Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Straight out of music-mecca Portland, Oregon comes an innovative album that is sure to send chills of pure enjoyment up your spine. Amelia’s newest album, entitled A Long, Lovely List of Repairs, is the most beautifully constructed melancholy assortment of music that you could possibly find for your ears this ...

I enjoy listening to all types of music, from hip hop to classical and all that lies between.  Country, however, is not usually one of my entertainment choices, and this CD With Roots and Wings by Angel Band is a perfect example of why I avoid it.  Though Nancy Josephson, ...

While at first glance (at the band’s Myspace or Wikipedia pages) you may not notice, Article One is in fact a Christian Alternative Rock band.  Granted that may automatically turn you off to this band, but it’s still a fact that I feel should not be hidden.  The fact that ...

For a band that started out as a side project, New England’s Ashbrook Haynes sounds remarkably focused. ONE LONG CHASE, the sophomore effort for the sextet, contains fourteen original compositions from vocalist/guitarist Marc Rines and vocalist Karen Stanley which in execution rely upon melody and harmony, with ...

It’s not your parent’s rock, but it’s not really a new thing either. To Death and Beyond... by Battleroar has that 90’s rock kind of feel, like a mix of old Metallica and good Pearl Jam. But the songs last almost as long as Tool; except instead of some trippy ...

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls—it is my pleasure to present to you Ben Sollee. This young singer-songwriter’s debut, Learning to Bend, is an honest and often ironic meditation on dealing with change. Sollee is a truly refreshing talent, and it’s not just because he’s a Classically trained cellist who ...

Blue Sky Black Death, formed by the duo Kingston and Young God, released their first album in 2006.  While this double-album did include many instrumental songs, the duo is better known for their rap work with Wu-Tang Clan affiliates such as Holocaust, Sunz of Man, and Hell Razah.  Having listened ...

One of the more interesting elements of rock music and its multifaceted genres is the way in which different styles go in and out of style. When they’re out of style, they percolate more or less quietly, never really going away, and at some point make what ...

Buddahead's third record, Ashes, flirts throughout with solid rock.  In some key places, though, the band backs down just when you're ready to get dirty. From the outset, it's clear that Iranian lead singer Raman Kia has a good voice - a clean mid-range with a crisp falsetto.  But the ...

Isn’t it odd how you sometimes takeaway a lasting impression of an album that has little to do with the reality? Last year, I reviewed the Cortical Tectonics disc from Canvas Solaris, and when I received their new, Atomized Dream, album, I put it in the CD player thinking that ...

I’m only a couple of hours away from Bloomington, Indiana, and never thought of it as a hotbed of rock bands. That changed about two seconds after slipping FEELIN’ UP by The Coke Dares into the CD player. The Coke Dares, if you’re unfamiliar with the trio, is ...

If you buy only one new album this summer, make it Crooked Still’s latest release, Still Crooked. The group’s junior release explores the darker sides of love with the eloquence and ease of seasoned storytellers. Just reading their lyrics, you might think that Crooked Still has an unhealthy, almost obsessive ...

Back in the day, when Fergie was just little Dana from the block and people weren't going B-A-N-A-N-A-S for Gwen's shit, there was Cyndi... Lauper to be exact. She paved the way for the success of female acts of this generation, letting them know that Girls can have as much ...

The great minds of the French have given humanity many things over the years - modern diplomacy, the model constitution for countries around the world, mustard, mayonnaise, and other condiments- but they have now given us a wonderfully interesting  progressive rock quartet, Demians. What started as an individual project for ...

I wanted to like CROOK COUNTY by Dirtball a little more than I ultimately did. Dirtball is part of the Kottonmouth Kings nebulous, and has released other discs, to which CROOK COUNTY, his latest, is unquestionably superior. The problem is that Dirtball never seems to rise above ...

If you’ve wondered where Donna Summer has been, she’s never really been away. While she didn’t invent the disco genre, she most certainly put a mainstream voice and face to it, one that is still sharp and clear. “Love To Love You Baby” and “She Works Hard ...

"Dashboard Confessional!" Sorry, I was playing musical charades while listening to the E For Explosion album Reinventing the Heartbeat. It's simple, you put on a CD by a band that no one knows aside from the bands spouses, parents, and coworkers and guess who they're trying to imitate on their ...

BRILEY-FIED is the debut release from Eddie P. Briley, a Nashville by way of Miami singer-songwriter laboring in the contemporary country mine. He has the look down --- incredibly important if you want to make it in Nashville --- bearing an almost eerie resemblance to Gary LeVox ...

In the third volume of his Overseas project, Norwegian bassist Eivind Opsvik carries on his own idiosyncratic  musical path. That’s not to say it’s weird, per se, it’s just different, the man has a compositional style that sets him apart. The basic sound might best be describes ...

There’s a problem with AMERICAN COMPOST by Ellsworth. It’s the second CD from an artist who has been kicking around since the 1970s --- he’s not flooding the market, by any means --- and the reason is pretty much self-evident within the first few seconds of “Back ...

The “special guest”/all-star project is a big part of the prog/metal scene these days.  At its best, the concept lets musicians get their ideas out without needing a band setting to make that a reality. Still, I had to roll my eyes at the cover to the self-titled Expedition Delta ...

As with any number of discs I receive to review, I had no idea what FREEDOM WIND by The Explorers Club would sound like. The cover is a montage of photos of the band members --- they are a sextet --- on the beach, but wearing caps, coats, ...

Sometimes, you just wanna hear some good, old fashioned country music. And if that’s what you want, then Fanny Grace is who you want. The group’s heart, a Hispanic woman named Carmen Meija, is a good-hearted, down-home girl, and she – along with her partner John Reeves – is backed ...

I found the needle in the haystack! Who would have thought that the needle that protruded in the farthest corner of that hay would be found in the music business classified under what most people seem to disregard: metal music. Yes I said it, with today’s world revolving around ...

Solo albums are difficult. It’s unavoidable that listeners will judge the new solo material by comparing it to the old songs done with the full band. Still, Gavin Rossdale decided to give it a shot. Although it’s been a while since the former Bush front-man has been in the news ...