5.22.2012

Sun Kil Moon, Among the Leaves [Boston Phoenix]

The first thing you'll notice about Mark Kozelek's fifth LP as Sun Kil Moon are song titles that would give Morrissey a boner: "I Know It's Pathetic But That Was the Greatest Night of My Life," natch, or "Not Much Rhymes with Everything's Awesome at All Times."

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5.16.2012

The Figgs, The Day Gravity Stopped [Boston Phoenix]

These days Mike Gent, Pete Donnelly, and Pete Hayes are involved in enough extracurricular activities (Graham Parker, NRBQ, countless side/session-men gigs) that you could hardly blame them if they closed their two decades-plus Figgs chapter.

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5.07.2012

Billy Bragg + Wilco, Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions [Boston Phoenix]

In 1998, and again in 2000, English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg teamed up with Wilco— not yet on their post-Americana trip — to put unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics to music.

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4.25.2012

Rufus Wainwright, Out of the Game [Boston Phoenix]

Out of the Game is being billed as the most "pop" album of Rufus Wainwright's career, which is to say that it dismisses many of his trademark classical and/or stagey affinities.

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The Dandy Warhols, This Machine [Boston Phoenix]

The title of the Dandy Warhols' eighth record may be a Woody Guthrie allusion, but don't fret — the closest the Portland, Oregon, band get to politics here is a cover of Merle Travis's "16 Tons."

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4.11.2012

Quakers, Quakers [Boston Phoenix]


No, this isn't the theological rap supergroup you've been pining for. Portishead's Geoff Barrow, d/b/a Fuzzface, is but one of many cooks — 35, by one count — in the kitchen of Quakers, a deep-groove, deep-thought hip-hop collaborative debuting on the venerable Stones Throw label.

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4.09.2012

Dr. John, Locked Down [Boston Phoenix]


The Night Tripper, circa 2012: big fat funky drums, Nuggets-psych organs, ladies in the background going "Yeah-eahh!," woozy/honking brass.

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3.30.2012

Johnny Cash, The Soul of Truth: Bootleg Vol. IV [Boston Phoenix]


Unlike his pal Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash didn't merely flirt with a gospel phase or release an album or two of spiritually charged music.

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3.14.2012

The Shins, Port of Morrow [Boston Phoenix]


Meet the new Shins. Same as the old Shins? Kinda sorta.

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3.08.2012

Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball [Boston Phoenix]

There was a time when Bruce Springsteen didn't need rousing choirs, swelling orchestrations, or repetitive Pogues poses to broadcast anthemic populist subversion.

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