Ed Pettersen is a singer/songwriter from New York and this nearly exclusively acoustic 8 song EP is his first record. The album kicks off with its most up-tempo song, and the only song to utilize drums, “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live” which is vaguely reminiscent of John Hiatt circa “Slow [...]

Unheralded, this disc made its way to my stereo by coincidence and has held it captive for a week now. From the first strains of “Homecoming Queen” it is apparent there is something different about this band. What begins as a gently picked acoustic song becomes creepier with the addition of eerie, harmonizing keyboard notes, [...]

It’s fitting that the first sound emanating from this record is a buzzing chainsaw. It serves as fair warning for a record with a morbid fixation on violent deaths by car crash, suicide — and, yes, chainsaw. As the buzzing fades out, an acoustic guitar strums in and Angry Johnny proceeds to tell the tale [...]

Let’s do away with the formalities and cut to the quick: This is an exciting record. Not only because the songs are great (which they are), but because it sounds like the arrival of a band with many years of great songs ahead. This Portland trio, led by singer and guitar player Willy Vlautin, has [...]

Listening to The Buried Life is a little bit like driving out of the city to a tattered old farmhouse to visit a couple of married friends at the end of the day. Which makes sense, given that the band is led by the husband-and-wife duo of Carey Kemper and Kelly Bell. They split the [...]