you’re looking for subtlety, look away.
Boogie Monster packs a megaton of sounds, both loud and pleasing, and offers you something more with every listen.
With each track, we are allowed a glimpse into a world of heartbreak and honesty, confessions from a journal set to music and shared with whoever dares to hear them. Each song is stripped down to the barest essentials: a woman, her guitar, and her soul.
For those who haven’t witnessed the sheer blitzkrieg of noise that emanates from just these two men, you can’t be prepared for it. The crowd was struck and bludgeoned by the mighty Lightning Bolt.
A 7” that revels and succeeds in its minimalism and honesty.
Hunx And His Punx have captured what I imagined a trip to the corner malt shop in the 1950’s to be like. This is an excellent and fuzzy update of classic 50’s American pop.
Busted At Oz is an essential time capsule of Chicago’s under-appreciated punk scene.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart’s sophomore album would be a perfect soundtrack to a John Hughes teen flick remake.
The debut from Jace Lasek’s Besnard Lakes side project, The Soft Province, strips down the ethereal and some magic is lost. The straightforwardness of the songs will be refreshing to those who find the Besnard Lakes too sprawling.
Lia Ices’ sophomore is, in a word, gorgeous. It glows warm, so bask in it.
The Junkies cover the late, great Vic Chesnutt in the second volume of four in their “Nomad Series”.
One hell of a performance filled with amazing songs and movie quotes. The David Koresh jokes were practically redundant since most of the crowd, myself included of course, was already drinking the Kool-Aid.
Whether you want to recapture the days of Echo & The Bunnymen or looking to get lost in a daydream, let By The Hedge be the soundtrack. There’s much to enjoy.
Dye It Blonde is wistful, fun, and a great album that sounds perfectly at home on my turntable.
Labirinto weaves a tapestry of strings, clean and distorted guitars, a few drums, and an occasional banjo. Band leader and songwriter Erick Cruxen blends the most pure musical parts of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the plotting picking of Explosions In The Sky, and a few assaulting moments worthy of Russian Circles. This being their first full-length release also leads one to believe that the band has the potential to rank among these highly regarded groups.
Half of Forgive Yr. Blood could very easily fit on a soundtrack to a modern western, while other songs come across as soulful deconstructions of tunes from John Hughes teen flicks. There’s some folk, some indie pop, and what could have been a backing track from the Beastie Boys‘ Check Your Head. Even with all of these flavors, there is no hint of pretentiousness.
On December 14th, Epic Records will be releasing Michael, a collection of 10 songs that had to have been unfinished at the time of the King Of Pop’s death. This is a clear case of “can we” versus “should we”.
At BOTB, the openers have largely become unbearable, thereby propping Danzig up further into metal god status because his set is so much better. The issue is that Danzig doesn’t need any propping up. The rumors of his voice deteriorating are mostly unfounded. And at 55, that he can do live what he does vocally is impressive. Live, the songs are better because studio effects are getting in the way of Evil Elvis’s roar.
With all of the Shes & Hims out there with their male troubadour leading the non-musician ingenue by the hand, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan are a refreshing change of pace. Their performance is disarming and captivating.
Bad Religion reinforces their legendary status while the Circle Jerks give their critics more fodder.
I hope fans and newcomers alike can exercise some patience when hearing this. I think the average fan of No Age will be satisfied by the first half of the album but those who want something more will be pleasantly surprised by the second and plenty of Everything In Between.
Tour-only vinyl single rocks out with covers of the Television Personalities and “The Boss”.
Pavement‘s money grab should be commended, not condemned. I consider myself lucky that they cared enough to cash in.
Blonde Redhead return with their eighth and most listenable album. It comes across as a soundtrack to a movie not yet made or background music to everyday life.
Gone are the ominous atmospheres on the third full-length from the team of former member of Belle And Sebastian, Isobel Campbell, and the Screaming (and uprooted) Tree, Mark Lanegan. What is left is a more sparsely textured album that is honest and occasionally beautiful.
Are You My Mother? is Calder’s appropriately and off-puttingly titled solo debut. It was recorded at a home studio built so that she could record and care for her ailing mother, Lynn. As expected, there is a ton of emotion. But the album is less a eulogy than a tribute. This New Pornographer strips naked…emotionally.
With their fifteenth studio album, The Final Frontier, Iron Maiden follow their tried and true blueprint of the three aforementioned chords and triplet-heavy riffs. But the album, like the last three, is too slick. Blame Kevin Shirley, blame Steve Harris, blame Pro Tools, the result is the same. This time, the songs just aren’t as good.
Six years have passed since Autolux spearheaded a shoegaze revival. But now that the revival is going full bore, is there still a place for Autolux?
Nathan Williams channels his inner Jay Reatard along with Reatard’s rhythm section.
The New Pornographers came to the windy city with their full lineup and regaled the crowd with their special brand of indie pop rocks.
To call Best Coast lo-fi ’60s revival pop is putting it too simply. Imagine Liz Phair is the lead singer of the Vivian Girls and she’s been taking singing lessons from Neko Case and the album was written during heavy listening of Phil Spector-produced works.