http://www.blurt-online.com/reviews/ CD Reviews from Blurt en-us Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:29:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3615/ (Light In The Attic)   www.lightintheattic.net   Charlie and Ira Louvin recorded Satan Is Real in three days in August 1958 as part of a 10-day studio stint that also produced all or most of two other albums. The album wasn't released until November of the following year: Capitol Records wasn't in a rush to release a set of dark, conflicted testaments, and t ]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3615/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3616/ (Words On Music)   www.words-on-music.com   The Lucy Show won't go down in history as innovators - the British band's gothic-tinged, atmospheric rock slots in comfortably alongside better-known 80s-era peers like the Comsat Angels, the Chameleons, the Psychedelic Furs and the Sound, though with a more modest sweep. But blazing new trails was less the point ]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3616/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3617/ (Le Pop Musik)   www.lepop.de   Through a fortuitous set of circumstances, the German-based label Le Pop Musik has taken a shine to several acts from Tucson, Arizona, releasing full length records to date by Tucson locals Andrew Collberg and Brian Lopez and two ex-pat Parisians who have long called Tucson home, Marianne Dissard and Naim Amor. Now they step ]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3617/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3612/ (self-released)   www.thomasdolby.com   When last observed, Thomas Dolby was posing as a mad scientist, blinding fans with science and well positioned as a darling of the then-budding MTV set. Nowadays, Dolby's less the obsessive eccentric, having moved into production and the software side of things. After only infrequent releases lately, A Map of the Floa ]]> Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3612/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3613/ (Vision Music)   http://www.nilslofgren.com     At this point in a career that has now spanned five decades, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Nils Lofgren is better known as the trampoline-jumping, comically-large-hat-wearing, guitar-wielding member of Bruce Springsteen's band than he is for the string of critically-acclaimed solo albums that he rel ]]> Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3613/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3614/ (Carpark )   www.carparkrecords.com   "I thought...I would...be more...than this," shouts Dylan Baldi towards the end of the nine minute freakery of "Wasted Days." It's like the end of a war, this last minute of the song. Baldi's voice is a shredded, disintegrated mess, splattering bloody polyps of angst, stray spit and undiluted aggression over the verse. ]]> Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3614/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3609/ (Merge)   www.mergerecords.com   Amber Papini, the singer for Hospitality, breezes over jangly pop riffs, her voice devil-may-care and intoxicating as she picks her way through scenarios from young adulthood in New York City. You see her, sharp and thin and funny, fond of extravagant gestures and expressions, as she tells confides the details of her day, ]]> Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3609/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3610/ (Thirty Tigers)   www.thirtytigers.com   Three years after Adam Arcuragi's folky sophomore effort I am become joy, we have this little gem. Though Arcuragi (pronounced er-ah-ghee) is now based in Philly where he stayed after college, he's originally from Georgia and the aching soul he belts out on these 12 songs offer up a southern boy through and though. ]]> Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3610/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3611/ (Phrex Records   www.greghumphreys.net   People You May Know may be the best set of late night standards released this year. Except for the fact that these songs aren't standards at all, but rather some very supple originals. North Carolina native Greg Humphreys has undergone several musical transformations over the years, from the modest countrified pop mus ]]> Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3611/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3606/ (Merge)   www.mergerecords.com   With half a dozen albums under their collective belts and an affinity for gay-friendly sentiments, San Francisco's Imperial Teen offers a sound that borrows heavily from ‘80s-era pop and a chirpy dance-driven affinity. That's all too apparent on Feel The Sound, the quartet's most embraceable effort to date.   Wh ]]> Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3606/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3607/ (Blue Corn Music)   www.bluecornmusic.com   Known for album titles that attest to her authoritative stance -- The Truth According to Ruthie Foster, The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster and the like - Ruthie Foster stirs up a sound that affirms those assertions are indeed well founded. Weaving a powerful blend of Blues, R&B, Gospel and Folk finesse, Foster's mad ]]> Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3607/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3608/ (New West)   www.newwestrecords.com   These five yokels call Houston home and have already self-released two records before this one. The 10 songs here recall elements of the way past (The Band, Crazy Horse, Flying Burrito Bros., etc.) to recent past (Beachwood Sparks, Scud Mountain Boys, etc.) and the present (Dawes, Deer Tick, etc.). And if those first t ]]> Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3608/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3603/ (Fanatic)   www.fanaticrecords.com   Slowly but surely, Red Wanting Blue's star has been rising. Hey, wider exposure's only been 17 years in the making. The title of the band's latest release speaks to eons of hours spent aboard tour vans leading in and out of the group's Columbus, Ohio, base - which, while a few states Northeast of the U.S. mainland's geog ]]> Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3603/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3604/ (Domino)    http://www.dominorecordco.us/   Not sure who (or what) the Ester of this title is, but if this British act has dedicated their fine debut to her (or it), a "thank you" note is in order. This holds as well for music fans who like one foot in the experimental world and another in familiar song territory. First, though: As band-names go, you w ]]> Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3604/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3605/ (Amnesty International)   http://music.amnestyusa.org   With around 75 (exact number depends on format) new recordings available as a digital download ($19.99) or on four CDs ($24.99), this collection of Bob Dylan songs offers good value for an excellent cause. Proceeds go to Amnesty International, the non-ideological human rights organization that has soug ]]> Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3605/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3600/ (Jagjaguwar)   www.jagjaguwar.com   It's hard to fathom where rock would be without the Velvet Underground, whose mix of intellectualism and primitivism created a new dramatic structure - intentionally flirting with chaos - for the popular song. We're still finding bands influenced by them but who never got their due, and Supreme Dicks, subject of this four ]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3600/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3601/ (TNP)   www.negroproblem.com   When last we heard from Stew, erstwhile leader of underground indie pop darlings The Negro Problem, he was busy conquering Broadway with his metafictional musical Passing Strange. Several awards (including a Tony for Best Book of a Musical) and one Spike Lee-directed film later, it seemed the long-struggling songwriter had fi ]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3601/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3602/ (Drag City)   www.dragcity.com   Carlos Paredes was a master of the Coimbrian guitar, a shortened, rounded version of the instrument, strung with six sets of double wire that was developed partly by his father, Arthur Paredes, also a famous guitarist. Born in 1925, Paredes lived and played through one of Portugal's most tumultuous periods, and was jailed as ]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3602/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3597/ (Dirtnap)   www.dirtnaprecs.com   The firs thing that came to mind upon hearing this Montreal group's debut record (on the Going Gaga label) a few years back was, "Man, this band is good, they should be on Dirtnap!" Fast forward to 2012 and indeed here is their Dirtnap debut. These four well-groomed youths from Montreal began slicing up guitars in 2006 and ]]> Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3597/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3598/ (Anti-)   www.epitaph.com   For much of his career, John K. Samson has been identified with the Weakerthans, a Canadian folk-punk combo whose own credentials have been sadly under-valued; prior to that, he played bass in punk combo Propagandhi, and during that mid-‘90s tenure he also released a solo album, Slips and Tangles. The latterday Weakerthans ]]> Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3598/