Rock album reviews
In this issue
Band of Horses, Acoustic at the Ryman
Though they did spend some time in Seattle—and on Sub Pop, for that matter—Band of Horses ain’t no Nirvana. Not that there aren’t a few MTV Unplugged-like revelations on this 10-song concert LP, culled from a pair of April 2013 performances at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Most illuminating are “Wicked Gil” and “The Funeral,” from the group’s guitar-dense 2006 debut, reworked as eerily affecting piano ballads sung with roadtested finesse by Ben Bridwell, one of the most weirdly engrossing frontmen out there. Other standouts include “Factory” and “Neighbor,” both from Infinite Arms, the meticulously rendered 2010 Grammy nominee that prompted a retrenchment with 2012’s ragged, Glyn Johns-produced Mirage Rock and, now, this stripped-down set. “Older,” another Infinite Arms track, also made the cut here. Written by multi-instrumentalist Ryan Monroe, it remains one of the band’s best songs. Acoustic proves, once and for all, that BOH really are just a straight-up folk/rock band—and a pretty great one, too. —Hobart Rowland
Black Lips, Underneath the Rainbow
Nobody has ever called noise-driven Atlanta garage band Black Lips subtle. Soulful, sure; occasionally hooky, indeed. But certainly not an act in possession of nuance or innuendo. Everything about the old Black Lips was so blunt and harried, it could reside at the tip of your nose. Underneath the Rainbow, then, is the band’s most fully rounded shift in intent. Its bold, colorful palette (featuring production from the Black Keys’ Patrick Carney, as well as the likes of CeeLo Green, Budos Band and the Flaming Lips as engineers) is more enveloping than ever. The album’s dreamy psychedelia is pushed to the foreground with the usual pugnacious vibes and noisewrangling taking a backseat. With the bright-yetrootsy tone of tunes such as “Justice After All” and “Smiling,” singer Cole Alexander, bassist Jared Swilley and the other Lips go about the business of prison talk and waiting around nervously when they aren’t ruminating about more psilocybinlaced ideals on tracks like “Dandelion Dust.” —A.D. Amorosi
Jonny Cash, Out Among the Stars
It’s an incredible find: 12 new songs by Johnny Cash, recorded in 1981 and 1984, and collecting dust ever since. If there was any justice in this world, every one of these songs would be a masterpiece, and we’d all be shaking our heads, wondering how Columbia could have ever lost them. The truth is more complicated. With countrypolitan still in full swing, 1981 was a bad year to be Johnny Cash. Most of the songs here are typical of the period, covering a range of novelties, chestnuts and schmaltz, none of them convincing. Then there are the gems, like the two duets with June Carter Cash, where Johnny gives his liveliest performances in years: “Out Among the Stars” (about a liquor store holdup that turns into suicide-by-cop) and “I Came to Believe” (about his path to becoming born again). Put them all together, and you’ve got a batch of forgettable songs surrounding a few that deserve a place in the canon. —Kenny Berkowitz
Vertical Scratchers, Daughter of Everything
From hearing the compact, singsong-y tracks on Daughter of Everything, you wouldn’t suspect that Vertical Scratchers come with a noise-rock pedigree. Guitarist and vocalist John Schmersal played in Brainiac in the ’90s and helmed Enon; he’s currently in Crooks on Tape. Drummer Christian Beaulieu was in avant-rockers Triclops! and Anywhere. But the two set aside their experimentalist tendencies in favor of two-minute blasts of garage rock that looks back to Lilys (circa 1996’s great Better Can’t Make Your Life Better), Guided by Voices (and Bob Pollard drops in for “Get Along Like U”) and the quirky pop of the Elephant 6 bands. Schmersal hinted at this sound occasionally in Enon, but never with this much pure, joyful abandon. Vertical Scratchers aren’t simply nostalgic: Daughter of Everything fits neatly alongside recent work from guys like Mikal Cronin and Ty Segall, and untethered garage rock like this never goes out of style. —Steve Klinge