CD Review
Songs from the South: Paul Kelly’s Greatest Hits
Record Label:
Gawd Aggie Music
Review by
John NoydNovember 2011
It’s hard to imagine after thirty years what Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly has left on his bucket list. Song-writer, world-traveler, occasional actor, recent author and crikey folk-poet chronicler of trains, love, cricket, history and gravy, Kelly’s 1997 compilation has just been updated and doubled in size. A muscular busker, kind-hearted huckster and homesick vagabond, Kelly’s tough but tender repertoire employ potent hobo bluegrass, swirling pub-rock blues and electric country-fried soul. Outback rascals, hopeless romantics and crusading criminals buffered in small-town joys and thick-skinned opinions inhabit family scrapbooks, honky-tonk hearts and upstart remarks. Coy references served in soothing cougar growls, “Songs,” showcase a writer’s eye for spirited lyrics, delivering the indescribable in nuance filled with exacting detail, an unblinking witness to foiled fates and unavoidable foibles
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CD Review
Dream All Everyday
Record Label:
Review by
Emily GencoNovember 2011
On their debut album, Dream All Everyday Krown Vega blends the pensiveness of Radiohead with powerful guitars in a throwback to the musical eras Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd. Songs explore themes from living fully to pop culture.
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CD Review
Eli Lieb
Record Label:
Eli Lieb
Review by
Emily GencoOctober 2011
Eli Lieb’s debut album succeeds where many fail. It allows the listener to assume an alternate persona – that of an everyday soldier. Lieb’s music helps audiences experience the quiet solemnity that accompanies coming to terms with life’s daily battles. Lieb released his self-titled and self-produced album on October 25. On it he explores a variety of topics including desire, invisibility, disconnection and betrayal rendering it a highly accessible work for listeners. Lieb’s work straddles the intersection between orchestral instrumentation, club beats and pop vocals.
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CD Review
Mr. Machine
Record Label:
!K7
Review by
Emily GencoOctober 2011
If Alfred Hitchcock was making films today, he would no doubt recruit The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble to write the soundtrack for one of his psychological thrillers. This October the German trio released their sophomore effort Mr. Machine. In their latest work, Brandt Brauer Frick stitches club-style percussion with classical instrumentation. The result: An album as spine-tingling as Frankenstein’s monster and equally complex.
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CD Review
Venice Gas House Trolley
Record Label:
Flowpoetry records
Review by
Emily GencoOctober 2011
On their May 2011 release Burst Open, Madison’s own Venice Gas House Trolley delivers an eclectic album that blends spoken word, experimental instrumentals and a sheer fearlessness to conceive traditional instrumentation in new ways.
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CD Review
Cinema
Record Label:
Six Degrees Records
Review by
Emily GencoOctober 2011
Listening to Karsh Kale’s 2010 release Cinema feels like playing laser tag on the beach of a foreign land. Spiraling synth lines and undulations in the album’s flow seemingly trace patterns with each tidal breath.
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