***”‘I don’t wanna be part of the network!’ sings ERIC ‘SIR LORD VON RAVEN’ JOHNSON on his sophomore album, The Age of Machines. The eponymous track (a bona-fide rock n’ roll luddite anthem) echoes an anti-tech sentiment present in much of his work to date. His band, which uses the abbreviation SLVR, has a minimal online presence (no Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) and he’s even resisted getting a cellphone to this day. By avoiding such modern distractions, the venerable Lord Raven has had ample time to craft on of the most authentic and exciting rock n’ roll records you’re likely to hear this year—or any other... The Age of Machines offers four sides of soulful psych rock, effervescent boogie and heartbreakingly beautiful oldies-inspired rock n’ roll that never lets up....”—Andy Human, Oakland, 2015. (STREET DATE - 2/17/2015)
2XLP $25.65
02/17/2015
***"GREG ASHLEY’s 4th album under his own name, his first since 2009’s Requiem Mass (Birdman), signals yet another change in direction for this multi-instrumentalist / producer / arranger / singer / songwriter / bandleader. Death of a Ladies' Man is a reverential song-for-song treatment of Leonard Cohen’s least ‘reverential’ album: the 1977 Phil Spector-produced album of the same name. Greg’s cover photo replaces actual women with two mannequins, but in almost every other way Greg’s stripped down arrangements with a basic bar band lineup give the original animal more human warmth, making the album more accessible than it’s ever been behind that bloated fortress Phil built. Ultimately, Ashley’s Death of a Ladies' Man pays tribute to the songwriting team of Cohen/Spector. Greg’s rock and roll background informs his Death of a Ladies' Man, but the tenderness, and the mid-life crisis evident in Cohen’s lyrics is highlighted, and conveys the meaning of the songs in ways even Cohen might appreciate. Greg also brings the sensibility he honed in the Oakland bar circuit, and his country-tinged ‘One Thin Heroine/ Misery Again’ single (Mexican Summer), to make ‘Fingerprints’ a much more convincing country rocker than it does in Spector’s version.”—Chris Stroffolino, from the liner notes. Edition of 500 copies with download code.
LP $15.00
11/12/2013