Reviews

We've been doing this long enough that we can spot a journalist or blogger who is just phoning it in, who crib from our press releases, juggle it around and rush out the door to get to the bar 5 minutes sooner.

Thus, it always does our hearts good to read a piece by someone who is obviously OVERCOME by something, who writes with a giddy passion.  Check out THIS in depth review of Lydia's new album Indestrucible Machine in PopMatters.com.

Here's just a couple of the highlights:

“If you believe in Rock ‘N’ Roll, you pray for people like Lydia Loveless.”

“Indestructible Machine is as good as anything I’ve heard this year and marks the true, and truly defiant, arrival of what could be a serious talent… This music is razor sharp but bluntly honest, witty, massively entertaining, and often crushingly swoonsome… A riot starr is born! But God help us, this one’s gonna be trouble.”

Wethinks he likes it!

HA HA TONKA played the much vaunted ACL festival in Austin TX last weekend and by all the accounts we've heard (we weren't allowed to go, our cruel overlord bosses allow no such things) they knocked it out of the proverbial park

HERE'S a link to Rolling Stone's "Best Moments" from the festival photos

HERE'S a great article/interview from the AustinPost called "The ACL Band Stuck In My Head" and it tells how HHT brought on the rain to the drought-stricken area (who knew?) as well as couple of their videos.

Overheard several times were people saying "Did you hear that HHT made it rain?"

Heed their powers...

Here's a video medley of their set (pardon the crappy audio) that gives you sense of the day..

The first week of Lydia Loveless' Indestructible Machine have seen the pointy headed music literati singing (pardon the cheapo pun) her praises.  Here's a few links to nudge in the direction of giving her a try...

<<"Remarkable" sez SPIN... Read the FULL review

<<"When all is said and done it represents as strong a debut album that the genre has seen in quite some time" opines Absolute Punk...FULL REVIEW HERE

<<Chicago Tribune gushes  "these are songs that signal a major new voice blowing into the country-punk dives and honky-tonks"--- Read it all HERE

<<and Cincinnati City Beat chimes in with "Lydia Loveless has already blazed an impressive trail."  Read the interview and review HERE

So, c'mon, don't be scared, don't remain LOVELESS any longer (oh, we're crackin' ourselves with these puns...)

A week after the release of the new album from the DEX ROMWEBER DUO Is That You In the Blue?, the folks that scribble reviews are lining up to agree with us, this one smokes...

Click on the publication to see the full review

"An unsettling, rocking journey from the dark edges of the American Underground to the bright dawn after an all-night bender. "     Stereo Subversion

"Hooray, then, for guys like Dexter Romweber. He plays rock 'n' roll, dammit, and you can tack on as many qualifiers as you please, but it is what it is, straight-up bluesy, primal, gut-punching rock 'n' roll." ---Phoenix New Times

"A deranged, swampy 14 songs that will scratch your Link Wray and rockabilly itch, while the title track is a Roy Orbison-worthy nighttime ballad in the vein of Orbison's "In Dreams.""--Houston Press

"There’s no holding back this time as the Romwebers race full-throttle toward scrappy, raucous rock ’n’ roll bliss." --listendammit.com

"14 primordial tracks that ought to be in the collection of every noir-obsessed vinyl fiend." -- The Onion AV Club

"Its versatility is quite dazzling, making it one of the best records in the Romweber catalog." --allmusic.com

"A beautiful, swampy affair and is to date one of the best records to come out in 2011. Any true lover of real rock and roll delivered with the proper attitude should own this record." --kinston.com

"Romweber's dark, menacing growl could intimidate Nick Cave if the two of them ever faced off, but sister Sara does her part by providing the music's bombastic beat." --Blurt Online

The Silos have self-released their new album Florizona.  We're carrying it on the site and it's getting some great press, including THIS piece by Ann Powers at NPR.

It's a lovely article about how some artists become "lifers" for her, and the Silos are one of them.

We agree.

The MTV Hive gave their picks for "great twang* records for the springtime"

Quoth they:

"With temperatures rising across this great land, outdoor activities such as driving with the window down and bocce ball will soon commence once again.  And what goes well with warmth and cold suds? Twang! Here’s five great Americana-tinged records we’re excited to pair with some well-honed sunburns."

Read what they say about Ben's record HERE

*= Rob HATES the word "twang."

That's short for Ha Ha Tonka on the Huffington Post.  It's just in this era of Twitter, we can no longer be bothered with full words. KWIM?*

Anyway, here's a lengthy and interesting feature in the Huffington Post on the boys on this, the release day of their latest album.

Find out their appearance on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, Brian's shabby baseball trivia skills and their songwriting processes and thematic influences.  There's also many tales of WILD times on the road featuring an alter ego "Cheesy B."  Look out Motley Crue.

*="Know What I Mean?

Though not out for another few weeks, Maggie Bjorklund's new record Coming Home is already turning some heads.  Read the Seattle Weekly article HERE and you can pre-order the CD/LP.

Sometimes a record comes across our desks that, despite common sense business reasoning, we just HAVE to be a part of.  This is one of those records.  We hope you'll agree or perhaps give a try.  Tracks can be heard on the New Releases playlist--just push that little red button to the left.

In this time of joy and fellowship, the blog Muzzle of Bees asked our resident lo-fi seemingly always bummed Ben Weaver about his favorite sad songs in a recurring feature of theirs called Sad Songs and Waltzes.   Check out his thoughts on the Replacements, Randy Newman, Townes Van Zandt and more HERE

Perhaps you've heard us rail about it before, but the Interweb has made it possible for a lot of BAD writing to be seen by a lot of people on equal footing with GOOD writing.  Thus, we're always giddy to see some thoughtful, interesting and, dare we say, informed critical responses to our releases, and endeavor to pass them along--and Ben Weaver's new record seems to have the scribes sharpening their pencils and putting some thought into their reviews.

From the Minneapolis City Pages is a lovely review and conversation with Ben about food, music, nature and how they relate to his creative process:

"Pure pastoral, a melodic and meditative acoustic collection that finds his gravelly, Tom-Waits-indebted croak now complemented by a heretofore hidden and lovely upper register on tracks like the album-opening "Grass Doe."  Deftly mixing confessional balladry ("Drag the Hills") with acute  character sketches ("City Girl") and impressionistic nature journal  jottings ("The Rooster's Wife"), it's a new high-water mark."   Read it all HERE.

Then there's the NPR station KCMP's webstream of an in studio performance. Listen to it HERE.

And the kicker...from the blog Minnpost.com, HERE'S a review that is rather effusive in its praise....even if we sheepishly agree.

"The temptation here is to compare it to Springsteen’s “Nebraska” or any of Greg Brown’s similarly stark beauties. But a more apt reference is Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks,” that epic break-up record that sounds fussy in comparison."

The new album is available on Tuesday, but you can pre-order now and get a free hand drawn hang tag from Ben, as well as our 2010 edition PROMO SAMPLER.