Dashboard Confessional
Dusk and Summer
Vagrant (2006)
Being in high school when The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most came out, I played the role of the lovesick teenager who, although my heart was always in right place, constantly seemed to be alone. I, however, was just one of thousands of other kids playing the role which - most likely - would have been (so) … Read more
Daturah
Reverie
Graveface (2008)
Hailing from Germany, the "post-rock" sounding Daturah offer Reverie, as their first full-length (following a self-titled EP which they self-released in 2005 and Graveface released in 2006) since their inception in 2003. This album, at five tracks long still clocks in with just about an hour's worth of music. The band focus more heavily on the ambient aspects of their … Read more
Daughters
Hell Songs
Hydra Head (2006)
Man, The Jesus Lizard really left their mark. And as funny as it seems for such a quaint little band from Chicago, to this very day they're still firmly imprinted and can be spotted ever so clearly within modern music all across the board. Maybe its just that David Yow & Co.'s expansive sound was such a mishmash of punk, … Read more
Dave Hause
Heavy Heart
Jade Tree (2012)
Of all of Dave Hause’s 7-inch’s for this series, this was the one I was most excited about. Jade Tree is one of my favorite labels with an amazing catalog., including The Loved Ones’, “Keep Your Heart.” There’s no surprise Hause went with this one. I was stoked to see he’d be covering The Promise Ring and Jets to Brazil … Read more
Dave Hause
Paddy EP
Independent (2020)
There’s a lot to unpack in this new Dave Hause EP, released in conjunction with the Patty EP. While there’s a lot in these five songs, it’s also somewhat on the surface: Hause has released two new covers EP paying tribute to songwriters he admires. Paddy contains five songs written by Patrick Costello aka Paddy of Dillinger Four. To paraphrase, … Read more
Dave Hause
Patty EP
Independent (2020)
I reviewed Hause’s Paddy EP before this. The two came out the same day and, as name implies, somewhat work together. The concept for each is similar: highlighting the work of some of his favorite songwriters, albeit from different directions.I’m also coming at the Patty EP from a new perspective. With Paddy I was well versed in Dillinger Four. This … Read more
Dave Hause
Pray For Tuscon
Bridge Nine (2012)
The second installment of Dave Hause's 7-inch series comes from Bridge Nine. Lots of interesting choices for Hause to choose songs to cover from. In the end, he settled on Strike Anywhere and The Trouble. We'll get to that in a bit. First, lets reflect on the renditions of his own, "Pray For Tucson" and "Years From Now." This new … Read more
Dave Hause
Resolutions
Paper + Plastick (2011)
Dave Hause is no secret to anyone that listens to punk rock. He is known for being one of the better storytellers in modern punk. After years in a variety of near classic punk bands Dave has decided to step into the folk singer realm. This certainly is less a copycat scenario as something he has been working on for … Read more
David Bowie
★ (Blackstar)
ISO Records / Columbia (2016)
David Bowie has always stood outside the lines. In the last decade or so, every album release came as a surprise of sorts: no media circus or worldwide promo tour. Each release showed Bowie slipping into his older years with something more stable stylistically. Here on his 69th birthday we get his 25th album, Blackstar. In an almost complete lack … Read more
David Bowie
A New Career in a New Town
Parlophone (2017)
I have successfully broken my brain trying to find something new to say about David Bowie. I believe it to be absolutely impossible to speak in new terms on what the musician, actor, artist, and fashion icon meant to the the worlds he showed up in. Countless of us who mourned his death have done so with some type of … Read more
David Gray
Life in Slow Motion
ATO (2005)
I'd like to begin this review by thanking the kind people at Dictionary.com and Google.com for their unwitting assistance in the writing of this here review. God bless you. boring adj. Uninteresting and tiresome; dull. boring adv. boringness n. Synonyms: boring, monotonous, tedious, irksome, tiresome, humdrum These adjectives refer to what is so uninteresting as to cause mental weariness. Boring … Read more
David Moore
My Lover, My Stranger
Doghouse (2009)
My Lover, My Stranger is the first solo record from David Moore, formerly of Chamberlain and Split Lip. It is difficult to imagine Moore extricating himself completely from a self-imposed anonymity in order to refashion himself as some indie country troubadour, but from the sounds of this, at times, intimate album, he is attempting just such a feat. Considering the … Read more
Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie Prince Billy
What The Brothers Sang
Drag City (2013)
The Everly Brothers were a staple in my house musically when I was growing up back in the early ‘60s; they were one of the biggest duos around and were known for their soaring harmonies and fusion of the current country sound with rock and roll. They toured and recorded from the late ‘50s through the early ‘80s and amassed … Read more
Day of Contempt
The Will to Live
Epitaph (2005)
Goddamn! You're more than likely speculating that this record is going to be one of two things because of the profane first impression. It's either going to be an over-the-top, album of the year deal, or just another record you stop halfway through setting aside to collect dust. However, Day of Contempt's The Will to Live is neither of the … Read more
Day Without Dawn
Understanding Consequences
Fallen Empire (2008)
I remember The Postman Syndrome; their lone full-length, Terraforming is a hidden gem chock full of references to the landmark Japanese anime Neon Genesis: Evangelion and intricate songs which contain equal parts fret board gymnastics and melody. Day Without Dawn is the product of that band minus one member and quite a bit of a challenge, which a band can … Read more
Daydream
Mystic Operative
Dirt Cult (2020)
It’s refreshing when a band is hard to describe. As a review writer it’s certainly a challenge but sometimes it feels a little too easy to slap a hyphenated label on a record to describe the sound. Daydream’s second album, Mystic Operative, isn’t reinventing rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s also not so easy to pin down to a single scene … Read more
Days N Daze
Show Me The Blueprint
Fat Wreck Chords (2020)
I love it when music takes me to places. In my mind there’s two ways a record can do that. First is the kind that is linked to certain events in my life. Sometimes as simple as a book I read at the time of listening. There are albums that transport me to the fantasy worlds I read about when … Read more
Dead Bars
Dream Gig
No Idea Records (2017)
Reading that Dead Bars never meant to be a band explains a lot of things. They started as a one-off project to go on a tour rather than to share their art. It turned out to be fun and they stuck with it. After a series of 7”s, the Seattle now-band finally releases their first full-length in 2017, titled Dream … Read more
