Dirt City Radio
Old Country Blues
Available Now
3/5
This album is exactly what its title claims to be. It is country - the style is downright archaic - and it cannot be denied that it is blues. The problem here is it's underproduced. Yeah, a raw sound is usually a good thing, and yeah, no one will deny that too much production will murder an album - but someone really needs to take away Dirt City Radio's echo pedal. They aren't just abusing it - they're taking it out to the woodshed and beating it with an axe handle. The really disappointing thing is that if they would lay off the damn thing, they would actually sound pretty decent. And by the second half of the album, it does get a little better. "The Down," is an excellent example of folk blues, with the lyrics lamenting alcoholism and self-destruction. But in general, someone needs to work on the production values. Badly.
If you like this music, you might also enjoy:
Etta Baker - One Dime Blues
Bob Brozman - A Truckload of Blues
Muddy Waters - Breakin' It Up & Breakin' It Down
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Portishead
Third
Available Now
3.5/5
The latest effort by Portishead isn't anything special. It's not a bad album, but for the most part, it's overly mesmerizing. That's a matter of taste, but some people may prefer something that hits a little harder. The real issue here is nothing really stands out. The songs aren't bad, but none of them distinguish themselves from the rest of the album. It's a lot like sitting through a single 49-minute song. For certain situations - and certain levels of intoxication, be it from drink or otherwise - it would be an excellent album to listen to. But it's not something that should be listened to when there is work to be done.
If you like this music, you might also enjoy:
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
R.E.M. - Accelerate
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Underdriven
Underdriven
Available May 30th
1/5
Austin, Texas, band Underdriven's debut album is an abysmal effort. It's very necrotic. The '90s are dead and buried, and no one wants them to return. Ironically, if this had actually come out in the mid-'90s, it would be a guaranteed hit, but in 2008 it seems like aural torture. "Last Call" is essentially a musical paraphrase of Semisonic's "Closing Time," and there is a very good reason why no one bought Semisonic's third album. There is only so much of that kind of sappy garbage we can take as a culture before something snaps. There is quite a bit of influence from several other bands, and few of them are actually any good. The listener is left with what can only be termed as crap derived from crap. "Hello Baby," sounds like the result of listening to Weezer for five years while getting high, and then deciding to make an album based on it. It only gets worse from there. Unless you really like mid-'90s pop-rock, give this one a miss.
If you like this music, you might also enjoy:
Semisonic - Great Divide
Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind
Verticle Horizon - Everything You Want
