Sound Fix | Music

Music

1. The Thermals: The Body, The Blood, The Machine
Whoa. All it takes is a few chords and then a few lyrics of the new Thermals record, and you know that this band isn’t here to fool around. They aren’t writing frivolous pop songs, they...read more
2. Bob Dylan: Modern Times
The 32nd studio album from Bob Dylan – his first since 2001’s triumphant ”Love and Theft” – features the legend in fine form, delivering a poignant, wistful record wit...read more
3. The Black Keys: Magic Potion
A full-on blazing blues-rock explosion with one foot in the swampy Mississipi Delta and the other in the British power-rock tradition, all from the duo (!) known as the Black Keys. Magic Potion is ...read more
4. Polk Miller and His Old South Quartette: s/t
This is an amazing, historically invaluable reissue, even if fraught with sociological issues. Former Confederate soldier Polk Miller (1844-1913) was the son of a Virginia plantation owner; His Old...read more
5. Jack Rose & the Black Twigs: s/t
This is no easy to review to write, as we’re all still stunned at the sudden passing of Jack Rose, who died on Dec. 5 at the age of 38. For those of us who value the beauty and wonder of the ...read more
6. v/a: Fire in My Bones: Raw + Rare + Other-Worldly African-American Gospel (1944-2007)
The only well-known artist on this three-CD set is Snooks Eaglin (who recasts “Down by the Riverside”); casual gospel or “roots” fans may also have heard of Precious Bryant, Abner Jay, Bishop Perry...read more
7. Jack Rose: Luck in the Valley
This is our last earthly transmission from Jack Rose, a master of the guitar who’d been granted access to the instrument’s ancient book of secrets, only to be taken from us — all ...read more
8. Band of Horses: Infinite Arms
The new and third Band of Horses album is being jointly released by an odd trio of indie and major labels, but fans care about just one thing: those harmonies. Infinite Arms has them in spades, sta...read more
9. Deer Tick: The Black Dirt Sessions
When I saw the title of the new Deer Tick album it kinda pissed me off, cause I was sure the band didn't know the super-cool Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York (from whence many awesome undergr...read more
10. Middle Brother: s/t
A lot can happen in a year: This rootsy trio played their first show at last year's SXSW in Austin and it went so well that—this album just got born. Co-starring Deer Tick's John McCauley but featu...read more
11. Okkervil River: I Am Very Far
Okkervil River's sixth album is the band's most musically ambitious to date, produced by singer Will Sheff and bursting with grand, stirring arrangements. "The Valley" and "Wake and Be Fine" are ...read more
12. My Morning Jacket: Circuital
The sixth studio album by My Morning Jacket finds the band turning out roots-pop spirituals with the easy confidence of a veteran country preacher. That vibe comes through clearly on Circuital's op...read more
13. Neil Young & the International Harvesters: A Treasure
This is an odd but most welcome addition to the Neil Young Archives series. A Treasure is the first installment in the Archives to document one of Young's more notorious periods—a live concert from...read more
14. Frank Fairfield: Out on the Open West
It's always unwise to make predictions in June, but if I'm certain of anything right now, it's that I'm not going to hear a better roots/Americana album in 2011 than Frank Fairfield's haunting, lov...read more
15. Nick Lowe: The Old Magic
On a radio interview recently, the host praised Nick Lowe for looking his age, as opposed to the other aging rockers, many much younger than he (Axl Rose, for example), with their dyed hair and...read more
16. Blitzen Trapper: American Goldwing
On their third album for Sub Pop, Portland, Oregon's Blitzen Trapper both loosen up and toughen up their '70s country-rock sound. What this veteran band does wisely is mix and match aspects of that...read more
17. Wilco: The Whole Love
Just another typical Wilco album. By which, of course, I mean a two-record sprawl that encompasses so many forms of pop -- rootsy, alternative (whatever that means), orchestrated and borderline exp...read more
18. Ryan Adams: Ashes & Fire
Can we not talk about Ryan Adams here, and instead talk about Ashes & Fire, the new album by some guy, with some name, who maybe knows people and may even be infamous for some things (or not)? ...read more
19. Deer Tick: Divine Providence
How do you follow up a breakthrough record, both artistically and commercially? For Rhode Island ass-kickers Deer Tick, the answer is not to try and top it -- just tear off a ripping hot party albu...read more
20. Strange Boys: Live Music
Austin's Strange Boys, who include a lady among their ranks, want to make sure you know that the name of their third album is pronounced a la "I live here" -- live music is what we do, after all (I...read more
21. Dr. Dog: Be the Void
My, they grow up fast. Dr. Dog's up to their seventh album already! And the roots-rocking band is at its ramshackle best on Be the Void, sounding both looser and somehow also more polished: "These ...read more
22. Justin Townes Earle: Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now
Given his name and namesake (dad Steve gave him that middle name after the very great Townes Van Zandt), Justin Townes Earle has always had a lot to live up to. Yet he's never seemed burdened in hi...read more
23. Jack White: Blunderbuss
Jack White hasn't made a timid move in his life (as far as we know it), so it was hard to keep our expectations in check for his first bona fide solo album. We shouldn't have bothered trying -- Blu...read more