3rd Rail has been around for about 10 years and, according to their MySpace page, were named Á¢€Å“Best Unsigned Band in CaliforniaÁ¢€ at the California Music Awards. Having been in…
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Or, the Whale – Light Poles and Pines (self-released, 2007) purchase this album (CD Baby) I give all the credit in the world to this band’s publicist. Instead of holding…
Jason Reeves – The Magnificent Adventures of Heartache (And Other Frightening Tales) purchase this album (Amazon) Think The Magnificent Adventures of Heartache (and Other Frightening Tales) is a long title?…
Christmas Eve, 1970. I was at the Fillmore East to see Laura Nyro. A month earlier, Nyro had released her fourth album, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat, and it…
Amie Miriello, I Came Around (BellaSonic/Jive/Zomba) purchase this album (Amazon) The current boomlet of female singer-songwriters hasnÁ¢€â„¢t yet spawned a Lilith Fair revival, but you can just feel one coming…
Brian Wilson – That Lucky Old Sun purchase this album (Amazon) Á¢€Å“Genius is the ability to make something very complex seem very simple.Á¢€ There goes my lead. Brian Wilson speaks…
The Gabe Dixon Band – The Gabe Dixon Band (Fantasy) purchase this CD (Amazon) I was never any good at math, but I know enough to understand the basic laws…
Two Dog Garage – Pinboy purchase this album (MySpace) Two Dog Garage is Alex Kimmell, a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter who’s spent his career to date doing the usual 21st-century singer/songwriter…
Every summer, the city of San Francisco has a free concert series featuring noteworthy bands, and some that are yet-to-be-noted — at least in the United States, anyway.Á‚ Á‚ Case in…
If music were like food, the Toadies’ new CD, No Deliverance, would be a steak and baked potato entree, with maybe a sprig of parsley thrown in. The meat and…
Tepoztlan, Morelas, Mexico is a place known for Aztec magic and extra-terrestrial sightings — so it only seems natural that Conor Oberst would head down there to record his latest…
Randy Newman will be 65 years old in November. On his first album of new material since 1999Á¢€â„¢s Bad Love, he emphatically demonstrates that he has not lost one bit…
The final entry in Ry CooderÁ¢€â„¢s California trilogy, I, Flathead finds Cooder exploring the Southern California drag-racing culture that centered on the stateÁ¢€â„¢s salt flats. Much like the first entry…
Brian Vogan – Little Songs (2008) purchase this album (CD Baby) I didn’t mean for it to be this way — and every time I review one of these, I…
It was either Soren Kierkegaard or Wayne Campbell from WayneÁ¢€â„¢s World who said: Á¢€Å“Once you label me, you negate me.Á¢€ And so it goes with Sia Á¢€” whose latest release,…
Andrew Ripp – Fifty Miles to Chicago (2008) purchase this album (Amazon) Name an album Fifty Miles to Chicago — or pose for a cover shot while you’re walking in…
Brandon Schott – Golden State (2007) purchase this album (Amazon) Brandon Schott is a patient man. As those of you who read Jefitoblog might recall, I assembled a “staff” of…
Stylistically, Love as Laughter have jumped around a fair amount over 14 years of existence. Holy, the sixth release from frontman and founding member Sam Jayne (who seems to be…
Looking at the six years between The Devil, You + Me, the newest release from the Notwist, and Neon Golden, the release that threw them into American ears, leaves a…
WeÁ¢€â„¢ve been hearing the Á¢€Å“rock is deadÁ¢€ pronouncements for so many years now that we donÁ¢€â„¢t even listen anymore. Á¢€Å“It is what it is,Á¢€ we blithely proclaim, pretending not to…
Here’s the deal: Every once in a while one stumbles upon a group or whatever that just knocks you on your butt and you gotta broadcast your discovery to the…
When one thinks of survival, it conjures up images of barren islands, a lack of vital resources or, thanks to modern times, television shows where people are purposefully cast into…
The word together implies the combination of parts — and the third full-length from Philadelphia’s Pattern Is Movement, All Together, perfectly represents that which its title suggests. There are many…
I was digging through some old CDs the other day and happened across a compilation disc I made in the mid-’90s that had the title: Aimee Mann: My Miserable Life….
Their fifth studio album finds My Morning Jacket attempting to fulfill their urge to not be evilly defined solely by one genre. They’ve banked on the same aesthetic for awhile:…
For equitable purposes, it’s probably best to mentally separate Wolf Parade from their debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary. Not because it’s too good and they’ll never top it, and…
What do we have here? Two bands, two albums, one package. Well yes, and no. While the bands have different names, and very different styles, South San Gabriel is the…
Leeny and Steve – Be Nice (2008) purchase this album (CD Baby) Would you take career advice from a four-year-old? That’s the question that faced Ilene “Leeny” Altman and Steve…
Collette Savard – Zen Boyfriend (2008) purchase this album (Amazon) Her debut release, 2005’s Most Improved Cheerleader, was a mostly underwhelming porridge of folk granola and deadly earnest balladry —…
Comprised of material from their earliest singles, everything from Wooden Shjips’ Volume 1 was actually written before the material on their self-titled release from last year. Unfortunately, it shows. Wooden…