REVIEW: JOHN VANDERSLICE – WHITE WILDERNESS (2011)
It was just a little over a month ago that I posted, recanting in review form how I started my love affair with John Vanderslice, right here at Mezzic. You see, I’d known who Vanderslice was for years and I knew why he mattered to indie music. I just hadn’t ever gotten around to lettin
Review: Strand of Oaks – Pope Killdragon (2010)
One of my very favorite songs of 2010 was “Oh, What A Time!” by Pearly Gate Music, a band I reviewed for Mezzic a couple months back. The reason I was so taken with “Oh, What A Time!” was because of how completely unexpected it was. Swimming in a sea of sincere folk, “Oh, Wh
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