I was intrigued by Snake’s Got A Leg when I saw “includes members of Wolf Parade” in the tagline for this album. Sunset Rubdown is essentially Spencer Krug, the lead singer and keyboardist from said band, one of a number of recent Canuck bands emerging on the hype scene…
How to do yourself no favors: send out a press kit where every article mentions Modest Mouse or Arcade Fire or both, and then mention both several additional times in the base text. Setting yourself up for comparisons to those bands is a recipe for disappointment…
I’ve been a fair-weather Supergrass fan, I’m afraid. I loved ’em when they first emerged, kicking and spitting, out of that shiny-clean era of Blur-obsessed Britpop, saw them play an amazing show here in Houston to a shamefully small crowd of local hipsters…
Minimal singer/songwriter music from Mr. Stevens’s own noggin. It’s a difficult task to create a solo work that retains its individual identity without becoming self-absorbed or so personal that no one else can relate to it, but by remaining simple, plain, and true…
If the reference point for Rogue Wave’s sunny one-man show Out of the Shadow was the Shins, then for the paradoxically dense and weightless near-psychedelia of Descended Like Vultures, it’s the Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots…
The job of the critic, I think, shouldn’t be to say whether or not the critic likes the record so much as to communicate whether or not you would like the record. So let’s say you’re not me. Let’s say you like high-concept stuff like the Decemberists dressing up as pirates but really wish that they would have done it with a Western-style theme…
By far The (International) Noise Conspiracy’s cleanest record, and after relentless touring in support of their breakthrough album, A New Morning, Changing Weather, the Swedish band exchanges the stripped-down, raucous sounds of the past for more radio-friendly fare…
I’ve got a soft spot for Seattle noisemakers the Blood Brothers, it’s true. Unlike a lot of their fellow travelers in the noise-rock arena, they always seemed to hang onto to some semblance of a groove, and vocalist Johnny Whitney always staggered relatively close…
I’ve always been kind of conflicted on The Appleseed Cast, the long-lived “main band” of Hundred Hands vocalist/whateveralist Aaron Pillar (his former Hundred Hands/Cast cohorts, Christopher Crisci and Ed Rose, have apparently dropped out, leaving everything to Pillar…
chug chug chug deeply buried sub-Debbie Harry vocals bash bash bash anemic handclaps in “Bubblegum And Binders” buzz buzz buzz monotonous guitar in every single song blah blah blah god could any of this matter less click click click…
I’m one of those people that believes that Decahedron is (was?) basically the continuation of Frodus in everything but name. It’s still Shelby Cinca and Jason Hamacher with (insert bassist here) kicking out frenetic post-punk-hardcore-politicized-art-rock like men possessed…
Much has been made of Cursive-related side project The Good Life, but I really haven’t seen all that much about Mayday; maybe I just don’t read enough “alternative” rags. At any rate, Mayday is the brainchild of Ted Stevens, Cursive’s guitarist. The record is on Saddle Creek…
It’s been eight years since the last Marbles release, but the actual lag between projects is closer to 13 years, since 1997’s Pyramid Landing was a delayed collection of songs that Robert Schneider had recorded half a decade earlier. To put that in perspective…
You know how sometimes you think to yourself, “Man, I wish I could listen to something just a little Shins-y but not quite so upbeat. A little Smiths-y at the same time would really hit the spot”? Okay, nobody ever thinks that. But if you did, The Rosebuds would fit the bill perfectly…
Albums like Orents Stirner’s Our Names In Concrete are why music reviewers find the word “stark” so necessary. Like Pink Moon with an infinitesimally larger recording budget, it’s built on a lot of acoustic guitar, a single voice, a touch of reverb…
Sometimes, you either get something or you don’t. That’s the conclusion I came to when I saw Houston rockers the Jonx play a few years back; after the first two or three songs, my wife was grimacing and shaking her head. “This sucks,” she grumbled, “let’s get out of here…”
There was a time when garage rock was considered a thing of the past. Fortunately for its fans, it was reborn earlier this decade with bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes. Since then, however, so many other neo-garage rock bands have emerged…
The Constantines sound like Bruce Springsteen if he and the E Street band had grown up listening to Fugazi — here, even the keyboard player is a punk rocker! Between the Constantines’ preference for anthems and the singer’s unique voice, they have a distinctive sound…
I should start by saying that I haven’t always been real impressed with past comps I’ve gotten from Kill Rock Stars. They’re good folks, and I love ’em dearly, but the sad truth is that I can’t get my head around three-quarters or so of their roster…
I love the blues. There is nothing more comforting to me than the sad cry of a guitar and a heavy throaty voice joining in with its own distinct wail. I don’t know about you, but whenever I have blues going on the stereo, I just can’t help…
