A twenty-song concept album about one soldier’s mind-shift from patriotic devotion to disillusionment, New Roman Times would be an ambitious undertaking for any band, let alone one that hasn’t recorded together since the late Eighties. Mirroring America’s new imperialism, Camper Van Beethoven offers a rambling song cycle revolving around fascists,…

Ken Stringfellow, one-half of power-pop duo The Posies and sometime stringer for R.E.M. and Big Star, steps out with his sophomore solo set, the aptly titled Soft Commands. Sensual and sublime, the songs are dominated by mellow, doe-eyed reflection and wistful sentimentality. There’s the shimmering, seductive “Known Diamond,” more a…

A decade ago, the idea of a bluegrass artist finding mainstream success seemed as unlikely as another Bush winning the White House. But with the widespread acclaim accorded her double-platinum retrospective Now That I’ve Found You, and steering roles in mega-soundtracks Cold Mountain and O Brother, Where Art Thou, singer/fiddler…

Four albums on, Rufus Wainwright’s skewered ruminations reflect an inward, soul-baring gaze that quickly defuses any possibility of instant connection. His last outing, the multihued Want One, upped the ante, with its ambitious arrangements supporting his trademark croon, a nonchalance that warbles midway between Morrissey and Elliott Smith. Want Two,…

Along with singer Ian McCulloch’s morose croon, guitarist Wil Sergeant’s sizzling fretwork helped mold the moody, atmospheric ambiance that nudged Echo and the Bunnymen to Eighties prominence. Sergeant’s latest solo outing under the guise of Glide finds him singlehandedly playing guitars and keyboards while integrating treatments and effects in a…

After plowing the dark fields of gothic Americana with his band 16 Horsepower, David Eugene Edwards unveils a third album under his solo moniker Woven Hand. With Edwards’s sinister growl underscored by seething atmospherics, Consider the Birds’ ten songs convey a rumbling sense of peril and foreboding. You can actually…

Indian summer can be lovely in New York City, but for Ed Hale there was little time to savor the sights. He and his band Transcendence were in town for the annual CMJ Music Marathon. And that found Hale talking up more record industry players than a Jehovah’s Witness who’s…

If Jim Camacho, ex-singer, bassist, and architect of Nineties rock and roll prospects The Goods, is bitter about his missed chances at national stardom, he isn’t letting on. Sitting at a table outside a Kendall strip mall and nursing a coffee on a steamy September night, the unceasingly affable musician…

Amy Carol Webb has been such a dependable fixture on South Florida’s burgeoning folk scene that it’s hard to believe it’s been a full four years since her last release. It’s not as if she hasn’t been busy; indeed, she has kept up a relentless touring schedule that has honed…

Back in the mid-Sixties, singer/songwriter Chris Smither launched a musical career that has lasted for nearly 40 years. That’s a long time to spend circling the fringes of widespread recognition while close associates such as Bonnie Raitt achieve mainstream success. But with ten albums to his credit and the admiration…

Taking flight from British forebears such as the Who, the Hollies, and the Kinks, The Telepathic Butterflies emulate the giddy blend of wistful sentiment, earnest singing, jangly guitars, and ready refrains which forms the very essence of Sixties sensibilities. Aside from “A Passing Glance,” which sets its sights on a…

Real Gone finds Tom Waits continuing his deconstruction of traditional song structure with an imposing series of ramshackle rumblings that nimbly skirt the divide between random noise and deliberately plotted soundscapes. Waits dabbles in several disparate styles — the sturdy R&B of “Make It Rain,” a Kurt Weill-like “Dead and…

It’s hard to imagine any modern band that has made as durable and dramatic an impact on the rock world as R.E.M. Over the course of a remarkably diverse and prolific career, there are few avenues they haven’t explored, seemingly without regard for outside expectations or commercial considerations. Few outfits…

Rejoicing In The Hands, vagabond twentysomething troubadour Devendra Banhart’s unimposing debut, proved an unlikely success, propelling the itinerant folkie into the pages of the New York Times and onto the airwaves of NPR. Its follow-up, Nino Rojo, is billed as a companion piece of sorts, sixteen tracks recorded during the…

In contrast to the starry-eyed ode to Southern California that was So Much For The City, The Thrills’ sunny sentiments grow cloudy on its sophomore outing, Let’s Bottle Bohemia. The Irish quintet still mines retro references — guests such as former Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks and arranger Michel…

Quick, name an artist that began their career in the Sixties and is still pushing the parameters of popular music in the new millennium. Once you check off Dylan, Bowie, Richard Thompson, Neil Young, and Lou Reed, the choices wind down rapidly. John Cale, Reed’s onetime partner in the Velvet…

Sting and Annie Lennox have a lot in common. Both came to prominence in the early Eighties, leading groundbreaking rock outfits (the Police and the Eurythmics, respectively) that served as springboards to superstardom. Likewise, each has enjoyed a successful solo career by shedding the edgier aspects of their bands for…

While Waylon, Willie, and company turned Nashville on its collective ear back in the Sixties and Seventies, they never opined as freely, wore their political posture so defiantly, or, for that matter, fully mirrored the outlaw persona quite like Steve Earle. Setting a standard for alt-country insurgency, Earle established his…

Erin Moran, a Jersey girl who calls herself Eddy, writes the kind of songs steeped in a melancholia so deep they suggest dark clouds perpetually circling overhead. Drawing on personal experience, the pretensions of producer Richard Hawley, and myriad inspirations (Scott Walker and the Carpenters, as well as more recent…

M. Ward’s spooky blend of parched, hollow-eyed American Gothic, insurgent noise, and ambient atmospherics has garnered him increasing attention of late, thanks in large part to the seductive lure and haunting melancholia offered up in his third and most recent album, last year’s exceptional Transfiguration of Vincent. Although the sound…

On their first five albums, the Old 97’s explored the different sides of their multifaceted muse. Starting out with hard-bitten rockabilly twang, the group transitioned to power pop on its 1997 major-label debut, Too Far to Care, then recycled Brit-rock references on 2001’s Satellite Rides. But on Drag It Up,…

Okay, so Corey Harris isn’t the easiest guy to pin down. Never mind that an attempt at an 8:00 a.m. phone interview — one that was admittedly scheduled unreasonably early by musician standards — was circumvented with a message left on his answering machine. “I’m not a morning person,” he…