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Radio Roman: “Dream Machines” – Big Deal
Big Deal, “Dream Machines” I’ve been a bit hooked on Big Deal since their 2011 album, Lights Out. While that album was good, though, it didn’t have a stand-out song. Not like “Dream Machines,” off new album June Gloom (out next month). This song has both the band’s signature…
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Radio Roman: Brooke Waggoner, ‘Originator’
Brooke Waggoner, courtesy. Three years have passed since Brooke Waggoner released “Go Easy Little Doves.” In the interim, she toured with Jack White’s all-girl band, the Peacocks, and produced albums for other artists. The singer-pianist’s third album, “Originator” will be released March 5. Waggoner recorded “Originator” in her hometown…
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Radio Roman: Midnight Spin, ‘Don’t Let Me Sleep’
Midnight Spin, courtesy. Released Thursday, Don’t Let Me Sleep by Midnight Spin is a rock and roll record. This is music carried by power chords and vocals not meant to be soothing. I’d never heard of Midnight Spin before, but I’m impressed with their debut album. Singer-guitarist Mike Corbett…
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Radio Roman: Passion Pit, “Gossamer”
Passion Pit performs at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Jan. 29, 2018. Chloe Catajan/STAFF. Cambridge, Mass., pop quintet Passion Pit is back with a second album, out July 24 on Columbia Records. “Gossamer” is a very appropriate title, as the material is airy yet carries emotional weight. Singer Michael…
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Radio Roman: Patti Smith, “Banga”
Seemingly timeless songstress Patti Smith’s 11th studio album, her first original material since 2004, is a mixed bag. “Banga,” (June 5, Columbia Records) is sometimes contemplative, with soft melodies; sometimes hard-driving, with lyrics chanted to enforce Smith’s message. Spoken word meditations on life and dreams bridge the two extremes…
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Radio Roman: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, ‘Here’
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros perform at BottleRock Napa Valley on May 11, 2013. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. I was ready to write about how Los Angeles folk hippie collective Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros had mellowed too much on their new album. How it lacks songs that are…
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Radio Roman: Caroline Keating, ‘Silver Heart
Caroline Keating, courtesy. Halfway through the second track, “Ghosts,” on Caroline Keating’s debut album, I stopped caring that Silver Heart borrows too greatly from Feist and Regina Spektor. It’s good on it’s own, and fans of those New York and Quebecois songstresses will probably enjoy this as well. Keating,…
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Radio Roman: Susan Justice, ‘Eat Dirt’
Susan Justice, courtesy. Thirteen peculiarly mature pop songs from a new girl on the block. Aruba-born and New York City-raised songwriter-singer-guitarist Susan Justice comes off as a cross between Kelly Clarkson and Alicia Keys. And in fact, Eat Dirt producer Toby Gad has worked with both of the other…
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Radio Roman: Say Anything, ‘Anarchy, My Dear’
Say Anything, courtesy. Pop-punk band Say Anything has a new album coming out March 13; Anarchy, My Dear (Equal Vision Records). Vocalist and band leader Max Bemis has said Say Anything’s fourth studio album was its first attempt at a true punk record. In that they have failed. There…
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Radio Roman: Pontiak, ‘Echo Ono’
The first couple of songs off Echo Ono, the ninth album by psychedelic-rockers, and brothers, Pontiak, are terrific—and it all goes downhill from there. Echo Ono, (released Feb. 21 on Thrill Jockey Records) was conceived as a expressionistic concept record. You wouldn’t be able to tell by its first…
