The Get Hustle’s promo sheet claims that the band has “consistently made albums that amaze.” For once, a publicist’s overblown claims might not have been hyperbole, but for the substitution of one word: though the Get Hustle’s music, as on Rollin’ in the Ruins, is certainly remarkable…
Have no fear: in spite of the nautical-sounding title, The Essex Green’s latest release, Cannibal Sea, comes nowhere near the piratical obsessions of, say, The Decemberists or The Coral. The press materials try to paint Cannibal Sea as some kind of chronicle…
Music reviews tend to be of two types. The first is the type where the reviewer tells you how Artist A sounds like Artist B. The second compares this new material by Artist A with earlier material by Artist A. Both of these review types serve the purpose…
Don Caballero is the 800-pound gorilla in any room where a post-rock prog band is playing. A critic can seat them anywhere he wants, to outmuscle the comparatively awkward drumming of a Sweep the Leg Johnny or a Maserati or to tower over the rhythmic insignificance…
I’m fairly certain that Waits recorded this album, The Rustler, on his 4-track in his apartment. Therefore, you’ve gotta know up front that the production quality on this CD isn’t that great. Regardless, I can’t stop listening to this album…
Based on the novel of the same name, Mike Mills’ cinematic indie hit Thumbsucker tells the story of a teenager who adamantly maintains a habit of sucking his thumb. While other external forces view this as an obstacle that he needs to overcome…
“Ask Me If I Care” starts off the Speeds’ four-song EP with a promising if unoriginal roar: punky but not punk, it’s a high-velocity snarl along the lines of Sahara Hotnights’ “Keep Up The Speed,” full of blaring guitars, a bad attitude and ripped-throat screaming…
On Conditioned by the Laugh Track, Sloppy Meateaters feel like a band that’s trying to rip their way out of their own collective skin. At their core, they’re a Warped Tour-playing pop-punk band that shares the stage with the second-string Blink-182s of the world…
Yep, Mudhoney are still around. I know, I can’t believe it, either. I have to admit that I had really lost track after the band after Tomorrow Hit Today, and I’d assumed that they had gone their separate ways long ago. Boy, is there egg on my face…
Morning Spy is a poppy quartet from San Francisco, and on the band’s new record, The Silver Age, the songs encompass a range of feels, from rocking and energetic to calm and mellow — although even the energy of the loud ones is pretty contained…
For a band that dubs itself “The Fury,” there’s not much these guys seem upset about on their five-song EP, Infinite Jest. Maybe they’re broken up a bit about a lost love (“I’m tired of wasting words that keep me locked inside / I want to say how much your love has pushed me away”)…
Let me start here with a little history of one of my personal musical obsessions. I can remember that after I finally heard Massive Attack’s Mezzanine, I searched for what felt like years…
How in the heck do you take The Streets’ Mike Skinner these days? He started out on Original Pirate Material (and even somewhat on 2004’s A Grand Don’t Come For Free concept album) as a raggedy, rough-around-the-edges, streetwise, lager lout/rapper…
Funny that I review this right after reviewing the Head Wound City EP. Some Girls also features Justin Pearson of that “band” (although only on bass here), along with current and former members of Give Up The Ghost, Unbroken, and The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower…
The first release from this Houston quartet reveals a startlingly well-developed sound. This bold, forceful, thought-provoking EP recalls a whole lineage of loud indie rock, from Mission of Burma and Dinosaur Jr. to Fugazi…
For nearly a decade, the music industry’s armchair quarterbacks waited for “the next Nirvana” — the band that would remind big record labels and radio listeners (again) what decent music sounded like (and that it could be sold to teenagers). When it came, bands that hit the (much smaller, due to hip-hop) rock jackpot…
Funny name, but Novillero’s newest release Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives, is nothing but serious. These guys mean what they say and they aren’t holding anything back…
Seven songs in nine minutes. That alone should give you, Constant Reader, an idea of what lies in store for you here. Just in case that’s not enough of a warning/invitation for you, you should know that Head Wound City features members of the Locust, Blood Brothers, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs…
Yeeaaah. THIS is what “screamo” really is and should be. You won’t find a Funeral Diner CD at your local Hot Topic, that’s for sure. But (or maybe because of that), this is the most incendiary, most cathartic, most real example of this subgenre I’ve heard since…
I’ve mentioned a couple of times in these pages that it seems like Victory is moving away from the hardcore types of music that established the label, in favor of more accessible, poppier fare. I guess The Forecast further proves that point. In all actuality, though, I think Victory is just broadening its roster…
