Tommy Guerrero
Return Of The Bastard
Galaxia-Platform Records

If you’re uncertain who Tommy Guerrero is by now, you’ve possibly picked up the wrong magazine. This album doles out an aesthetic continuation of 1998’s Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues, which was the freshman record that solidified Guerrero’s presence in the world of music. Smoother than a motor-oil sandwich and just as smooth as his command of the SF streets on his shred appliance, Guerrero’s latest release combines his intelligible jazz-samba-rock tour de force of albums past with the newer soundscape found on later releases like From The Soil To The Soul. “Bloodinthemud” and “Zapata’s Boots” are great songs, and although some of tracks with vocals come off slightly weaker than you’d expect, if listened to in consideration of this albums correlation to TG’s debut Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues, it’s obvious that Guerrero knows what he’s doing and is getting better at it each day. I love Chuck Treece’s contribution to this record, and If you know & respect TG’s saga on or off a skateboard, you ought to pick up all his records in chronological order and skate on to some of the best music life has to offer. – Kelly D. Williams, Mannerist Zine

Bright Eyes
Four Winds EP
Saddle Creek

Much has already been said about the well-received Bright Eye’s Cassidega album and its chart-crushing singles, but Cassidega’s predecessor, the Four Winds EP contains some overlooked flipside songs that are maybe even more impressive than those found on the full-length Cassidega album. Here’s my take on it all; Although I like the occasional appearance of M. Ward, I’m not appreciating the top-heavy harmonica accompaniments. While Conor O’berst tries to inform the hairteens on emo-politics, I’m left longing for an album as unruffled and significant as their earlier release, Lifted Or The Story’s in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground. I know it’s probably out of the question to surpass the strength of that album, but it seems that each subsequent Bright Eyes release tends to dissatisfy those who may have been rehabilitated by Lifted’s divine weight. Simply put, Cassedega and the Four Winds EP are good, yet not great. From a band that is great, not just good. Accommodation for radio has rendered the sound more predictable/barren like many other distilled folk albums. I’ll just put Lifted back on the stereo. – Kelly D. Williams, Mannerist Magazine