Album: Twenty Five for the Rest of Our Lives Artist: The Henry Clay People Year:2012 It’s been a good summer for punk rock. Bands like Japandroids, Deer Tick, and to a lesser extent, Gentleman Jesse are proving that hard rock as a relevant sound is far from over. In the incredible heat of this July,… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Best New Music 2012
Punch Brothers, Who’s Feeling Young Now?: Album Review
Punch Brothers calls themselves a bluegrass band, but I think the old-time bluegrass community might disagree. The instrumentation bears a strong resemblance to bluegrass, with the traditional combinations of guitar, fiddle (violin for you yankees out there), mandolin, banjo and bass, but the song structures are much more contemporary sounding, more in keeping with Nickel Creek than Bill Monroe.… Continue Reading
Dirty Projectors, Swing Lo Magellan: Album Review
Album: Swing Lo Magellan Artist: Dirty Projectors Year: 2012 Dirty Projectors are a band I have listened to for years, but never honestly paid that much attention to, until now. With the recent release of Swing Lo Magellan, Dirty Projectors have leapt up a few rungs of amazingness, in my estimation. Swing Lo Magellan, like most… Continue Reading
DIIV, Oshin: Album Review
Album: Oshin Artist: DIIV Year: 2012 The Brooklyn-based post rock / indie rock band, DIIV (formerly Dive) is getting a fair amount of attention for it’s debut LP, Oshin, and rightly so. Oshin is a delicate, uplifting little album, the kind of music you play on a lazy Sunday afternoon but then find yourself listening to… Continue Reading
El-P, Cancer 4 Cure: Album Review
Album: Cancer 4 Cure Artist: El-P Year: 2012 My favorite thing about closely following new music is those rare moments when an album comes along that shines a new light on a tired sound or genre. Cancer 4 Cure, the latest release from Brooklynite Jaime Meline, a.k.a. El-P, is one of those albums. Just when… Continue Reading
Gentleman Jesse, Leaving Atlanta: Album Review
Album: Leaving Atlanta Artist: Gentleman Jesse Year: 2012 The idea of punk rock usually has more to do with it’s anti-establishment lyrics and short, fast-tempo music style than any other genre markers. This leaves the door wide open for interpretation as to what does and does not qualify as punk rock. Leaving Atlanta, the newest release from… Continue Reading