Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

You know those old songs where a group of men is singing a romantic tune and all of a sudden some guy is soaring above the rest? The guy that's singing those sweet high notes is the tenor of the group. Three of these men from famous groups have gotten ...

In their first full length effort, So Wrong, It’s Right shows Baltimore based pop/punkers, All Time Low have experience well beyond their years.  As you listen to the record, you may find yourself having déjà vu.  All Time Low is certainly talented, but you will find each song channels early ...

Blackbird, Alter Bridge’s sophomore effort, is a surprisingly optimistic effort, considering the genre within which the band works. Part of the general uplifting spirit on Blackbird no doubt stems from the fact that the project almost did not happen, due to contractual problems which resulted in what has a three year ...

Why do nearly all the rock stars of yesteryear feel the need to release cover albums? Hope & Glory, Ann Wilson’s first solo is an album with only the best of intentions, even though it falls spectacularly short. The lead singer of Heart created and sang on some of the ...

When Marsellus Wallace said he needed to send over some “pipe-hittin’ niggas” to the Zed residence… he probably meant these guys.Jedi Mind Tricks and their extended family, Army of the Pharaohs, are ridiculously violent rappers.  Much like AofP’s first outing, THE TORTURE PAPERS, the Ritual of Battle album borders on absurdity.  Such ...

As if appearing from nowhere, Band of Horses seems to be everywhere these days.  In the last few months they have graced the cover of SPIN magazine and been labeled Rolling Stones’ “hot band” of 2007. A track off their latest album Cease to Begin was even an iTunes/Starbucks song ...

Hailing from the US Gulf Coast, Castor Troy recently made their first big dent in the music scene with their Rock Ridge Records EP, Patience Above.  Their oddly compelling name might trigger a tiny tickle of familiarity in the very back of your brain, especially if you saw the 1997 Nicholas Cage/John Travolta flick, "Face Off."  The bad guy in that movie ...

As far as theatrical productions go, a ballet can be beautiful and tragic and generally the best ones often are. On their latest CD, Bone Palace Ballet, Michigan natives Chiodos adopt those notions of theatricality and run with them. Stylistically there is a marked difference between this album and their 2005 ...

Sometimes a band puts out a disc doing exactly what it should do, not really stretching for anything great, just aiming for the center of its comfort zone and nailing it. In these all too rare cases, a listener is well advised to just go along ...

Cocoa Tea has been around forever, it seems. A native of Rocky Point, Jamaica, Calvin Scott changed his name to Cocoa Tea in 1983, moved to Kingston, began performing and released his first CD in 1985. Initially one of the most popular proponents of Dance Hall reggae, Cocoa Tea’s SOUND ...

Demetra is both the name of a band, its featured member, and its new CD. Demetra the band is a quartet from Queens, and Demetra the lead singer, keyboardist, and focus of the band has got that Jersey girl thing going on, which is Joespeak for “she’s irresistible.” Demetra, the ...

When I saw that a woman was putting out an album of African music, I was psyched to be able to review it. Even these days, in Africa, women are not considered the primary carriers of their culture's stories which is often displayed through music. The Griot, an important member ...

I am not as up on the Japanese punk scene as I probably should be, so I come to Eleven Fire Crackers by Ellegarden at a disadvantage, meaning that I have to actually listen to the disc to form an opinion. What a concept! Actually, Ellegarden has been around for ...

The proper role of the producer of a recorded music project has been kicked around for decades. It boils down to a question of whether the producer’s proper job is to bring out the best sound possible in a musical artist, or to put the producer’s own ...

Fuji Minx is a southern California quartet fronted by Greta Valenti, a platinum blonde who, along with a bunch of other platinum blonde vocalists fronting a bunch of other rock bands, is trying to set herself up as the next Gwen Stefani. I have no idea whether she has the ...

Working in the jazz genre is more often than not a labor of love. There is a joke about how many jazz musicians it takes to change a light bulb, the answer being three hundred: one to change the bulb and two hundred ninety-nine to explain how they would have ...

Looking for the next John Mayer or Jack Johnson?  Well I've ruled one guy out for you.  Caught Looking, the album by Greg Roth attempts to be sweet, quirky and contemplative but he misses the mark by about 5 years of practice and training.  This guy is just another dude ...

Odds are that even if you are not a fan of country music you have heard a song written by Guy Clark. "L.A. Freeway" was a nominal top 40 radio hit for Jerry Jeff Walker in summer 1973, and "Desperados Waiting For The Train" has carved itself into the American ...

Ingram Hill is a trio, at least nominally--- Justin Moore on guitar and vocals, Matt Chambless on drums, and Phil Bogard on guitars, augmented by a number of other players --- just like Rascal Flatts. They have a kind of southern rock thing going, just like another trio, Better Than ...

Kiran Ahluwalia's album Wanderlust is a relaxing and moving 45 minutes of Indian music that is modern with a touch of tradition. For those of you who aren't familiar with Indian music, do not fret. Ahluwalia's style is careful and sweet, very easy to get into. The lyrics to her ...

This is what I call good Country! Larry Bagby’s album On the Radio deserves to be just that, played over the radio for everyone to hear. You are missing out if you don’t give this country singer a moment of your time. His tunes contain a wholesome quality and the ...

Laura Aidanblaise’s second album, Get Thee to the World, is a frustrating mix of acoustic innovation and droning insistence. Frustrating, because there is definitely some good stuff here; almost every song has something to invite you in. But Aidanblaise, who wrote all the songs on the CD, seems so set ...

Need a boost? I have found the perfect album to use when training for a marathon. Somos los que Estamos, an album by the Chilean group Los Mono, is a jolt of energy and optimism. Listen to it and I guarantee you it will be joyfully running through your head ...

With one single scarce exception, Luka Bloom’s new album, Tribe, lulled me to the verge of slipping into a coma. Ok, Luka Bloom is a pitch perfect musician and his songs are always meticulously crafted, but for the most part this album crawls along at a snail-slow tempo. ...

Melvin Smith plays the Soprano and Tenor sax...really well. His debut album, Portrait, is jazzy but also a combination of blues, funk, gospel and even Latin. This is an album of standards but not necessarily the kind you'd think. Based on what I read in the C.D. ...