Wanktones - Live At The Fontana Bowlarama
Only once, among my honestly countless number of jobs, did I quit loudly and vitriolically. I had been indirectly ordered (i.e., walk in one morning and find a shiny red binder and a cowardly note) to begin a daily count and weekly total of my work output (what I
Various Artists - Na Mele O Paniolo: Songs of The Hawaiian Cowboy
These songs may once have seen the backside of a steer headed full tilt down the slopes of Mauna Kea, but not lately. This production's new-age romanticism is of the sort that reduces Southwestern Indian culture to pastel macrame dreamcatchers hung with chicken feathers. It's an
Jamie Hartford - What About Yes
Serviceable is one of those adjectives that I would imagine musicians loathe to see attached to their work; it's a word that wouldn't necessarily be taken as a slight until applied to artistry. A couple notches above pedestrian, a few below formidable, and saved for productions
Tommy Keene - Isolation Party
Whether it was intended to be autobiographical in context or not, as a longtime Keene fan, I felt a poignant twinge when I first heard "Never Really Been Gone", track four on Isolation Party, in which he sings: "There was a time that I felt so jaded/
Hangdogs - East Of Yesterday
Let's just cut to the chase: East Of Yesterday is one heck of a good record. Sweet melodies, rockin' guitars, irresistible hooks, twangy steel and fiddle, knowing lyrics, and straight-ahead singing combine to form a string of fine songs propelled by a great sound.
Hailing from New
Nick Lowe - Dig My Mood
Back in 1995, when Nick Lowe was promoting his last superb album, The Impossible Bird, he was asked during a taping of NPR's "Fresh Air" program if he felt his current songs carried less irony than his previous works. Amid some laughter, he responded that while