Reviews 
Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels
Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels (Nettwerk – March 31, 2009) By Matthew Ralph After releasing three albums that mostly blend together with what has become the signature contemplative snowed in Great Lake Swimmers sound, the Canadian band returns with an album that deserves to garner at least a portion of the hype levied on […]
Bosque Brown – Baby
Bosque Brown – Baby (Burnt Toast Vinyl, March 3, 2009) By Matthew Ralph Like the great Brian Wilson, Mara Lee Miller just wasn’t made for these times. At least in the way she delivers her rickety dust bowl tunes as the vocalist of the where-the-heck-have-they-been-for-the-last-four-years Texas band Bosque Brown. Forgetting for a moment that the […]
Loney Dear – Dear John
Loney Dear – Dear John Polyvinyl Records – Jan. 27, 2009 By Matthew Ralph “With you inside my ears, with your words print to my eyes. And it’s so hard to change, from wrong to everything O.K. It’s so hard to change, when everything turns to you. Violence, come closer. Believe in me. I’m rowing, […]
Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP
Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP Jagjaguwar, Jan. 20, 2009 By Matthew Ralph Because I didn’t really listen to a whole lot of new music for the first part of 2008, I didn’t catch onto the exploding phenomenon that is Bon Iver until late in the year. By the time I did finally add it […]
Jai Agnish – Awake When You Dream
Jai Agnish – Awake When You Dream Self-released, Nov. 5, 2008 One of the joys, shall we say, of working for a small-town daily (something I still do on a part-time basis) is covering town planning meetings where professionals talk about drainage and traffic studies and mobs of people articulate their NIMBY protests. As […]
Welcome To The Welcome Wagon
The Welcome Wagon – Welcome to the Welcome Wagon Asthmatic Kitty – Dec. 9, 2008 By Matthew Ralph It apparently only took about a week for Asthmatic Kitty to sell out of its in-house stock of the first printing of Welcome Wagon’s debut full-length “Welcome To The Welcome Wagon.” Something tells me the glowing reviews and suggestion […]
Sentenced to death for committing suicide
By Matthew Ralph As far from being New York City as even the progressive pockets of Louisville may be, I felt like I was was in New York City again for about 20 minutes when Daniel Johnston showed up to play some songs at a local folk art festival earlier this month. The king of […]
Starflyer 59 – Dial M
Starflyer 59 – Dial M Tooth and Nail – Oct. 28, 2008 By Matthew Ralph It’s hard for me to not get nostalgic listening to Starflyer 59. The first review I ever wrote for Tangzine was of the band’s second release – the She’s The Queen EP – 14 years ago. Since then, Jason “Starflyer 59” […]