'Deer Tick's front man, John McCauley got an early start as a teenage singer-songwriter in Providence, a scene known for genre-busting noise music. But it's country rock he's plowed his old soul into, and on his band's flat-out great new album, The Black Dirt Sessions, you hear not just heartbreak ('Christ Jesus' alone constitutes an album's worth) but a hint of the tumbling-down noise of his hometown's sound -- much of it in his aching, ripped-to-shreds voice. Live, the band delivers hellfire.' - New York Magazine