On the Record
This is Donald Fagen's first album in six years and, no, it's not about condo owners underwater on their mortgages. It is another Steely Dan (minus Walter Becker) easy-listening mix of smooth jazz shot through …
Swami John Reis and the Night Marchers sat on this set for more than two years. Reis posts that it’s because he wanted each vinyl pressing hand-stamped. The only living human who does this, apparently, …
A synth player who leaves a popular Aussie band, St Helens, to explore the possibilities of himself with his machines? Sounds like a fairly risky set-up. But the short-lived indie band’s ex-songwriter/singer/guitarist/keyboardist has crafted a …
Lonerism is the second outing for the brainchild of Perth’s Kevin Parker, for it is he who composes, produces, sings, and plays (almost) everything on Tame Impala records. He’s even responsible for the sleeve photography. …
A Thing Called Divine Fits could also be called a thing that Britt Daniel (Spoon) and Daniel Boeckner (Wolf Parade) came up with during downtime from their full-time bands. A Thing Called Divine Fits could …
Elaborating on textures from his 2011 debut, Sun Shadows, Beta World Peace sees a continuation of Mike Gao’s signature lurching bass lines, asymmetrical percussion, and glowing synth leads, orchestrated, in part, by his brainchild, Polyplayground …
John Cale is not psychic! (Unless he is.) The man couldn’t have predicted Steve Albini’s second-motioning those mundane haters of Cher’s “Believe”; but he intuited that tipping point where the hip(sters) went (reflexively) bleech at …
Nevada's finest are back in action with guns blazing. After nearly four years, the Las Vegas-based alt-rock band the Killers released their fourth studio effort, Battle Born. After the band's previous release, Day & Age, …
Seventeen years ago I put on Scott Walker’s album Tilt for the first time; the real-life Phantom of the Opera began to sing as I watched a storm overtake a city center, from my picture …
I purchased After Hours, one of the four freshly minted CDs in the Complete Columbia Albums box, many years ago, on vinyl. Shouldn’t having the original — the cover of which is minutely replicated, as …
Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast donned herself “Bratty B” in her rowdy yet sweet debut Crazy for You. She wrote catchy teen love songs that included her cat Snacks and a bunch of weed. But …
Since 1997, Godspeed has sounded like a prodigious teen's imagination: splaying the guts of the world with youthful abandon. The band had painted the sounds of life with a better view. Godspeed explored great heights …
Rarely has a format seemed as fitting as “country rock opera” does for Giant Giant Sand’s meshing of folk/jazz/rock/blues/country with offhand theatricality. Based on the group’s most dependable obsession/location — the Southwest — Tucson is …
Way back in ancient history — the ’60s — I was living in San Francisco, and one of my favorite ways to spend a sunny day was driving the winding road to Stinson Beach. I …
Blak and Blu, the debut full-length from Gary Clark Jr., has an aggravated hive of buzz about it. With premier slots at music festivals and a well-received EP, Clark has the weight on his shoulders …