On the Record
I cannot believe she programmed those drums (not to mention everything else) all by herself. They sound live, crisp, and swinging, ever more complex with each listen. I better believe, though, that after 33 years …
In 2010, Superchunk came back from an "extended hiatus" with the aptly titled Majesty Shredding. Now, after a three-year hiatus, the Chapel Hill fearsome foursome returns with I Hate Music. Apparently the hatred of music …
The Smith Westerns’ self-titled debut album came out when the Chicago-based band members were teenagers. Four years later, their naive garage-rock vibe is not so naive. The trio still has youth to its advantage but …
In the world of Surfer Blood, major-label maturity seems to mean stripping away the reverb that drenched your first album and, lyrically, graduating from middle school to high school. Anybody who bought this album on …
David Bowie’s latest is a testament to his iconic status as a musical and artistic chameleon. The Next Day ranks as one of the most surprising and rewarding efforts produced this year. This album deals …
From the surface details, it may appear She & Him’s latest is a gloomy break-up record. Songsmith/multi-instrumentalist M. Ward incorporates more melodramatic string arrangements while Zooey Deschanel lyrically digs deeper into heartbreak. Compared to its …
Smeary, I was going to say. But smeary implies an overall indifference to control. This stuff, collected from 1969 in Europe, demonstrates control on multiple levels — if it achieves smeariness, it does so if …
The band calls it “Brooklyn country.” I call it a revival! I call it another notch in the hipster-folk movement’s belt. I call it a new-age folk masterpiece featuring one of the most impressive male …
Early reactions to Kanye West’s provocative sixth album, Yeezus, had some outlets calling him a revolutionary and others an egotistical prick obsessed with material excess and expedient croissant delivery. The reality may lie somewhere in …
Steven Brunner, aka Thundercat, was never one to be nailed to a single genre. Working alongside the likes of Eryka Badu and Suicidal Tendencies in the past, Brunner has melodically displayed dexterity both audibly and …
After three years, Vampire Weekend gives us Modern Vampires of the City. The chamber pop they introduced to us on their debut continues but the band tones down the Paul Simon vibes they developed on …
Indie darlings Rilo Kiley called an end to its decade-spanning run in 2011. For those still tuning in, the band has released rkives, an 18-track compilation full of unreleased tracks and demos. rkives spans the …
“Finding the fluorescence in the junk” is the first line Bradford Cox sings on opening track “Neon Junkyard.” It stands as a descriptor of Deerhunter’s Monomania. The fuzz-rock band from Atlanta is back. After all, …
Following on the heels of Amy Winehouse and Adele, Jessie Ware is the latest in an ever-expanding line of soul-inflected female pop singers from the U.K. But where the two superstars made vocal drama their …
The first time I saw Boz Scaggs perform live was at the Matrix club in San Francisco in the early ’60s. Scaggs and another unknown, the future "gangster of love," Steve Miller, were fronting a …