Crisp and remote, the music contained within Only as the Day Is Long, Carissa's Wierd and Band of Horses contributor Sera Cahoone's second album, is pitch perfect. The pedal steel underscores melodies, the acoustic guitars are bright - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
Buoyed by drum machines, lazy electric guitars & keyboards that fill most open space and yet remain sounding reserved, songs like "Some Things Last A Long Time" and "Turtle Island" bring a cold atmospheric feeling to Devotion - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
Since Pavement, Malkmus' solo career has been largely uneven and unsatisfying: waffling between B-side jokey songs about pirates and toe rings, to indie-pop ballad candidates for the next Garden State soundtrack or stoner jams - oklahomazeppelin [READ REVIEW]
Diamond Hoo Ha is the sound of a less burdened Supergrass attempting a return to form. Producer Nick Launay (who has worked previously with Arcade Fire and Yeah Yeah Yeahs) opts for a perhaps too-polished sound-- these tracks would have probably - RyanDaff [READ REVIEW]
Move over Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. There's a new couple in town. The venerable Dan Bejar of Destroyer, the New Pornographers and Swan Lake takes a backseat to his girlfriend Sydney Vermont with their musical love child Hello, Blue Roses - Ruben_James [READ REVIEW]
For an 11 song album in which 4 of the songs are variations of the same song (Rockist Parts 1-4), Sea From Shore is a surprisingly strong record. Maybe it's the fact that those 4 variations are of an incredibly strong pop song, built upon a vocal loop of - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
This four-piece of Columbia graduates are undoubtedly somewhat preppy in their style, most notably in the more straightforward guitar tracks 'Campus' and 'I Stand Corrected,' where they sound a little like The Strokes-- albeit The Strokes featuring - RyanDaff [READ REVIEW]
The appropriately titled eighth album, Distortion, from the Magnetic Fields draws heavy inspiration from the Jesus & Mary Chain and their fuzzed out, reverb drenched album Pscyhocandy. This is a significant departure from the synth fueled releases - Ruben_James [READ REVIEW]
Taking pre-existing notions of lo-fi to the extreme, these guys distort the hell out of anything and everything they commit to tape, morphing what could have been a brash and energetic punk record, into an indecipherable and genuinely putrid sounding mess - RyanDaff [READ REVIEW]
Most record stores are going to file this effort under the neo-folk, psychedelic "beardrock" movement that has been sweeping the hipster scene of-late. Love Is Simple certainly underscores the accuracy of this description and categorization. But, these - Marcel_Ledbetter [READ REVIEW]
In Rainbows often sounds escapist, and fantastical; gone are the veiled political commentaries on Bush's stolen election and the war on Iraq, and gone is much of the urgent, paranoid neurosis that has defined Yorke's lyrics in the past - RyanDaff [READ REVIEW]
It wouldn't be a stretch to call the Fiery Furnaces the most original band on the face of the planet. To many listeners that's a deserved honor bestowed upon the siblings Friedberger, while others shirk at the thought of over-indulgence and contrarian - Ruben_James [READ REVIEW]
In "Plasticities," Andrew Bird's both obvious (see the song title) and covert analysis of the groupthink culture that pervades art in popular culture, he sings "this isn't our song, this isn't even a musical." Which, frankly, is too bad - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
Armed with slowly strummed guitars, lots of vintage synthesizer effects and a drum machine, The Rosebuds have very successfully created a record that sounds both like homage and startlingly fresh. The melodies are simple and catchy and the songs are surpr - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
Commuter Anthems is a would-be wet dream for the music supervisor of any indie art film. It's almost as if it is the score to some yet to be released Sundance favorite-- covering the breadth of emotions from playful to dark and menacing - Ruben_James [READ REVIEW]
After an uncharacteristic absence from releasing albums, Easy Tiger marks Ryan Adams' return to the ring, apparently clean, sober, and fighting fit. 2005 had seen the prolific talent release a whole trilogy's worth of material, both with or without The Ca - RyanDaff [READ REVIEW]
So, is there a real Canadian Cultural Conspiracy (hence known as the CCC)? The most important record released in the 2000's, so far, is Neon Bible, and the Arcade Fire hysteria circa now dwarfs the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah hysteria of 2005-6 - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
Guitarist Nils Cline is not Jeff Tweedy or Jay Bennett. He's on an entirely different level. I think in many ways this album belongs to him because for the first time ever there is a Wilco album that is predicated on guitar solos - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
A Little Place in the Wilderness takes a sleepy eye into the world of dream-like, atmospheric pop, but not dreamy in the shoegazer sense. Far from it. Memphis seems more atuned to the actual dream and the sounds and senses that can accompany that world - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
All in all you've got to feel pity for poor Conor Oberst, the kid at the center of all this, because he’s in a no win situation. Such is the life of those who have been christened the New Dylan. That phrase needs to go. I mean honestly, it took Dylan 20 - Bluemask [READ REVIEW]
