Baroness Review @ Spectrum Culture

My review of the new Baroness double-album, Yellow & Green, is now posted at Spectrum Culture. You can read it here.

This one was kind of hard, especially since I am a fan of the band. The promised pre-release download never materialized (due to an apparent “leak”) and the promo website eventually stopped letting me listen. Gee, thanks, guys! Fortunately, NPR was streaming the whole thing at “First Listen” all last week but, let’s face it, a lossy, low bitrate internet stream sounds like crap no matter how you try to listen to it—especially when gaps are inserted between tracks that are supposed to flow together seamlessly, as on Yellow & Green. Good grief! All this angst and paranoia over downloads and “leaks” is understandable but completely wrong-headed, in my opinion. When will the labels/artists finally realize that a crappy mp3 is worth exactly nothing? 

The album officially came out today, so I went to my favorite local record store and bought it—as I was planning to do anyway. I’m spinning the vinyl right now, ogling the twelve-inch artwork and studying the lyric sheets while I rip the CDs to my iPod. It sounds great! I stand by my review but it might have been a bit more positive—and expansive—had I been provided an opportunity to really hear the thing. I guess that's how it goes for a “rock critic.” Ha ha!