For those of you who already know about The Gutter Twins, the wonder-twins-power-team-up between Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan, I hope you’re planning to get “Saturnalia.” For those who don’t know about it, by the time this post is done you’ll have no excuse. Regular readers know I’m a huge fan of Dulli and Lanegan, [...]

“Thank the Lord for heroin, and thank him for your soul.” How did an album with a lyric like that get by me? And it’s not like that’s the only drug poetry on Spider Bags’ “A Celebration of Hunger,” a 2007 release from Birdman Records. Just about every tune is a tribute to excess. To [...]

Team Grizzly presents Jason Choi, of Melbourne, Florida, an singer/songwriter who captures all of the critical indie elements on his new record, “Leave The Night Behind.” Just about every song invites comparisons. “More Than Many Sparrows” has the soaring of Death Cab For Cutie. On “Aren’t We Funny,” Jason does his best Michael Stipe imitation, [...]

1. Picture in a Frame-Pearl Jam. 2. I Don’t Wanna Grow Up-Cold War Kids. An illogical tune: Great song + Great band = Not so great cover. But cool for the curious or completist. For a great cover of this song, check out The Ramones version. Or . . . 3. I Don’t Wanna Grow [...]

Blowing out your speakers next week should be The Whigs new record, “Mission Control.” Some folks make serious music, others come to party. The Whigs do a little of both, kinda like late-era Replacements, but the emphasis of the music is on powerful beats and heavy riffs. “Mission Control” is a solid album that doesn’t [...]

I’m sure I’m not alone in this: Black Mountain’s sophmore album, In the Future, was one of my most anticipated albums of 2008. And as luck would have it, it’s piping in my ears right now! Their eponymous first album was an amazing collection of rough-hewn psychedelia (they call it “psych-and-prog-spiritual” in the press release). [...]

Perhaps in the spirit of Lil’ Wayne’s admonishments to “please say the baby,” Marah’s latest record demands your attention by not just telling you its name—but exclaiming it! Still noticeably influenced by old-time rock and rollers like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, and, of course, Bruce Springsteen, Marah offers another collection of bluesy [...]

I may have done more posts on EELS than any other single band. (Most recent post: here.) So, I am wicked excited to announce this giveaway. The eels are coming out with two retrospective albums. The first, titled Meet The EELS: Essential EELS Vol. 1, is a CD/DVD that, as you might guess, is a [...]

I’ve written about Stratocruiser many, many times. In fact, I interviewed them back in 1996, on my old blog. They’ve got a new album mastered and ready for y’all, and asked if I would take a listen and, if I dig it, pass something along to whet all of your appetites until they’re ready to [...]

The easy comparison is to Tom Waits, but I’m not gonna say it. Instead, I’m gonna tell you that Brian Grosz is a bluesy and gruff singer-songwriter who weaves tales of problems that can be best solved with bullets to the head and bags of trash that hang like grapefruits from the trees. It’s guitar-based [...]