Back in September, Sam Means—formerly half of beloved Arizona pop group The Format—returned to releasing records with a soundtrack for the independent comedy The Sinking of Santa Isabel. From the trailer, the film looks like it could have its moments—more or less a fable about avoiding growing up where one adult character literally lives in a tree house. With a nod to Josh Ritter's great "W
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My free internet situation dried up over the weekend (yes, I was bogarting internet tubes) so I'll be posting a bit more erratically over the next week or so in coffee shops until I remedy that. In any case, there have been several excellent releases over the past week, so in case you haven't had time to look around, here's what's been going on. That awesomelly genuine and charismatic, Van Morr..
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"Indians are the rulers on the holiday," sings George "Big Chief Jolly" Landry on the lone album from The Wild Tchoupitoulas. Formed as a group of Mardi Gras Indians—ceremonial African-American Carnival revelers—The Wild Tchoupitoulas recorded in 1976 what was considered the first rock record to capture the funky New Orleans sound. It helped that the band was backed by legendary funk group The
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Southern Nights is an American classic in every way: endearingly soulful, genre-defyingly experimental and every bit as funky today as it was back in 1975. Allen Toussaint may have been more commercially successful when he worked with other musicians (see Labelle's "Lady Marmalade"), but with Southern Nights he put his own indelible stamp on popular music. It's a shame that Glen Campbell's cove...
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As freaky as Devendra Banhart can look and sound with his face paint, headdresses and often psychadelic and surreal lyrics ("Wrap me in your marrow, stuff me in your bones"), the prodigious musician is a classicist at heart. Never more so has that shown than on his latest release, What Will We Be. Whether it's a simply constructed folk ballad or funky rock and roll groove, Banhart has an ear fi...
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Threadbare, the second studio effort of California's Port O'Brien, picks up right where 2007's All We Could Do Was Sing left off: hardworking fishermen, bakers and cannery workers getting their collective rocks off courtesy of singers Cambria Goodwin and Van Pierszalowski's skillful narratives that sit back and reflect as often as they boil and spill over with fistfuls of freshly sharpened word...
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The Misfits - "Astro Zombies" Harry Belafonte - "Day Oh" (Beetlejuice)Blitzen Trapper - "Furr" David Bowie - "Dance Magic" (Labyrinth)Whodini - "Haunted House of Rock" Here We Go Magic - "Fangala" Bobby Picket - "Monster Mash"Rockwell - "Somebody's Watching Me" Bobby Brown - "On Our Own" (Ghostbusters)Dead Man's Bones - "My Body's A Zombie For You"
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"We fit together like a meaningless puzzle," sings Zach Tipton on the playful "Love Song for Camus." Tipton, who puts on a one-man show as the Denver-based project I Am The Dot, has a knack for layering vocals and seamlessly fusing together atypical instrument combinations. In this case, it's a synthesized steel drum playing through a major scale over a percussion loop—a surprisingly light and .
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The old-time folk and swinging acoustic jazz from Portland's Run On Sentence was a big fat welcome surprise to my ears this afternoon. Shaking the dust off a style rich with history and oft forgotten in pop music, Dustin Hamman and company have created a fiery and original record—and yes, it's about time someone brought back the scat.Run On Sentence - "Carrie Pt. 2" (from Oh When The Wind Comes.
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Alec Ounsworth has one of the freakiest voices in contemporary pop music. It's not just that he sounds like he's taken too many drugs—it's that he relishes those nasally and warped cathartic moments. And somehow, it's that voice that consistently draws me to his music. Now, two years after Clap Your Hand Say Yeah's sophomore downturn, bandleader Ounsworth is dishing out music as a solo act. And.
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What's the best made-up word, invented for the sole purpose of rhyming in a song? For me, it has to be "own-ee-oh" sung by Thin Lizzy bassist and lead singer Phil Lynott in the excellent "Romeo and the Lonely Girl." The word appears during the chorus: "Oh, poor Romeo / Sitting out on his own-ee-oh." Steve Miller's nonsensical "pompatus" from his staple "The Joker" is worth a mention, however, i...
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Thao Nguyen—whose 2008 record We Brave Bee Stings And All turned heads with its shimmering and fuzzy guitar pop—has returned with her third full-length, the consistently pleasing Know Better Learn Faster. Here, the only changes come in the form of a shortened band name and a few notable guest appearances, including folks from Blitzen Trapper and Horse Feathers. The title track features a violi
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There's something to be said for a distinctive voice. One that peers far enough out of its crate of influences to make its own personal narrative rise to the forefront. Martin Crane of Austin band Brazos has that subtle talent. On the song "Day Glo"—off the band's November 10th release Phosphorescent Blues—Crane's words flow from his mouth as jumbles of phrases ("I got many people to thank, bu
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Everybody Taste made the "Top 20 Music Review Blogs on the Web" as determined by the concert ticket agency ClickitTicket. They called ET "a very unique site that is built on the principle that music is meant to be shared." As arbitrary as any list is, the recognition and kind words are certainly appreciated. Thanks to all of my readers for continuing to visit and enjoy the site! I'll be here un...
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Johnny Cash - "Bird On A Wire" (link fixed!)Nina Simone - "Suzanne"The Walkmen - "Passin' Through"Serena Ryder - "Sisters of Mercy"Vandaveer - "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye"Rufus Wainwright - "Chelsea Hotel, No. 2"(Art by Ben Kehoe)
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When it concerns the 80s, Austin's Alan Palomo is master of all sounds funky, synthesized, and endearingly cheesy. As Neon Indian, 21-year-old Palomo isn't nearly as danceable as with past projects Vega or Ghosthustler—but the songs are every bit as blissfully carefree and catchy. With Psyhcic Chasms, Palomo has created a low fidelity tapestry of sun-drenched and light-hearted psychedelia chan.
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Elvis Costello's early records are rip-roaring fun. Filled with ska, punk and power pop gems, the aptly dubbed "Buddy Holly on methamphetamine" delivered simple music with a wide range of alternately bitter, angry and politically motivated narrators—sometimes even switching tone within a single song ("Alisson"). The recently re-released 1978 recording Live at El Mocambo captures the young Coste.
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Portland's Nurses stretch the boundaries of traditional song structures, but never disarmingly so. Creating organic sounds out of seemingly otherworldly textures and combinations of noises, the band's songs become the inviting "Techniclor" alternative to a black and white world. Every song is its own enchanting world. And each one is worth returning to. Nurses - "Technicolor" (from Apple's Acre)
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I'm not a fan of reunion tours or nostalgia acts, but when it's the Pixies those preconceived notions can be thrown out the window. Similar to The Boss's scheduled performances of complete albums, the Pixies will play all of their classic 1989 album Doolittle—one of the greatest alternative rock albums of all-time—on their upcoming tour. Whether it's Kim Deal's thumping bass melody on "Here Co
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I've been on a huge Replacements kick the last few months. I recently finished the communally-written biography It's All Over But The Shouting and then, shortly after, saw Deer Tick perform "Can't Hardly Wait" in concert. The Mats never made it big, but their influence still abounds. After getting a hold of all the bootlegs and EPs this past weekend (Shit, Shower & Shave, Inconcerated, Shit Hit...
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