[pdf] All The Presidents' Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power

Since 2004's Player!, blues-centric guitarist/vocalist Nick Curran left his record label, joined up with Kim Wilson's latest incarnation of the Fabulous T-Birds, performed with his own punk-blues combo Deguello, and basically rumbled and tumbled through a number of sundry side projects, all the while eschewing the solo career that led to him taking home the 2004 W.C. Handy Award for Best New Artist Debut. Clearly, this allowed the ever-musically voracious Curran a chance to stretch his chops and imbibe more of the vast array of influences that spark his interests, from '40s jump blues and '50s rock & roll, to '70s punk and '80s hard rock. All of which Curran brings to bear on his fiendishly inspired, 2010 solo comeback Reform School Girl. A fiery, campy, and insanely rockin' album, Reform School Girl sounds like something along the lines of Little Richard backed by the Misfits with Phil Spector recording the proceedings in his garage.

Everybody know that novelty bands have a hard time growing up, but the Presidents of the United States of America made a large leap toward that during their re-formation of 2000, with Freaked Out and Small demonstrating a decrease in their stylized silliness mellowed into something more genuine. It wasn't that the band rocked less, but their humor seemed less forced, a development that continued on 2004's Love Everybody. Evolution continues to be the name of the game on their 2008 follow-up These Are the Good Times People, as the group replaces departing guitarist (and founding member) Dave Dederer with Andrew McKeag, while they bring Seattle underground mainstay Kurt Bloch in as producer, all elements that help make These Are the Good Times People perhaps their most eclectic album to date.