Red Collar – Welcome Home
With their latest full-length release, Welcome Home, Durham, North Carolina’s Red Collar again delivers a modern amped-up take on Americana. Their 2009 album Pilgrim was among my favorites of that year and even though we’ve got a lot of 2012 left, I’m pretty sure that Welcome Home will find a place on my year-end list (Read more…)
August Premier – Happy Miserable
With all the high-profile punk reunions of the past few months and years combined with the band’s relative obscurity, it would be easy for most to overlook the reunion of Chicago’s own August Premier. And that, my friends, would be a bad thing. I’m not really sure of the whole story about the reunion, but (Read more…)
Carpenter – Sea To Sky
Another album that I’ve finally had a chance to listen to after the madness that was the holiday and year-end list season, is the latest from Canada’s Carpenter. On first listen to their second album, Sea To Sky, I was hugely disappointed considering how much I loved their debut, Law Of The Land. Initially, many (Read more…)
Glossary – Feral Fire
The latest album from Murfreesboro, Tennessee’s Glossary was release this past summer and it’s called Feral Fire. It’s a great Southern rock record in the tradition of bands like the Allman Brothers, Thin Lizzy, and Lucero. First and foremost, Feral Fire is a guitar record, but there’s some country twang and plenty of hip-shaking moments (Read more…)
Two Cow Garage – Sweet Saint Me
Y’all might remember that way back in 2008 I called Two Cow Garage’s album Speaking In Cursive my 13th favorite album of that year, so you shouldn’t be the least bit surprised that the latest from these Columbus, Ohio roots-punk-alt-country-rock-whatever guys will most likely be somewhere around there on this year’s list. Heck, Two Cow (Read more…)
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks
I’ve long considered myself a fan of Ted Leo and whatever band he happens to bring around, but it’s really only with his latest album The Brutalist Bricks that I’ve actually realized just how much I like Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I loved Shake The Sheets from 2004 and liked 2007’s Living With The (Read more…)
Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
So I’ve been listening to the newest Titus Andronicus album, The Monitor, for the past few weeks and even after multiple listens, I can’t tell if it is great and pure genius or completely terrible. OK, that opening line was a little untrue, but you get the point, right? I’m leaning more towards great, but (Read more…)
Los Lobos – Tin Can Trust
Did you know that Los Lobos put out a new album in 2010? Well, it’s called Tin Can Trust and it’s the band’s first album of new material in four years. Most people disagree with me, but I think Los Lobos is a hugely important and awesome band. Tin Can Trust only solidifies that feeling (Read more…)
12 Days of Christmas MP3′s for 2010: Day 3
What we’ve got here are a few of the most awful and/or annoying Christmas songs known to man. Don’t argue either… I mean, how can the synth that opens “Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time” not make you want to stab through your ears with an icepick? And is there anything creepier than Johnny Cash (Read more…)
