music-and-concert-reviews-you-wont-see-anywhere-else
#34 album of 2013 – Phantom Head by the Scaramanga Six
Artist: the Scaramanga Six
Album: Phantom Head
Phantom Head, by the British band Scaramanga Six (who currently are in fact a sextet), is an energetic album of sinister-for-the-fun-of-it bar-band rock. It reminds me of the leaner-poppier side of ’70s Blue Oyster Cult (the Career of Evil/ Harvester of Eyes/ Debbie Denise side), or of Thin Lizzy’s twin-guitar rock if they’d sung from the perspectives of dangerous psychopaths-in-training. Or of the Who if they’d been Judas Priest fans, […]
#35 album of 2013 – People by Burning Hell
Artist: the Burning Hell
Album: People
Canada’s the Burning Hell are still described on their own website as “the alter-ego of ukelele player and all-purpose nerd Matthias Kom”, which made sense as of their 2011 masterpiece Flux Capacitor. As of 2013’s louder, more rock-centric People, it makes better sense to refer to Kom as a guitarist, but the essential idea holds true: as pleasant as the old-time swing of their sax and clarinet is (where still applicable), […]
#36 album of 2013 – Jumbie in the Jukebox by Kobo Town
Artist: Kobo Town
Album: Jumbie in the Jukebox
If you’d asked me a year ago if I like calypso music, there’s a fair chance I’d’ve said “Yes”. At which point you could’ve asked me what calypso albums I owned, and I’d’ve paused, blushed, and given you the following full list: the Essential Harry Belafonte. Even there, I’d’ve had to admit that my fondness for Harry Belafonte stems less from the album (which is indeed very fine) than […]