Score: 8/10 Go ahead. Try to talk sh** about Jakob Dylan. You know right when he walks in you’ll be palms sweaty, stomach heaving up and down, smiling and glowing, hanging on his every word and waiting to give him your number. Go ahead. Try to call him nepotistic, spoiled, born on third, bland, the … Read more“DD Review: The Wallflowers – Exit Wounds.”
Score: 9/10 Why do I just feel more and more, in the time transpiring these days, that this whole thing is just a charade, that there’s almost zero incentive for making good music in this era? Talib Kweli is hardly a heartwarming point person, at that, on this topic either. So under the paradigm of … Read more“DD Review: Stone Giants – West Coast Love Stories.”
Score: 7/10 In 2015 — when Modest Mouse released their last album before The Golden Casket, Strangers to Ourselves — Kendrick Lamar, Hop Sin and J. Cole ruled the world. Barack Obama was our president and any number of snide comments could be heard from trendy bartenders degrading “the indie scene” [1]. Our teenagers festival … Read more“DD Review: Modest Mouse – The Golden Casket.”
Score: 9/10 I was glad to find out from The Fire Note’s Facebook feed that Teenage Fanclub, whose ’05 masquerade Man-Made I consider just about the upper echelon of twee pop, has another new offering for us this year. Indeed, in terms of this band’s songwriting skill and moxie and the extent to which it’s … Read more“DD Review: Teenage Fanclub – Endless Arcade.”
Score: 10/10 Meeting David Byrne did something weird to St. Vincent. I don’t think there’s any question of that. I mean, just marvel at that straight-laced, almost depressingly plain photo of her on the cover of her 2009 album Actor — we’re talking about basically the nadir of goodie-goodie chamber nerd with a collection of … Read more“DD Review: St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home.”
Score: 7/10 It’s funny how true to their names the last two Dinosaur Jr. albums have been. I Bet on Sky was distant and trippy. Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not had one good song and then the rest of it sucked, hence embodying a true materialization of self after a glimpse of something … Read more“DD Review: Dinosaur Jr. – Sweep it into Space.”
Score: 9/10 For this review I handle the newly furnished live album from Mark Mulcahy, who’s notable for his former membership in Miracle Legion and for having garnered public praise from Thom Yorke for his musical synergy. Adding to the poignancy is the exact point in time this show took place in Boston — October … Read more“DD Review: Mark Mulcahy – Live at the Red Room (2019).”
Score: 10/10 Somewhere after my recent efforts upon this anniversary to see through The Black Crowes that now seem to have been about as well-fated as walking a lizard across Antarctica, I had a rather disconcerting thought: this might be the best American rock and roll band of all time [1]. Now, before you say … Read more“DD Review: The Black Crowes – Shake Your Money Maker (30th Anniversary Deluxe).”
Score: 5.5/10 Wow, the surprises just keep coming: this new Ghost of Vroom album (Ghost of Vroom 1, as opposed to the EP Ghost of Vroom 2, which came out before) is actually a full-length, and it came out a day ahead of schedule, yesterday. Then there’s all these ephemeral, seemingly artistically autonomous sounds clouding … Read more“DD Review: Ghost of Vroom – Ghost of Vroom 1.”
Score: 7.5/10 Hello? Knock, knock. Hello? Anyone in there? The new Foo Fighters album is out. Oh yeah, I guess you’re right. This fact isn’t that noteworthy. But ya know how we’re into paying attention to things that aren’t noteworthy these days, like that Michael Jordan documentary that aired last April? There, I figured that … Read more“DD Review: Foo Fighters – Medicine at Midnight.”