Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Featured Releases 9/1/09

A.A. Bondy
When the Devil's Loose
When the Devil's Loose, Bondy's sophomore record, features the same excellent songwriting that made his debut American Hearts one of the finer folk/americana releases of the past few years. This go round the tunes are expanded into full-band arrangements, but retain their intimacy and charm. 


These United States 
Everything Touches Everything

These United States have turned in a so-so effort, following up their praised album Crimes.  Everything suffers from a slight case of schizophrenia. It tries to update the americana sound with flashes of modern "indie" that somehow don't seem to gel. This is a solid band, and they didn't make a poor record, it's just hard to understand what it wants to be. 

Black Crowes
Before the Frost / Until the Freeze

We haven't made it all the way through this record yet, so we will reserve judgement. Yet, this morning we've been previewing tracks, and damn if this doesn't sound like a badass modern take on The Band. Of course, one would expect that, given the Crowes recorded in Levon Helm's home studio. Yet, there is a looseness and flexibility here that hasn't ever been seen on the Black Crowes' more radio focused records. So far, this has been a fantastic listen, and we're looking forward to hearing more.