Songs from the Vanished Frontier is an album that is immediately attractive to the ear. “Stop Tonight” is a spacey, bubbling opening act for Vanished Frontier that leads to eight more pleasant tunes. In one of the singles from the new album “Young Men of Promise,” Cohen sings “Leaving you was like a car crash / I’m a river, you’re a raging sea.” The lyrics are delightful with a simple honesty that makes it one of the best tracks on Vanished Frontier.
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Blues Artist Martin Harley Speaks to the BandWagon About the Blues and Traveling the World
Harley’s music is modern and natural, neither contrived or overreaching and seems to speak from his heart. As an Englishman, he brings an outside perspective to the genre and while for some it is easy to pigeonhole British blues musicians, Harley is a reminder that blues as a form of music does not belong to anyone or any place.
Continue readingLocal Business: Bizarre Bazaar
Vinyl lovers have a new haven in Fort Collins. The Bizarre Bazaar is a relatively new record and book store located on Linden Street, run by Jane Makarchuk and her husband Scott. Makarchuk said her family is from the northeast and had run a bookstore before.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Afraid of Heights
Modern surf rock’s darlings Wavves make a triumphant return to the record store with Afraid of Heights, their first full-length album since 2010’s King of the Beach. Released in March, these thirteen tracks are undeniably some of the band’s best. Their lo-fi, grungy sound, consistent with Wavves’ other releases, does not disappoint.
Continue readingReview: Kid Cudi – Indicud
After Kid Cudi stopped smoking weed and decided to make a rock album, critics and fans began to question whether his music would ever be as successful as his early releases. However, when he announced that he was working on his newest album, Indicud, which he stated would be his “version of [Dr. Dre’s] The Chronic 2001,” speculation began that he had parted ways with sobriety and would begin rapping again. The speculations were confirmed when the first single, “Just What I Am,” was released. Featuring Cudi’s signature hazy, stoner production, the track is primarily about smoking marijuana with the words, “I need smoke, I need to smoke,” repeated through the hook. It was obvious that the Cudi that fans had grown to love was back.
Continue readingMovie Review: It’s a Disaster
Nothing takes a backseat to couples brunch drama. Not even the end of the world.
Continue readingMovie Review: To the Wonder
Since 1954 the world of cinema has had a definition for filmmakers who use the medium to generate “high art”. The Auteur Theory has been championed by directors like Francois Truffaut, Jean Renoir, and Alfred Hitchcock over the years. The theory asserts that an auteur makes films that share a common aesthetic and break through the wall of studio interference to generate a work of moving art. Terrence Malick is perhaps the best example of an auteur in present cinema. With only five films under his belt Malick is responsible for some of the most important films in the last few decades. In 2011 Malick released Tree of Life, reinventing his style with a more angelic approach to story-telling. His latest effort, To the Wonder, takes all the style of Tree of Life and none of the brilliance.
Continue readingReview: Anamanaguchi – Endless Fantasy
Anamanaguchi, out of New York, is a band that fits in an odd niche. They create 8-bit music that feels like the dream you should have after playing video games all night. They found national presence by producing the music for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game. Endless Fantasy, their second full-length album (being released on May 14th,) is intense, unrelenting, seizure-inducing, and oddly addictive.
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