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.”
Score: ***`/***** Usually I don’t review individual singles but a couple of forces propelled me to examination of this new Weezer tune, which per report comes as part of two new albums due out this winter. One, I’m bored off my tits, and I haven’t gotten any new tunes from Bandcamp since the beginning of … Read more“DD Review: Weezer – ‘All My Favorite Songs’”
Score: *****/***** Lots of things are puzzling about this new release, Ghost of Vroom 2, by the band Ghost of Vroom, which is led by Soul Coughing lead singer and solo pop writer Mike Doughty. The first is that, as is gleaned from the Stereogum interview with Doughty, “this is our second release, though the … Read more“DD Review: Ghost of Vroom – Ghost of Vroom 2.”
Score: 7.5/10 Well, there’s certainly a lot to unpack in 2020 about the Throwing Muses, vaunted East Coast ’90s alt-rock crew who have now set in our piqued laps a new full-length effort entitled Sun Racket, their first new album in seven years. Just for normalcy’s sake, I’ll start with the title and cover, the … Read more“DD Review: Throwing Muses – Sun Racket.”