Author: John B. Moore

Posted on: July 16, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Roman Candle – Oh Tall Tree in the Ear (CD)

It took a few albums, but Chapel Hill’s reining alt country heroes Roman Candle have just turned in their iPod killer – not a single track is worth passing over. Oh Tall Tree in the Ear is 11 tracks of beautifully-crafted, well-written country-fused, roots-based indie rock reminiscent of some everyone from classic Big Star to the first couple of Wilco records.

Posted on: July 9, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Richard Swift – The Atlantic Ocean (CD)

Richard Swift has the sound, voice and influences an artist who’s been around for at least the past three decades. Lyrically, you have to go all the way back to Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman in the 70’s to find an appropriate contemporary and his music picks up where Jeff Lyne left off, boasting a brilliant knack for weaving literate pop sounds that go down smooth.

Posted on: July 7, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Girl in a Coma – Trio B.C. (CD)

What a difference two years make. On Trio B.C., the band’s sophomore record, San Antonio’s Girl in a Coma has matured greatly, both musically and lyrically. It’s not that their debut was bad, just very clear that the band grew up listening to The Smiths and not a whole lot else.

Posted on: July 6, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Weeds: Season Four (DVD)

Talk about gateway drugs. What started out as a little pot dealing on the side to make ends meet has snowballed into gun smuggling and bringing illegal immigrants though a tunnel connecting the U.S. to Mexico. When Weeds, the quirky Showtime comedy/drama started four years ago, the premise was much tamer: recent widow and mother of two Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) was left with a family to raise and no…

Posted on: July 3, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top (Book)

And you thought the drugs were a problem? The success the guys in Aerosmith had in the late 70’s and again in the early/mid 90’s is matched only by their mythic reputation for hovering up mountains of blow in the 70’s and 80’s. In Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top, Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer touches a little on his troubles with drugs, but spends the…

Posted on: July 2, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Clock Hands Strangle – Distaccati (CD)

On their second full length, Florida’s Clock Hands Strangle still manages to keep the sound indefinable. Compared to everyone from the Meat Puppets to Death Cab for Cutie, the songs swirl from influence to influence, many times within the same track. The result is not bad, just not terribly original either, sounding a bit like an MP3 player stuck on shuffle. When focused, on tracks like the more rock-oriented “As…

Posted on: July 1, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Nightmare of You – Infomaniac (CD)

There is something remarkably satisfying about seeing a musician forgo the obvious and easy path and branch out in a new musical direction once their band calls it quits. The results are admittedly more often awkward than successful (Def Leppard as a country band anyone?), but every now and then the gamble pays off. Nightmare of You formed out of the wreckage of Long Island hardcore heroes Movie Life, where…

Posted on: July 1, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 1

Family Guy – Volume 7 (DVD)

After a half dozen seasons, Fox’s Family Guy was starting to get a little creaky. There’s only so many times you can trot out the effeminate baby or coked up dog before the umpteenth rerun of a King of the Hill episode starts to look more appealing. Not sure if it was the polarizing nature of the last election cycle or just a changeup of snacks in the writer’s room,…

Posted on: June 26, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Reaper: Season Two (DVD)

The show Reaper came along at just the right time. With Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel both dead and gone, there was definitely a void to be filled with a demon-centered goofy fantasy/comedy series.

Posted on: June 25, 2009 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Jeff Buckley – Grace Around the World: Limited Edition (CD/DVDs)

You’d have to go back pretty far to find a story of wasted musical talent as tragic as Jeff Buckley. The son of folkie Tim Buckley, Jeff was a struggling singer/songwriter playing clubs in New York’s East Village in the 90’swho was finally discovered by Columbia Record execs, who put out his only studio album “Grace.” The record was extremely promising, but took years to find a following. As Buckley…