http://www.blurt-online.com/reviews/ CD Reviews from Blurt en-us Thu, 24 May 2012 21:06:50 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3847/ (Esperanza Plantation)   www.esperanzaplantation.com   It's funny when you expect a record to sound like something, based on the name of the band or a photo of the band. This happened before, with the debut by this band (Days That Passed) and I was surprised then. Of this Portland, Oregon (via Mississippi) bunch I expected beards, flannels and a record th ]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3847/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3848/ (Radtown Music)   www.garrisonstarr.com   It's been a long road so far for Garrison Starr, one in which she's carved herself a nice little niche while still searching for wider awareness. So though its title may seem intended to underplay her abilities, there's a good chance that Amateur will, in fact, bring her all the more closer to the larger audience tha ]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3848/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3849/ (Nine Mile)   www.ninemilerecords.com   Songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Marvin Etzioni has worn many hats during his past quarter century in the music business, mainly those of producer (Peter Case, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Tom Freund, Grey DeLisle) and, early on, bass player for Lone Justice. In the early 90s he made a serious of well-received solo records, ]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3849/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3844/ (Dangerbird)   www.dangerbird.com   Over the course of three albums I've waited for Silversun Pickups to make a record that sounded like something fresh and original. Sadly, their latest, Neck of the Woods, is neither. The band continues to suck from the teat of 1990's alt-rock; taking most of their musical cues from bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Sonic ]]> Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3844/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3845/ (Landfall)   www.sonnylandreth.com   After spending two decades proving he's the master of Cajun-influenced stomping roots rock, Sonny Landreth has decided to explore new worlds for a change. His fans know that few are his equal at conjuring expressive, intensive, and inventive slide guitar melodies and riffs in the context of songcraft. This time around, L ]]> Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3845/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3846/ (Yep Roc)   www.yeproc.com   Night and Day picks up where Andre Williams left off after 1999's Red Dirt, his first collaboration with Canadian alt-country juggernauts The Sadies. The title alludes to the difference between Andre when he started this album in 2008 and when he finished - after going to jail for a charge that ultimately didn't stick. Andre's ]]> Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3846/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3841/ (LoS Records)   www.leftoversalmon.com   After Leftover Salmon lost founding banjo player Mark Vann to cancer in 2002, the band never quite recovered its mojo. The result was an indefinite hiatus at the end of 2004 and very sporadic shows played ever since. This year, though, the Colorado string crew - known best for rowdy ganja-fueled hoedowns with plenty ]]> Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3841/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3842/ (Cooking Vinyl)   www.cookingvinyl.com   Early in The Cult's career, the band was known for constantly changing its style, from post punk goth to hippy alt rock to down-and-dirty guitar-driven arena rock. They aptly merged those styles when they teamed up with producer Bob Rock on their best selling Sonic Temple. Since then, they've stuck to a more basic, ]]> Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3842/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3843/ (Discrete Pageantry)   www.hallelujahthehills.com   "No One Knows What Happens Next" is the shortest, least consequential song on Hallelujah the Hills' third full-length, a blur of organ tones and distant voices that is over in less than a minute. Yet, in a very real sense, this blip on the screen telegraphs the Boston-based band's nervy uncertainty about ]]> Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3843/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3838/ (Kirtland) www.kirtlandrecords.com   Initiating her career as another sepia-sounding Americana darling, Sarah Jaffe makes an abrupt about-face with her latest album, The Body Wins, a move which will undoubtedly cause her fans confusion (if not consternation) and give the unsuspecting only the vaguest idea about her MO. The quiet façade that once harbored ]]> Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3838/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3839/ (Goner)   www.goner-records.com     Sired by a lineage of Texas weirdos from Roky Erickson to Gibby Haynes, painter/author/poet/comedian/filmmaker John Wesley Coleman III delivers his definitive artistic statement as a musician on his excellent third solo LP.   Recorded both at a friend's cabin deep in the Lone Star State wilderness and in Oak ]]> Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3839/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3840/ (Psychout/Sound Pollution)   www.soundpollution.se   When Nicke Andersson disbanded the Hellacopters, one assumed it was so he could explore other musical avenues, like his death metal side project Death Breath. But when Imperial State Electric evolved out of what was originally intended to be a solo album, it was clear the apple had fallen just a foot or tw ]]> Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3840/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3835/ (Barbés)   www.barbésrecords.com   Largely responsible for the revival of interest in vintage South American chicha music with the release of The Roots of Chicha CD in 2007, the folks at Barbés Records (and the Brooklyn club of the same name) eventually took it to the next level and formed a band to play an expanded version the music the ]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3835/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3836/ (Sub Pop)   www.subpop.com   With each album, Beach House, move farther away from their soft druggy drooogy waking-daydream éclat into something harder. The first self-titled effort was hazy and emotional with an emphasis on dime store retro keyboard sounds. Devotion found singer Victoria Legrand moaning through a soundtrack of Hammer horror organ gr ]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3836/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3837/ (Stax)   www.concordmusicgroup.com   It's not as if Warren Haynes needs to tout his credentials. After all, his tenure with such revered jam bands as Gov't. Mule, the Allman Brothers, the Dickey Betts Band, Phil Lesh and Friends and the Dead speaks volumes in terms of affirming his blues-rock credence. Even so, Haynes proves equally  adept when he's o ]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3837/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3832/ (Tru Thoughts)   www.tru-thoughts.co.uk/   Quantic and Alice Russell, Brits by birth, both possess a restless musical spirit that has taken them, literally and figuratively, around the musical world. Quantic, the nom de plume of the globe trotting producer/DJ/musician and composer Will Holland, moved to Colombia years ago to immerse himself in vintage cumbi ]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3832/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3833/ (Temporary Residence Ltd.)   www.temporaryresidence.com   When drummer Jerry Fuchs tragically lost his life in a 2009 elevator accident in Brooklyn, the void he left and the repercussions felt in the community were beyond comprehension. The mustachioed Fuchs was a beloved member of the music realm and his monster precision auto, impeccable rhythmic timing a ]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3833/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3834/ (Long Branch/SPV)   www.spv.de   With its fourth album since reuniting in the early ‘00s, metal trio Prong finally blasts out a record to equal its early masterpieces Prove You Wrong and Cleansing. But Carved Into Stone doesn't merely emulate the band's older work - it stands on its own merits.   Boasting plenty of the chugging guitars, barking ]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3834/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3829/ (Ribbon Music)   www.ribbonmusic.com   At one juncture in their long career arc, it was waxed that no one has "sold out" to greater affect than Sonic Youth. The same postulation can be applied to the trajectory New York's Black Dice has traversed since its onset back in the late ‘90s. As hardcore disciples, Black Dice's early efforts were noise-bathed ]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3829/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3830/ (Columbia)   www.columbiarecords.com   Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny fared poorly in theaters, but rebounded on DVD and the midnight movie circuit. Tenacious D addresses this on their loosely conceptual third album where, post-bomb, Jack Black has ditched longtime partner Kyle Gass to go full-on Hollywood a-hole. This plays out only on the telltale ti ]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/3830/