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31 Dec

2006: A Rebuilding Year

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In baseball they call it a rebuilding year… that in-between space where you’re more preoccupied with missing the past and looking forward to the future than with focusing on the present you’re inhabiting. I can’t say the year 2006 made a big impression on me musically. Other than the few standouts noted below, the biggest news for me this year was that Fountains Of Wayne, the Redwalls and Jimmy Eat World are all back in the studio working on 2007 releases. That said, here are a few randomish awards: Album I Most Regret Not Reviewing This Year Like many latter-day fans…

28 Oct

Andy Summers: A Life In Music

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There’s a familiar feeling I get when reaching the end of a book I’ve really enjoyed. It’s a bittersweet, slightly disorienting sensation of departing -- against your will -- a world that’s thoroughly captivated you, even if some part of you knew all along that your time there was destined to be limited. In this insightful musical autobiography, guitarist Andy Summers shares in intimate detail how he came to experience that same sensation, arriving -- after great tribulation -- at the peak of a legend-making career with the Police, only to face the inevitable yet all-too-soon breakup of the band…

28 Oct

Michael R. Smith’s Pop 100

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Never let it be said that Daily Vault staff writers aren't ambitious. While many of us present our capsulized Top 10 of the year every December, until Michael R. Smith came along, we'd never had anyone attempt a Top 100 featuring full reviews of all 100 albums.Michael's choices reflect his strong affection for pop music released between 1966 and 2006, though he did of course toss in a few surprises. The reviews ran every Sunday beginning October 29, 2006 and concluded with his #1 pick on September 28, 2008. More information about Michael is available at the reviewers' bio page…

15 Aug

Chris Cubeta: The Interview

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The struggle in finding adjectives to describe Chris Cubeta's talent involves balancing obvious choices like "exceptional" and "brilliant" with the desire not to put too much on the shoulders of a guy who is just beginning to find his audience. Composer of heartfelt, sharp-eyed roots-rock songs that somehow also retain a dreamlike universality, he is the author with his good friend Danny Lanzetta of two CDs’ worth of absolutely terrific music, 2003’s Sugar Sky and more recently the July 2006 release Faithful. An admirer of artists like Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen and Lucinda Williams, Cubeta keeps it real in his lyrics, his music and his interviews. Our discussion…

04 Jul

My Argument With Lester Bangs

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This writing-about-music business has ushered all sorts of intriguing new experiences into my life over the past eight years. One that I'm hoping not to make a habit of, though, is the most recent -- picking a fight in my head with the fictionalized version of a real dead person. In Cameron Crowe's autobiographical movie Almost Famous, noted '70s music writer Lester Bangs warns fifteen-year-old Crowe doppelganger William Miller that "you CANNOT make friends with the rock stars!" Bangs' warning is based on his firm belief that making friends with the musicians will corrupt a writer's objectivity and make it…

08 May

Jesse Valenzuela: The Daily Vault Interview

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(Image courtesy of www.ginblossoms.net)If you think you've never heard a Jesse Valenzuela song, you're probably wrong.Between his role as guitarist/harmony vocalist/songwriter and now co-producer for 90s power-pop icons the Gin Blossoms, his songwriting work for the likes of Stevie Nicks and the Rembrandts, steady TV and production work, occasional gigs with old friends the Zubia Brothers, and a raft of other projects including his 2002 solo disc Tunes Young People Will Enjoy, Jesse Valenzuela has got to be one of the busiest guys in the music business. Based in Los Angeles, Valenzuela regularly travels to the Blossoms' Tempe, Arizona home…

16 Jan

Jean-Paul Vest of Last Charge Of The Light Horse: The Daily Vault Interview

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Last Charge Of The Light Horse is the brainchild of singer/songwriter/guitarist Jean-Paul Vest, and their debut disc Getaway Car is the album I just named my favorite independent release of 2005. Jean-Paul was kind enough to spend some time over the holidays conducting the following interview. In the course of a series of e-mails we covered ground ranging from the inspiration for the new album, to the transition from JP's previous group Blue Sandcastle, the validity of rock as an art form, and the perils of navigating the New York grid in a car with Last Charge's father-and-son rhythm section,…

31 Dec

Looking Sideways at 2005

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Musically, Jeff describes 2005 as "not bad," and it's hard to argue with such ambivalent praise. Personally, my favorite musical experiences this year generally involved discovering neglected nuggets from years past, or picking through my mailbox to find the diamonds hidden in the indie rough. There were some excellent albums made by name artists, to be sure (Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Folds, Bright Eyes), and some big names returned to the headlines (the Stones, McCartney, Pink Floyd) this year, but nothing in the mainstream absolutely knocked me out. That said, here goes my annual cavalcade of entirely arbitrary awards… Most…

07 Oct

September Ends On A Green Day

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A funny thing happened to me last Friday night; I went to a Jimmy Eat World concert and came home a Green Day fan. Y'see, I've listened to Billie Joe Armstrong and company quite a bit over the past two years by default thanks to my teenaged kids, but I was always more of an admiring bystander than an actual fan. It was the presence on the bill of GD's current opening act, Jimmy Eat World, that motivated me to buy tickets to the recent show at Arco Arena and make it an evening with the kids.It's a good thing…

26 Aug

Draw Tippy: The Interview

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Dave Pachence is the singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist behind Draw Tippy. A DIY artist in the truest sense -- he played every instrument on the album, which was recorded in his New York City bedroom -- he has more recently had the surreal experience of hearing his music plastered across the international airwaves courtesy of MTV. The music is a frothy mix of acerbic punk-pop and the smartest '80s club music made since, well, the '80s. Dave and I caught up via e-mail recently. Daily Vault: So. You made an album in your bedroom and now snippets from it are showing up all…