Virginian psych-folk journeyman, Keith Wood (aka Hush Arbors) has his forthcoming LP, Yankee Reality cocked and loaded for release on October 6th. The folks at Ecstatic Peace have been working overtime in 2009, releasing quite a bit of noteworthy experimental material all clamped tight in folk-with-a-sneer standards and badass attitude.  We’re huge fans of WAND’s [...]

One of the most distinctive things about The Clientele’s standout 2005 album, Strange Geometry, is the pristine production and the incredibly arranged melting together of instrumental variety, vocal precision, and maturity.  This album can largely stand alone and hold its weight with just about anything released from 2005 to the present, and even if The [...]

This weekend has been one of juxtaposing forms of entertainment for me.  Half was spent reclining back and catching up on some reading time, while the other was spent turning my brain to jelly on amusement park rides. I’ll apologize in advance for any goofy album reviews I happen to post this week.  I can’t [...]

(Editor’s note:  I don’t know how to swim.  I think we’ve talked about this before.  I’m afraid of jellyfish, barracuda and drowning.  The new band we’re throwing at you today, The Light Rays, work in a kind of sludgy surf-rock mode, hence the picture above.  I just want you to know that it (the picture [...]

So it’s Friday and I’m filling in for Diamond Jim, as you all know he’s a busy dude these days. Today, I think he is racing his drift car for the big bucks. He’s got his mind on his money and his money on his mind. Hey, he’s moving to the NYC soon, it’s not [...]

We can get behind the fine folks at Hometapes.  They’ve been throwing darts all year at the music scene, and it’s no closely guarded secret how much we raved over Megafaun’s release earlier this year.  As a side note, we also got the chance to meet and hangout with the folks from the label.  Not only are they [...]

You ever listen to a sophomore record from a band that read too many press clippings?  The kind of deal where the first record was a triumph, people listened to it (and wrote about it on their poxy blogs) and everyone’s head got a bit too big?  (Quick aside:  We should all be really worried [...]

The first time the singer from Morningbell (it’s either Travis or Eric Atria; they’re both listed on vocals and I don’t know the band well enough to tell them apart note: we got late breaking news from the band that Travis is the one who pumps this (and the rest of the vocals) out) laces [...]

Hello readers! Full album reviews are on their way this week. I promise. As you can see we are trying to tide you over til then. Here’s my little energy packed addition. Hopefully you’re having one of those productive, “time is flying by and I’ll be at happy hour before I know it ” days. [...]

It’s been a busy day at Citizen Dick world headquarters.  (See the post below.)  Mrs. Citizen and I have a lasagna in the oven and we’re blasting the new Twilight Sad record while it cooks.  (I’ll have a review of it on Thursday.  Here’s a preview: it’s good.)  I popped up to the computer to [...]

You’ve probably already figured out that we were wicked busy this weekend and that business prevented us from hitting you with deep and compelling content today.  (Kevin was the homecoming advisor; I was plowing through the relevant literature on evidence-based practices; Justin is the most interesting man in the world (which means he’s always busy); [...]

Today’s Radio Dick is shot straight from the hip from a busy guy in Cleveland.  In the world of high school education, nothing spells “important” like the magical and enchanting homecoming dance.  In American education, not one single night of the entire school year involves so much preparation for such little return profit.  Kids spend [...]

I’m cheap.  I love my local record shops (Blue Arrow for used stuff, Music Saves for new), but every now and again, I tap the internet for vinyl to save a couple of bucks.  (I’m a vinyl neophyte, as Mrs. Citizen hit me with a turntable for my birthday a mere two months ago, but [...]

We here at Citizen Dick World Enterprises like to stay ahead of the curve, or at least in pace with it. Sometimes, however, we miss a beat. We’ve taken one another to task for such ball droppage in the past and promise to continue doing so. While we cannot go back in time and fix [...]

I’m going to start off the day by jumping right into a quick review of The Drones show at Schubas Tavern that I mentioned last week in this space. In the interest of full disclosure, I went to the bar this past Tuesday woefully unprepared. Though I was fully aware that The Drones have been [...]

Let me be clear, I don’t dance. I never could dance. I never will dance. I am the Sir Nose of dancing. (Put me down, let go my leg, etc.)
Given this, it shouldn’t be surprising for you to learn that I tend not to like “dance” music. (I put that word in quotation marks because [...]

(Editor’s note: Today’s post is explicitly intended for Maryland’s best quasi-experimental indie folk quintet, Le Loup.  I felt I owed them an explanation for my failure to review their upcoming sophomore album, out  September 22 on Hardly Art.  If you’re not in Le Loup, you’re more than welcome to read the following letter to the [...]

Editor’s Note:  Albums pile up quickly around here, and it’s difficult sometimes to maximize output and get our stamp on every album we enjoy.  In addition, we also have to work backwards a bit to put our ears to albums we miss.  Today’s post rather blends these two ideas together. The Entrance Band’s self-titled release last [...]

You can’t throw a rock in Cleveland without hitting Beaten Awake.  Since our launch in January, we’ve seen the Kent natives open for Heartless Bastards and Crocodiles. (And one other act, I think, but it escapes me.  Little help?)  In the next couple of months, they’ll warm things up for Built to Spill and Meat [...]

The Beachland Tavern was pretty packed last night, especially considering it was a Monday. I’ll admit being surprised by this, particularly in light of the disagreement I’d had with another friend the day before about how attendance for last night’s A Hawk and a Hacksaw show would be. She said it would be busy, I [...]