Live: Sharks and Sailors Blast Out of Houston
In downtown Houston, I've lately spotted a number of music fans sporting t-shirts celebrating the local band Sharks and Sailors. Intrigued, I was able to catch their live show one night at The...
View ArticleThe Start of Summer
In time for that steady climb the mercury does, we’ve got some new stuff up, including reviews of The Subways, Placebo, Radio Pioneer, Blackloud, My Morning Jacket, & more, as well as a darn good...
View ArticleBand of Horses, Everything All the Time
Band of Horses' debut Sub Pop release, Everything All the Time, is nothing short of beautiful. Since the only thing I knew of the band before this (outside of their label and that members Ben Bridwell...
View ArticleBargain Music, the magic is over
This is the Long Beach sound. Not afraid to mix up genres, styles, tempos, concepts, while maintaining an identifiable "sound" all their own? Bargain Music are a fun trio with good guest musicians and...
View ArticleBlackloud, Mysterious Waves
Mysterious Waves is an album by Blackloud, which is a one-man recording project by (you guessed it) James Blackloud. The record's a mixture of drum machines and psychedelia with a whimsical feel,...
View ArticleJapanther, Yer Living Grave
With Yer Living Grave, these workaholic New York punks deliver their fifth release in less than as many years, a pace of recording matched by very few other contemporary artists besides Deerhoof...
View ArticleMy Morning Jacket, It Still Moves / Acoustic Citsuoca
Unfortunately, I feel like we're kind of behind the ball on this one, and I guess in a way we are, because My Morning Jacket has blown up a bit since we got these discs. These days, you can pick up any...
View ArticleOpus Däi, Actum Procul EP
Before I start this review I just want to get some things out of the way. I chose this album because I was sure it was going to be awful. First of all, there was an unnecessary umlaut in the name. This...
View ArticlePlacebo, Meds
In a society where crunk is the style of a song and American Idols reign supreme, one can't help but wonder how far rock needs to progress in order to maintain its relevance. For those who've been...
View ArticleRadio Pioneer, Radio Pioneer
I'm finding lately that I've got a tendency to want to dismiss the little two-song demos/samplers that occasionally appear here on my desk. "What's the point?" I'll catch myself asking. "Fuck, I can't...
View ArticleSub-Division, The Primos EP
"FUCK CORPORATE FAKERS. SUPPORT TRUE INDIE MUSIC." So blasts the slogan on the press materials of Mexico City quartet Sub-Division. "Watch for the crazy kids of Sub-Division as they make their way up...
View ArticleThe Subways, Young For Eternity
Sometimes the hype works, even if it's not necessarily the way it was meant to. I'd heard so damn much about the Subways' debut, Young For Eternity, before I ever actually heard it that realistically...
View ArticleTalkdemonic, Beat Romantic
If I had to sit down and come up with the single biggest shift in the music industry over the past decade or so, it wouldn't be the portable MP3 player, online filesharing, MySpace, podcasting, or any...
View ArticleEric Terdjman, Rebirth
Jazz music -- these days, if you don't like it, you at least know about it. It exists today in various forms, of course, including "light," "modern," and "electronic"... yes, that's right, "electronic"...
View ArticleYes, We Have Friends
In a random moment the other day, it occurred to yours truly that this happy little e-zine is linked to by all sorts of folks out there in the wide world of the Internet, and that’s pretty incredible...
View ArticleARMFAR collective
Under the name Music For Apartments Records, the collective offers music from a wide range of genres. A lot of the niche mentality of the past has been dissolved by the immense amount of culture that...
View ArticleBest of Active Days, Driving Themes
I was prepared to give Best of Active Days a reasonably positive review after an initial, inattentive listen. There're some nice chunky-sounding bits in the first song that brought the Fall to mind,...
View ArticleThe Boils, From the Bleachers / The Runs, Wet Sounds
The Boils and the Runs, and it's only my first day -- oi! Two punk rock CDs could not be much more different than The Boils' From the Bleachers and The Runs' Wet Sounds. The two CDs reflect the...
View ArticleBril, Airless Alarm
On first listen, the four San Clemente guys in Bril (vocalist/guitarist Dave Starr, guitarist/etc. Kris Winrich, bassist/percussionist Scott Nelson, and drummer Kelly Winrich) make me want to shake my...
View ArticleCarol Bui, This Is How I Recover
The bio says Mary Timony's an influence, and that's fair enough, but what about Cat Power? I wonder whether the publicists left that name off the list because it would have been too easy, too obvious...
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