This review was originally posted on Crap Filter on February 6, 2006.

Rocks like: Cracker, Modest Mouse, and The Arcade Fire
CVB.com | CVB on Myspace | CVB on ITunes

In the year of 1989, I was a mere 8 years old and didn’t really know much about the indy music scene… well, I knew nothing about the scene, but that’s understandable at 8 years old. In fact, my musical diet at the time consisted of my mother’s contemporary Christian music and my dad’s oldies… not exactly what I’m into now. It is safe to say that my knowledge of indie rock and the music underground was not quite… well, existent.

But, whether I knew about them or not, Camper Van Beethoven, a great indie band that had already won over college radio and post-punkers alike, came to see 1989 as the year they would release their seemingly final album. In 1990, CVB disbanded and David Lowery went on to form the slightly more commercially successful band Cracker (whom you probably know from the alt-radio smash “Low”) and the rest of the band pursued their previously formed non-Lowery project Monks of Doom.

Not until Michael Moore chose a cover of their 80’s college-rock cult hit, “Take the Skinheads Bowling”, as the theme to his Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine, did CVB truly hit the mainstream. In recent years, they reunited and put out the 2004 album that won over a new generation of fans (including me), New Roman Times. To support this album, CVB toured with indie band on the rise, Modest Mouse in 2005 and now seems to be gaining a new younger fanbase. …more… »

Rocks like: The Promise Ring, Ryan Adams, and Wilco
Sleepercar on Myspace | Sleepercar.com | Download West Texas on ITunes

Only steers and queers come from Texas (at least that is what I was taught by Full Metal Jacket), but it seems that good independent label pop rock may also be attributed to the state where the Alamo and Nolan Ryan really mean something. West Texas, the debut release by Jim Ward’s newest indie rock outfit, displays a phenomenal mix many genres and elements.

Prior to listening to this album, my most recent experience with Jim Ward was his solo EP, Quiet. The EP was mundane and unimpressive, as far as I was concerned. I was on a kick where I reviewed music without doing any research into the band or any of the members in order to make a judgment on the music alone. This practice was brief and I returned to my typical business of researching the band before taking in the music. At that time, I listened to the Jim Ward EP and shrugged him off as a generic singer-songwriter that showed some hints of promise but never delivered. This go around, I read up on Ward and realized that he had indeed put out some great music in his past musical life as a member of the seminal post-punk outfit At the Drive In, so I figured giving him another shot would only be fair (as ATDI’s Relationship of Command is easily one of my top 10 albums of all-time). …more… »