"The Winter of Mixed Drinks"
Frightened Rabbit
"The Suburbs"
Arcade Fire
"Soundtrack To The End"
Communist Daughter
"Crazy For You"
Best Coast
"Treats"
Sleigh Bells
"Silver Soul"
Beach House
"Little Secrets"
Passion Pit
"Unhinged"
Eels
"Black Smoke"
Tindersticks
It’s catchy, trashy and from Milwaukee: it’s “Mess Around” from Trent Fox & the Tenants, a jaunty quartet of garage-rockers and operators of the basement venue The Vault. The song — lean, serrated and a little dangerous, with an infectious yeah-yeah-yeah refrain — is the title track (and opening number) from a new five-song 7-inch [...]
Nicole Atkins says “Mondo Amore” is “the record I’ve been wanting to make since I was 12,” and you can see why: her second album is a collection of vivid, soulful songs showcasing Atkins’ powerful voice. The songs have a growling blues-noir feel that sounds the way the photo above looks, with rollicking arrangements pushed [...]
The Smith Westerns recorded their 2009 self-titled debut in guitarist Max Kakacek’s basement, and by the sound of it, they set up the microphones somewhere near the top of the stairs. Muffled and distorted, the album recalled ’60s garage and ’70s glam, even as the then-teenage Westerns clung fast to their generation’s prevailing lo-fi indie-rock [...]
Working on the theory that recording in different places helps keep things fresh, British Sea Power made its latest album, “Valhalla Dancehall” (Rough Trade), in a rustic farmhouse in the English countryside. Still sounds like British Sea Power, though, on lush, deeply textured songs that build skyward. There’s a sweeping, cinematic scope here, abetted by [...]
You can talk all you want about how Weekend is ripping off My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain, but unless you really shout, the San Francisco trio isn’t likely to hear you. That’s because on “Sports” (Slumberland), its relentlessly noisy debut, the band turns the reverb loud and fuzz even louder, using [...]
It would be tempting to ascribe cutesy motives to Desert Owls for naming their debut EP “who?” but there’s nothing cutesy about the Montreal trio. Fierce is more like it. Desert Owls plays rough-edged rock with an amped-up garage vibe on the 5-song EP, a pell-mell collection packed full of scalding guitar riffs that tumble [...]
Contrary to the impression given by a good number of bands from the region, it’s not always sunny in southern California: Warpaint’s songs seem to emanate from the dark hours long after night has fallen. The Los Angeles quartet makes music at once ghostly and visceral on “The Fool” (Rough Trade), the full-length follow-up to [...]
There’s often an urgent electricity to Franz Nicolay’s music, as if he’s scribbling down observations just before, just after or sometimes even right in the midst of portentous events. It was there on his solo debut, “Major General,” and it’s there on the follow-up, “Luck and Courage” (Team Science Records). The former Hold Steady keyboard [...]
Some would say Belle & Sebastian have always written about love, ostensibly the theme of this, the Scottish septet’s first new album in five years. They’d be partially right. On the band’s early records, singer Stuart Murdoch lisped and whispered his way through songs about lonely young folks, treating his subjects with a mix of [...]
Although she had the basic idea in place last year on her debut EP, “Apply,” Glasser — known to family and friends as Cameron Miserow — has gone a step further on her first full-length album. Quite a large step further, in fact. “Apply” introduced Miserow’s clattering, synth-buzzy musical vision on three songs. “Ring” (True [...]
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