Posts Tagged ‘radio’
Mister Loveless
March 11th, 2008 | 
Author: MySpace (listen to “Port of Oakland,” “Scatterplot”)
Label site
Hometown: Walnut Creek
Next local show: 3/17, The Red Hat, Concord
Upcoming release: Two Words EP, Spring 2008
By Dasha Bulatov
Despite hailing from a suburban outlier, Walnut Creek-based Mister Loveless possesses a sound that is casually and darkly urban. Initially established by morose and reluctantly melodic guitars, the vibe is heightened by guitarist/singer Rob Miller’s Interpol-ish vocals and the sharp outfits that the band often wears onstage. Yes, the undeniable Interpol resemblance had to be mentioned immediately. Just listen, you’ll hear it. More derivative in earlier recordings, their sound has since grown and expanded its range. The tracks on Mister Loveless’ debut full-length album, My Share of Losing, are catchy and dynamic, exhibiting a maturity that previous releases seemed to lack.
Posted in
Local Licks 11/21/07
Subtle, Company Car, Six Organs of Admittance, Citay, and Josh Fix
Reviews originally published in the East Bay Express on 11/21/07.
Subtle, Yell&Ice (Lex Records). Remix albums usually suck. But not this collection of alternate takes on tracks from the acclaimed Oakland act’s 2006 release For Hero: For Fool, which oozes creativity from members of Why?, Wolf Parade, TV on the Radio, Hood, and the Notwist.
Company Car, Collars (self-released). Nicely mixed, relatively convincing post-hardcore with strong guitar work and a tolerable emo bent. For better or worse, it just might warrant a shot at a mainstream rock audience.
Six Organs of Admittance, Shelter from the Ash (Drag City). Medieval metal and folk pickin’ fuse via experimental rock on another interesting yet underwhelming release from the mostly-solo project of Comets on Fire’s Ben Chasny.
Citay, Little Kingdom (Deep Oceans Records). Frontman Ezra Feinberg spins instrumental gold on this sophomore Citay disc, which also features Tim Green (San Francisco’s resident post-rock Midas) on guitar, piano, and production. As beautiful as it comes.
Local Licks 11/14/07
ALBINO!, The Kim Philbys, David Widelock, The Landing, and Tempo No Tempo
Reviews originally published in the East Bay Express on 11/14/07.
ALBINO! Rhino (Mighty Niblet Records). Proclaiming George Bush a puppet and our government a “looming threat” won’t turn many heads in the Bay Area, but lyrics are only incidental to ALBINO!’s groove-laden, instrumentally flawless take on the jazz/funk/protest hybrid of Afrobeat.
The Kim Philbys Whir Whir Whir (Evangeline Records). Like a mix tape you might’ve traded with your friends back in the day: charmingly uneven, unabashedly brokenhearted trad rock.
David Widelock Memories of a Surprise (self-released). Amateur album art belies the veteran Bay Area artist’s skill at writing and performing solo acoustic pieces on nylon- and twelve-string guitars, including original arrangements of works by Thelonious Monk, Randy Newman, and Gilberto Gil.
Paul Manousos
MySpace (listen to “It’s Gonna Be Alright,” “Beautiful Girl”)
Official site
Hometown: Alameda
Next local show: 2/7, The Uptown Nightclub
Recent release: For Better or Worse, 2005
We don’t have many Heartland rockers here on the West Coast, but East Bay native Paul Manousos is definitely one of ‘em. “Something caught me,” is all he can say of his lifelong connection to music. Five years of incubation in a music-loving household led him to sit down at the family piano and play. By age sixteen he was writing songs on guitar — moved to make his own racket by eternally influential rock ’n’ rollers like Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison, and Bruce Springsteen.