Review: Jack Hayter – Sucky Tart (2011)
Old Man Winter is relentless in returning every year, bringing with him frigid temperatures, frozen lakes and gray, leaf-less trees. The first creaking and sawing harmonica of “I Stole the Cutty Sark” sounds like a reluctant, untrained orchestra warming up, contrary to the vintage confidence exu
REVIEW: IMADETHISMISTAKE – BOW AND QUIVER (2010)
Admittedly I gave Bow and Quiver an initial glancing listen, zoning out to Kylewilliam Campol’s unorthodox spoken-world presentation over jazzy sax by Jon Pagano. The recording is rough, the kind you’d find not in bedroom recordings, but in underground recording studios with walls bran
Review: The Felix Culpa – Sever Your Roots (2010)
Back in 2002, you knew this group knew how to make music. It’s not picking up a guitar, writing a song, and performing. They could move venues-which was easy back then when it was VFWs and roller rinks. Then others noticed to the point they were called out to California and, honestly it would be [
Review: Sundowner – We Chase the Waves (2010)
Chris McCaughan is the mainstay that has connected the masts of Chicago punk since before 1996. Emerging in Tricky Dick and post-Slapstick The Broadways, Chris found his songwriting stride with The Lawrence Arms. Always encapsulating Chicago winters and hardships with an urban optimis
Review: Y La Bamba – Lupon (2010)
Lightning struck twice this year. Once during “My Darkness“, and the latter soon thereafter in watching easily the most beautifully orchestrated video of the year. Y La Bamba came coincidentally at the same time Nick Jaina performed in a small housing cooperative in Madison, however the form
REVIEW: NICK JAINA – A BIRD IN THE OPERA HOUSE (2010)
Earlier this year there was an artist coming to Madison, a favorite. Like Barnum & Bailey Circus, it was a show not to miss. But when Nick Jaina took to the floorboards in a quaint, couch-lined co-op room, my resolve to stay and hear a few songs soon dissolved faster than sugar in wate
REVIEW ROUNDUP: CAKE, CAGE THE ELEPHANT, SOCIAL DISTORTION, THE DIRTY HEADS, AND SICK PUPPIES
It’s been a long while since the last roundup, a feature that takes brief looks at the radio singles on the FM airwaves. Time to start it back up and visit some new old friends. Cage the Elephant – Shake Me Down“Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” was undeniable with its country twang
Review: The dø – Dust It Off (2010)
The past month has seen Top 10 of 2010 lists crop up faster than Gremlins on summer vacation in Wisconsin Dells. The end of the end of the year started in late November, as if everyone was on the edge of their seat for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to hit the shelves to instantly […]
REVIEW: THE WOODLANDS – THE WOODLANDS (2010)
It’s a lovely thing when a band enters your life with little to no buzz behind them, barely any word of mouth, and they sweep you off your feet, going so far as to integrate themselves seamlessly into not only your listening patterns, but also your very existence, making their music a perfect orch