Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Abigail Hopkins follows up her acclaimed debut album Smile Road, with her sophomore album Blue Satin Alley. Smile Road was a much more cheerful-sounding album, but Blue Satin Alley still contains Hopkins’s mesmerizing gritty sound, reminiscent of PJ Harvey, an artist who she lists as an influence and one who ...

Immediately upon popping in the sophomore album of this Wisconsin native, one thing is obvious: she was incredibly influenced by Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks. While I think Taylor's voice is more powerful, I can hear a bit of Stevie in there... I was especially impressed with the tracks Nobody Else ...

Oh, how I wanted to love this CD. I’ve always had a secret hankering for the deep-throated bass that is Barry White. My obsession was similar to Peter MacNicol’s character on Ally McBeal: each time he’s played on the radio, I start swaying my shoulders and tapping my foot. But, ...

Brush is a five-man band from Seattle whose debut album Love Sublime is a refreshing break from the pop/indie sound that’s become fairly typical. They mix fantastic, catchy, poppy guitar rhythms with a piano and interesting synth and keyboard generated clicks and beeps to create track after track, a ...

Greatest hits compilations are always a mixed bag.  Devotees usually don’t get much out of them.  They have already compiled the tracks on the original albums, and normally there’s no need to shell out more dough and revisit their childhood.  The other category of listener, the wandering passerby who has ...

The San Francisco artist Divasonic (Lynda Arnold and friends) first release Changing Wind is an interesting mix of pop, folk and, dare I say, new-age? I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this album, and as a guy who likes to listen to a lot of Nine Inch Nails, ...

There is an interesting story behind the release of The One Who's Leavin'. Doug Spartz, following his critically acclaimed AMERICAN STORIES, LIES, AND TALES in 2006, was diagnosed with cancer and suffered a heart attack. While still in the hospital, Spartz booked studio time and began planning the recording of ...

Van Halen is on tour. Nikki Sixx has a new CD. Power ballads are all over the radio. Here come the 1980s. That’s not a bad thing. The whole hair band/ heavy metal thing kind of disappeared before everyone was ready for it to go away, and it took a ...

The release of Storm Chaser by Erasure both asks and answers the question, “Was this really necessary?” The answer is, “That depends.” Storm Chaser is an EP containing remixes, radio edits, extended mixes, blahblahblahblahblah, of a few of the tracks from Erasure’s most recent CD release, LIGHT AT THE END OF THE WORLD. If ...

What a refreshing group. Foreign Born started in San Francisco late in the summer of 2003, but soon relocated to Los Angeles. After forming, they released their debut single We Had Pleasure, and later recorded and released their debut EP, entitled In The Remote Woods, on Star Time International Records. ...

Anthony Gallucio has been a star on the Philadelphia music scene for years. Finally, his debut album as simply Gallucio, All For You, gives him a chance to garner acclaim from the rest of the country. First and foremost, Gallucio brings top notch guitar to the fold. It’s ...

What can you say about Heart that hasn’t already been said? They are one of the very first female rock groups, and they are still going strong. This release is proof of that, as Ann and Nancy Wilson rock out on this combo CD/DVD release. Ann Wilson, quite possibly one ...

Immovable Objects debut release, Hoping It Stays Just This Broken is a fair, consistent album with an ultimately “surreal” aftertaste. This one-manned band, Matt Gagin, plays all instruments and wrote most of the lyrics heard on the album, but is accompanied by a long list of guest musicians and singers. ...

If you turn on the newest work of Jeremy Jay, you might think you’ve grabbed the wrong disc. Airwalker, a six song EP, sounds more like a vinyl straight out of the sixties than anything to come along in recent memory. The first thing that might come to ...

I’ve had a tough time writing this review of Revival, the latest John Fogerty CD. My problem goes to the heart of this project, which inarguably contains some of the best songs that Fogerty has produced in years. A great deal of publicity has preceded this ...

John Ralston is spontaneous and imaginative musician with a passion to make it big. This Florida-based musician sings raspy vocals and plays the guitar while an ever-changing, impromptu band plays a large assortment of instruments for him. Sorry Vampire is Ralston’s second full-length album. It’s a difficult album to review ...

Jona Lewie has a nice sound, he really does.  All the songs are wispy and light, like an afternoon tea.  Sometimes this simplicity is fittingly serene, but other times it is frustratingly mellow.  Occasionally, I wanted Lewie to bust out and increase the beats a bit.  Alas, I was hoping ...

When I first heard the acoustic version of Kevin Michael’s We All Want the Same Thing I was ecstatic. I thought, now here’s a young man making catchy, soulful pop with meaning, something sorely missing from these days. Sadly, his whole album doesn’t live up to that initial credo. ...

Martin Simpson is the kind of Celtic folk artist you would find sitting in the corner of a pub expertly strumming the strings of his acoustic instruments as you finish a pint of Guinness.  Prodigal Son, Simpson’s new album, effortlessly blends his signature Celtic flavor with American folk, roots, country ...

What an amazing story this band has! First of all, the lead singer, Don Miggs, has been the only constant in this group, even within the past year. After hitting rock bottom with his old group, with only a number 46 ranking on the charts to show for it, Miggs ...

There are singers that just know how to make it happen. They make you feel like you are right in the song. Natalie Cole definitely has that talent. Her strong voice bursts with energy and feeling. There are also songs that just work. They are ...

My penultimate Nick Drake story goes like this:Goodwife Hartlaub and I are sitting watching television one evening --- I think it was the second season of 24 --- and a commercial for Volkswagen begins. The only soundtrack is a song, and two seconds into it I am ...

When MTV used to ask bands and performers to go “unplugged” in the 1990s, the boys from the men were divvied up.  If you were a good performer, than there were no worries having your amps silenced and electric guitar packed away.  If you were hiding behind electronic programming and ...

I’m a pessimist when it comes to Paul McCartney. First off, I always identified more with George Harrison. He seemed like the cool cat in the background who would honestly give a limb for the Bangladeshi cause. Ringo was just having fun, Lennon was genius. Paul, ...

Every time I hear a Plain White T’s song I almost always conclude that it sounds alright. Not great, not terrible, just alright. In a sea of terribly mediocre popular music, “alright” isn’t bad, but it’s not enough to make for a truly exciting album.For the sake of clarity, it’s ...