The SoundBard’s Top 25 Albums of 2013

BY MIKE METTLER

Damn the naysayers — I say the album format lives! With that vital declaration out of the way, it’s high time to cite the records that caught hold of my expert ear over the past 12 months — the full-length discs and/or LPs I consider most worthy of purchase, hi-res download, and/or […]

By |December 31st, 2013|Odds & Sods|6 Comments

The SoundBard’s Top 25 Songs of 2013

BY MIKE METTLER

It’s that time of year: Time to cite the tunes that caught hold of my expert ear over the past 12 months — the ones I consider most worthy of purchase, hi-res download, and/or dropping the needle on at 45 rpm! Here, in reverse order, are my favorite 25 songs of 2013. […]

By |December 31st, 2013|Odds & Sods|Comments Off on The SoundBard’s Top 25 Songs of 2013

Slidin’ Onto Wax: Guitar Prodigy Derek Trucks Spins LPs Wherever He May Roam

BY MIKE METTLER

“That’s the cartridge you want — the one that’ll get you kicked out of the house!” And that’s Derek Trucks, empathizing over the price of high-end audiophile gear, both in terms of how it affects your wallet and your personal life. “I’ve had that conversation too,” he adds with a chuckle. The […]

The Healing Hands of Musical Love: Justified’s Walton Goggins and His Sharp Storyteller’s Ear

BY MIKE METTLER

“For me personally, I like the singer/songwriters who tell stories,” says Walton Goggins, and if anyone knows how to get into a character and tell a story and tell it damn well, it’s him. In Season 4 of Justified, out now on Blu-ray, Goggins’s character, the perpetually morally challenged Boyd Crowder, found […]

By |December 17th, 2013|The SoundBard Interview|Comments Off on The Healing Hands of Musical Love: Justified’s Walton Goggins and His Sharp Storyteller’s Ear

Holiday Gift Guide Special: 108 Rock Star Guitars to Riff & Roll on Your Coffee Table

BY MIKE METTLER — DECEMBER 12, 2013

“Nothing moves me like the sound of a guitar.” It’s the opening sentence to author Lisa S. Johnson’s passionate introduction to 108 Rock Star Guitars (Glitterati Incorporated), her lavishly photographed and beautifully bound ode to a score of axes ‘n planks that have created some of the most […]

The Once and Future Analog King: Boston’s Tom Scholz and the Tales of His Sacred Tapes

BY MIKE METTLER — DECEMBER 5, 2013

“Pretty much everything that goes into the music is as analog as I can make it,” says Tom Scholz, chief sonic architect of the longtime rock powerhouse known as Boston. It’s taken him 10 years to deliver the band’s sixth studio album, Life, Love & Hope (Frontiers) — […]