Recommended (Page 13)

Bella Clava – “Holy Crow”Self-Released-out now4 / 5 Paralyzing lyrics, heavy, foot-stomping guitar and blasting melodies make this album one of those rare gems that you can’t wait to tell your friends about. Based in Toronto, the classic-rock inspired quartet pounds out high-wire riffs like they’d gone out of style, and here on their debut LP, there’s more than enough slash-and-burn going on to make you nauseous from rocking out. It’s difficult for us to pick out only a handful of tracks when the album on the whole is incredibly strong, but suffice it to say that if the opener “Ding Dong Ditch” somehow doesn’tRead More →

Freddie Hubbard – “Pinnacle: from Keystone Korner”Resonance Records-out now4.5 / 5 Wow. Let’s just say that first. One of the most blazing jazz trumpeters in the history of the music comes back from the vaults with this posthumous live release from San Fran. Next, let’s get this out of the way: the sound quality is maybe 3.5/5. It’s recorded live, some 30 years old. Get over it. Now, onto the juice of the matter: Pinnacle is pure gold. We don’t feature jazz often enough, and Hubbard blasts through with “The Intrepid Fox,” tearing a veritable hole in our eardrums – in a good, earth-shattering wayRead More →

My Brightest Diamond – “All Things Will Unwind”Asthmatic Kitty-out tomorrow4 / 5 We love this cover. Absolutely adore it. It’s as vibrant, fun, and unusual as the work within; and considering Michiganian Shara Worden’s penchant for unusuality (see Decemberists’ rock opera “Hazards”), that’s no minor compliment. What grabs us about All Things Will Unwind, other than the classical orchestration, other than the rock-ish song structure worked with a orchestral ear, is the depth of Ms. Worden’s musical vision here. These songs, carried with her, at times, operatic voice (check out “Be Brave”), could easily be the mere eccentricities of an untrained, but curious ear. Yet,Read More →

Brown Bird – “Salt for Salt”Supply and Demand-out Oct. 184.5 / 5 It’s not Rhode Island love that lights this reviewer’s heart (the band is, after all, originally from Washington). And it’s not that David Lamb’s got to do vocals/ guitar/ bass drum simultaneously at shows. It’s, quite frankly, the moody “Bilgewater” and the fire of “Cast No Shadow” that slay us. But, if a couple songs on the previous EP were all that caught our attention, we’d not’ve given this album such striking marks. As excellent as those two songs are, it’s the entire mood of this album, an all-acoustic affair inspired by long-goneRead More →