music-and-concert-reviews-you-wont-see-anywhere-else
#18 album of 2012 – In the Rock Hall by BidiniBand
Artist: BidiniBand
Album: In the Rock Hall
BidiniBand are a skilled heartland folk-rock band a la Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s Freedom/ Ragged Glory mode. Not the vocals, mind; almost 50 years old, novelist/ journalist Dave Bidini sings with a boyish clarity and enthusiasm Neil Young didn’t have even at 20 (let’s face it, Neil’s last name always seemed ironic). But BidiniBand aren’t trying to sell originality in their power-chords, their acoustic picking, or their 4/4 time, although […]
#19 album of 2012 – bell hooks by BBU
Artist: BBU
Album: bell hooks
“Too many conscious rappers can’t face the facts/ that drug dealers happen to make better raps”. BBU’s bell hooks — made by a band whose website explains their name as “short for Bin Ladin Blowin’ Up or Black, Brown and Ugly, depending on the day” — is a catchy, proudly defiant album that (1) has no desire to appeal to condescending white liberals whose main ghetto experience comes from schoolteaching, e.g. me, and […]
#20 album of 2012 – Gossamer by Passion Pit
Artist: Passion Pit
Album: Gossamer
So far, when I’ve praised pop songwriters (e.g. Jon Lindsay) on this countdown, I’ve centered the praise on artists who, like the Beatles or XTC or Elvis Costello, produce unexpected melodies: songs that recombine the basic 12 notes in ways that feel catchy but are somehow new. Passion Pit don’t really do that. I’ll grant them I’ll Be Alright and Carried Away, and parts of Love is Greed and Where We Belong, but […]