Drive-by Truckers: “The Fine Print”

The Drive-by Truckers have always been a band particularly cinematic in their focus. They’ve referenced John Ford in their songs, and they shoot their own Southern rock epics in sweeping, colorful Panavision. They’re also very prolific. It makes sense, then, that eventually, to bide some time between one opus and the next, they’d release a [...]

Stanley Clarke: “Jazz in the Garden”

On Jazz in the Garden, bassist Stanley Clarke is a man standing outside the normal, linear flow of time. Seriously: The debut outing for his new Stanley Clarke trio finds the bandleader in a rare and enviable position, surveying the entire train of his career as though he were an outsider, enough distance between the [...]

Paul Burch: “Still Your Man”

Whatever the reason– be it a function of postmodernity, or simply a result of an increasingly fractured music industry– genre has an object of ever-burgeoning, or at least awareness, within most any circles of music critics or fans. The music that stirs the most excitement, it seems, is that which blends the most distinct genres [...]

Debating Matisyahu

In the latest installment of Stereo Subversion’s “Internal Debate” series, Matisyahu’s new album Light goes under the microscope. I took part in this one, and my own response to the album is completely unimpressed: In a nutshell, the album is a garish, soulless makeover into the very worst kind of mainstream hip-hop. Here’s my mini-review [...]

Landmarks: The Year 2001

In my recap of the year 2000, I said that I had a tough time, that December, picking my favorite record from the preceeding twelve months. That happens sometimes. But it didn’t in 2001, a year that was, and is, completely owned by a single album, at least in my mind.
My favorite album of 2001– [...]

Arctic Monkeys: “Humbug”

Things have always moved fast for Arctic Monkeys. Their story, for those not in the know, goes something like this: They recorded a debut album, were instantaneously hailed as one of the greatest British bands ever, toured, cranked out another album, toured some more, and so on. The forward momentum of their career has been [...]

Mute Math: “Armistice”

By this time a lot of folks have forgotten that New Orleans quartet Mute Math rose from the ashes of Earthsuit, a short-lived Christian rock band that was actually pretty great. Released in the same year as landmarks like Kid A and Stankonia, Earthsuit’s lone studio album didn’t exactly revolutionize the entire face of music, [...]

Joe Henry: Release-Day Round-Up

A few of my readers have already asked me: Is Blood from Stars the best Joe Henry album yet?
My short answer is yes, it probably is, at least insofar as it’s his most fully-realized and integrated musical vision, the album that finds him at the peak of his powers as a producer, a singer, a [...]

Film Break: “Ponyo”

Whether you’re a fan of Hayao Miyazaki, world cinema, animation, or simply great storytelling, Ponyo is a movie you need to see. Visually, it’s A-grade Miyazaki; story-wise, I’d give it a solid B. Read my further comments over at CT Movies.

Derek Webb: “Stockholm Syndrome”

Is Derek Webb a poet or a prophet? Or perhaps just a provocateur? Six years after he launched his solo career, it’s still a little hard to tell sometimes; I’m willing to say that it’s probably a combination of all three, but I’m becoming increasingly cynical about just how balanced the equation is.
Webb got his [...]