****1/2 Maybe it’s because I tend to be harder on things I love the most (it took me until a month or so ago to finally admit that Fallout 3 is worthy of a perfect score), but listening to Rocks today has been a bit more sobering than Get Your Wings and Toys in the…
B+ Aerosmith has always been my favorite band and their debut album has always been in my top three favorites from them (topped, naturally, by Toys in the Attic and Rocks). As such, I’ve always been annoyed that it often gets passed over in favor of its follow-up Get Your Wings, which I never considered…
A Aerosmith’s 1973 debut is without a doubt one of the greatest Rock n’ Roll debuts of all time and remains a criminally underrated album that added greatly to the golden age of the genre. Its inclusion of “Dream on” (and to a lesser extent, “Mama Kin”) are what bring casual listeners to the table, but…
***1/2 Armed with a new, much better producer, yet another different guitarist, and some great songs, Stuck is by far the best of Adelitas Way’s four studio albums. Gone are the regrettable cliche-riddled songs that plagued Home School Valedictorian (or at least there’s less of them) and they’re replaced by some of the most sonically satisfying…
*** Lacking the lyrical and musical prowess that New School Rock band Adelitas Way achieved on their first album, Home School Valedictorian was a decidedly garden variety affair that offered plenty to please fans of the band and their genre, but virtually nothing to garner new ones outside those confines. While nothing here other than…
In what is probably my strongest list yet, my favorite songs of the week include a sobering sermon from Father John Misty, an outlaw jam from Houndmouth, and an Electro-Rock masterpiece from Japandroids. Treat yourself to my five favorite tracks of the week. “Arc of Bar” – Japandroids Dylan-esque lyricism meets an unbelievably over the…
**** Japandroids’ first album in four years marks a significant change in tone for the Canadian Rock duo of Brian King and David Prowse, favoring a more polished studio sound over the Garage Rock-y vibes of their previous work. But that isn’t to say their Punk roots aren’t still here in full effect as King provides…
****1/2 Learning from fellow ’90s stalwarts like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Radiohead’s second album greatly improved upon the foundation they set with Pablo Honey’s “Creep,” and created an angsty alternate take on Grunge that may remain over two decades later as their peak. The artsy beginning featuring “Planet Telax” and the title track quickly gives…
*** If you’ve never witnessed an exorcism and was interested in experiencing a 45-minute plus aural sample of one, Tanya Tagaq’s Retribution is for you. A renowned throat singer, which is a vocal style akin to metalcore screaming only even more annoying and even disgusting, Tagaq’s subject matter is nonetheless respectable: humans’ abuse of our…
**** While it hasn’t aged as well as some of Radiohead’s other landmark releases, Kid A is still a fantastic avant garde trip through Electro-Rock hysteria. From the droning “Everything in its Right Place” to the hypnotic drive of “Idioteque” (which remains one of my favorite of their songs), the album is filled to the…
The Soundtrack Online 