This is part 3 of the Relient K retrospective Rating: 5 stars (out of 5) Two years and a forgettable EP later, Relient K released their third and best album to date. Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right… But Three Do — besides making the band 2 for 3 on awful album names — took all…
This is part 2 of the Relient K retrospective Rating: 3 stars (out of 5) Taking the strengths of the debut — some catchy hooks and a cleverness in blending outright Christianity with secular themes — The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek is a big step forward for Relient K in every department. It’s not…
This is part 1 of the Relient K retrospective Rating: 2 stars (out of 5) One of the best arguments in favor of nurture over nature, Relient K transformed themselves from completely insignificant to one of pop’s most underrated bands not through luck or by accident, but hard work and steady improvement. Each album’s craft…
Rating: 2 and a half stars (out of five) The Aquabats are known for their live show personas which are, if you’ll excuse the pun, pretty batshit. They pretend they’re a bunch of superheroes with crazy backstories, then stage a bunch of elaborate and choreagraphed fight scenes (*) against costumed foes while playing ska and…
Chain Gang of Love (2003) – 4 stars Pretty in Black (2005) – 2 stars Lust, Lust, Lust (2008) – 5 stars In and Out of Control (2009) – 4 stars Formed in Copenhagen, of all places, the boy-girl duo The Raveonettes re-envisions rock and roll’s past into one endlessly entertaining vision of the present. …
Emancipator’s “Soon It Will Be Cold Enough” goes down smooth much the same way albums like Metallica’s “Saint Anger” and Nirvana’s “In Utero” don’t. Perhaps the only aspect of the piece that makes it hard to digest, certainly for casual music listeners, is a lack of context surrounding the experience. The not-quite-techno, not-quite-electronica, not-quite-experimental rock…
[out of four stars] Toy Story (1995) – 4 stars A Bug’s Life (1998) – 3.5 stars Toy Story 2 (1999) – 4 stars Monsters, Inc. (2001) – 4 stars Finding Nemo (2003) – 4 stars The Incredibles (2004) – 4 stars Cars (2006) – 2.5 stars Ratatouille (2007) – 4 stars WALL•E (2008) –…
13 Songs (1990) – 5 stars Repeater +3 Songs (1990) – 4 stars Steady Diet of Nothing (1991) – 4 stars In on the Kill Taker (1993) – 5 stars Red Medicine (1995) – 5 stars End Hits (1998) – 3.5 stars The Argument (2001) – 4 stars A “staggeringly powerful combination,” as Rolling…
There are lots of reasons I love NBC’s sitcom Community. After last night, there’s one more. One of the subplots of the episode was Chevy Chase’s out-of-touch character Pierce trying to coin the term “streets ahead” as a synonym for “cool” (or perhaps “cooler than”). On its own, it was a pretty funny and bizarre…
Last night, the Goo Goo Dolls played the NorVa, a music club in downtown Norfolk, VA. I’ve grown up listening to the band on the radio, but never knew anything more about them. That is the perspective from which I will review their show. Names of band members have been fabricated based solely on…