Streets of Laredo – Vols. 1 & 2 (CD)
You can throw a can of mustache wax on just about any street in Brooklyn and hit an indie folk band. But finding a great indie folks band in the borough is a much tougher task. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Author: John B. Moore
Bob Dylan and The Band – The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11
Aside from (maybe) The Dead, no other artists’ fans have been more rabid about collecting every scrap of recorded music put out by that musician than Bob Dylan’s acolytes. Ever since his label started releasing their Bootleg Series in 1991 – mainly comprised of outtakes, demos and live recordings, many that had never been heard outside of Dylan’s circle – fans have been speculating about the existence of more songs…
Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
Those familiar with the James “Whitey” Bulger story have been saying for decades how the tale of the ruthless Boston gangster and his look-the-other-way FBI handler is the stuff of Hollywood movies. The attractive, yet wildly violent Bulger grew up in South Boston and quickly rose up the ranks of the Irish mob, while another neighborhood kid who grew up down the street from the mobster, John Connolly, became an…
I’m the Man: The Story of That Guy From Anthrax by Scott Ian
It’s a pretty rare occurrence when the guitar player is the focal point of a band. Yes, Jimmy Paige, Eddie Van Halen and a slew of other gifted six stringers have all received God-like adulation from their fans, but Anthrax is one of those rare instances when you can name check their guitarist, Scott Ian, before the long pause comes as you search around for the name of the singer.…
The Call (featuring Robert Levon Been of B.R.M.C.) – A Tribute to Michael Been (CD)
It’s always a tough act trying to replace a deceased front man. For every band like Big Country, who successfully (at least for a while) moved Alarm singer and longtime band friend Mike Peters to the front of the mic, there’s an INXS or Doors who have fumbled through various weak versions and ended up looking like sell outs. When the ‘80s band The Call lost its singer to a…
Sallie Ford Slap Back CD Review
If you were a fan of Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, don’t assume you know what her new album is going to sound like. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Coheed and Cambria – In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Released at a point when emo, screamo and pop punk were having an inexplicable revival in the early aughts, upstate New York’s Coheed and Cambria managed to sneak into the party when no one was watching the door, playing an impressive mix of prog rock and metal with a subtle inclusion of pop. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Skylar Gudasz – Car Song/Dream Lover 7” (Vinyl)
In just seven brief minutes, spread out over two songs, Durham, NC’s Skylar Gudasz has offered a glimpse at quite possibly the most starkly beautiful vocals to come along since The Cowboy Junkies’ Margo Timmins turned in her Trinity Sessions performance. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Kool Stuff Katie – Self-Titled
With just 10 songs, the duo Kool Stuff Katie has managed to sneak in the best debut of the year. Unfortunate band name aside, Portland-based musicians Shane Blem and Saren Oliver have crammed together garage rock, new wave, punk and a liberal mix of hooky pop music for an instantly-infectious sound that brings to mind everyone from The Cars and The Kinks to The Breeders and The Ramones. John B.…
Horse Feathers – So It Is With Us
Much like their first four efforts, Horse Feathers’ latest, So It Is With Us, is a collection of quiet, indie music that straddles the line between folk and Americana. And that is far from being a bad thing. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
U2: Revolution by Mat Snow
Yes, there are plenty of U2 bios out there – some good, some dreadful and a couple pretty great; There are also a number of hardcover, coffee table-sized books on the band out there, but music journalist Mat Snow has found a way to marry the two, pulling together a pretty solid, overreaching bio on the band and packaging it in a beautiful, three-and-a-half pound book crammed with fantastic photos…
Bad Luck – Cold Bones
When people dismissively ask “You still listen to punk music?,” they are actually thinking of bands like the four-piece Bad Luck. This group from Long Island and Daytona Beach, represent all that made the genre such a muddled mess of mediocrity in the early aughts. Pop music and seventh grade poetry masquerading as “Emo” all got mislabeled with the Punk tag, perverting a genre that was doing just fine without…
The Turtles – 45 RPM Singles Collection
Hipsters and Baby Boomers rejoice! The latest, vinyl-only singles collection from The Turtles is a brilliant throw back and hopefully the start of a new trend. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Money for Nothing – A History of the Music Video
Yes, as the closing narration of Money for Nothing points out, “the music video is a dinosaur” – thanks mainly to the fact that the network that created the need for them is stuck in a death spiral of reality TV car wreck/porn. But that’s what makes this documentary that much more compelling; it’s a look back at the music video from its earliest inception six decades ago (actually earlier,…
Star Wars Art: Posters (Book)
Admittedly the appeal for this book is a little narrow. That being said, if you’re a Star Wars fan, My God, this coffee table is nirvana between two covers! John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
The Wonder Years – The Complete Series (DVD)
Nostalgia junkies rejoice, Star Vista Entertainment has just released a mammoth 26 DVD set of The Wonder Years, arguably the best family dramedy to surface in the late 1980s/early 1990s. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Not the Life it Seems: the True Lives of My Chemical Romance
Let’s get this out of the way up front: yes, it does seem odd that someone has written a bio on a band that was around for just over a decade; and a band that is (rightfully or not) maligned for their connection to the watered-down nu-Emo genre (I actually think a lot of the criticism is misdirected as the band were closer to Glam than they were Emo). It’s…
Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? [Chasing the Sun Edition]
It’s a year short of the album’s 20th anniversary, but I’m sure Oasis fans will forgive the transgression now that (What’s the Story) Morning Glory is getting a proper three-disc deluxe roll out. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Lunchbox – Lunchbox Loves You (Vinyl)
After more than a decade off, the Berkley power pop band Lunchbox is back with what is easily their finest collection of songs. A little goofy, but immensely fun, Lunchbox Loves You is 10 indie pop songs brimming with jangly guitars, sing-along choruses and plenty of handclaps. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Gimme Indie Rock: 500 essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981 – 1996 by Andrew Earles (Book)
Poor Andrew Earles. In, Gimme Indie Rock, his impressive new reference guide to Indie Rock, he managed to target a book squarely at the same crowd that will devour it in one reading, then spend endless hours online bitching about the records that were and were not deemed “essential.” John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com