Lucky for Dan Sartain nobody expects a socially polished hot rod freak. Sartain is a 24 year old, Birmingham, Alabama-bred agoraphobic who carries himself like a shoe-gazing Johnny Cash. As he explains in rapid-fire detail on “Drama Queens,” “When I’m alone, that’s because I choose to be alone.” That track opens his sophomore release Join Dan Sartain, and it’s a frantic piece of sweaty-palmed psychobilly that doesn’t give the listener enough time to determine if Sartain is accepting of, or merely justifying his lonely state. (more…)

Not for lack of effort, but Mercy is less than the sum of its parts. Don’t get me wrong: they cook with quality ingredients and a sure hand. It’s just that the flavor profile is confused. Like many post-hardcore bands that get stuck with the emo label, Planes Mistaken for Stars mix impressive chops, impassioned delivery, and uncompromising force to mediocre effect. The first track, “One Fucked Pony,” opens with churning, macho guitar play similar to that of the mid-90s indie group Juno. But then the vocals arrive. Gared O’Donnell’s fervent screaming often seems out of place, as if he forgot to split the difference between the music’s roots and its ostensible ambitions, which would lend themselves well to more melodic vocals. (more…)

“Don’t stop thinking about good times” are the heartfelt lyrics that close out Young America, sung with joyful abandon. That sentiment runs deep throughout The Poem’s Minty Fresh debut. The Scottish four-piece, which counts Scottish Top 40 hitmakers The Bluebells’ Robert Hodgens among its members (and includes rarely identifiable cameos from Isobell Campbell and Norman Blake), radiates pleasantness through each of the album’s 10 tunes. The placid pipes of Amy Ogletree and Kerry Polwart are eternally patient and mothering, guiding the melodies along safe, time-tested paths. Their instrumental cheer squad contributes rollicking piano lines and stiffly strummed guitars, which trade places with the digital plops of keyboards and Abbey Road-era horn charts throughout the course of the album. (more…)

Some people know where they stand. These humans see, know, and realize. They adore their own faces, and some mirrors are crystal clear. To them, there is purpose, there is meaning, and there is a determination to pour our collective natural environment into a specific ideological container. These visionaries have names like Wolfowitz, Zawahiri, Cheney, Bin Laden, Rove, Hussein, and Rumsfeld. (more…)

Though Qui has been a band for seven years, chances are, to some, they’ll be perceived as a brand new project. Since its inception, guitarist/vocalist Matt Cronk and drummer/vocalist Paul Christensen have been slugging it out as a two-piece, releasing their previous full-length, Baby Kisses, in 2003. (more…)

Though iconic vocalist Mike Patton seems omnipresent in the music world with his impressive history of bands and collaborations, he is most recently expanding his creative horizons to short film scoring. (more…)

After playing more than 110 shows in 2007, Gypsy rockers Gogol Bordello are wrapping up a prodigious year with one final bang. The band is scheduled to perform live on New Year’s Eve at Terminal 5 in New York City. (more…)

Hardcore outfit Agnostic Front are scheduled to perform at Stillborn Records’ Stillborn Fest 2007 alongside Hatebreed and God Forbid. The ten-day tour, beginning in Springfield, Virginia on December 20, will extend up the East Coast to include dates in New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. (more…)

Unconventional Icelandic group Ghostigital and artist Finnbogi Petursson have announced the release of their unique performance record, Radium, which was recorded earlier this year at the Reykjavik Arts Festival. (more…)

Sitting in a bustling coffee shop in Seattle, it occurs to me that Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn — simply Mirah for the purposes of her records — has nothing to prove. (more…)