Todd Chapman

The DecemberistsPicaresque(Kill Rock Stars)“Purloined in Petrograd”? You may find yourself consulting Webster’s when it comes to Colin Meloy’s esoteric folk-pop narratives, but don’t be fooled by such dainty flights of verbosity. The polemical venom of “16 Military Wives” cheerfully bounces along to a la-de-da chorus while “The Engine Driver” uses male and female harmonies to […]

Bruce SpringsteenDevils & Dust(Sony BMG)Despite the lack of the E Street Band, Devils & Dust has little in common with the minimalism of a typical Springsteen solo effort, be it the bleak panoramas of Nebraska or the whispered solemnity of The Ghost of Tom Joad. As haunting as those albums are, their starkness, coupled with […]

Ryan Adams & the CardinalsCold Roses(Lost Highway Records)Cold Roses is the classic case of a double album that, stripped of a few weak, similar sounding tracks, would have made an outstanding single record. With backup band the Cardinals lending a jaunty vibe to the proceedings, it’s nevertheless a welcome partner to the sincere, good ol’ […]

Martha WainwrightMartha Wainwright(Maple)Consider her background: daughter of folk musicians Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, sister to the prodigiously talented Rufus Wainwright. It’s a wonder she didn’t publish a bitter and envious memoir instead. Yet over the course of three EPs, as well as contributing live and recorded backup vocals for her brother, Martha Wainwright […]

Andy Stochansky100(Maple)With Five Star Hotel, Stochansky displayed a knack for small pop gems that were both clever and catchy. With no ambition to reinvent the wheel, his songs resembled a sturdy chair you could relax in for a spell. However, with Johnny “Goo Goo Doll” Rzeznik producing, Stochansky now sounds a little uncomfortable with the […]

Magnolia Electric Co.What Comes After the Blues (Secretly Canadian)The majority of Blues is dense country-rock that bursts open like a pregnant thundercloud. “The Dark Don’t Hide It” rumbles and howls, showcasing dirty electric guitar stabs above a wailing undercurrent of pedal steel strings. Contrasting this thickness, is the stunning acoustic closer “I Can Not Have […]