The same rushed, distorted drumbeat for the EP’s short entirety might be too much without the simple and upbeat melodies played on a cheap-sounding keyboard or Catatonic Youth–style echoed noises—laser beams maybe? … read more
Review: The Builders and the Butchers – Western Medicine
The Builders and the Butchers channel a dustbowl-era feeling in this itinerant carousal of the post-apocalyptic West. … read more
Review: The Fall – Re-Mit
If there’s a curmudgeonly rotten bastard shouting at everybody to get off his lawn, Mark E. Smith is next door, shouting at him to just quiet down already—because he’s doing it wrong. … read more
Review: The Dodos – Carrier
The Dodos = Fleet Foxes / Cave Singers
Review: The Civil Wars – Self-Titled
The Civil Wars have been the breath of fresh air country music dreadfully needed … read more
Review: The Darcys – Warring
Employing a tame and swanky alternative sound, Canadian rockers The Darcys are modernizing—and, in my opinion, bettering—a sound that began in the ’80s. … read more
Review: The Breakup Society – So Much Unhappiness, So Little Time…
I had no idea how to put this band into a certain genre—this album had a mixture between indie rock and pop/rock, with little sprinkles of this and that in the mix. … read more
Review: The Claudettes – Infernal Piano Plot…HATCHED!
The Claudettes have produced an album that is a welcome throwback to old-swanky-time piano duels, jam-packed with soul and funk.
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Review: The Fire Tapes – Phantoms
Concert photos of The Fire Tapes show singer/guitarist Betsy Wright and guitarist Todd Milton both using Strats, yet I didn’t get that guitar nerd twitch. … read more
Review: The Flatliners – Dead Language
I’ve got a thing for rough-voiced, fast-paced punk rock. Done right, it resonates in my soul like nothing else. Done wrong, it’s nothing that’s going to change my life, but it’s a damn fine time. I have a hard time criticizing the latter, which is why I’m not going to. … read more
Review: The Growlers – Gilded Pleasures
The second 2013 release from The Growlers picks up right where Hung at Heart left off. Although technically an EP, the nine tracks on Gilded Pleasures play like an LP. … read more
Review: The Coathangers/Audacity – Split 7 in.
The Coathangers are vinyl addicts, releasing a series of 7″ splits every six months through Suicide Squeeze with a variety of punk peers the past couple years. … read more
