The Milk Carton Kids’ “Prologue” was released in Los Angeles in the middle of July last year, but you’d never guess it from the mournful, wintry vocals and Appalachia-tinged folk guitar that characterizes the album. (Even the album art is a snowy urbanscape.) The boyish, mild-voiced duo has been on a meteoric rise for the past year, distinguishing themselves among a field cluttered with folk wannabes. Their success is undoubtedly due to the flawless guitar playing of Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, who achieve the clean, weeping sound of traditional American folk that can resonate...
This is the third record put out by Youngstown rockers Asleep and this one was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini — yeah, that Steve Albini who has worked with Nirvana, the Pixies, and Iggy Pop and the Stooges. If that testament to Asleep's ability to craft some serious jams isn't enough of an enticement to check “Unpleasant Companion” out, it's hard to say what else is. The group's high-energy indie rock is well represented on their latest record, which captured the band's raw live sound on two-inch analog tape, giving the listener a taste of their live sets. Unlike other records tha...
By Samson Stryker Back in ’94, there were two types of people: those who thought Metallica rocked and all the other lame asses of the world. Luckily, I happened to be in the former group and still am. Now, Metallica just came out with the “Hey, sorry we fucked up,” pander-to-the-original-fans album “Death Megnetic,” and it did exactly what it was supposed to do. Hooray! People love Metallica once again. That’s great, but I am here to tell you about a rare Metallica gem called “Cap’ns of Krunch,” and if you get your hands on it, then you are one of the true elite fans ...
