REVIEW: DESSA – PARTS OF SPEECH (2013)
Dessa is consistent, but not. This Minneapolis MC, poet, frequent college speaker, “underrated writer, overrated rapper, undecided major” has been all over the place since 2005’s Falsehopes, including creating her own lipstick with The Elixery to support CARE.org (an organi
REVIEW: THE NATIONAL – TROUBLE WILL FIND ME (2013)
Both their harshest critics and most devout fans will agree, one of the most prominent elements of The National’s music, is, and always has been, the sadness. From the alt-country beginnings of their 2001 self-titled debut, on through the promising musical growth of 2003’s Sad Songs fo
REVIEW: VAMPIRE WEEKEND – MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY (2013)
Life is short; that insight is passed on to us throughout our lives but we only begin to take it increasingly more seriously as we grow older. How old before the preciousness of our time on Earth begins to sink in? Of course, it varies from person to person, and even in each person, our […]
REVIEW: OBERHOFER – NOTALGIA (2013)
Last November, I caught up with Oberhofer’s leading man, Brad Oberhofer, while the band was in Milwaukee touring with fellow Brooklynites, Matt and Kim. It was then that I first got wind of the collection of songs that would become Notalgia. Oberhofer had actually been lis
REVIEW: BORN RUFFIANS – BIRTHMARKS (2013)
Birthmarks is a curious title for Born Ruffians’ third LP. What is a birthmark– an inconsistency, a blemish in the skin that forms at or around birth and doesn’t go away, stays with that person for life. They are generally harmless; in different cultures there are a number of myths a
REVIEW: PIONEER – BLACK PASTURE (2013)
For me, summertime in Wisconsin means a lot of things. There are ingredients to the recipe; some that have been in place since I was little. Backpacking adventures in Northern Wisconsin, trips to my favorite lakes (Devil’s Lake and Lake Superior), grilling out, sand bank hangs on the Wisconsin Riv
REVIEW: CHVRCHES – RECOVER EP (2013)
I bet if you told anyone catching one of the many showcases that CHVRCHES performed at SXSW that they were looking at one of the members of the perennially introspective soundscapey The Twilight Sad, they’d likely look at you as if, finally, someone had reached the physical limit of
CONCERT REVIEW: THE LOWER 48 AT MAD PLANET (MILWAUKEE, WI)
The Lower 48 (Portland, Oregon), Young Holidays (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), The Delphines (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)March 14th, 2013Mad Planet in Milwaukee, WI The Lower 48 played second on a bill of three bands but you couldn’t tell that from the headlining punch they b