I’m relatively ignorant of Rilo Kiley, Elected frontman Blake Sennett’s “day job” band. Hard to believe, I know, given the amount of RK-love currently floating around out there, but I think I’ve actually heard more of Sennett’s The Elected than I have the other band…
The sixties are alive and well in Aster’s world. The band incorporates understated vocals and infectious harmonies with low-key indie rock, complete with organ, harmonica, and a stripped-down drumkit. “Lift Provider” and “Counter Culture” are the best examples…
Forever the sullen girl, Fiona also seems to have become one with a certain humor. Her newest release, Extraordinary Machine, inspires contradictory imagery: that of a beatnik with a peppy, even somewhat chipper, backing track…
Memphis’ Lucero blends a solid dedication to Southern rock (sans racism) with early country and punk-tinged garage rock (thanks in no small part to producer Jim Dickinson, best known for his work with The Replacements, Big Star, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Bob Dylan…)
I’ve run out of ways to describe what bands sound like. And if you think about it, telling you that one band sounds like another is really a worthless observation. So for the purposes of this review, let’s just say that if you put Lola Ray on a bill with…
No Straight Lines by Private Eleanor is the Baltimore alt-pop band’s third album, and its seems to do well at fitting into what I call the Garden State aesthetic. No, I’m not talking about the fact that Baltimore is near New Jersey — I’m talking about music that could have fit on the soundtrack…
Parker Street Cinema is a three-piece instrumental ensemble from San Francisco; pretty straightforward, but instead of using a guitar, like a standard three-piece, the third person instead rocks out on keyboard. Keyboard player Brian Glover really does rock out, too…
Okay, so I feel like I’m trespassing. Historically, “The Jonah Matranga Guy” here at SCR has always been Mel House — he’s the one who’s reviewed nearly every single thing Matranga’s done up to this point, from Far onward through The Volunteers, and these days…
Did anyone catch that miniseries on Showtime called Masters of Horror? If the answer’s “no,” well, it was a showcase of thirteen one-hour original horror films, each directed by a different classic director (John Carpenter, Dario Argento, John Landis, etc.)…
Y’know, I know that Washington rockers The Makers left any pretense of “punk” behind back in ’98, but since I haven’t had all that much exposure to the post-Hunger version of the band, it’s taken me a long time to adjust somewhat to their swerve into full-on glam rock…
This is heady, trippy stuff from a band that I know absolutely nothing about. But sometimes not knowing anything about a group is better than getting a CD in the mail from an artist that you really love…
Damn. I did it again. I went to a show last night specifically to see Boston rockers Damone, rushing my little girl to bed, throwing on a T-shirt I didn’t mind getting smoky, and blazing like a lunatic down the freeway to the club, all so I could get to the show before 8PM…
Rarely does a band I’ve never really listened to blow me away the first time I see them live. Usually, I have to build up some sort of familiarity with their catalog to really “get into the groove” (so to speak). Criteria, however, had me running to the merch table…
For the true fan of the half-man, half-chicken god of shred known as Buckethead, any new release is cause for celebration. Luckily, he’s been pretty prolific over the years, putting out an astounding body of work while staying as far away…
Holopaw is a low-key post-Elliot Smith sextet. The two singers take turns — one sings as if unsure of himself, with a quaver in his voice, and the other sings more assuredly, though not necessarily more loudly. On Quit +/- or Fight, most of their songs…
The Pacific Northwest is best known for two things: beautiful scenery and rain. Reverb Records, however, is doing its best to put the area on the map for another reason. The Portland label is at the forefront of the American shoegazer movement, and Eugene, OR, act…
What is there to be said about Gas Huffer? Lemonade for Vampires is just immature punk rock coming from a group of guys who have been around for ages. On this latest attempt to create old school-sounding punk rock, though, Gas Huffer has sadly failed…
I had high hopes for this, based on what I’ve heard in the past from John Dufilho’s full-time band, the Deathray Davies, but despite the decent songwriting, his solo debut, I Remain, as Always, a Rabble Rouser from the Mountains, is a bit of a letdown…
As anybody who’s read this little e-zine for a little while probably knows, I’ve been a fan of H-town singer-songwriter Arthur Yoria for a few years now. And upon receiving his latest two releases, a pair of EPs entitled Suerte Mijo and Something Must Be Wrong, I’m reminded why…
One of the most refreshing releases of the year, this Chicago-area band mixes poppy hooks with anthemic, classic rock riffs and a seventies sense of rock ‘n’ roll cool. There’s no garage-y throwbacks here, though. Instead, the band works through radio-friendly alt-rock…
