Michael McDermott – Hey La, Hey (CD)
Chicago folk rocker Michael McDermott has been compared to everyone from Springsteen to Dylan over past 18 years that he’s been bumming around small clubs across the country. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Author: John B. Moore
The Casualties – We Are All We Have (CD)
It took 19 years and seven albums, but The Casualties – one of the few bastions of classic, aggressive punk rock – have released their most accessible and arguably best record to date. The 14 tracks that make up We Are All We Have are still as confrontational as the band’s earlier work and will still satisfy most of the diehards, but everything from the guitars to the vocals seem…
I Drink for a Reason by David Cross (Book)
David Cross is getting a little tired of carrying around the hipster cross. Worshipped for co-creating/starring in Mr. Show and his brilliant work with Arrested Development, Cross also happens to be one of the funniest controversial stand ups working today (controversial meaning he does more than jokes about airline peanuts). John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Porter Block – The Gowanus Yacht Club (CD)
Written as a love letter to his Brooklyn neighborhood, The Gowanus Yacht Club was a bit of an experiment for Porter Block. For his fourth record, the pop rocker sought the help of 11 diverse song writers to collaborate on the record. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
The Big Bang Theory – The Complete Second Season (DVD)
There is no reason that The Big Bang Theory should be as funny as it is. It has all the markings of a traditional, run-of-the-mill sitcom: wacky characters, the hot neighbor, the laugh track. It also doesn’t help that the series was created by Chuck Lore, who forced the groan-inducing Two and a Half Men on the world. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Flight of the Conchords – The Complete Second Season (DVD)
You’d think the joke would be wearing a little thin after two seasons, but Flight of the Conchords – HBO’s take on New Zealand folksters/comics Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement – still comes off surprisingly fresh. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Kill the Music by Michael G. Plumides, Jr. (Book)
Chances are, unless you were part of the early 90’s music scene in North Carolina, you have no idea who Michael Plumides, Jr. is. That doesn’t make his memoir Kill the Music any less interesting. The book is Plumides’ reflections on the late 80’s and early 90’s when he worked in South Carolina as a deejay at an influential college radio station and eventually moved on to become the owner…
In Cadeo – Making Our Graves (CD)
Yet another indie band from Brooklyn? Yup, only this one seems to have placed a stronger emphasis on the songs than their image. In a music scene as cluttered as Brooklyn, it takes a pretty amazing band to stand out above the fray, and In Cadeo just happen to have the songs to back up all the adulation that should be coming their way shortly. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Fringe – The Complete First Season (DVD)
Like trying to live up to its extremely popular older brother, Fringe was unfairly being compared to Lost even before the first episode aired. Because of its co-creator – JJ Abrams – Fringe had the impossible task of having to live up to the cult built around that other Abram’s show. On its own, Fringe held up quite well, as the first season on DVD shows. Though it took a…
Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers – The Bear
Stephen Kellogg goes a little more country on his latest album, but that is far from being a bad thing. Songs like “A (With Love)†and “Satisfied Man†could have come straight out of Nashville’s Music Row, rather than from the mic of Massachusetts’ native Stephen Kellogg. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Blur – Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide to Blur (CD)
It’s easy to forget just how long Blur has been around. Thanks to the handy timeline tucked inside the liner notes of the anthology Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide to Blur, you realize that they started before the EU was officially established, before the Soviet Union broke up and just one month after the Internet was opened to the public. The 25 tracks that make up the release – a collection…
The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses 20th Anniversary (2CD/1 DVD Deluxe Edition)
You’d be forgiven for taking the Stone Roses for granted a bit. They only had one remarkable album (their self-titled debut) and it was released in 1989, at the beginning of alternative rock’s heyday, forcing them to compete with everyone from Depeche Mode to Nirvana. But thanks to Legacy Records, the Manchester-based band gets another shot. Because of the infectious, if a bit mopey single “I Wanna to Be Adored, 
Smile Smile – Blue Roses (CD)
Despite only having two members, the folk-inspired indie pop duo Smile Smile – comprised of Ryan Hamilton and Jencey Hirunrusme – manage to make some fairly expansive songs on their debut. Blue Roses, originally released in 2006 and re-released this summer, is remarkable in its simplicity. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Various Artists – New Tales to Tell: A Tribute to Love and Rockets (CD)
On first blush, it would appear that the architect of the new Love and Rockets tribute album was just pulling random names out of hat. How else do you explain one hit wonders Better Than Ezra, alongside more indie-minded artists like The Dandy Warhol’s, Frances Black and up-and-comers War Tapes? John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Doug Gillard – Call From Restricted (CD)
As sometime guitarist for Dayton’s favorite sons Guided By Voices and Robert Pollard’s post-break-up solo work, Doug Gillard delivered album after album of satisfying jangly lo-fi pop. On Call From Restricted, his own latest solo effort, Gillard delivers more the of that familiar jangly guitar pop, but with impressively accessible vocals. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Mad Men: Season Two (DVD)
You’d be hard pressed to find any characters as cool as the suit-sportin’, booze-swillin’ ad men (and women) that populate AMC’s incredibly original series Mad Men. The second season, just released on DVD, followed through on all the promises set out in the debut. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
Seven Mile Beach by Tom Gilling (Book)
Australian novelist Tom Gilling may not be that well known outside of his native Australia, but if his latest book is any indication he surely should be. The surprisingly funny mystery/thriller Seven Mile Beach is far more interesting than any of the last few Grisham and Patterson tomes lining the book shelves. John B. Moorewww.neufutur.com
The Hooters – Both Sides Live (CD)
A live album by a band that’s been missing from radio for a good two decades is usually a bad sign. A gimmicky half acoustic, half plugged in record is even more ominous. But Philadelphia’s once-favorite sons have managed to pull of the difficult, putting out a nostalgia record that is just as good, if not better than anything they have done before. The first disc was recorded live in…
Vanilla Ride by Joe R. Lansdale (Book)
There are certain liberties authors are granted. Only David Mamet can get away with stringing together seemingly unrelated explicatives into believable dialogue the way he does; only Stephen King can make Maine seem like the third circle of Hell; and only Joe Lansdale, Texas born and bred, can get away with the often goofy quotes his duo Hap Collins and Leonard Pine spout off on just about every other page…
The Silent Years – Let Go (CD)
The only really disappointing thing about Let Go, The Silent Year’s latest EP is the length. At six songs, the band’s latest is an appropriate follow up to last year’s decent full length The Globe, managing to eclipse those songs both musically and lyrically. The group delivers unpretentious indie pop in the vein of What Made Milwaukee Famous and Vampire Weekend (without the goofy prep school kid attitude). The album…