The Street Dogs
State of Grace

Hellcat Records

3 out of 5 stars

This is Beantown-style punk rock with a streetwise intelligent edge. The Street Dogs singer Mike McColgan’s experience as a Gulf War vet and a Boston firefighter make for mean, lean, relevant lyrics and fist-pumping anthems. Continue — Read more »

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The Cute Lepers

Can’t Stand Modern Music

Blackheart Records

3 out of 5 stars

The female back-up vocals of The Cute Lepers add a touch of old school flavor and make the majority of these songs more the sing-along variety than they are anthems of D.I.Y. dissention. Signed by Joan Jet’s record company, this is a punk band that that will appeal to both sexes.

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Steve Miller

Live From Chicago (DVD)

Kotch Entertainment

4 out of 5 stars

Long a classic rock favorite, The Steve Miller Band releases their first live DVD. Filmed in Chicago, where Miller sharpened his skills as a youth, the DVD was shot in HD and this three-disc set also includes a documentary and a live CD.

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Def Leppard
Songs From The Sparkle Lounge
Mercury Records
2.5 out of 5 stars
It’s obvious that Def Leppard are trying to align themselves with The Beatles with the cover of their new album Songs From The Sparkle Lounge. One look and anyone who has paid attention to popular culture over the last 50 years will instantly see the similarities to The Beatles’ hugely important Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

That said, there are a few things that the two groups have in common, and they mostly revolve around riches, fame and nationality. What the two groups don’t share is a knack for experimentation and studio trickery, and that’s where Songs From The Sparkle Lounge is a bust.

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David Fagin
For Promotional Use Only
Noshpit Records
David Fagin, the founder of New York- based power-pop band The Rosenberg’s, shuns corporate sponsorship and comes correct with his first solo album. A little lighter than his past work, this may surprise, hopefully pleasantly, some devotees.
3 out of 5 stars

The Canon Logic
White Balloon E.P.
Tijuana Gift Shop Records
This three-song release barely qualifies as an E.P., and offers only a brief example of the band’s music, but the group has potential. The first song sounds like Weezer without the frat boy attitude. That’s odd since all the members are college students. Looking forward to the band’s next release.
4 out of 5 stars

Don’t Forget the Motor City
DVD
MVD Visual
This stunning three-disc set delves deep into the history of Motown with a collection of 100 videos detailing the wealth of contribution the genre made in music. While the DVD has some big names on it, remarkably it stays away from the “hit” performances that you can see almost any time on PBS.
5 out of 5 stars

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By DJ Hippie

Web Exclusive

It was a glorious night for heavy music in Denver as two titans of the scene performed separate shows in what could easily qualify as one of the best nights ever for Colorado’s metal and industrial faithful.

The night was also a convergence of political protest with the well-thought political teachings of Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and the straight-out hatred for the current administration that is conveyed by Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen. Revolution was thick in the sleepy Colorado air.

The day actually started at 2pm with the launch of the 2008 North American run of Gigantour at The Fillmore with blistering bands like Children of Bodom and High on Fire warming up for the might of Megadeth. The Fillmore was packed and sweaty with a mix of younger fans and a smattering of old school “metal heads.”

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Evergreen Terrace
Wolfbiker
Metal Blade Records
A gnarly piece of post-hardcore with a metal edge and strange song titles. Wolfbiker will mostly appeal to the younger set. One of the best album covers to come out of the metal world in some time, to top it all off.
3 out of 5 stars

Yael Naim
Yael Naim
Atlantic Records
Don’t tell  President Bush but Israelite singer Yael Naim has hit the mainstream with a #1 song on iTunes called “New Soul.” Her self-titled album features a host of ballads that seem as appealing as peace in the Middle East.
3 out of 5 stars

Ministry
Cover Up
Thirteenth Planet
Ministry and their friends put their industrial strength boots up the ass of rock and roll once again. This mean collection of covers includes renditions of classics like “Radar Love” and “Road House Blues,” making for a killer collection that fans can shake their piercings to.
4 out of 5 stars

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Devotchka
A Mad & Faithful Telling
Anti-
4 out of 5
DeVotchKa is in an enviable position, to say the least. The band, it seems, can do no wrong, so it’s no surprise that their newest album, A Mad & Faithful Telling, is a gold mine.
The album, which drops on March 18 on the Anti- label, is the band’s first album of all new material since 2004’s How It Ends.
Since then, the band has won over an enormous national and international fan base, due in large part to their Grammy nominated score for the hit movie Little Miss Sunshine.
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Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
(New West Records)

4 out of 5 Stars

Folks who have come to rely on Drive-By Truckers for unbridled rock and roll might initially be put off by the band’s latest album, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark.

Nineteen songs and 75 minutes long, the album showcases a kinder-gentler DBT, but clearly highlights the delicate foundation that has always been prevalent in their songwriting. The men and woman of Drive-By Truckers are masterful storytellers, Hemingways of our time, really. They’ve just always done it with a three guitar attack.

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Marquee Tags: Ben Harper, Drie-By Truckers, Fina Dupa, Forth Yeer Freshman, John Butler, KISS, Merle Haggard, Queen, The New Rivals
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The Big C
The DVD, featuring Spyz
Independent
5 out of 5
This is one of the most gripping things I’ve watched in I don’t know how long.
Heartwrenchingly sad but amazingly uplifting and inspirational, Boulder musician and cancer survivor Jon Henderson, and his band Spyz, open the next chapter in their ongoing story The Big C.
Last year, Spyz released the CD The Big C, a superb rock album where the theme of each song is, of course, related in one way or another to cancer.
This year we learn that the impetus for that project was to compile songs for this film. Henderson put together 13 cancer patients, family members, friends, doctors and social workers and filmed their thoughts, feelings and advice on cancer, intertwined with the music of The Big C.
The songs stood well on their own with the CD last year, but now coupled with the documentary, the story becomes more real, less metaphorical and ten times more poignant.
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Bruce Springsteen
Magic
Sony.Records
3 out of 5
I.m going to break from the popular opinion of the mainstream music press and say that I.m not a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen.s post 9-11 music. While The Boss.s 2002 release The Rising was noble in its subject matter, it seems to have begun a pattern that repeats itself here on his latest effort, Magic. It.s a pattern of putting too much shine on a product that is supposed to have rough edges. Don.t get me wrong, Springsteen still has more songwriting talent in his little finger than many songwriters have in their whole bodies. What.s missing here, at least for me, lies in the production.
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Black Crowes
Brothers of a Feather: Live at the Roxy
Eagle Vision
4 out of 5
To many Black Crowes fans, the last few years since the band reunited have been relatively flat. The band hasn’t done any press to let their fans know what’s going on, they’ve shed two members and only message board rumors and vague press releases have given any type of insight into it all. And despite last year’s CD/DVD release of Freak N’ Roll Into the Fog, no new material has been released (although, they still maintain that it’s coming).
But last year, even the most jaded ‘Amoricans’ fell back in love with the brothers Robinson when they performed a series of duo acoustic shows under the moniker Brothers of a Feather. The CD part of the project was released this summer, but just last month a combo CD/DVD package hit the shelves that’s guaranteed to be the most important release by the band since its platinum selling Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.
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