February 2012
63 posts
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Record Review / Howlin' Rain
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/6810/howlinrain-russianwilds-2011
As with anything tagged with the Ethan Miller name, warm nostalgia trumps originality. But it’s also unfair to call Howlin’ Rain a mere ’70s tribute band at this point … these guys simply exhibit too much enthusiasm to be relegated to mere also-rans in the long shadow of Miller’s previous band. The...
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R.I.P. Christopher Reimer (1986 - 2012)
In memory of Christopher John Joseph Reimer: http://christopherjohnjosephreimer.com/
Women :: “Heat Distraction” Album: Public Strain (Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar; 2010)
Azeda Booth :: “Lobster Quadrille” Album: In Flesh Tones (Absolutely Kosher; 2008)
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Record Review / Dustin Wong
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/6814/dustinwong-dreamssay-2012
This record might find itself ignored for living in the space between what we expect from bands and what we expect from individuals—there’s no chanting backups, but neither will you see Wong’s face lit up in the dark by a laptop as mash-ups emerge from somewhere overhead. And in simultaneously capturing simplicity of...
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This Week in CMG: 2007
Slogan: “Betz hates.” Record Reviews: Radicalfashion :: Odori [Chet Betz; 76%] Do Make Say Think :: You, You’re a History in Rust [Joel Elliott; 69%] The One AM Radio :: This Too Will Pass [David Greenwald; 72%] Jatun :: Jatun (NBH) [Conrad Amenta; 79%] Aqueduct :: Or Give Me Death [Craig Eley; 61%] Jill Cunniff :: City Beach (Reissue) [David M. Goldstein; 61%] RZA :: Afro...
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Dog Day :: “Synastry” Album: Elder Schoolhouse 12” (Divorce; 2009)
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Record Review / Field Music
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/6812/fieldmusic-plumb-2012
Whatever it might occasionally remind you of, this album mostly just sounds like Field Music at their best. Plumb is a brilliantly composed and deftly executed set of indie pop songs that will, if you give the album a few listens, worm their way into your brain and make a nice home for themselves there.
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Mike Love, Douche #29
“Hey kid, quick, c’mere. As soon as the theremin kicks in? Me and you. Douche-off.”
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Record Review / Craig Finn
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/6787/craigfinn-clearheartfulleyes-2012
Finn may not have given us the next great Hold Steady album, but he’s done something better in the long-run: he’s crafted a record that trades on his strengths while exploring new ground it was only inevitable he’d tread, a ground and a path perhaps more befitting a man of his age.
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Devin Davis :: “Giant Spiders” Album: Lonely People of the World, Unite! (Mousse; 2005)
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Record Review / Pop. 1280
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/6801/pop1280-thehorror-2012
With a dark, uncompromising foundation in the artier, industrial end of East Coast guitar rock—think Cop Shoot Cop, Swans, and more recently Liars—but with an ear toward the uniquely Midwestern provocations of the Jesus Lizard and Killdozer, Pop. 1280 have a firm grasp on the sonic lineage they hope to sustain.
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List / Top 30 "Other" Albums of the '90s
…according to our staff seven years ago: http://www.cokemachineglow.com/feature/3505/listravaganza-2005-top-30-other-albums-of-the-90s
Fun game: see if you can guess which Tripping Daisy album Scott crowbarred into this feature before you hit page three. Also, enjoy remembering Gay Dad existed!
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Record Review / Rick Ross
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/6789/rickross-richforever-2012
Largely forsaking South Beach slink in favor of Lugerian thump, Rich Forever certainly feels titanic, like Ricky’s gone supernova and started eating gold-plated planets for lunch.
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Circulatory System :: “Diary of Wood” Album: Circulatory System (Cloud Recordings; 2001)
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Track Review / Clark
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/dailyops/6774/clark-comtouch-2012
Some may be tempted to call it warm and summery, but fear no chillwave, because as with previous Clark work, the sun quickly turns into something ominous and merciless, a fierce desert deity that hypnotizes with heatstroke instead of offering any kind of warm welcome. It’s the darkness of those shadows that Clark knows so well, and...
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Record Review / Sharon Van Etten
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/6805/sharonvanetten-tramp-2012
There are better singers and songwriters making the rounds, but few can sell those ineffable feelings of loneliness, heartbreak, and enervation on tape as well as Sharon Van Etten. No wonder Cat Power keeps coming up as an easy point of reference—her wounded, contralto croak sounds as natural to soar into a breathtaking...
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WatchNBHcast XVIII: http://www.cokemachineglow.com/podcast/6793/cmgnbhcast-xviii
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Rae Spoon :: “I Wanna Dance With Somebody [Whitney Houston cover]” From the upcoming CMG Fantasy Covers podcast The ’80s, Part Two
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Choice Selections from the CMG Hatebag
re: The Tragically Hip - We Are the Same I guess this will quailfy as hate mail. Not really sure why you said the things you did about ” We Are The Same “ by The Tragically Hip It is a great album,as great as “World Container ” or “Phantom Power” Every album (CD ) can’t be “Road Apples” or”“Henhouse”. People evolve, grow...
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Sean Nicholas Savage :: “You Changed Me” Album: Flamingo (Arbutus; 2011)
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Photo-Ops
Nicki Minaj’s plea to be pointed to the best ass eater has finally been answered.
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Track Review / Quality Time [NBH]
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/dailyops/6795/qualitytime-magneticnorth-2012
Perhaps the way this track feels like it’s in confidence is what makes it so affecting. No one creates a Bandcamp page without visualizing an audience, but with “Magnetic North,” Quality Time still manages to keep itself focused on that ebbing, immaterial power that quiet music sometimes (rarely) births, and that two...
Watchjimdoindierockmusic:
The Luyas - Moodslayer
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Festival / Tomorrow Never Knows 2012
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/feature/6794/festival-tnk2012
It is not the best fest, nor presenter of the most consistently intriguing lineups, but it is, as of this year, the only fest that I have attended religiously, annually, since moving to Chicago. Buying a five-day pass was just a given—pay a hundred bucks for a five-day pass ahead of time and I will be both too obligated and too...
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Boyhood :: “Where I’m Going” Album: Boyhood EP (Self-released; 2011)
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Record Review / Grimes
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/6796/grimes-visions-2012
“Vanessa,” lead single of last year’s split LP Darkbloom, was her first wholly successful attempt to seamlessly fold pop tropes into her avant-garde style, and Visions finds Boucher developing precisely that idea into a sort of album-scale thesis. Listening to Visions, one gets the sense that Grimes has, after two years of...
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Track Review / Hospitality
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/dailyops/6786/hospitality-eighthavenue-2012
Papini has serious storytelling verve and her delivery is nothing less than engaging, but it’s the band’s effort that really puts this one over. “Eighth Avenue” just sounds so refreshingly un-jaded in a scene that doesn’t do anything but even when it’s trying not to.
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Record Review / Kevin Hufnagel
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/6783/kevinhufnagel-transparencies-2011
What elevates it to a good album, to be enjoyed regardless of how you feel about ambient music, is that it’s also so effortlessly listenable, unpretentiously conceived, and just plain beautiful.
Watchhttp://www.cokemachineglow.com/podcast/6779/cmgpodcast-cx