LP Review: "The Promise of Strangers" by The Fugitives

The Promise of Strangers

Well, it's mail bag time!

What arrived in the legitimate, snail paced, oft hated by President Trump, USPS?

Well, it's an album by a buttressed duo from...just give me a moment to check the PAPER press release, the internet, and everything else....

And well, honestly I have no idea where The Fugitives are from, but that's fairly poetic don't you think?

Listening through this album, the second time through is playing as this is typed, it's reminiscent of the old band this guy had back in the day. Our bassist and second guitarist had this idea of playing music and writing songs that were all in different styles.

Album Review: "Muirhead" by Andy Ferro

Muirhead

The best heavy metal movie of all time is the incomparable, Spinal Tap.

Scores of heavy metal musicians have since gleefully told their stories of their personal Spinal Tap moments. How many artists have claimed that the movie was about them?

Of course if you're reading me, you probably have a passing interest in heavy metal and likely have already seen that movie in all its majesty, glory, and pomposity.

Less favored is the "sequel" made many years later, not the second Tap movie, but A Mighty Wind.

That movie reminded me a lot about what I love about folk music. There's nothing as intimate as standing there with simply a guitar and singing what you feel. It's also a damned funny movie that everyone should have seen at least thrice.

Album Review: "Brace The Wave" by Lou Barlow

Brace The Wave

Is this a for real Barlow knife?!

I can't get that line out from Huck Finn out of my head when I think of this man's name.

I mean, I'm sure that Barlow is a perfectly normal family name and can be traced back generations all the way to Europe, but to me, I'm just reminded of that vagrant hero, written by Mark Twain.

Missouri's own by the way....

As I can't even think of this man as whom he is when I hear his name, it's most likely quite clear that I'm not familiar with his body of work, but if I'm honest, the cover did intrigue me a bit. Ah...he's from Dinosaur Jr.

The press release didn't mention any of that....

Album Review: "Farm Machine" by Steve'n'Seagulls

Farm Machine

It's an amazing world that we live in nowadays.

Think about the concerts you've attended or the hundreds or thousands of shows that your favorite bands have performed and how much was never recorded or saved.

Now anything that happens in front of an audience is immediately captured in stunning high definition on devices that also double as our PDAs, instant messenger, music player, and shockingly enough, phones.

So, is it any real surprise that Steve'n'Seagulls started because a group of Finnish musicians decided to play Thunderstruck by AC/DC whilst wearing the most ridiculous costumes they could think of and put it on YouTube?

I really don't think so. So here's what we have: A group of accomplished musicians from Finland playing a bunch of classic songs on banjos and the like.

"Boneset" by Diane Cluck

Are you familiar with Diane Cluck?

I am not and it really seems like that I should be. In my family, one side of it anyway, there's someone who really loves the singer/songwriters like this, or the Storytellers if you will.

Raised in Lancaster, PA she now resides in Virginia. Her music is described as neo-folk, but she calls it intuitive folk. She plays the guitar, the piano, and the mighty glockenspiel on this record.

She also sings, naturally. This record is composed of songs that had all been written for a very long time, and she finally got into the studio to record them, which she did in chronological order. She described it as dark, then light, and then dark again.

"Sirens" by DA & The Jones

DA & The Jones is a pair of singer song writers from the far west of Echo Park, Calif. (Why is it so many artists come out of California? It must have something to do with the warm weather and laid back attitude that helps artists flourish.)

The pair, Daniel Ahearn and Mindy Jones, have been working as a pair since 2011. So really, this is a bit of a younger group. The released their debut EP, Electric Love, was released in 2013 and the first single, Break My Heart, was featured on the television show Pretty Little Liars.

Sirens is their first full length album of what's sure to become their signature brand of folksy pop.If you think that sparsely accompanied music without a full band behind the vocals isn't music, well, thanks for reading and you may wish to check back next time...