Clik here to view.
Kristoffer Ragnstam's "Wrong Side of the Room"
Lots of reviews for Swedish song-writer Kristoffer Ragnstam seem to feel he can be compared to Beck. It’s true that he seems to have some of the eclectic tastes which has made Beck such a staple on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Super Furry Animal's "Dark Days, Light Years"
A little while ago I wrote about the Fleet Foxes, and I had some problems with their generally lovely sound. It was too close to the sources it was taken from, so you wondered, despite its beauty, why...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tom Thumb and Leonard Mynx at TTs, Monday!
It’s a Sunday, and I know how you feel. But tomorrow doesn’t need to be just the beginning of another grey week working in the city, because you can take my advice and head out to TT the Bear’s Place...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shameless Self-Promotion - "The Spire" by my band, Wring.
I simple can't resist telling you about a big development in my own musical life this week, after months of writing about other people's CDs. My band, Wring, has just released our first EP, "The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
PJ Harvey and John Parish's "A woman a man walked by"
Let me give some context for what I’m about to say about PJ Harvey and John Parish’s new album, “A Woman a Man Walked by”…I am a PJ Harvey obsessive. Her last CD, ‘White Chalk’ easily made the top of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
TONIGHT! The first RSL music showscase of the year.
Please join all of us at Ryan's Smashing Life tonight at Great Scott in Allston, for our first showcase of the year. We are featuring four great bands for a princely sum of $8.Show your support for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Doves - Kingdom of Rust
The other day I came across the review of Doves’ new album, “Kingdom of Rust,” in an unlikely place: Rolling Stone. You might think it quite surprising that I was looking inside a Rolling Stone in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Manchester Orchestra at Middle East Downstairs
The bands on the bill Thursday night at Middle East have to fight hard to be heard. They struggle not with technical problems, but with a city transfixed by the Celtic’s triple overtime playoff fight....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Back to Back Ryan's Smashing Life Shows coming up!
This coming week is a big one for the Boston music scene. New England's most popular music blog, Ryan's Smashing Life, is sponsoring TWO shows in a row at Berklee's Cafe 939 on Boylston Street, which...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Doves and Wild Light are coming!
The greatest shows are not the ones where you get to see the best bands you can pull to a particular venue on a particular night. They are the shows where everything seems to fit together and you’re...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jarvis Cocker's "Further Complications"
One good way to think about Jarvis Cocker’s new solo album, ‘Further Complications,’ is as rather like the music of another truly classic songwriter, who you might not think shares much in common with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Maximo Park’s “Quicken the Heart”
Rarely has there been so much controversy about an album in the RSL writer’s team that I am a member of, than about this one. Long-standing friendships have ended, bitter words have been thrown,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
RIP Dinosaur Jr (Please).
Dinosaur Jr changed my life. Sometime over the summer of 1993, my first girlfriend gave me a vinyl copy of “You’re living all over me.” I am at a loss for words, or space in this post, to explain all...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tom Thumb's "We never die"
Tom Thumb was already a favorite at RSL when I joined the crew a year ago. I had some catching up to do. On the night I first met Ryan, he led me over to Great Scott’s to see Andy Arch (the solo name...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ART BRUT, tonight at Middle East Downstairs!
Going to a show in this day and age should not be a maudlin affair where we all commune over our sorry lives, our deep angst at the world and our lost loves – it should be FUN! This Friday night at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lou Barlow's "Goodnight Unknown"
Lou Barlow has released his new album, “Goodnight Unknown,” only a matter of weeks after “Farm,” Dinosaur Jr’s latest effort, on which he played bass. You have to wonder, given this proximity, how the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Manic Street Preachers Grow Old Gracefully
In the 1990s British music scene there were hardly any bands faster and more furious than The Manic Street Preachers. Leading the charge of Welsh guitar bands in the period, the Manics were also among...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Newly Discovered Old Music – The Test Icicles.
So I’m not as cool as I like to pretend. Plenty of great music gets past me. I’m left to the slightly embarrassing task of trying to catch up with others who really were there when it happened. This...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Choosing an album of the last decade.
So this is an absurd exercise, but why? Because it’s too short, of course, but also because we don’t really know what we’re asking. When I canvassed votes for an album of the decade among friends,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Massive Attack's Heligoland
Let me dispense with the usual build up and say something about this album that you’ve probably guessed already, given the history of this band: Massive Attack’s Heligoland is a very good album. It’s...
View Article
