music-and-concert-reviews-you-wont-see-anywhere-else
#13 album of 2012 – Trouble with Machines by District 97
Artist: District 97
Album: Trouble with Machines
District 97 are a Chicago band of four varyingly dorky-looking male rock musicians, all quite skilled; a not-at-all-dorky-looking woman named Leslie Hunt who joined the band after being a top-10 finalist on American Idol; and a cellist, Katinka Kleijn, talented enough to do solos for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. That lineup concept is why I tried them out in the first place. Say what you like about American Idol (in my […]
#14 album of 2012 – Paralytic Stalks by Of Montreal
Artist: Of Montreal
Album: Paralytic Stalks
Perhaps it’s because the real ending of the Beatles was so disappointing — four men who’d pushed each other to brilliance got tired of doing so, released a spotty final record, and spread outward to fairly ordinary musical careers — but sometimes I’ll see a new and unrelated record as if it were an alternate Choose Your Own Adventure of the Beatles’ story. Of Montreal’s Paralytic Stalks, for example, is the version […]
#15 album of 2012 – Clockwork Angels by Rush
Artist: Rush
Album: Clockwork Angels
Rush — singer/ bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and lyricist/ drum collector Neal Peart — have made albums since 1974, which I think warrants a bit of background for newcomers, until that set of asterisks below. There’s a constant element of Rushness to their sound, but they’ve gone through some large stylistic changes. They began as a shrieky hard-rock band. At first ripping off Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath stomps, they quickly […]