http://www.blurt-online.com/reviews/ CD Reviews from Blurt en-us Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:11:59 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/606/ (Suicide Squeeze)   www.suicidesqueeze.com Angry, testosterone-fueled metal and hardcore is nothing new to the members of Seattle's These Arms Are Snakes. After all, they got their start in bands like Botch and Kill Sadie, in which they brilliantly fused the precision chops of metal power chords and solos with punk rock aggression, politics, and cynicism.   Snak ]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/606/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/607/ (Sundazed Music)    www.sundazed.com     The legend of late-‘60s garage-rockers We The People rests squarely on the shoulders of a single song - the manic, psyche-drenched, Farfisa-driven rave-up "My Brother, The Man." The crowning glory of the obscure Florida band's brief-but-prolific career, the song's crazed keyboard-bashing, crazy signature c ]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/607/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/608/ (Thrill Jockey)   www.thrilljockey.com   Van, Lain and Jennings Carney have names straight out of a Breece D'J Pancake story and hail from Blue Ridge farm country in Virginia. But as their Thrill Jockey debut suggests, there's no pigeonholing the Carney brothers, whose earthy, dam-busting riffs and ‘shroom-flavored space-jams seem just as tied to their nat ]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/608/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/609/ (Tompkins Square)   www.tompkinssquare.com     So what if Charlie Louvin's voice shows the ravages of age? Louvin has history and experience on his side. The 81-year-old has been singing gospel songs all his life, most notably with his brother Ira in the peerless Louvin Brothers, and these ten gospel classics run in his bloodstream.   Backed by a choi ]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/609/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/598/ (Sci Fidelity)   www.scifidelity.com     Lotus's most anticipated album to date, Hammerstrike (their sixth), showcases the Philly band's ability to use straight-forward organic riffs that allow your mind to wander and body to groove. It's hard to place Hammerstrike in any genre because of the versatility of the band; at one point, it may seem as if George Cl ]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/598/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/599/ (4AD) www.4ad.com Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannson weaves a couple of primary themes through Fordlândia; as he explains in notes accompanying review copies, "If doomed and failed utopias form one of the thematic strands on this record, another one is rocketry."   Rockets and failed utopias. It's an appropriate collision of highbrow concept and ]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/599/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/600/ (Domino)   www.dominorecordco.us     With Un Dia, Juana Molina has moved far beyond the quiet beauty of albums like Segundo and Son and into something willfully abstract and insistent. The title track opens the record with a rapidly oscillating electronic pattern and chanted vocals that build to a nearly thunderous density: it's bracingly unsettling, and th ]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/600/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/601/ (Nacional)   www.nacionalrecords.com       After 2006's dark yet sprightly Oye you'd be hard pressed to guess how much farther out Aterciopelados could take Colombia's answer to the Talking Heads meets Sergio Mendes' Brasil 66 conundrum. Yet singer/lyricist Andrea Echeverri, multi-instrumentalist bassist Héctor Buitrago and the rest of this roc ]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/601/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/602/ (Mid-Fi)   www.supersuckers.com     Twenty years can seem like an eternity but for some reason it seems like only yesterday Seattle's Supersuckers unleashed their fiery brand of hot rod rawk on unsuspecting indie rock cognoscenti. Led by the inimitable Eddie Spaghetti on vocals and bass, Get it Together -which celebrates the band's 20th anniversary - is vi ]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/602/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/603/ (Atlantic)   www.atlanticrecords.com       With its texturally advanced second record failure far behind them, Bloc Party move into CD three with its bruised egos now bolstering the band's most exquisite melodies and squawking front man Kele Okerkeke's hurt-as-hell lyrics. What doesn't kill you makes you wronger; or at least push the wronged to be str ]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/603/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/604/ (Rhino Records)   www.rhino.com       Forget all about Wanted Dead Or Alive, Warren Zevon's uncharacteristic 1969 debut LP. The album shows none of the wit or caustic wordplay that Zevon would become known for, and is clearly an attempt by a young artist to make a play for success long before he's ready to do so. The album deserves neither your time n ]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/604/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/605/ (Kranky)   www.kranky.net If you've had misgivings about jumping on the Deerhunter admiration bandwagon due to the extreme hype the band parlays or general annoyance with frontman Bradford Cox's hyper-personal blogging, right about now is the perfect time to forgive and forget. Deerhunter's excellent new album, Microcastle, is the perfect entrance for the uninitiated, ]]> Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/605/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/594/ (Milan)     www.milanrecords.com     Portland (Oregon) band the Dead Trees are actually Boston ex-pats, who are running a better streak in 2008 than most of us can claim. Following the acclaimed 6-song EP, Fort Music ,this Spring, an invite to record at Daytrotter and supporting admirers like Albert Hammond Jr. on tour, they're on a roll leading into K ]]> Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/594/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/595/ (Disismye Music) www.vancegilbert.com   Vance Gilbert's eclectic blend of folk, pop, soul and gospel provides a stylistic synthesis that finds the sum of its parts redefining the music as a whole.  That's especially evident on Up On Rockfield, Gilbert's most impressive effort yet and one that draws inspiration from a broad array of subjects... from politics, rel ]]> Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/595/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/596/ (Epic/Legacy)   www.legacyrecordings.com   Cheap Trick have always occupied a difficult place in rock history. They're not obscure enough to be critics' darlings like fellow power-poppers Big Star or The Raspberries. But they also weren't popular enough for long enough to have a second life filling sheds and raking in the bucks like Journey, Styx or Def Leppard. ]]> Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/596/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/597/ (Domino)   www.dominorecordco.com     Meticulous Ben Jacobs, listed on marquees as Max Tundra, takes his time making records. He works on just one cut at time, in album order, to carefully layer organic and inorganic sounds. He's perfectly willing to take a break once in a while. If, for instance, he needs a trumpet sound and doesn't know how to play it. He ]]> Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/597/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/590/ (Vendlus)   www.vendlus.com     Everyone has seen ‘em: those seemingly random RIYLs ("Recommended If You Like..." - followed by a string of band names) that reviewers, publicists and record labels use as shorthand to describe a new artist. Employing RIYLs can be shortsighted and risky, however, if it dredges up (a) spurious/obscure comparisons, (b) to ]]> Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/590/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/591/ (Secretly Canadian/Sounds Familyre)     www.secretlycanadian.com     The musical world that Daniel Smith (otherwise known as Bro. Danielson) became a part of in the early '90s really didn't know what to make of the genteel looking young man with the squeaking singing voice, homemade stage outfits and bald professions of his Christian faith. Yet, over ]]> Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/591/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/592/ (Rhino)   www.rhino.com   As they did in past years with back catalogues from bands like The Cure and Joy Division, Rhino Records has caringly, painstakingly, and meticulously reissued the first five New Order albums. Originally released on Factory, each record now comes with a bonus disc of alternate 12" versions of songs both familiar and unknown, perfect for ]]> Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/592/ http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/593/ (Lost Highway)   www.lost-highway.com     For the first decade of Ryan Adams' career, his infamous petulance, starlet dating, and self-destructive behavior garnered nearly as much press as his often-arresting talent and prodigious output. Of the three, the self-destructive behavior, driven by dissolution into drugs and alcohol, not only impaired his abili ]]> Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/593/