(five briefs out of five)
Rachel Nagy could probably kick your ass. She could certainly kick the asses of most of the “singers,” “bands,” and other assorted automatons that populate the Top 40. But instead, she toils in relative obscurity, fronting one of the coolest bands you’ve never heard of, the Detroit Cobras.
And that obscurity is […]
(three briefs out of five)Near the end of the final episode of The Sopranos, A. J. Soprano — fresh off his brief existential crisis — is cruising around in his new BMW, embracing his inner brat, gabbing to his girlfriend on his cell phone, “Scratch Your Name” by the Noisettes blasting from the stereo. Scratch […]
(three briefs out of five)
If I could only climb into Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine and dial up 2004 – then I’d be in the position to review Lori McKenna’s “Bittertown” CD. Instead, here it is, 2007, and I’m sitting with “Unglamorous.” Oh, how things have changed for Ms. McKenna.
Much has been written about Lori of […]
(four briefs out of five)
Where would the White Stripes be without Meg White? I mean, let’s be frank: a well-trained bonobo could probably do a comparable job on the drums, and she’s no singer. Maybe she’s Jack’s muse; if so, I invite her to stick around awhile, because where the White Stripes are right now […]
(five briefs out of five)
One of my secret daydreams is to start a radio station dedicated to criminally unknown and underappreciated artists. The poster queen for my station would have to be the great Gina Villalobos, who’s released a couple of amazing records (2004’s “Rock ‘N’ Roll Pony” and this year’s “Miles Away”) while she […]
Okay, there I was, Memorial Day weekend, strolling through beautiful New Hope, PA with my wife. We were doing the typical New Hope thing, walking in and out of stores and galleries with absolutely no intention of buying anything unless it was edible. We wandered into a pretty cool little store that had all kinds […]
(four briefs out of five)
The New Pornographers, too, are worthy of a head start in the briefs department thanks to Neko Case, the stone cold Canadian fox who contributes lead or backing vocals on virtually every track on Challengers. Any NP album is a group effort, though, with as many as four of the eight […]
(four briefs out of five)
Okay, I have to be honest about Rilo Kiley’s latest CD, “Under The Blacklight.” This one had a two-briefs head start before I heard a note – chalk it all up to the presence of the uber-hot Jenny Lewis, my obsession du jour, du year, du decade. Ah, Jenny, sweet Jenny.
But, […]