[This piece originally appeared in the Rage.]

East Nashville’s Apollo Up are the Toto of the local indie scene – a supergroup that succeeds beyond the members’ previous bands. In their taut songs, you can hear the fruition of guitarist Jay Phillips’s designs for Lotushalo and the anchored rhythm section that bassist Mike Sheppard’s Ohio Casualty Group and Shibboleth always wanted for. Their new release for local label Theory 8 Records, Light the End and Burn It Through, is rare for an indie – a full-length that takes full advantage of modern recording technology yet retains their unique sound. The result is an album whose musical style may not appeal to all listeners, but whose recording won’t alienate anyone. (more…)

Gay marriage may be the one issue that shows conservatives to be the furthest from any “individual rights” positions they claim to hold. In fact, when it comes to gay marriage, conservatives tend to stray even from their supposed “strict constructionist” view of the Constitution.
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Thank God some people are still making rock ‘n’ roll that’s smothered in fuzz. Grand Champeen slather everything in the stuff so even a boogie like “The Rest of the Night” has so many sludgey, honking guitars that their take on honkey-tonk sounds original, young and vital.
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If there’s a problem with Cameron McGill’s solo debut it may be that it’s so flawless. A few scuffs and scratches might endear this record to an indie audience or, at least, help explain it. As it is, McGill’s perfectly structured pop songs press all the right buttons and leave you wondering where he came from.
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Dave Ramsey has some great ideas about personal financial solvency. He also has a simple plan for getting out of debt and building wealth. But he has a lousy way of presenting his ideas. The lack of clear presentation makes his new book, The Total Money Makeover, difficult to read and does a real disservice to Ramsey’s simple but powerful ideas.
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[This piece originally appeared in the Rage.]

On Missundaztood, her second album, Pink bravely tore up all preconceptions about herself. On her new Try This, Pink benefits from the fact that we know her better now. Once the opener, Trouble, reminds us of Pink’s bad-ass-ness, the record’s tone is established. Where Missundaztood was moody and bi-polar – one track painfully honest, the next light-hearted – Try This is largely consistent: all bad-ass, all the time. (more…)