SWIM DEEP: “WHERE THE HEAVEN ARE WE”
By Erika Firestone Admittance is the first step. Swim Deep, admitting their lust for fame and intentions of changing pop, are the elements that are making this indie rock band from Birmingham, Engla...
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LACK OF COHESIVENESS DOOMS ‘CIVIL WARS’
By Erika Firestone Battling through ambiguity, The Civil Wars self-titled album “The Civil Wars,” is a beautiful production of country folk but lacks any sign of cohesiveness. Stuck in the gravitati...
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ALBUM REVIEW: SPINTO BAND, “COOL COCOON”
There are artists working in the rock and pop worlds that don’t write songs as much as they compose, orchestrate and arrange them. The Spinto Band is one of these acts, placing quintet in rarified a...
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ALBUM REVIEW: JIMMY EAT WORLD — “DAMAGE”
Seven albums into its career, Jimmy Eat World has developed a formula: driving rhythms, with occasional syncopation; crystalline, clanging guitars; and impassioned lyrics and vocals that frequently r...
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VAMPIRE WEEKEND — “MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY”
When Vampire Weekend burst onto the scene with its self-titled debut in 2008, the wise bet was that the band wouldn’t be able to top or equal that breathtaking effort. But here we are, five years and...
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ALBUM REVIEW: THE NATIONAL — “TROUBLE WILL FIND ME”
If there’s a universal message in the music of The National, it’s that it’s OK to not be OK. Elegantly miserable, singer Matt Berninger is at again on “Trouble Will Find Me,” the group’s sixth album a...
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ALBUM REVIEW: TOM KEIFER — “THE WAY LIFE GOES”
Tom Keifer’s blues-drenched voice was a signature sound of 1980s and early ’90s hard rock – a voice that, unfortunately, has been silent for nearly 20 years, with no new recorded output from his band ...
ReadmoreALBUM REVIEW: BRASS BED — “THE SECRET WILL KEEP YOU”
Enveloped in an uneasy haze of steel guitar, Brass Bed tells us, “I never believed it was true/ That life was just something to do” until the day “that death follows through.” It’s not exactly a pep ...
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ALBUM REVIEW: DAWES — “STORIES DON’T END”
While Mumford and Sons and The Avett Brothers have stomped and strummed their way to the forefront of the latest folk revival, Dawes have forged a quieter path. And as the California band shows in it...
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ALBUM REVIEW: ANTHRAX — “ANTHEMS”
Unlike many of its peers in heavy-metal world, Anthrax is a band that has never fallen into the trap of taking itself too seriously. In the past, the New York thrash-metal outfit has filled some of t...
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