These knuckleheads are obviously hopped up on amphetamines as confirmation on the song "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse." I'm not sure you can even call it a song - Golden_Years [READ REVIEW]
This band of gypsies is seemingly harmless. They play the type of medieval music that you can hear at the local Renaissance Fair or at the popular theme restaurant Medieval Times - Golden_Years [READ REVIEW]
The trio, led by the particularly stingy Monika Fikerle, find their feet in an angular and choppy riff driven Rock that has the possibility of being unique but sadly ends up sounding like a bargain bin imitation - Paperslut [READ REVIEW]
On Person Pitch, Noah Lennox tirelessly assembles something entirely new out of the old. Lennox's unique approach to this technique is revolutionary to the kind of music being made in the "indie" world - Ruben_James [READ REVIEW]
The Besnard Lakes hail from Montreal (Who doesn't at this point?). The scope and mood of The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse may remind some of a certain other Montreal band - Merlin [READ REVIEW]
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is like the Vin Diesel of band names. It's like Motorhead, only better. Of course, having the Marlon Brando connection is always a plus in the cool department - Paperslut [READ REVIEW]
What defines Kelly Jones as an artist--apart from his very distinctive voice that slides easily between raspy cries and pop loud--is his understanding and subsequent development of song - Paperslut [READ REVIEW]
Despite the varying styles it contains, Painted Garden remains a coherent work of DIY psych-balladry. Ashley may reign in the bells and whistles of previous efforts, but that restraint is a welcomed variation - Merlin [READ REVIEW]
The Horrors have managed to throw in some typical new-indie-Brit wordplay and like most of the NME's big things, don't really have much substance other than a few decent hooks and some uppity beats - Paperslut [READ REVIEW]
I can't say I've heard many better female indie singer/songwriters than Mirah. It's the sort of naive innocence with which she makes the most hard to deal with, and mundane issues seem so blunt and well, stupid - Paperslut [READ REVIEW]
The View aren't thinking too big with Hats Off... You're not going to find anything new here. But it's the old that they do well. The melodies are simple, the accent is thick - Paperslut [READ REVIEW]
Heralded as the new wave of new rave, the weight of expectation on Myths of The Near Future was high. And fortunately, I'm a sucker for opening tracks. So, "Two Receivers" had me at hello - Paperslut [READ REVIEW]
Jason Quever has assembled a wonderfully coherent album out of the remnants of the last fifty years of pop music. Influences are easy to spot, but these songs are never cheap knock-offs - Ruben_James [READ REVIEW]
Living Well's departure from the Pinback formula is sometimes less interesting in songwriting structure, but the variation of the instrumentation aims to make up for the lack of kinetic energy - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
Atmospheric... but dance-able? This diverse collection from Broken Social Scene's Andrew Whiteman and cohorts combines those two seemingly disparate adjectives with great effect - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
"I Still Remember" is as strong as anything the band has ever written--its nostalgic, almost childlike view of love, seems to be a direct answer to Alarm's strongest track "This Modern Love" - Bluemask [READ REVIEW]
I'm never one to expect much from second albums--especially from bands who had debut albums that I loved as much as I loved Silent Alarm--but I had reason to expect that Bloc Party would prove me wrong - Ruben_James [READ REVIEW]
This is a record full of all of the things that you want in a record--or at least what I want--lots of strong vocal harmonies, lots of piano & keyboards, jangly guitars & a crunchy rhythm section - jimtarnation [READ REVIEW]
Rafter attempts to heal while deconstructing the pop song and all its pompous listenability. But hark! Every now and again Mr. Roberts lets his guard down and cuddles your ear like a purring kitten - Ruben_James [READ REVIEW]
Friend and Foe is filled with catchy melodies, fun harmonies, delicate pianos, and tasteful guitar with plenty of strong hip-hop-based percussion and solid bass to provide a firm foundation on every track - Marcel_Ledbetter [READ REVIEW]
As a band, The National occupy an interesting place in music, in that much of their work can be described in terms of other bands and yet there is no mistaking that these are independent works - Bluemask [READ REVIEW]
For anyone unfamiliar with the genius of early Bee Gees, you probably aren’t. You know "To Love Somebody," "Massachusetts," and "I Started a Joke." However, those classic tunes only scratch the surface - Ryan [READ REVIEW]
Come Christmas time, most folks do their best to spread the holiday cheer to friends and family. Many times, that comes in the form of a Christmas card picturing you and your cats - Ruben_James [READ REVIEW]
This being the first release where Perry himself delivers all the lead vocals, he takes the opportunity to give the listener a glimpse into the everyday world of the urban Jamaican lifestyle - BRAF [READ REVIEW]
On their latest, the Skygreen Leopards take to the skies previously inhabited by the Byrds. They pull off homage to the songwriting skills of McGuinn with pleasant attention to detail -
