Posted in Album Reviews

Wednesday – Bleeds (2025)

Posted on by Michael

Led by singer-songwriter Karly Hartzman, Wednesday had a breakthrough with 2023’s album Rat Saw Good. Several months later, guitarist MJ Lenderman had an underground hit with his solo album Manning Fireworks.  As he divides his time, Lenderman appears on Wednesday’s sixth album Bleeds but will not be touring with the band. On their newest album, Wednesday continues to mix a modern take on 90s indie rock with country, tied to a slacker vibe.

The stories that Hartzman sings on Bleeds are like ones taken from a podcast.  A homeless woman with the sweetest voice wearing Juggalo make-up, the Murdaugh murders from the perspective of a neighbour, and her old landlord telling the craziest Appalachian stories. Around crashing guitars, “Wound Up Here (By Holdin’ On)” tells the story of a body being pulled out of a lake.  Mixed into the serious and absurd is a re-recording of “Phish Pepsi” with the laugh out loud line – “We watched a Phish concert and Human Centipede/Two things I now wish I had never seen”.  “Townies” looks back at the more hurtful rumours that spread about high school sex scandals.

A key aspect to the Wednesday sound is the steel/lap guitar played by Xandy Chelmis that adds a country dimension to the band’s sound, this is done to great effect on the excellent “Elderberry Wine”. The band does a fine job of telling the stories of the colourful people around them and amplifies their stories to a wider audience. Capturing the murkiness of the backwoods of North Carolina along the way.

7.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Big Thief – Double Infinity (2025)

Posted on by Michael

Since forming in 2015, Big Thief have been busy with their latest, Double Infinity being their sixth studio album. This also follows up singer Adrianne Lenker’s excellent solo album from last year, Bright Future. Songs such lead track “Incomprehensible” and the meandering “No Fear” layer on effects on top of very good indie rock songs. “Los Angeles” keeps driving but in a laidback way, singing about the city where “the ocean is bright and blue”, “Words” adds fuzzy guitar to the sound.

The ten verses of the title track rollout easily before the album closes with three very good tracks including “Grandmother” that features the vocalizing of Larraji and the repeated lines of “Happy With You”. The band’s first without original bassist Max Oleartchik is an easy album to listen to, drifts along while also pulling up some weeds in its crystal waters.

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Grizzly Bear – Shields (2012)

Posted on by Michael

After extensively touring the Veckatimest album, Grizzly Bear took time off before regrouping to work on their fifth studio album, Shields. The band reconvened in Marfa, Texas before scrapping those sessions and starting again at singer Ed Droste’s family’s house in Cape Cod with bassist Chris Taylor once again producing. The foursome created an album that was a bit more raw and in your face than previous efforts.  First track and single, “Sleeping Ute” is dramatic with crashing guitars and drums and “Half Gate” gets darker, more sinister as it wears on.

On several tracks, it’s the drumming of Christopher Bear that really stands out.  His work on “Speak in Rounds” stands out amongst in the intricate guitar work, and the rhythm section really lock in during the excellent “A Simple Answer”. Both Ed Droste and fellow singer Daniel Rossen both have their moments among the album’s 10 tracks. A true collaborative effort, Shields was the band’s highest charting album in the US (#7) and is another excellent piece of work.

8.5/10

Posted in Paper Chase

Cormac McCarthy – The Road

Posted on by Michael

The Road, the acclaimed novel by Cormac McCarthy, was originally published in 2006.  The plot takes place in a burned-out America and follows “Papa” and his young son as they head out in search of the coast. Steering clear of the burned out walking corpses; the two deal with freezing weather, marauders, lack of food, and little warmth. They find tins of food along the way as they carry all their belongings in a shopping cart, searching for that elusive coast on a taped together map.

McCarthy is a master of making the entire endeavor intense and foreboding as the two wander across the country side.  There is a sense of dread throughout but the reader will root for the two to make it to their seaside paradise.  The Road won several awards including The Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was later made into a movie and is listed as one of the best books of the 21st Century by the New York Times.

9/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Madonna – Bedtime Stories (1994)

Posted on by Michael

Closing the chapter on the Erotica/SEX book era, Madonna continued into the 90s with a gaggle of co-songwriters/producers/arrangers on 1994’s Bedtime Stories. Initially working with producer Shep Pettibone, Madonna decided to move in an R+B/New Jack Swing direction with several producers including mega producers Babyface, Dallas Austin, and Brit Nelle Hooper.

The album starts off promising with “Survival” a decent track with this new sound before the acoustic guitar driven single, “Secret” appears. A simple but effective beat creates a groove and while the chorus is also simple, the “mmmm, something’s coming over me” was easy for 20 somethings to sing on a drunken dancefloor. However, the nifty bass work from Meshell Ndegeocello cannot save the inane lyrics of “I’d Rather Be Your Lover”, better is the pop fun of “Don’t Stop”

Nellee Hooper lays down laid back grooves on several tracks including “Sanctuary” that contains a Herbie Hancock sample. Intriguingly, Bjork co-writes “Bedtime Story”, a throbbing beat that sees Madonna’s vocals float over top. The song points to the future sound that Madonna will carry on with on the Ray of Light album. 

The two other single released from Bedtime Stories are “Human Nature” and “Take a Bow”.  The former is a response to the backlash that followed the SEX book. The slinky number barely scraped into the US top 50. Far better is album closer, “Take a Bow”. A true collaboration with Babyface sees them co-write/producer together where he also handles the background vocals.

The bittersweet ballad sees Madonna say goodbye to a relationship where she’s “always been in love with you” before the stinging lyric “the show is over say goodbye” appears a few lines later. The lush production makes the song one of Madonna’s very best on an album that is warmer in sound than Erotica but doesn’t have enough truly great songs on it to make it a really good album. A 30th Anniversary edition is due for release in late November.

7/10