My Education is an instrumental rock band from Austin. On their fourth album, Bad Vibrations, they seamlessly blend pastoral-sounding violin in with epic rock anthems. Their songs blend pastoral Dirty Three ideas with a more lyrical Mono into a sound of their own…
I think I’ve cracked it. It took me a while to get my head around it, but I think the best way to look at RX Bandits isn’t as a reggae+X band — like I’d always instinctively wanted to see them ’til now — but as a damn talented prog-rock band that just happens to pull in reggae, dub, punk, metal…
On Back and Fourth, soft-voiced singer/songwriter Pete Yorn comes off almost like a musical chameleon, to the point where I’m at first not entirely sure what to make of the guy. He starts off with gently determined, heavily folk-influenced country on “Don’t Wanna Cry”…
When I was in middle school, my musical abilities could be summed up by a few stagnant years of piano lessons and proud ownership of first chair in the band’s trumpet section. When the Tiny Masters of Today were in middle school, on the other hand, David Bowie was calling their music “genius”…
It’s not my favorite album, but it’s good. That’s what I would say if I had to sum up in one sentence what I thought of Handsome Furs’ newest release, Face Control. This indie-rock band from Montreal, Canada is comprised of husband/wife duo Dan Boeckner…
And now, dropping by from another planet…Ghost Mountain’s Siamese Sailboats. Okay, maybe not, but that’s sure what it feels like to listen to the trio’s seemingly acid-fueled mashup of Spiritualized psychedelia, nerdcore-style rapping…
The Austin quintet Diagonals are Steve Garcia, Ryan Camarillo, Wiley Wiggins, Ben Prentice, and Todd Larson, and plenty has been said about the 13th Floor Elevators influence on the their latest album, Valley of the Cyclops…
It’s lead guitarist Jason Willis’s awesomely meandering — yet still relentlessly driving — and somehow downhome riff that does it, honestly. This review almost feels like a cheat, on my part, because Buxton’s been playing A-side “Feathers” live for a little while now…
Hip-hop as full-on, break-your-skull assault; that’s what B L A C K I E (all caps, w/spaces) is all about, at least sonically speaking. The one-man show behind the hoodie, Michael Lacour, spits rhymes over beats he’s cobbled together from Cat Stevens and Abba samples…
The Heartless Bastards’ third album, The Mountain, is a return of sorts for Erika Wennerstrom, the leader of the band. After breaking up with the bass player, the previous lineup dissolved, and she replaced them with the people that performed on the Bastards’ original demo…
Honestly, the greatest thing about the Small Sounds’ self-titled debut has nothing to do with the guitars, the melodies, or even the words. It’s just that the album possesses this amazing, gentle warmth — listening to those jangly guitars swing and sway…
The Riverboat Gamblers’ latest release for the Volcom label, Underneath the Owl, does well at providing die-hard fans with torrential vocals over quick, slappy guitars, but feels like a shallow push towards marketability — although I doubt that was the Gamblers’ intention…
I think Volume III works best when viewed as part of a bigger whole, right alongside Paris Falls’ previous efforts, Vol. 1 and Vol. II. Going by the band’s choice of titles for the three albums so far, it sure seems like they intended there to be some kind of progression…
What’s most exciting, and most maddening, about Eleni Mandell is that just when you think you’ve got her figured out, she spins off in a new direction. And yet, whether cranking out a roots-pop tour de force like 2004’s Afternoon…
You can’t force yourself to like somebody; anybody who’s been through middle school knows that sad little truth. Even if you’re talking with somebody who’s got all the same interests as you, somebody who’s got the same background, somebody who likes the same things, there’s no magic button you can press…
The Ax make a lot more noise than you’d expect a two-piece band to make. On their first album, Our Queen of Dirt, they use a lot of overdubs to flesh out the sound. Their sound is different — it’s a combination of Unwound or Shellac, crossed with a Sonic Youth vibe…
There are only a handful of bands (if that) that have more deluxe, post-career reissue albums than they do actual LPs — and the Vaselines are one of them. The fact acts, if nothing else, as a testament to the true awesomeness and brevity of this kinky Scottish duo…
I love a good lyricist. Poets impress, but much of the time I find myself working at it to get a feeling or image from the words. Call me a simpleton, but that’s why when I first read of The Traditionist, which advertises influences the likes of Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel…
Star Fucking Hipsters are a classic punk band. Their songs rarely clock in over two minutes. Their live shows often involve a couple bottles of Jameson’s and a ton of aggression. Their lyrics are politically charged, awakening calls for nonconformity and awareness…
Okay, so I do like Kylesa’s Static Tensions, but I have to ask: what the hell does it add to your sound, really, to have two drummers? Especially if they’re playing the same damn thing (or minute variations thereof)?…
As the first raw, lava-lamp guitar chords of “Laywayed” rolled forth from my headphones, my first thought was that if this CD was about twice as long, it would be great to listen to it on acid. It wasn’t long, however, before I was forced to reconsider…
One of the more intriguing artistic trends in recent years is the reconstitution of the debris of mainstream culture and industry into forms standing at a substantial distance from their original intent. From the sardonic collages of advertising and news broadcasts by Negativland…
I don’t really know why I waffled on these guys as long as I did — I’d been hearing great, great stuff about the Born Liars for a couple of years, but I’d always kind of shrugged and blew ’em off. I’d liked frontman/guitarist/singer Jimmy Sanchez (who apparently also writes all the songs) in his […]
It’d be way, way easy to lump Golden Cities in with the whole guitar-heavy, spacey-atmospherics crowd, tag them as Explosions in the Sky 2.0 (3.5?), and move on. I mean, there’s a fair bit of doubled, echoey guitars on here…
Yep, another one I’ve been very, very remiss in listing. Actually, Tody was on this very page once, what seems like a really freakin’ long time ago — he fronted a band called Tody and the Royals, who put out one excellent, excellent tape…
The Mountain Goats are John Darnielle. Literate, energetic, sincere, and acoustic, he’s one of the best things going in music today. His lyrics manage to paint knowing pictures of real humanity with an economy and emotional strength…
