Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Ben Kweller hits it solo and crafts quirky music that seems to spill out of the mind of a slightly sarcastic, eccentric 20 year old.  His solo debut, Sha Sha is a playful album that reminds you of a somewhat nerdy, but intelligent and feeling guy who went to high ...

Although the title is Busted Stuff, there is certainly nothing busted about Dave Matthew’s latest album.  The record is polished with more profound depth than some earlier works and less mainstream upbeat sounds from Under the Table and Dreaming.  It seems that post-9/11 that artists feel the need to divulge ...

With their third album, "Eternity," German melodic metal band Freedom Call has gained several new fans in my neck of the woods - like everybody that's heard the album! It was immediately obvious it originated in Germany by how it sounds. The anthemic feel of the vocal backed by major ...

Nearly hard to imagine this band’s seen fifteen plus years already, and yet here they still are, celebrating their boundless career with a mighty pumpkin smashing two-disc, two hour set spanning the many highlights and few lows of their impressive existence.  They roared on the scene in the middle ‘80s ...

Here Comes Everybody is a definite home grown project, with the trio (Rene Ormae-Jarmer, Michael Jarmer, and Justin Clarke) producing the project and composing all of the tracks (Rene the music, Michael the lyrics) but one (a passable cover of Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric?"). Therein lies the strengths, and ...

Reminiscent of an early Black Crowes sound Ingram Hill delivers a steady debut album from the heartland of country music.  The Memphis based band features a mixture of many styles throughout, reflecting the mixed background of the band having their roots planted in rock, country, and new wave music.  The ...

You know in the back of my mind when I was finishing up reviewing their “Bastardizer” release a year or two ago I was relieved… it’s over, no more of this. Somehow though I knew we wouldn’t be spared.  Let’s get the pronunciation out of the way first, it’s “Ka-nut” ...

In spite of their ill feelings, “Mad” At Gravity still manages to take to the sky for their latest “Resonance” release, a fine mix of driving Hard Rock and atmospheric temperament -- “Walk Away” is the catchy obvious choice for lead single with its forthright rigidity in simplicity and a ...

As with many hard rockers who’ve swam in the glistening waters of the mainstream, there’s usually a past to be reckoned with… or ignored, depending of course on how the sweet taste of success has or hasn’t fueled a live for the moment ego.  So Nickelback have arrived in style, ...

If you watch cable TV late at night you've undoubtedly seen the commercials hawking CDs by various flute players you'd never heard of, playing standards you'd rather forget, with the come on that if you act now, they'll send you six CDs for the price of one. I always have ...

Pepesito Reyes is a living legend. He is probably best known for having composed the piano line for the Marxist anthem "Guantanamera," but for him to be known only for that particular contribution is akin to describing Bob Dylan solely for his having written "Blowin' In the Wind" for Peter, ...

Eventually, when all the trivia and minutia get eaten up and the talk about music starts to really get serious- out come the rankings.Best album. Best producer. My pal Rip Rinehart used to insist on breaking things down to a best side of an album (I swear so he could ...

When record execs sit around a table and decide how they're going to release a CD, they're going to be laboring under a conundrum. There is an element of conventional wisdom that says that an artist need to put all of their good tracks in the front of the CD ...

I cut my teeth on progressive rock.  Genesis, Pink Floyd, Queen, Supertramp … they were mainstay super groups of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s.  But somewhere along the line the crowds began to dwindle and the musical and lyrical mastery of Prog Rock had come to be identified by fell by ...

Despite the bold step of producing this album by themselves in their own studio, I have to say the new VGS album has left me completely UNDERwhelmed. They still adhere to their traditional combination of speed punk instrumentals, guttural vocals and a horn section to back them up, but "Steady ...