Adam Wright

News

Brandi Carlile tells her haunting 'Story'

By Adam Wright | April 12

Music Review Brandi Carlile The Story 3.5 stars More Melissa Etheridge than Ani DiFranco, Brandi Carlile has made The Story into an angst-filled, alt-country-tinged album that is evidence of her place in line as America's next great female singer-songwriter. To that end, Carlile's sophomore release, The Story, delivers far beyond expectations. With album opener "Late Morning Lullaby," Carlile mixes the folk sensibilities of her influences with twinges of alt-rock instrumentals.

News

Feeding the hype machine nowadays

By Adam Wright | March 29

The hype machine. At times our best friend, at others our worst nightmare, hype is ubiquitous in today's Internet-infused world. There are two kinds of hype. One works from the top down, the type of critical promotion that can bring attention to ho-hum bands and underrated geniuses alike. As for the other, it works from the bottom up, allowing word of mouth to give an act such as Gnarls Barkley an opportunity to turn "Crazy" into a radio explosion. But who made "Crazy" a hit? Fans searching for the song of the summer, or bloggers who buzzed for months before its release?

News

After five LPs, Pharmacists still 'living' in the present

By Adam Wright | March 22

MUSICREVIEW Ted Leo and the Pharmacists Living With the Living 3.5 stars With The Pharmacists on board again for his fifth album, Ted Leo amps up his sound and solidifies his songwriting to make for a record that extends beyond anything he and his band ever have achieved. On Living With The Living, Leo has grown from a punk revivalist into a more mature musician with complete control of his craft, forming his most accessible album to date and quite possibly his greatest, as well.

News

Calla's latest has strength in darkness

By Adam Wright | February 22

MUSICREVIEW Calla Strength In Numbers 4 stars Rarely in recent memory has mood and mystery worked so well than with the latest work from New York new-waver Calla. Following up its much-buzzed 2005 release, Collisions, the band makes a confident and captivating transformation on Strength In Numbers with a full, haunting grasp of the musical narrative its previous release only hinted at. Opening track "Sanctify" serves as a portal into the beautifully despondent world that makes up Numbers.

News

Last-minute change can't stop DSI Comedy Fest

By Adam Wright | February 15

CONCERTREVIEW DSI Comedy Festival Cat's Cradle Friday, Feb. 8 3.5 Stars Louis C.K. You know, that guy. From that thing. Right. Such was the mind-set of many at Friday night's comedy show at Cat's Cradle. A recognizable face without such a recognizable name, C.K. certainly didn't claim the star power of Horatio Sanz, the original comedian slated to perform at the headlining event of the seventh annual Dirty South Improv Festival.

News

Bayside hurting on pop-punk LP

By Adam Wright | February 15

MUSICREVIEW Bayside The Walking Wounded 2.5 Stars Call it a Napoleon complex, grief or the subpar songwriting skills of an average pop-punk band. Call it what you may, but Bayside's The Walking Wounded is an album muddled with control issues. Literally. Within the first half of the album, the band members muse in three separate songs that they control their lives, they've lost control of their lives and they're gaining control of their lives. Confused? So is the band.

News

The Earlies put out a scattered lp

By Adam Wright | January 25

MUSICREVIEW The Earlies The Enemy Chorus 2.5 stars Layered and complex in structure from track one, The Earlies' second album, The Enemy Chorus, showcases the best and worst of what psychedelic rock has to offer. The album is both a beautiful foray into bizarre and a misstep into cluttered abstract, each track a hit or miss in sound and style. The album opener "No Love In Your Heart" begins with subtle strings before adding on an odd mix of dance floor rhythms, rattling synths and ominous, heavy guitar.

News

Switchfoot's latest a wholesome treat

By Adam Wright | January 18

MUSICREVIEW Switchfoot Oh! Gravity 3.5 stars Oh! Gravity proves to be a fitting album moniker as Switchfoot defies the laws of physics on its latest release and reaches the spiritual heavens so often mentioned in its songs. Cleaner and more concise than anything the Christian rockers ever have produced, the album is evidence the band deserves to uphold the fame it achieved with 2003's multiplantinum The Beautiful Letdown.

News

An Oasis greatest hits album? now?

By Adam Wright | November 30

MUSICREVIEW Oasis Stop the Clocks 3.5 stars With its first greatest hits collection, Oasis takes a step back from its recent drought and asks its audience to drink from its once great well of magical musicianship. Hand-picked by the Gallaghers and company, Stop the Clocks is a compilation of the band's biggest hits and best B-sides. A personal collection that is supposedly the band's definitive portrait - this is how Oasis wants to be remembered. But the question remains: With years of added age, is that old well still as magical as it once was? The answer? Kind of.

News

A message to BYOP: grow up

By Adam Wright | October 12

CONCERTREVIEW Be Your Own Pet Cat's Cradle Friday, Oct. 6 2 Stars Be Your Own Pet is comprised of a bunch of animals. Or rather, savage, vile beasts better known as teenagers. Barely out of high school, the members of Be Your Own Pet brought their vibrant and youthful brand of punk to Cat's Cradle on Friday night to a mass of energetic and eager fans. But Be Your Own Pet failed to deliver the goods, and the band put on a messy, amateurish show that made the group look like, well, a bunch of teenagers.