i hate the sound of guitars

Somewhere between roots-rock and power pop, with some swell vocal harmonies. Veteran producer Ed Valausksas stitches it all together nicely. If I were in a quibbling mood I’d say some of these songs are stretched out a tiny bit more than might be optimal, but the under-two-minute “Braedon” certainly isn’t; it’s my fave. Other highlights [...]

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I’m glad I know that Rodriguez (a.k.a. “ER”) started work on his solo album You Are Released contemporaneously with work on The Beatings’ Late Season Kids, because otherwise I’d worry: it doesn’t seem like a good sign when songs this good, and this stylistically similar to the main band, go to the side project instead. [...]

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R.E.M.’s recent return-to-form albums led me to an epiphany: I had always assumed it was Warner Brothers who pushed me away from R.E.M. — pressure toward big dollar production, famous guest stars, etc.. I still think there’s some truth to that (I don’t think most of those cameos were great artistic choices), but I realized [...]

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The Reaganomics is the snotty pop-punk* alter ego of the more serious (to go by song titles) Ryan’s Hope, a band I plan to investigate based on how much I like this. Their name aside, The Reaganomics aren’t identifiably political on Lower the Bar, and the targets they go after are mostly pretty easy: Renaissance [...]

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