CD Reviews for 05/07/11 – Eleventh Dream Day, Those Darlins
Compact Capsules
by Dan Ferguson
Those Darlins’
Screws Get Loose
OhWowDang Records
From the trailer park to the garage. On sophomore release Screws Get Loose, Murfreesboro, TN-based Those Darlin’s pretty much ditch the white trash cowpunk novelty of their self-titled debut without ditching the fun. While Screws Get Loose retains the energy and playful spirit of the first go-round, it heads off in a garage and pop direction and pretty much pegs it there. Sure there’s still a few touches of trash here and there, but overall the presentation is a much tighter and bigger sounding affair filled with guitar jangle, retro girl group harmonies and some well-placed hooks.
Eleventh Dream Day
Riot Now!
Thrill Jockey Records
Ask me to name one of the best things I saw at SXSW 2011 and it was a band that had its beginnings in the 1980s cross-pollinating post punk energy with Neil Young-styled crunch. Almost 25 years later, Eleventh Dream Day return with their 10th album. Riot Now! is filled with the fire, fury and urgency of those defining days with music moving from the deliriously chaotic to tight-fisted rockers clearly demonstrating you do not want to mess with elder statesmen of the Chicago scene. Visit www.thrilljockey.com.
(Dan Ferguson is a free-lance music writer and host of The Boudin Barndance, broadcast Thursday nights from 6 – 9 pm on WRIU-FM 90.3. He lives in Peace Dale and can be reached at [email protected].)
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