Category Archives: Album Reviews

Album Review: Belle & Sebastian, “Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance”

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Tom Emanuel

Growing up, I considered myself a thoroughgoing introvert. And why shouldn’t I be? I was bookish, shy, with a strong intellectual and artistic bent and a revulsion of loud parties. Most of my adolescence was spent reading classic novels, listening … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2015, ambivert, Belle and Sebastian, chamber pop, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Enter Sylvia Plath, Ever Had a Little Faith?, extrovert, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, God Help the Girl, If You're Feeling Sinister, indie, indie pop, introvet, Nobody's Empire, Pet Shop Boys, Sarah Martin, Stevie Jackson, Stuart Murdoch, The Cat with the Cream, The Everlasting Muse, The Life Pursuit, The Party Line, Tigermilk, twee | 1 Comment

EP Review: Marine Life “Fool of a Kind”

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

Much of what you need to know about San Francisco indie popsters Marine Life can be gleaned from the fact that they’re labelmates with Camera Obscura and a quick glance at the cover to their debut EP, Fool of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, Big Sur, Boy from B-612, Camera Obscura, Des de Leon, Elefant, Fool of a Kind, For the Camera Shy, indie pop, Marine Life, San Francisco | Leave a comment

Album Review: Foster the People, “Supermodel”

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

Caught in a materialistic economy we did not create, faced with a job market that still offers us primarily low-wage service-sector drudgery, many Millennials find themselves wondering if something more is not possible, whether our modern society has rather radically … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged A Beginner's Guide to Destroying the Moon, Are You What You Want to Be?, Ask Yourself, Best Friend, Coming of Age, Foster the People, indie pop, indie rock, Mark Foster, pop, pop/rock, Supermodel, The Angelic Welcome of Mr. Jones, The Truth, Torches | 1 Comment

Album Review: The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, “Midnight Sun”

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

Being a Beatle Kid is a decidedly double-edged sword. On the one hand, you start your musical career with name recognition the likes of which most artists—even the successful ones—can only dream of, giving you an instant audience. On the … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged 1960s, Albums of 2014, Beatles, chamber pop, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Don't Look Back Orpheus, folk pop, George Harrison, Great Expectations, John Lennon, Last Call, Moth to a Flame, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, psych, psych pop, psych rock, retro, Sean Lennon, Syd Barrett, Tame Impala, Temples, Yoko Ono | 1 Comment

Album Review: Ian Anderson, “Homo Erraticus”

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

When they go on tour these days, most artists of Ian Anderson’s age might slot in a couple of new songs into their act, but mostly keep to a standard-issue “greatest hits” setlist. Anderson, clever fellow that he is, however, … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, Cold Dead Reckoning, Doggerland, Enter the Uninvited, Ernest T. Parritt, Gerald Bostock, Heavy Metals, Homo Erraticus, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, prog, progressive rock, Ryan O’Donnell, Thick as a Brick, Thick as a Brick 2, Tripudium Ad Bellum | 1 Comment

Album Review: The Family Crest, “Beneath the Brine”

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

The first track on a record is terribly important. It can’t be so stunning that everything that follows seems like a disappointment in comparison, but it also has to be good enough that it pulls you into the album’s world, … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, Beneath the Brine, Divine Comedy, Family Crest, Howl, indie pop, Liam McCormick, Love Don't Go, Make Me a Boat, Nate Ruess, orchestral pop, San Fermin, The Water's Fine | Leave a comment

Album Review: Broken Bells, “After the Disco”

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

“After the disco, all of the shine just faded away,” Shin-in-Chief James Mercer sings on the title track of After the Disco (2014), his second album under the banner of Broken Bells with hip-hop auteur Danger Mouse (Brian Burton). And … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged After the Disco, Albums of 2014, Brian Burton, Broken Bells, Danger Mouse, Hanging On For Life, indie rock, James Mercer, Leave It Alone, New Wave, Perfect World, Portugal. The Man, The Angel & the Fool, The Changing Lights, The Remains of Rock & Roll, the Shins | Leave a comment

Album Review: The New Mendicants, “Into the Lime”

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

Power pop is a genre where innovation isn’t necessarily the name of the game. Badfinger and Big Star laid down the general parameters of the genre back in the 70s, and since then success has been a matter not so … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged A Very Sorry Christmas, Albums of 2014, Bandwagonesque, chamber pop, Follow You Down, High on the Skyline, If You Only Knew Her, indie pop, Into the Lime, Joe Pernice, Left Banke, Lifelike Hair, Mike Belitsky, New Mendicants, Norman Blake, Out of the Lime, Pernice Brothers, power pop, Sadies, Shouting Match, Teenage Fanclub | 1 Comment

Album Review: Temples, “Sun Structures”

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

A couple weeks ago, a Facebook friend shared a post from NPR about British quartet Temples’ debut Sun Structures (2014) with the commentary, “Temples aren’t a band, they’re a time machine.” Well, as a music fan and something of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, lo-fi, Mesmerise, National Public Radio, Nazz, NPR, retro, Shelter Song, Sun Structures, Tame Impala, Temples, The Beatles, The Golden Throne, The Who | 1 Comment

Album Review: Transatlantic, “Kaleidoscope”

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

Forming a supergroup is always a risky proposition. If you aim high, you risk alienating your fans, and the record-buying public at large, if/when your material doesn’t hit the mark. And if you aim high, no matter how good the … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, Black as the Sky, Dream Theater, Flower Kings, Into the Blue, Kaleidoscope, Marillion, Mike Portnoy, Neal Morse, Peter Trewavas, prog, progressive rock, Roine Stolt, Shine, Spock's Beard, symphonic prog, Transatlantic | 4 Comments