Articles by Mike Elias

Songs I Turned Up: Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man – The Bob Seger System

Posted on September 12, 2010

“Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” came off his Capitol debut of the same name, an album I do not own but will purchase someday at a garage sale for twenty-five cents

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Black Keys, Brothers

Posted on September 10, 2010

My fear for this release was two-fold; first I thought it might never happen, thinking the band broke up. Second, I was afraid the reunion would not be fruitful, and just a walk-through of their past formulas.

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Magic Mirror, Champagne & Hostages

Posted on September 8, 2010

I like a few of the songs, but this style of music really is not my bag. So my final grade on this may seem a little harsh. The band sounds like they know their way around the studio except when it comes to mixing in the vocals

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Devo, Something For Everybody

Posted on July 25, 2010

“What we do / Is what we do / It’s all the same / There’s nothing new.” Those are some of the lyrics from the track, “What We Do.” There is some truth to those lyrics and it is also an understatement.

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The Bad Plus joined by Wendy Lewis, For All I Care

Posted on June 18, 2010

I remember working once at a music store with drummer Dave King and he said, “I have the worst taste in rock music.” Well, I don’t know if I’d go that far, Mr. King.

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Dave King Trucking Company, June 12, 2010, Live at the Artists’ Quarter

Posted on June 13, 2010

The band consists of bassist Adam Linz of Fat Kid Wednesdays, Eric Fratzke of Happy Apple on guitar, Brandon Wozniak of the Atlantis Quartet on saxophone, and of course, King, of Golden Valley is Now, Happy Apple, Bad Plus, Love Cars, Halloween Alaska, Gang Font and many, many more projects, as the drummer and a little strumming of the piano strings.

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Toots & The Maytals, Flip & Twist

Posted on June 12, 2010

Artist: Toots & The Maytals Title: Flip & Twist Label D&F Music 52722 Genre: Reggae I love Toots and I’ll buy everything he puts out, with or without the Maytals. But this one, I have some regrets. The saddening aspect of this is that this CD could’ve been great by employing a horn section. Instead, […]

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Johnny Moeller, BlooGaLoo!

Posted on June 12, 2010

Artist: Johnny Moeller Title: BlooGaLoo! Label: Severn Records 0049 Released: April 2010 Genre: Blues Johnny Moeller was billed as the next guitar phenom by club owner, Clifford Antone. Fifteen years later, with a history of live dates with Gary Primich, Darrel Nulisch, Doyle Bramhall II, LouAnn Barton, Guy Forsyth and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Moeller has […]

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Morningwood, Diamonds & Studs

Posted on June 9, 2010

There’s an identity crisis happening with this band. There is an obvious amount of production minutia to make the piece sound idiosyncratic. The most obvious is the arena rock power chords contrasting with simple single finger synth riffs and pop hooks. There is a youthful buoyancy in the female singer’s delivery with some sweet nonsense syllables, reminiscent of the sixties girl group sound

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Broken Bells, Broken Bells

Posted on June 7, 2010

Mercer went beyond his usual stylings in melody and voice, to distance himself from the Shins, to make Broken Bells as distinct project, a separate entity of its own.

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