The last two words of the album title pretty much describes the direction 31 Knots is coming from on their newest release, The Days and Nights of Everything Anywhere. Other than saying that there’s a progressive bent to the proceedings, I’d defy anyone to come up with a categorization for...

Alex Arrowsmith’s October 2006 release, Applewine, is a feat of smart songwriting backed by catchy tunes that form hilarious tracks from a young singer-songwriter already reaching his prime. While he cites the Beatles as his major influence, his website’s claim that he sounds like “The Beatles if they had been...

I ran an experiment on this self-titled, first outing from ashes.are.nutritious by inviting one of my most testosterone-laden buddies over to listen to the first couple tracks.  Tony, my aggressive Italian friend, is of the school for which good music doesn’t generally have to apply when the music can sufficiently...

It's revealed from the band Asono's website, that their name actually derived from the Spanish word sono, which actually means to create sound. After listening to their self-titled EP maybe that should be termed roughly sono grande.  Big arena rock sound and stadium sized crowds is what this band is aiming...

Every time I hear ska, I hear a slice of my untainted youth.  It’s music relegated to a certain “phase” in one’s life; not a musical style a person is inclined to have grow on him/her.  It remains the number one social lubricant between high school band nerds and eccentric...

23 finds Blonde Redhead firmly ensconced in their New Romantic phase --- nothing wrong with that, not at all --- keeping things just familiar enough to entice their fans back and just different enough to keep them there and interested. The East Village mainstays --- improbable as it may seem,...

With an album sleeve covered in hidden messages, and a title dubbed after a town that attracts psychics the way Conor Oberst attracts die-hard indie fans hoping for a life lesson, the expectations for revelatory meaning in Bright Eyes’ seventh album Cassadaga were lofty. Luckily, our anticipation was not in...

Burrito Deluxe’s second album, Disciples of the Truth, is surprisingly pretty good.  It’s country to the core and slightly imitative of more well-known acts such as Kenny Chesney and Brooks & Dunn, but for the most part, the boys of Burrito Deluxe make good on their 12-track album. There is much...

Cloud Cult’s The Meaning of 8 is a smorgasbord of elements found apparent in acts like The Arcade Fire, The Shins, and The Flaming Lips.  However, this is not just a carbon copy recyclable of the genre; being that Cloud Cult is by now the most prolific of the aforementioned...

Out of all the countless band names out there, Cowboy Junkies is by far the coolest. The imagery invoked by the name suggests a cowboy riding off into the sunset and into a purple haze at the same time. Their music also comes closer to the sound of the Velvet...