Chris Parker

Contributions

Cage - Depart From Me

Depart From Me You're supposed to write what you know, and Chris "Cage" Palko's harrowing childhood is definitely reflected in his lyrics. Yet as bleak as his subject matter is, his songs manage to be disturbing without straying into the gratuitously grim. The key element may be the ongoing battle with his demons: "I'd like […]

Eyedea & Abilities - By The Throat

By The Throat The duo of MC Eyedea and DJ Abilities have always possessed more potential than they've realized, and By The Throat doesn't change that balance. The blame belongs more to Eyedea than Abilities, who fashions a bevy of hot, throbbing tracks keyed to chunky percussive beats with the jazzy tinkle of cymbals balancing the murky […]

Cheap Girls - My Roaring 20's

My Roaring 20’s With the '80s retreating further into the rear view, perhaps it's finally time to shitcan the guyliner and white pancake makeup of new- and dark-wave fascinations. Late-'80s alt-rock is a comparatively welcome replacement for all the gloomy would-be Ian Curtis and Robert Smith clones clogging the underground with their twitchy, synth-addled moodiness. […]

Jonah Matranga/Kevin Seconds - Split

Jonah Matranga/Kevin Seconds Split The 7-inch is more a curio favored by collectors and completists than the casual fan, so perhaps it's appropriate that one of Jonah Matranga's two songs on this split with Kevin Seconds is a novelty track. As the title suggests, “I've Always Wanted to Write a Song Commanding People To Dance!” […]

Empires - BANG EP

Bang EP Chicago quintet Empires explained the series of singles that now comprise this EP as choosing quality over quantity. They almost inexplicably chose not to saddle these five songs with a half-dozen filler tracks and label it an album, as just about any other hungry young band might've. Of course, Empires are smarter than […]

Greg MacPherson - Mr. Invitation

Mr. Invitation Amazon.com Widgets Smallman http://www.smallmanrecords.com/

Veara - What We Left Behind

What We Left Behind The anthemic pop-punk championed by Blink-182 and New Found Glory in the '90s (and whose legacy goes back to early '80s O.C. progenitors the Descendents, the Vandals and the Adolescents) is pushing past its freshness date (and perhaps well beyond, depending on your perspective). Familiarity breeds contempt; these days, energy's hardly […]

Sky Eats Airplane - The Sound Of Symmetry

Sky Eats Airplane The Sound Of Symmetry Practice makes perfect. Though perfection or even the balance suggested by title of Sky Eats Airplane's new EP is still out of reach, the Fort Worth, Texas, quintet have definitely drawn closer. There were many occasions during SEA's first two albums where their blend of clean and anguished […]

Kaki King - Junior

Junior Often the question isn't so much about talent as what to do with it. In Kaki King's case, she established herself as a gifted, expressive acoustic guitarist comparable to stylistic heavyweights like John Fahey, Leo Kottke and Preston Reed with her first two albums, 2003's Everybody Loves You and 2004's Legs To Make Us Longer. She could've […]
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