Articles By: Paul Paradis 
Paul is a musician, writer, and teacher living in Tacoma. When not engaged in the endless task of raising his six year old whirling dervish James Sparhawk, he spends his time creating music, pursuing a bachelor's, working out, and living. He is originally from the east coast: Worcester, Mass. born, and Providence, RI bred. Having traveled around some, the Pacific Northwest tends to feel more and more like home with each passing day, Very similar to New England in some ways, but different in a way that is refreshing. Rock on.
The Flaming Lips – The Terror album review
The Flaming Lips exist in a category by themselves. At this point in the history of left of center indie rock, if you have been paying even scant attention, you have encountered the gently crazy genius of Wayne Coyne and his merry band of psychedelic songsters. If not, then you must avail yourself of the opportunity presented to you by this review, and go and listen to them. At this point in time, there’s nothing really new to say about [...]
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The Big Terrible – Rotten City album review
Big Terrible are anything but. Rocking out in a retro way, the Philadelphia four-piece blends tasteful writing with a rock solid ensemble and whole lot of soul. The backup singers are a big plus. The big secret here is Jonathan Dumoff, who apparently is more than a talented acoustic musician. Listening to their music reveals a band adept at sonic wizardry, because their sound is a few decades old. While that might sound like a dis, it is in fact [...]
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The Thermals – Desperate Ground album review
Reading the bio of The Thermals comprises one of those experiences a person has where they realize just how much they are out of touch with the current music scene. This band is ten years old, and for all intents and purposes are brand spankin’ new to me. The gist of the idea of this band is some kind of ‘Portland super-group’ whose revolving door line-up reads like some kind of one act Spinal Tap, without the spontaneous combustion. For [...]
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ATARAXIA II – Oneirataxia album review
Toronto-based experimental musician D. Burke Mahoney is the focus of this review. His project is named ‘Oneirataxia’. According to Mahoney, Oneirataxia is the inability to differentiate between dreams and reality. The sounds contained in this release exist in both places simlutaneously This music is very experimental, a type of ambient chaos, churning up from the nether regions of the universe, expanding as it ascends, and then emitting mass and light as it permeates the ether. The swirling sound masses imply [...]
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Cosines – Hey Sailor Boy single review
D.I.Y. indie label Fika recordings presents Cosines, a ‘mathematical’ pop band from the U.K. What this amounts to is a two-song single called Sailor Boy, that can be heard via the link at the end of this post. This recording is an interesting affair. If Belle and Sebastian channeled the spirit of Kurt Weill in a highly diatonic frame of mind, the end result might be something along the lines of Sailor Boy. It is indie rock as musical. The [...]
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The Black Angels – Indigo Meadow album review
Every once in a while you get turned on to a band that you assume must be some kind of a put on or inside joke, and then you realize they take themselves seriously. Enter The Black Angels. From what I gather, their almost nine years of existence have garnered a fair amount of praise from what passes for the underground scene in this age of wireless connectivity, and this is one of those times when I just don’t get [...]
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CHVRCHES – Recover EP review
CHVRCHES are here to remind everyone that eighties synth-pop is not dead, it simply renamed itself electro-pop and crawled back out of whatever space it was hiding in. A three-person band from Glasgow, CHVRCHES spell their name with a v to differentiate themselves in internet searches. Their lead vocalist (Lauren Mayberry) is a young woman with a crystal clear tone and an ethereal style of singing. In photos she appears to be a wispy, waif of a girl who obviously [...]
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Crystal Shipsss – Crystal Shipsss EP review
Jacob Faurholt inhabits a self-created musical universe. Crystal Shipsss, the one-musician vehicle created as the vessel to navigate the cosmos of this universe, is the focal point of Faurholt’s musical output. The current Crystal Shipsss release is testament to the amount of music running through this man’s head. Though brief in playtime even by e.p. standards, the amount of music that pours forth in 15 minutes or so, is staggering. Though the approach to creation was deliberately casual, the end [...]
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The 1975 – Music for Cars EP review
This e.p., the newest offering by British group The 1975, is somewhat of a letdown, coming seven months or so after The Facedown e.p. While there are still plenty of moments that possess that sense of breathless revelation they seem to be so very adept at conveying, the presence of material like the song Chocolate dampens this effect. The upbeat, major key accessibility of this track is irksome. It’s not the overtly commercial feel, but the fact that it’s jarringly [...]
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Night Beds – Country Sleep album review
There are those in cyberspace who are making references about Winston Yellen by way of Gram Parsons. If so, the comparison is of a generalized nature, because the two are completely different musicians. There’s nothing of Parson’s aesthetic at work in the music of Winston Yellen; yes, it’s obvious that there’s a country/Americana influence in the music of Yellen, but this does not mean that Yellen bears any resemblance to Parsons. Yellen is Yellen, and Parsons is Parsons. To say [...]
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