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Danger Mouse and James Mercer team up as Broken Bells on self-titled debut

Pairing Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton with Cee-lo Green in Gnarls Barkley seemed natural. Setting him up with Beck, the Black Keys, MF Doom and Gorillaz made sense, too. But putting Danger Mouse in a recording studio with Shins frontman James Mercer is a less intuitive choice.
No one’s saying the Shins aren’t soulful in their own [...]

Jaguar Love blends relentless hooks with abrasive noise on ‘Hologram Jams’

It’s entirely possible that no one has ever struck as perfect a balance between abrasion and accessibility as Jaguar Love does on its new album, “Hologram Jams” (Fat Possum).
The record is a bracing amalgam of pounding dance beats, huge candy-colored hooks and Johnny Whitney’s throat-shredding vocals — it’s like a glass-gargling derelict with a sequencer [...]

Joanna Newsom meanders through 2-hour triple album of indie-folk songs

What Listen, Dammit, would really like to know is why Joanna Newsom felt it necessary to release so much music all at once.
“Have One On Me” (Drag City), the latest from the California indie-folk singer and harpist, is a two-hour affair (three discs in its physical form), full of the meandering pastoral meditations that dominated [...]

Brooklyn trio kc quilty harks back to ’90s indie-rock on 10-song full-length debut

We’ve been pretty clear about how we think reviews-by-comparison are lame — we like to throw around big words like “reductive” and “fucking horseshit” — but our disdain holds especially true when the comparisons are just wrong.
So for the record, Listen, Dammit, hereby definitively states that kc quilty is not some reincarnation of grunge. (That [...]

Brooklyn duo Shellshag offers 32 minutes of lo-fi fun on ‘Rumors in Disguise’

After rigorous analysis, Listen, Dammit, has identified three key ingredients that make the music of Shellshag so darn appealing: stripped-down song structures, startlingly catchy hooks and a vibrant feeling of raw spontaneity, all wrapped in lo-fi sonics and laid upside your head.
It seems so simple, and indeed, each ingredient is common enough on its own. [...]

Yeasayer returns with futuristic pop jams on sophomore release, ‘Odd Blood’

On its 2007 debut, “All Hour Cymbals,” the Brooklyn trio Yeasayer created an alternate-universe “Smile,” the one Brian Wilson would have made had he grown up amid the sands of the Arabian Peninsula, not Southern California. The album had a wayfaring, nomadic feel, its Middle Eastern melodies and tribal percussion hinting at what indie rock [...]

Midlake returns with career album ‘The Courage of Others’ after 4-year absence

It took a few attempts before Midlake hit on a compelling direction for the follow-up to the band’s acclaimed 2006 album, “The Trials of Van Occupanther.”
Four years later, the Denton, Texas, group returns with “The Courage of Others” (Bella Union). It was worth the wait. Actually, that’s something of an understatement.
The band’s third album is [...]

Scout Niblett returns with unsettling, minimalist jams on ‘Calcination’

It seems like Scout Niblett is one of those low-profile indie singers who’s just always been around. So it’s a surprise to learn that her new album, “The Calcination of Scout Niblett” (Drag City) is only her fifth long-player.
Recorded with the influential indie-rock producer Steve Albini, the album is a typically minimal outing, with spare [...]

Beach House delivers masterpiece with stunning third album, ‘Teen Dream’

Baltimore duo Beach House was mostly unknown before releasing its second album in 2008. That record, “Devotion,” got the band noticed in hipster circles, with Pitchfork raving about it in typically overwrought fashion. Even Rolling Stone gave it a positive notice. And it was a good album.
Their latest is a great album. “Teen Dream,” their [...]

Gilded Palace of Sin explores dusty Americana on desolate, noirish debut

There are two main dangers to naming your band after a classic album: First, it’s confusing. Second, you risk comparisons to the album in question, and unless your album is also a classic (hint: it’s probably not), you’re screwed.
This situation has cropped up twice in the past year, with bands called the Big Pink and [...]

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