Blogs

Drifts, but doesn‰'t wander. I didn‰'t even know I liked acid country. You will, just try it out. They call their sound “acid country‰” but they mean it in the best kind of way. Web of Sunsets‰' album is all of the good things about country- they don‰'t rush anything,...

Maturity and confidence, like your lonely, interesting, talented aunt who can sing. Ane Brun compiled the best of her work since 2003, re-recording five of her top songs, and unveiling some unreleased tracks in a 32 track album. The compilation is everything you would...

In its baby stages…. Arthur Beatrice is not an individual, but instead a group of four from London. The group sticks to simplicity- barely there beats on some tracks, while others feature more pressing rhythms and a touch of synth. They fall under the indie pop...

Heartfelt storytelling on his own terms Primarily known from his work with Disclosure, Sam Smith and his blossoming solo career only feature a handful of tracks at the moment; however, his most recent release leaves listeners yearning for a debut album schedule to...

Consider me brought to the yard I don‰'t want to say that “Jerk Ribs,‰” the newest single by Kelis, is “life changing,‰” but whenever I try to describe this single, that is all I can say. The single features blaring horns, jiving bass, and a heartfelt sound leaves me...

Ambient lush pop romantics NO formed when the bass player and frontman ended their respective relationships; and that sums up story they‰'re trying to tell. Following their debut EP in 2011, Los Angeles based NO continued to channel the aura of failed romance to...

An urban folk odyssey that can‰'t decide what it is The latest from anti-folk hero Hamell On Trial starts with a one two punch of six minute stories, the first a sermon on the redemptive virtues of rock and roll (“Artist In America‰Û), the second, the title track, a...

Easy, breezy electro-pop One time I was in New York City with my family, and my sister wanted to go into the big Forever 21 store, where they played a lot of generic electro/pop/house stuff that seemed to blur together into one sugary wane of numbness. Orthy‰'s music...

This is a tough one For as stark as Ghettoville can be sometimes be, it is a dense, wildly abstract piece of work. This won‰'t come as a shock to those who have been following Actress up until this point, but for the average listener, some patience is needed. The...

A wavy, soulful expression of self In a journey to create the most personal expression of music, Gabriel Garzün-Montano has put every aspect of himself into his debut EP, “Bishoune: Alma del Huila.” Each strum of the bass, each shake of the tambourine,...

Quick paced garage rock The quick paced rock and roll sound of Shelters can be heard on their new EP, Penny Gaff. Most songs are short and punchy, like “Les Fleurs Du Mal” and “For The Lovers,” which use quick power chords over clear vocals....

Punchy Rock and Roll “Shiner‰” is a 4 song EP by the fairly new band Mainland who have assembled from New York, California and Texas. The four person band makes fast rock and roll music with the use of classic rock and roll riffs and add in synths that give the music...

Indie sounding Passion Pit but more dynamic and just better. CYMBALS is a London electronic band whose newest album includes eleven tracks ranging in length from one minute up to nine minutes. The album starts and finishes with two songs in French, “French in the...

Mellow indie-rock similar to Local Natives. Cosmos starts with the song “Terrors,” which brings in ambient sound with guitars underneath the vocals. Punchy power chords highlight the chorus, but these same ambient sounding guitars fall behind most of the...

Making big strides with shoegaze influences. In their previous EP released back in 2012, Is/Is began scratching the surface of the genre we love and know as shoegaze. After spending almost an entire three years on tour, cooped up in a small, beaten-down minivan, the...

Support DC bands! DC band Cigarette has described themselves as a spiritual band, however they are better described as a spiritual movement. Cigarette creates a level of discreet music that speaks volumes, transcending what some consider minimal. Much like modern art,...

British new-wave heartbreak Your tearful pint of Ben and Jerry‰'s has nothing on this album. This synthpop Seattle band makes mourning as upbeat as anyone can possibly manage. Most of the album stays pretty dark and lamenting, using synth and depressing Robert...

Krill Forever Krill follows up their brilliant second album, Lucky Leaves, with perhaps the best-named EP in history: Steve Hears Pile in Malden and Bursts Into Tears. The EP is a concept album about two Bostonian chums, Steve and Mouth, who become characters in the...

  Manhattan garage-pop Four NYC bartenders walk out of a job and start a band. I forget how the joke ends, but it definitely isn‰'t SKATERS. With all the classic elements of your standard rock band contrasting mellow vocal melodies, Manhattan sounds like a modern...

  Atmospheric desert blues straight out of Africa Tinariwen is a group of Tuareg musicians hailing from Mali, Libya and other African nations that perform a mix of traditional Tuareg music and Western guitar rock called “desert blues‰” featuring apparently...

  Raw emotion and guitars The first full-length album released by Baby Baby is pretty decent. There is a diverse range of songs, however some of them lacking climactic moments. The timber of the vocals is similar to those of Paul Banks of Interpol and Hamilton...

  A hard rock/lo-fi curtain of sound that‰'s sloppy in all the right ways The only way to truly describe the sound of The Book-Burners is “slapped together,‰” not in the sense that it‰'s shoddily assembled, but in the sense that their influences are fairly varied...

  Not your dad’s Bossa Nova BossacucaNova is a Brazilian jazz trio known for combining bossa nova with electronic elements. Though the band explores new ways of making music, their sound remains firmly rooted in bossa nova and samba. BossacucaNova takes the...