This is Carla Bozulich’s new band, named after Carla’s previous solo record. Layers of noisy songs are expertly interleaved with passages of abstractness. There is plenty of suspense here. Very ambitious, but sometimes that’s the way it should be.
Category Archives: Reviews
14. Lucinda Williams – Little Honey
Lucinda’s new album has been in making for several years now, since I remember some of the songs on Little Honey being played live as early as 2005. On this great new album Lucinda rocks the house from the beginning to the end making her most entertaining album since Car Wheels.
15. Willy DeVille – Pistola
The 2008 saw Willy DeVille with a return album Pistola. Available in USA only as an import, Pistola is an amazing record of a man who’s fighting his own demons and who can tell city street stories with a great authority. This is likely Willy’s most rounded album since the Mink DeVille days.
16. Pierced Arrows – Straight to the Heart
Fred and Toody from Dead Moon returned this year as Pierced Arrows. The rawest album of the year that sounds as if it was recorded live.
17. Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Primary Colours
Fantastic Australian rock’n’roll scene gave us some of the most exciting new bands this year. Eddy Current Suppression Ring achieved a great international success when legendary Memphis label Goner picked them out of nowhere, pulled them up from down-under, and released their 2008 masterpiece Primary Colours.
18. Mojomatics – Don’t Pretend That You Know Me
Italian rockers Mojomatics give us another clear lesson on how to rock. The world should take the course. If 45s were more common these days, You Are Not Me (Unfortunately) would be already worn out in jukeboxes around the globe.
19. Electric Six – Flashy
It seems like it was forever since Electric Six had their five minutes of fame on British charts. Semi-famous status suits them better. Evidence are consistently wonderful gigs and albums that still sound great (if not greater than ever). Don’t be fooled by deliberately uninventive title of the opening track Gay Bar Part Two. Electric Six are not running out of ideas at all!
20. You Am I – Dilettantes
Members of You Am I practically grew up together. Their music matures together with their experiences. With the new album Dilettantes You Am I reach new levels of complexity without compromising quality.
The Moaners – Blackwing Yalobusha
Second effort for the two rockinest ladies on contemporary music scene. The new album is stretching beyond the neo-blues genre, with “When We’re Dead And Gone†having a melody of a 60s girl group hit and a nod to blaxploitation in “Foxy Brownâ€. In addition, Melissa and Laura are capable of pulling the most exciting live show you can imagine. This was my favorite album in 2007, during the hiatus of the show.
Tim Lee 3 – Good2b3
Tim Lee is a southern gentleman with a respectable career in rock’n’roll behind him. He started out in Mississippi’s own new wave outfit The Windbreakers. Like all proper things that come from the south, Tim’s new wave was deeply rooted in rock’n’roll traditions while still being always fresh. Forward thinking college rock crowd at the time embraced The Windbreakers as a rare jewel and the band kept their cult status throughout the years. Tim also had a very special interstate adventure with Matt Piucci when they gathered Gone Fishin’ recorded a great lost masterpiece Can’t Get Lost When You’re Goin’ Nowhere in 1987. But, much like his friend Steve Wynn, Tim Lee is experiencing a new, exceptionally strong artistic inspiration in past several years with his new trio Tim Lee 3. Baring the sound down to the bones – bass, guitars and drums with added confessional lyrics to top it all, Lee and his trio deliver a straight-forward rock with honesty rarely found today and any day. The new album Good2b3 (Paisley Pop Label 2008), is third in row aimed at the same direction. What adds extra oil to this burning hot platter is contribution from Susan Bauer Lee, bass player of the band and Tim’s wife, who contributes as an author and performer as much as Tim does on this new album. A special credit for this record definitely goes to its engineers Craig Schumacher and Chris Schultz who run Wave Lab Studios in Tucson AZ and who are obviously responsible for capturing the greasy, Crazy-horse-like, live sound of the band.