Music

Who knew that Winnie’s little pink friend could bring the ruckus? Well, Piglet, the infamously adorable, rambunctious sidekick to the Pooh, does just that.

I am glad I got this CD to review. At first listen, I was not much into it; but after another few listens, it is a lot fresher and less derivative than I originally believed.

Ok, I asked for this one. I’m a fan of The Gourds and Dwight Yoakam, so I thought, why not Kentucky Headhunters? I’ll tell you why not: because this is like being stuck on a 12 hour road trip with only ZZ Top’s Recycler to keep you company. Except it’s not that much fun.

What is happening over there at Saddle Creek? Is it those Mogis Bros.? Did they sell their souls at a Nebraska crossroads? I’m usually suspicious of hipster movements like the one Saddle Creek is becoming, aided by their talented poster boy Conor Oberst, but they’re not overrated.

This is what I’m guessing: Ox, a group of country music fans from north of the border, got their hands on a bunch of hallucinogens and an old, lovable boat of a car, and drove around the U.S. blowing their minds listening to old 70s songwriters and druggies. Along the way they crammed their experiences and their influences into Dust Bowl Revival.

I can only think of the release of CDs like these as the ultimate altruistic gestures. Lets face it, most independent releases have a limited potential market, but this is ridiculous!

Overall, this eponymous EP is a pretty good little slice of rock and roll. The promo sheet described Death of Fashion as “Joy Division meets early Stones.” Lofty goals, indeed. It sounds nothing like those bands.

This two-song, instrumental 12” EP features members of San Francisco’s Tarentel and is every bit as fulfilling as you can imagine it might be with that sort of association.

This album starts off with about a minute and a half of feedback, which is almost good in my book, and then the rest of the record sounds like some combination of the new Dead Meadow record and Radiohead. Really. That description sounds almost too weird to be possible, so let me extrapolate.

So far as I can tell, Annie is a chick from Norway who makes light, airy, electronic pop music. Not much going on here, but not offensively bad either. She could be compared to Briteny Spears in that innocent/slutty girl kinda way.

My good friend Skater Jen has an Aquabats t-shirt that I remember thinking was kinda cool. Not any more, my friend. Any one into this enough to buy it at the store needs more friends.

Five Years of Fireworks comes with two discs: one a compilation of Grand Buffet recordings and the other a DVD with a handful of videos; I opted for the DVD first. The videos are endearingly lo-fi and mostly shot in the haunts of middle-class east coast white geeks: Seven-Elevens, malls, and backyards.