music-and-concert-reviews-you-wont-see-anywhere-else
#30 album of 2012 – Relapse in Response by Surplus 1980
Artist: Surplus 1980
Album: Relapse in Response
Surplus 1980 — a new band, though founder/frontman Moe Staiano has been a fascinating percussionist in S.F. Bay bands for 15 years — have a well-chosen name. As long as you pick up on the right 1980 musical references: the skewed-punk and post-punk and spiky New Wave ones. Essential Logic, Pere Ubu, the Fall, the Slits, the Ex, Tin Huey, first-album Gang of Four: Relapse in Response is a louder […]
#31 album of 2012 – Decline and Fall by Thinking Plague
Artist: Thinking Plague
Album: Decline and Fall
Thinking Plague are an extremely skillful band of singer (Elaine di Falco), guitar (Mike Johnson), bass (Dave Willey), keyboard and drums (both Kimara Sajn), and sax/ flute/ clarinets (Mark Harris). Oddly for a rock band, they almost entirely avoid distortion, even for bass and guitar. It’s easier for me to give you adjectives about their album Decline and Fall than it is to assure you they’re compliments. “Composed”, in both the […]
#32 album of 2012 – What We Saw from the Cheap Seats by Regina Spektor
Artist: Regina Spektor
Album: What We Saw from the Cheap Seats
Regina Spektor plays piano reasonably well, and has a breathy but flexible singing voice fond of chirps, coos, swoops, creative weird mouth noises, and really awkward melisma (switching notes mid-syllable). My family and I adore her, and she’s had chart success, mainly with Fidelity from 2006’s wonderful Begin to Hope, but I can imagine why her songs could drive someone batty. Her strengths are childlike, […]