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
CONCERT REVIEW: FREDRIKA STAHL AT CAFÉ DE LA DANSE (PARIS)
Fredrika Stahl (Paris, France) and Edward Barrow (Paris, France)March 19th, 2013Café de la Danse in Paris, France Originally from Stockholm, Sweden, the pop singer has found herself at home in Paris and behind the ivories of a piano. She moved to France when she was 4, at the sa
REVIEW: BOBBY LONG – WISHBONE (2013)
I was discussing Bobby Long with my brother last week when he suddenly recalled that he, in fact, went to high school with a Bobby Long. A Bobby Long who not only played guitar but was good at playing guitar. It was enough for us to investigate the coincidence; our fascination, h
REVIEW: MOTHER MOTHER – THE STICKS (2013)
Mother Mother is a tough band to categorize. The Canadian quintet incorporates an array of genre-blurring sounds into their music, and with their latest release, The Sticks, there is isn’t much of a push to clarify any of that. The songs range from soaring acoustic ballads to edgier alte