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The Bellfuries Band

The Bellfuries [Feature Band]

Written by Fense

Not too long ago–more specifically, earlier this year–I wrote that The Explorers Club release Freedom Wind could have been the record The Beach Boys released after Pet Sounds. While that statement is a bit of a stretch, as few titles can live up to the Pet Sounds name, all the press on The Bellfuries seem to dub Palmyra with a similar, Beach Boys-y label.

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The Absentee: Victory Shorts [Album Review]

The Absentee

No no no no no. This isn’t doing it for me. With vocals rivaling Calvin Johnson in pitch, and dubbing themselves indie-pop, there’s an obvious Beat Happening reference here. But where other artists succeed at setting themselves apart from their influences, and do so well, I’m not quite hearing it in The Absentee (MySpace)–at least, not at first. Read More »The Absentee: Victory Shorts [Album Review]

Jesse Dee [Feature Band]

Jesse Dee

Written by Fense

“Alright” opens with blaring trumpets and Jesse Dee’s soulful vocals. This continues for a full minute before opening up into something a bit wider—wider in that the instrumentation comes full circle with organs, back-up singers and a slew of classic influences that are readily apparent… Read More »Jesse Dee [Feature Band]

The Dodos

The Dodos: Visiter [Album Review]

A friend of mine recently pointed out how quickly disposable today’s technology has rendered music. Though this statement appears to be quite obvious in a superficial sense; i.e., gone, for the most part, are the days of unwrapping a new album and listening to it’s contents with entirely fresh ears, excitedly perusing the record’s album art and lyric sheet. It is also true in that, given today’s technology, after a few listens, if a record doesn’t catch one’s ear, one artist is conveniently and quickly replaced by another (or twenty others). As a young teenager, I purchased a number of deplorable records (ahhemmm, I’m looking at you, Stone Temple Pilots), and, no matter how bad they were, I repeatedly listened to them, desperate to hear some melodic nuance, some clever lyrical phrasing… shit, something that made me feel like I had not just blown fifteen hard earned dollars.

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Antony And The Johnsons: Another World [Album Review]

Antony And The Johnsons

After Antony Heggarty’s involvement in the phenomenal Hercules And Love Affair release from earlier this year, one might expect his more personal project to perhaps alter course. But Another World, for the most part, continues down the same path as earlier works, like I Am A Bird Now and the groups self-titled release. And that commonality is the stripped-down Heggarty on vocals with a melodramatic backing piano and string accompaniment. Read More »Antony And The Johnsons: Another World [Album Review]

Dark Meat: Dead Man [Video]

Dark Meat

Written by Fense

Do you ever see an album in the record store that sparks your curiosity each time you pass it by? It nags you and gets underneath your skin—you want to check it out, but you’re wary about dropping $20 on an LP that might or might not be good. It’s simply not worth the risk. Universal Indians by Dark Meat was just such an album. Then I heard “Freedom Ritual”, the album’s first track, and I was hooked. Read More »Dark Meat: Dead Man [Video]

Matthew And The Arrogant Sea: Family Family Family Meets The Magic Christian [Album Review]

Matthew And The Arrogant Sea

Written by Fense

The world appears to be crumbling around us and it seems like there’s nothing we can do. As I sit here typing, CNN is discussing the collapse of AIG, which affects IFLC, which in turn has great potential to harm Airbus and Boeing (I bet right now you’re calculating just how long this review has been sitting in the queue, waiting to be posted). Already in Washington the unemployment rate is greater than 6 percent—I am part of that statistic (also an item that has changed since this review was first “written”). There’s a growing desperation in the air and it’s tough not to get caught up in the stress of it all, cause there’s not much we can do but wait it out. Read More »Matthew And The Arrogant Sea: Family Family Family Meets The Magic Christian [Album Review]

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