Buddy – Last Call for the Quiet Life by Ira Leonard Sometimes it takes a band a few tries to figure out exactly what kind of album they want to make. And sometimes they need to give themselves a “mulligan” album in the process. Such was the case for the Los Angeles-based (yet Portland born) […]
The West @ the Crocodile, Sat. August 9th Preview by Dagmar The West The West, one of Seattle’s best and exciting bands, headlines the Crocodile tomorrow night to celebrate the release of their latest, Never the Place! They’re danceable, clever synth-disco and I love them. Fans actually dance to their songs at the West’s shows, […]
Album Review: Swans‘ To Be Kind by Nick Nihil Swans’ To Be Kind Over the course of their 30+ year history it’d be absurd to imply that Swans had ever wanted for confidence, but their latest (and possibly best) offering, To Be Kind, finds an even greater degree of swagger and seems to have, dare […]
The Raveonettes – PE’AHI Review by Nick Nihil The Raveonettes’ PE’AHI One of the most basic elements of composing music, one of the easiest to understand conceptually yet hardest to master, is theme and variation; the method of performing a passage, a melody, a theme, and then returning to it while evolving it, looking at […]
Album Review: Fox and the Law‘s Stoned to Death by Ira Leonard Fox and the Law – photo by Eleanor Petry “You can’t beat two guitars, bass, and drums.” This oft-repeated Lou Reed quote taken from the liner notes of his 1989 classic New York album would certainly seem to be an audacious claim had […]