Hawaiii is an album that sounds exactly like what you’d expect radio-friendly indie rock to sound like. This means that it’s just as likely that a preteen girl will play their music as it is that your mom will. … read more
Review: Saxon – Unplugged and Strung Up
Over the course of a 36-year career, Saxon have proven themselves to be the undisputed masters of heavy metal songwriting. Unplugged and Strung Up is a cavalcade of re-recordings, orchestrations and acoustic takes on a selection of Saxon’s greatest material. … read more
Review: Schooner – Neighborhood Veins
Spooky country songs bleed into ’50s rockers and soulful harmonies accent slow ballads. Like I said before, this is what indie should be: With every chance they get Schooner exercise the freedom they’ve cultivated for themselves. … read more
Review: Savage Deity – Amulet of Sin
Savage Deity, from Thailand of all places, have offered up an album of classic death metal satisfaction. Amulet of Sin has the properties to appease the folks who listen to death metal for the heavy feeling of it all, as well as the folks who like to dissect albums. … read more
Review: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Give the People What They Want
After a battle with cancer this past summer and the subsequent delayed release of the album, Sharon Jones returns with her Dap-Kings, more powerful than ever, with the appropriately titled Give the People What They Want—the follow-up to 2010’s I Learned the Hard Way. … read more
Review: Sherman Baker – Self-Titled
Is it just me (it usually is), or are our soundwaves over-saturated with quiet, reflective singer songwriters, playing the kind of bland folk that attracts men who use mustache combs and apprentice beekeepers? Sherman Baker might quell this problem. … read more
Review: Selaxon Lutberg – Simboli Accidentali
Straight up, this album will be playing when your soul goes through purgatory and wanders wistfully from heaven to hell. Fully ambient music is not my cup of tea, but this is something I’d listen to if I wanted to have a drug-induced, life-changing experience. … read more
Review: Secret Boyfriend – This Is Always Where You’ve Lived
It’s a strange, varied affair, playing like a lost soundtrack to something doomed, yet beautiful. The music ranges from synth-based melody and filtered noise (“Summer Wheels/ Mysterious Fires”), to tape-hiss-laden acoustic ballads. … read more
Review: Scott H. Biram – Nothin’ But Blood
Songs like his cover of “Backdoor Man” will put you on your ass. Biram, to me, has become the Southern roots music modern Hemingway, expressing honestly the dark parts of this life like only he can. … read more
Review: Sally Seltmann – Hey Daydreamer
Hey Daydreamer is an album full of theatrics. Not only is the instrumentation elaborate, with emphasis on the horns and percussion, but the overall feeling I get from listening to this is uplifting, as she sings about finding strength in independence, throwing out bad influences and living with your mistakes. … read more
Review: Signals Midwest – Light on the Lake
I wouldn’t be surprised if bands like Signals Midwest, The Front Bottoms and other emo-revivalists start getting serious radio play in two years or so. Their mathy rhythms, straightforward guitar-work and harmony-laden vocals are just screaming radio potential. … read more
Review: September Girls – Cursing the Sea
This full-length debut album is a DIY-style reverb mash-up of ’60s girl groups and ’80s New Wave, and comes from Dublin noise pop group September Girls. … read more
