Blogs

An enjoyable album that sounds awfully familiar‰Û_ After releasing a pair of EPs, songwriting duo Reese Donohue and Christopher Prudhomme have finally issued their first full-length as Painted Palms, entitled Forever. Like the duo‰'s hometown of San Francisco, these...

  Deep, insightful lyrics over unique and mellow garage rock. Overall, Love Hope Fear is one of the most aptly named albums ever. In just five songs, Tall Dark & Lonesome embark on a voyage to understand and explain these three difficult emotions. The band...

  Fun indie electro-pop. With EP “Shades‰Û, Australian band Tales in Space give fans a short yet sweet taste of what their upcoming full-length album. The EP starts out slow, with rhythmic and mellow opener “The Cause‰” but gives way to upbeat percussion,...

  Yoko gonna Yoko I like to think I‰'m above simple “X gonna X‰” jokes, but, seriously, how else can you try and describe Yoko Ono‰'s music? There are tracks on here that are almost impossible to get a read on, just Yoko reading/singing/screaming her robo-beatnik...

  Electronic, experimental indie cover songs that many bands lend help to. With “Fellow Travelers‰Û, Shearwater has created a new kind of cover album. Instead of the band just covering a variety of songs, they invited other bands to help them record. Each of...

Slick, smooth retro-soul Nick Waterhouse‰'s latest release sound like something that would soundtrack the show Suits, classy, soulful and cool in the way a fancy smoke filled room club is cool. The music on Holly emulates 50s R&B and soul, but instead of sounding...

Proof that it‰'s best to let sleeping dogs lie In September, a sans-Kim Deal Pixies decided to come out with it‰'s most substantial release since 1991‰'s Trompe le Monde, and good god was it awful. Boring, generic and uninspired, it was pretty a train wreck: Black...

Cherishing the everyday After working on his side project, Rhye, during the early part of 2013, Milosh is back with Jetlag, showcasing his ability to make the most out of any moment. The sensual, embracing voice of Milosh is matched with creative instrumentation and...

2/3, not bad. The triple EP of Austin alt band HeadShy is meant to hit the listener like a perfume: playing upon three different parts of our senses, the first impression, the theme, and the trail, or The Head Chord, The Heart Chord, and The Base Chord. The three...

Listen closely, listen loudly, listen live. Philadelphia group, Nothing, has made serious headway in the last three years. Alongside bands like Whirr and Ringo Deathstarr, Nothing may soon be another pioneer of shoegaze coming back in new form. Forgetting that front...

Dark beats and hard rhymes from West Coast Wu warriors Wu-Tang Clan affiliates Crisis the Sharpshooter and The Rugged Monk brandish razor-sharp rhymes over dark production helmed by former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. Other than some familiar drum...

Old school indie fun Listening to the latest record from the former Pavement front man and his backing band, one gets the sense that Stephen Malkmus might be a little uncomfortable with his standing as an indie/underground music icon, or at the very least, he doesn‰'t...

Might make you cry, but like, in a good way. Most of Gem Club’s songs follow a pretty simple, yet powerfully emotive formula: synth and vocal tracks are looped over the slow, almost drone-like cello playing of Kristen Drymala,, which is joined by Christopher Barnes’...

Straight out of a 70s rock band Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun is Damien Jurado‰'s psychedelic indie rock send up to the brash and smokey bands before him. A collaboration with Richard Swift of The Shins, the album fuses dark lyrics with vibrant dizzying...

A more optimistic, extended edition of End of Daze. The five songs that compiled the Dum Dum Girls‰' EP, End of Daze, released two short years ago was a small gift to the music world, with each song serving as an anthem. The group has returned with a full-length album...

A mostly on-the-mark offering of new-wave grooves This five-track release culls together three previously released mixtape features, coupled with two remixes of the title track. “Relations,” co-produced by Chad Hugo of The Neptunes, boasts a funky instrumental with...

  Long-awaited, honest punk rock answer to some complicated questions. Following a tumultuous year for Against Me!, especially frontwoman Laura Jane Grace, the band has released their first album on their own label, Total Treble Music. The album deals with Laura...

Giving James Blake a run for his money. There is no denying that Early in the Morning was far more than just a solid folk album. However, Post Tropical is a radical departure into a genre that is just now finding itself. The album makes a significant contribution to...

A fun blend of punk, glam, and powerpop While garage-rock peers such as Ty Segall and John Dwyer have garnered steadily increasing press and recognition, Cheap Time leader Jeffrey Novak has quietly established himself as a songwriter whose output never slouches in...

“Britain‰'s answer to Johnny Cash‰” should throw out his early-00s pop/rock records. Jake Bugg is most famous in the UK for having a debut album shoot to number one at the tender age of 18 , here in the good ole U. S. of A, he‰'s best known for his song “Lighting...

Soul straight out of the seventies. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings make soul music. This group revives the emotion-evoking, groove-inspiring music of the 1960s and 1970s with newfound energy and life. The lead singer, Sharon Jones, brings powerful vocals perfect for...