This is one of the most visual recordings I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. Full disclosure -- when I heard about this project for the first time I was very excited... but I was excited more about Nick Hornby than Ben Folds!

Members of Fog, Lateduster, and Dosh have joined forces under the name The Cloak Ox. After taking a three year break from songwriting, Fog front man Andrew Broder started writing songs that he knew his friends Jeremy Ylvisaker (Alpha Consumer), Mark Erickson (Fog), and Martin Dosh could help bring to life.

Performing under the name Grieves, the hip hop duo comprised of Benjamin Laub and multi-instrumentalist Josh Karp, who goes by Budo are one of the latest additions to the local label Rhymesayers. While both came from the Seattle scene, it was until they were both in central Illinois that they met.

Peter Wolf Crier have graced The Current studios and the MPR State Fair booth multiple times, and their popularity among Twin Cities music fans is widespread and enduring. We were excited to welcome them back to the studio.

I can give no higher compliment to "The Whole Love" than to favorably compare it to "Summerteeth," and while it may not reach the peaks of the Wilco catalog, it is clearly their best record in nearly a decade.

The best songs on "Father, Son, Holy Ghost" hit all the right notes, perfectly balancing and taming the chaotic and emotionally fraught brattiness that made "Album" stand out.