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CD Reviews

The Nightwatchman | World Wide Rebel Songs

New West Records (2011)

By MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | August 30, 2011

3.0 Stars

It's been interesting watching the progression of the Nightwatchman, the sometime moniker of Tom Morello. Morello spent his days as the guitarist for the defining '90s activist band Rage Against the Machine, but then went on to efface himself in the explicitly non-political and radio-friendly Audioslave. It was during his time in the latter that he dropped the alter-ego of "Tom Morello" and revealed his true Nightwatchman identity, bringing musically sparse but anthemic decrees to nonplussed fans of his other outfits. But those kids protesting the inequities represented by the pending arrival of Whole Foods in Jamaica Plain love that sort of stuff — a soundtrack for standing up to the social injustices plaguing our nation's hipsters who missed out on primetime Dylan. World Wide Rebel Songs is Morello at his most confident and musically expansive. He's not afraid to rock it Rage-lite ("It Begins Tonight") or get his point across by howling like a canine ("The Dogs of Tijuana"). But for the most part his Springsteen-cover-band warble works best when providing a rallying cry for the downtrodden with lines like "I lost everything/now I am free/I was tryin' to tell ya/you wouldn't listen to me." That's Tom Paxton for a new generation right there.

Street Sweeper Social Club | The Ghetto Blaster EP
A seven-song slice of propaganda for this summer's Rock the Bells.
Street Sweeper Social Club | Street Sweeper Social Club
Rap-rock group Street Sweeper Social Club have been hyped as a supergroup.
Trans Am | What Day Is It Tonight? Trans Am Live, 1993 - 2008
Trans Am are distillers of guilty pleasures, mixing fat AOR riffs with sleazy electronic accents and a propulsive attitude typically reserved for arcade soundtracks. What Day Is It Tonight? covers the DC-area band’s 20-year history with high-quality, high-energy live cuts taken from their many tours.
Various Artists | Where the Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965 - 1968
More than three years in the making, the most recent installment of Rhino's legendary archival garage-rock series offers an amazingly comprehensive excavation of an absurdly fertile scene.
Various Artists | Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova 1966–1970
Girl-group records are great and everything, yet the countless compilations out there were becoming a little hit-or-miss until 2005, when the great Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found box set finally gave this diverse genre a proper taxonomy.
Various Artists | Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2010
The notion that regional musical flavors exist independently in American cities is quickly becoming an archaic truism, seeing as how the world really is a stage these days, at least in the digital sense.
Bearstronaut | Broken Handclaps
There's a distinct absence of wildlife or astronauts on Lowell electronica quartet Bearstronaut's latest release.
Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo
Look, I get it: the last thing we need right now is yet another band who can be described as “sun-baked,” “reverb-soaked,” or even just “psychedelic.” But Avi Buffalo (I know! An animal name to boot!) are worth your attention for a few reasons.
Review: Brandon Flowers | Flamingo
Brandon Flowers has gone on record saying he brought the songs on Flamingo to his fellow bandmates for the next Killers album and was given the brush-off.
Review: Kevin Dunn | No Great Lost: Songs 1979–1985
Casa Nueva Industries (2010)
Review: Crocodiles | Sleep Forever
With remarkable swiftness, Crocodiles tick off all the key characteristics of a band in the thriving lo-fi indie/punk/garage scene.
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Topics: CD Reviews , Music, Rage Against The Machine, Tom Morello, More

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