Although they are “passionate about the blues tradition and hate following the rules,” I wasn’t really impressed by Black Smokers’ music; they could tighten it up a bit. They definitely have an edgy, European-wish-they-were-American rock sound, with underlying country tones…
Written on June 14, 2010 | Posted in
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Long-running goofballs the New Duncan Imperials bring plenty of their inspired nonsense to their eigth album, End of Phase One. The band pilfers a multitude of styles, from garage to punk to ’50s rock, and cuts it all with the silliness and catchiness of the Replacements…
Written on February 6, 2009 | Posted in
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Horns. That’s what been missing from my life. Well, horns and chicka-chicka guitars, anyway. And maybe some Hammond organ…
Written on October 17, 2008 | Posted in
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More than thirty years into his career, Glenn Mercer (best known from the Feelies) has released his first solo album, Wheels in Motion. Most of the people he recruited to play on the album are former Feelies, and as a result the album sounds a lot like what the Feelies might sound like…
Written on September 13, 2007 | Posted in
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Cheer-Accident is a long-running Chicago band that’s known for complicated, intense music which embraces a wide range of abrasive sounds. What Sequel?, however, is not like most of their records, in that it’s made up of relatively ordinary pop songs…
Written on November 14, 2006 | Posted in
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Andre Williams is a soul/R&B singer that got his start in the ’50s and came pretty close to stardom, but never quite made it, despite writing a number of songs that became hits for other artists. He released a few singles of his own…
Written on August 16, 2006 | Posted in
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The Goldstars are a garage-rock group from Chicago that plays music that’s pretty much straight out of the ’60s — there’s little here that would be out of place on Nuggets. The band’s a supergroup (a Chicago one, anyway), to boot, that includes Skipper…
Written on June 28, 2006 | Posted in
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