Top 10 Albums of 2012: Alabama Shakes, Winterpills, Frank Ocean and more
It was a eclectic year for music, with only a handful of consensus albums. That said, it was also a good year for music. Here are my 10 favorite LPs of 2012.
Premiere: The Proud Flesh Tease New LP With ‘Use Once and Destroy’
New Haven band the Proud Flesh has spent much of the past year working on “Home,” the follow-up to the band’s 2010 release “Tiny Picture Frames,” which they’re releasing April 23. You don’t have to wait until then to hear it,…
Brooklyn’s Bear Ceuse Previews New Album With Catchy ‘Entertain Me’
One of the most frequent attempts at a diss that music writers hear is that any negative review is just a product of jealousy because they’re no good at songwriting. Well suck it, haters: Bear Ceuse sure has a knack for it….
Sock Puppets try ‘The Dating Game’ in New Piney Gir Video
What would “The Dating Game” look like if it were played by sock puppets? Why, it would look an awful lot like the new video for Piney Gir’s song “Outta Sight.” In this handmade re-imagining, we see Piney’s puppet go…
Jason Isbell Cranks Out Guitar Rock in Generous Hartford Set
Jason Isbell has amassed a deep enough catalog that he can play a full set of his best songs and still not get to all of them. It’s an enviable position to be in: give the audience plenty while leaving…
Kelly Hogan Keeps Things Intimate at Iron Horse Show
The fact that only a small audience turned up to see Kelly Hogan perform at the Iron Horse Monday night didn’t faze the singer. She seemed to see her first gig there since 1990 as more of an opportunity. “This…
Dinosaur Jr. Balance Heft With Harmony at Pearl Street
After years of bludgeoning audiences with wave after wave of churning, sludgy power rock — in a good way — Dinosaur Jr.’s more recent shows, like the one Wednesday night at Pearl Street in Northampton, have introduced a new dynamic:…
Jeff Mangum Adds Hartford Show in February
Jeff Mangum, the former leader of influential indie band Neutral Milk Hotel, performs a solo show on Feb. 8 in the Great Hall in Union Station in Hartford. The bill also includes Music Tapes, the band led by his former Neutral…
Field Report Plays Spacious Songs at Riveting Iron Horse Show
The self-titled debut from Wisconsin’s Field Report is a lovely album, to be sure, but sometimes an album just doesn’t fully convey the majesty of a band’s music. That is absolutely the case with Field Report, which played a devastating…
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Unleashes Lethal Boogie at the Iron Horse
There comes a point during a Jon Spencer Blues Explosion show when the music simply carries you away. You can fight it — though there’s no point to that — but it will get you, just like it got the…
