This past week two new albums hit the shelves that, though they couldn't be more different stylistically, make a fairly interesting commentary on modern music. The first is How I Got Over from hip hop luminaries The Roots while the second is the flawed but undeniably impressive debut by the teen indie outfit Avi Buffalo. The former group has been making music since 1987, while no single member of the latter was even alive in 1987. But the age difference of the artists isn't the only thing that makes these two albums noteworthy.

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white bell bottom pants

gold chains and disco dancing

the loud birth of punk

Dead Moon was and remains of the better regarded underground groups in American history to have any sort of passing flirtation with punk. Of course, the fact that Fred Cole has been working in one band or another since the mid sixties has more than a bit to do with Dead Moon’s musical faculties. But the guitarist and songwriter’s ability to reign in influence spanning the whole of his career is more than a good reason to figure Dead Moon’s music as the forbearer of what would eventually be termed grunge by the media masses.

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The Thin Man

Greasy Heart

(Contraphonic Music)

I imagine the singer, Kennedy Greenrod, to be the toast of the underground town in Chicago.  Wherever indie-party-goers go, Mr. Greenrod is there with an amusing quip.  He has stories from having lived in England, in California and no doubt now has stories from living in Chicago and touring with his band The Thin Man.  Notorious, I’m sure they are, Greenrod mixes in his tales ideas from the far off land of his birth and tired rock cliché bar and travel conventions.  Intrepid a character and as nice as he well may be, I don’t know, but I do know his music is better left to the imagination of a publicity company.  While, Greenrod and his band of veteran Chicago musicians are without question adept at their style and probably do listen to a considerable amount of R&B. That relation should not be made in a press release or elsewhere.  Each track stomps along at a small club, updated Stones/indie style.  A few times the group showcases their ability to play in more than one tempo, but not often enough.  Our friend Greenrod too plays the accordion, but not confidently enough apparently to showcase it on the record more than a few times.  The charm and goodness of this record flows down to you as a result of the band being loose.  They’re comfortable doing what they do and Greenrod’s accent is charming enough to affect listeners.  Interesting accents and my incapability to not think of Tom Waits as I listen to this does not make it worth my time, nor yours.

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Out there in the digital dust bins of the interwebs, countless albums rest upon laurels made from assorted statements that amount to something like, “This record has it all – everything from psych to rock to funk and back again. And all on acid. YEAH!”

Pure nonsense, I intone from my ivory tower. There’s no such thing. And I maintain that even after taking a listen to the admittedly engaging Chico Magnetic Band long player issued in either 1969 or 1970 dependent upon what source you have your eyes affixed.

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Waiting literally years for a new Breakestra effort was worth it. The newest album, "Dusk Till Dawn Album," is all killer, no filler.This track features a guest vocalist and it works out pretty well with that tight, funky backing.

Anybody for Arab Hip Hop? Want to listen to awesome hip hop with a great beat? Check out the "Desert Heat". The best way to find them is on the Internet near you.

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Since around 2007, the Basque electronic music group Delorean have been billed as "alternative dance", which I personally find to be a pretty silly label. Really, that's just indicative of the ongoing unwillingness of the chart-based music world to accept electronic music for what it is and has always been. It's an international collection of computer-based musicians that have only escaped widespread categorization thanks to a lack of concern for image and a target demographic that skews older than the teen-dominated business of rock and pop. To say that there's such a thing as alternative dance music is to suggest that there's some mainstream dance industry that follows sales trends. Delorean is no more alternative than, say, Royksopp. On their new album Subiza, the group delivers nine very pretty, very danceable tracks that aren't all that revolutionary but don't really aim to be.

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Understanding what happened to New Jersey cum New York group the Feelies necessitates a firm understanding of its first album, Crazy Rhythms.

As implicit in its title as it might be, the Feelies were able to solder together punk’s aggression, American music’s sense of rhythm snatched from the Velvet Underground and pretty much any sixties’ rock act and the repetitive – yet simple and alluring – compositions of Rhys Chatham. This group, though, isn’t some take on no wave. And while the Feelies would ebb and flow in and out of musical oddities over the twenty years following its first album, issued in 1980, there were always hints at where the band could have gone.

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Given Nick Drake’s restrained record catalogue and due to his posthumous success, a call for unreleased material has continued to grow over time. Natch.

Spurred by his family’s willingness to duplicate and disseminate Drake’s reel to reel home recordings for fans, a steady leak and distribution of some of his work has been scattered and often times has ended up on bootlegs. This situation has resulted in a number of useful tools in figuring the perspective of this young musician, but probably in a few too many dubious records of varying quality and fidelity.

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