There’s something comforting about the Son Volt sound — it’s warm, ragged, and reassuringly familiar. The guitars rumble and scratch the way guitars are supposed to, Jay Farrar’s smoke-scarred voice climbs and falls, and the the band behind drives the machine…
At first glance, the cover of Maia Sharp’s Fine Upstanding Citizen is as unremarkable as the album covers associated with many otherwise remarkable solo singer/songwriters. Sharp herself graces the cover, and in case we fail to recognize her, her name is printed in large, plain print…
Any band that nabs their name from a band like the Jesus & Mary Chain better have the chops to back it up. The April Skies’ name naturally draws attention (and in the early ’90s, apparently got labels interested), but many of the band’s new songs hold little to capture the listener’s attention…
An unfortunate number of bands like A Wilhelm Scream leave me cold. I hate to say it, but it’s gotten so that most of the folks out there who sound like these Northeastern boys (and apparent diehard Red Sox fans) all just bleed into one another — they combine the speed and heavy guitars of […]
Damn, I feel old. I can remember a time when I’d scour the “Local” CD racks at Cactus and Soundwaves for H-town bands and comps, happily go see whoever was playing at Rudyard’s, Mary Jane’s, or The Oven on any given night, and shake my head in amazement at the wealth of unknown…
This compilation features an assortment of bands that share a common affinity for pushing the boundaries of modern music. None of the 19 bands featured are very mainstream; Estrus, in fact, is known for its stable of well-respected, underground acts…
Musician/DJ Ben Watt has been making music since the early eighties in the folk-turned-electro pop duo Everything But The Girl, but his more recent offerings are experiments in late-night club scenes. On this collection, the second in the Buzzin’ Fly series…
People like Chad VanGaalen piss me off. Why? Well, the Calgary-based singer/songwriter/ artist/animator/genius/whatever irks me for a couple of reasons, the first of which is that, well, he makes it sound so easy. As a whole, Infiniheart sounds effortless…
I don’t understand the comparison of Brooklyn’s The Upwelling to Brian Eno that keeps coming up in their press stuff. To me, they sound more like a more focused, lighter Juno with a little emo flavoring — which is pretty catchy and damn right interesting…
Part-time Houstonians Ume do a rocking Blonde Redhead crossed with early Sonic Youth. Though a little derivative, the mixture is quite alluring, and on Urgent Sea, it yields at least three standout tracks. “Wake” is a thunderous, frightening opener…
Similar to the Stones of the ’70s and the garage bands of late (Strokes, Sights, White Stripes), the 22-20s cross straight-up rock ‘n’ roll with classic blues while maintaining an Oasis-like swagger and modern appeal. Subject matter includes the typical rock star excesses…
With Blitzkrieg Pop, Berliner T.Raumschmiere (real name Marco Haas) delivers more high-energy abrasive dance music, positioning it as electronic punk rock. I can’t speak to his live show, which is reportedly quite kinetic, but on record that project is a pathetic failure…
In recent discussions of rock music, the term “college rock,” which once referred to the type of pop music favored by college radio stations and students, has often been eclipsed by the term “indie-rock,” the criteria of which are more related to the way the music is produced and marketed…
It takes a little getting used to, but eventually you’ll find yourself being taken somewhere deep inside Whitney Cline’s voice. With her debut album, Bring on the Rain — which is described in the press materials as a mix of folk and rock…
I can’t believe I don’t hate this. No, seriously; I’m a little disturbed about it. I first listened to transplanted Swedish (they now live in California, apparently) quintet Last AmAndA’s self-titled debut reluctantly, thinking for sure that I’d pan this quick and move on…
Alpine Static, the fourth composed full-length studio album from mostly-instrumental Seattle drone-rock quartet Kinski, marks another step in the band’s continued evolution. There seems to be a conscious effort here to make things a bit more concise…
I’ll be the first moon-eyed idealist to proclaim that music can change the world; sappy as the sentiment is, I honestly believe it. At the same time, though, I recognize that a song doesn’t have to be world-altering in order to be good…
Though on Lesson 1.5, Maggie Kim claims artistic geniuses like Missy Elliott, Prince, Beck and PJ Harvey as her heroes, her actual closest analogue is more likely Christina Aguilera: a marginally talented also-ran who is more famous for her outlandish fashion sense than her music…
This five-song CD from Houstonians The Kidnap Soundtrack is for those lovers of the heavy side of life. Its mellow beginning provides a relaxing mood until it leads into a rainstorm sound…where henceforth, the death metal singing (otherwise known as screaming) begins…
Austin’s Keg Vultures are apparently determined to annoy all listeners into submission with their garage-meets-fingernails on a blackboard approach. The merry pranksters of this unit wield their smart-ass bombast like a samurai sword…
