Category: Music

Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: The Burroughs – Self Titled EP

June 26, 2014

Whether they’re starting a full-on dance contest during a show with original compositions or performing rip-roaring covers of everything from Beyonce’s “Love on Top” to the Ghostbusters theme, The Burroughs are never short on energy. In under a year of operation, the band has already displayed impressive talent and limitless confidence to match a group several times their tenure. The wait has seemed longer than it actually was, but The Burroughs EP is here, and as expected, is plenty of fun.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Dub Thompson – 9 Songs

June 24, 2014

It’s not easy being weird. Bands that attempt it come off as either trying too hard, or simply botch the effort to produce a product that skews too heavily in one direction: either half-hearted and boring, or so aggressive and outrageous, it’s off-putting. How impressive it is, then, that duo Dub Thompson toes that line astonishing precision, edging debut album 9 Songs into territory that lies comfortably between those extremes and rarely veering off-course.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Anchorage – Anchorage

May 15, 2014

I don’t envy bands that have the desire to carve out a fresh niche in the music scene. With the industry populated with so many new (and occasionally fresh) acts, introducing a new sound is not easy. Denver rockers Anchorage set out to do just that, advertising broad stylistic backgrounds and genre-bending music to be a unique new player in the rock scene.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Afghan Whigs – Do to the Beast

Whigs_cover_nobandIt’s been 16 years since Greg Dulli released an album under his outfit The Afghan Whigs. It’s almost baffling to consider peripherally that the last album dropped in the late 90s. Dulli has remained active under his other groups, The Twilight Singers and The Gutter Twins, but with the former starting to blur stylistic lines with his original group, Dulli felt it was time to come full circle and return to his roots with Do to the Beast, which mostly delivers exactly what Dulli followers are looking for—more dynamic, elaborate instrumentation and smoky.

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Features, Music, Print

The Ultimate Freak: Sir Mix-a-Lot Still Swass

April 11, 2014

In the early ‘90s, Seattle native Sir Mix-a-Lot proudly proclaimed: “I like big butts and I cannot lie” on 1992’s Mack Daddy, his third studio album and first for Def American. However, little do people know the two albums that preceded Mack Daddy contained some of his best material. From “Square Dance Rap” and “Swap Meat Louie” to “Posse on Broadway” and “Beepers,” there’s more to Mix-a-Lot than just big butts.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: In the Whale – Nate

April 9, 2014

As always, In the Whale boasts a driving, electrifying power that takes up an incredible amount of sonic space despite being composed of just two guys. The basic guitar-and-drum formula works, and while there’s nothing at all elaborate about the band’s music, it’s the earnestness with which they perform it that makes it so damn fun.

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Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: The Wild After – Lesson Learned

People who consume music on a casual basis don’t realize what a strange process it is to start a band. Local acts are constantly splitting, joining, or reinventing themselves. So when former members of The Heyday, Randall Kent and Ryan Buller, teamed up with a new rhythm section comprised of Jesse Spencer and Chris Beeble in October last year, it wasn’t anything unusual. What is unusual is the remarkable sounds they’re making in such a short time together. Their new EP, Lesson Learned, is releasing late March. Fortunately we got a streaming preview to let you know why you should check it out.

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