Album/Song Reviews
Modern Drummer is the world’s most widely read drum magazine, is dedicated entirely to the art of drumming and caters to the needs of amateur, semi-pro, and professional drummers.
Between The Buried And Me The Parallax II: Future Sequence
CD/ALBUM Over an appropriately cinematic soundscape, The Parallax II: Future Sequence investigates perpetually relevant issues like the destructive nature of humanity. Likewise, the band continues to be on the cutting edge of modern progressive metal, and like the…
School Of Bongo by Trevor Salloum
BOOK/CD LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED $19.99 There are plenty of books out there, including three others by Trevor Salloum, that address the use of bongos in musical styles that commonly include the Afro-Cuban instrument. Unlike its predecessors, though, School of…
Kamelot Silverthorn
CD/ALBUM Silverthorn marks the tenth studio album—and first with new singer Tommy Karevik—for symphonic metal band Kamelot. Always a group to blend everything from progressive metal to doom/gothic and classical elements, on this release the band tells the…
Drum Diaries, Volume One by Michael Gould
E-BOOK LEVEL: ALL $10.99 This unique multi-media e-book isn’t designed to be a complete, all-encompassing drumming method. Rather, it’s conceived as a collection of short exercises, practice tips, and play-alongs that are meant to inspire you to explore new ideas…
Jethro Tull Thick As a Brick (Collector’s Edition)
CD/DVD Don’t say I didn’t warn you: If you take your copy of the new Collector’s Edition CD/Audio DVD of Jethro Tull’s 1972 studio album Thick As a Brick to work and pop it into your computer, you’re going…
Buffalo Killers Dig. Sow. Love. Grow.
CD Buffalo Killers aren’t the only band today with little apparent interest in music made after 1975. But they are one of the best. On the Cincinnati, Ohio, group’s fourth album, their Crazy Horse/Big Star/Badfinger base is built upon…
Greg Skaff 116th & Park
This is jazz guitarist Greg Skaff’s third successive exploration of the classic B3/guitar/drums format—but with a difference. Although Skaff’s fat-toned hollow-body sound and swing feel are rooted in tradition, his concept is subtly informed by the modern, along with hints of…
Call of the Wild Leave Your Leather On
CD Well, Call of the Wild drummer Allison Busch sure got it right in her blog a couple weeks ago: The band’s sound definitely comes out of Motörhead, Thin Lizzy, and other straight-up, balls-to-the-wall rock outfits. This is pure,…
Solos Beast of Both Worlds
CD These can be tough times for an indie rock fan, at least those of us who are drummers. So much of what comes out these days seems like over-polite, under-ambitious Matt Chamberlain approximations, with too much compression and…
Man Forever Pansophical Cataract
CD Pansophical Cataract is comprised of two eighteen-plus-minute tracks that are in fact reduced versions of thirty- and forty-minute live performance pieces. A bit more rock-ish than what generally passes for modern classical music, but way more esoteric than…
Roxy Music The Complete Studio Recordings
From left: Brian Eno, Andy Mackay, Bryan Ferry, Paul Thompson, and Phil Manzanera CD/ALBUM/BOX SET Roxy Music covered so many bases with their music and their live approach that casual observers have often had difficulty grasping their “thing.” And…
The Wedding Present Valentina
CD/ALBUM The Wedding Present, who formed in Leeds, England, in 1985, is one of British alternative rock’s longest-running bands. They’re also among its most consistently high-quality. Singer/guitarist David Gedge still writes about the intricacies of romantic love with great…
The Smashing Pumpkins Oceania
CD Replacing original Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin mustn’t have been easy for Mike Byrne, but leader Billy Corgan clearly made a good choice with the newbie. Similar to the way that Zak Starkey is in some ways the…
Tommy Igoe and the Birdland Big Band Eleven
Album Not a wasted bar here. Weekly residents of New York’s Birdland, this jazz big band is about action and arrangements that build and build. All is tight and punchy, and the solos deliver. Tommy Igoe drives it all…
