June 19, 2009

Mini Reviews

I think I have mentioned this before- I do small reviews to put on the CDs at WRIR so here is a list of a few I have done over the past month.


Artist: Dreamdate
Title: Patience
Hometown: Oakland, CA
Label: Skywriting Records
Street Date: Out Now
RIYL: Collecting cardigans and hugging just cause
The Hits: 8 Sleeves, Rock and Roll, Wait For You
Richter Magnitude Rating Scale - Moderate
Mini Review: Dreamdate is stripped down trio led by two ladies (guitar + bass) and a fella on drums who make plain old fashioned cuddle-core music.

Back in the day this band would have shared the stage with Tiger Trap, Cub, and Lois.



Artist: John Vanderslice
Title: Romanian Names
Hometown: SF, CA
Label: Dead Oceans
Street Date: Out Now
The Hits: D.I.A.L.O.
RILY: Man who has a way with words and can dish out intensity with a wink.
Richter Magnitude Rating Scale: Moderate
Mini Review: Leaps beyond all is previous recordings (6 of them to be exact) Romanian Names is a carefully crafted uber produced rock / pop record that could only be compared to the meticulous song crafting and production of an Of Montreal record. His intense story telling remains in tact here and secures his place among the more literary indie rock set (ALA death cab).


Artist: V/A
Title: Maximum RnB
Hometown: UK
Label: Past & Present
Street Date: Out Now
The Hits: all great – no losers here!!!!
RIYL: Reissues you won't regret and will listen to over and over again and harmonicas.
Richter Magnitude Rating Scale: Strong
Review: This is a reissue of a CD that came out in 1996 of UK heavy on the harmonica and shaker 60’s garage rock. Fuzzy bombastic goodness x 27... The Birds feature Ron Wood (stones), Bo Street Runners have a very young Mick Fleetwood on drums. The Fairies have John Alder who went on to play in the Pretty Things and last but not least the Muleskinners have Ian McLagan from the Small Faces. As an added bonus there are great liner notes and all the tracks sound cleaned up and re-mastered but not stripped of any of their original raw feeling.


Artist: Ape School
Title: S/T
Hometown: Phili, PA
Label: Counter
Street Date: Out Now
The Hits: It's Over, Be an Encore, My Intention, Caveman -v- Canary
RIYL: Grizzly Bear and John Hughes soundtracks
Richter Magnitude Rating Scale: Moderate
Review: Michael Johnson – once member of Lily’s and Holopaw) is celebrating the wonderful world of moog-rock with 13 songs dedicated to showboating the instrument in ways the blend the songwriting of MBV (track 6) and the haunting melodies of Deerhunter.


Artist: Wake the President
Title: You Can’t Change That Boy
Hometown: Glasgow, Scotland
Label: Magic Marker
Street Date: Out Now
RIYL: C86 jangle twee pop
The Hits: Miss Tierney, You Can't Change that Boy, Remember Fun, The Security Place
Richter Magnitude Rating Scale: Moderate
Review: Identical twins from Glasgow have some big shoes to fill since they are following in the footsteps of label mates such as Belle and Sebastian as well as Snow Patrol. These Scots tackle jangle with a C86 twee approach that any OJ fan will appreciate. Not exactly earth shattering music but for fans of this genre I can promise your ears in for a real treat.

Many more little reviews to come this week.






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