On the Record
Vampire Weekend’s sophomore record is a short, sweet grower. Admittedly, I didn’t care for it after the first listen. The abstract, African-influenced sounds threw me off of what I expected from an American indie band. …
Delphic is an electronic dance band from Manchester that is currently gleaning overblown praise from the always-congenial BBC. Much like dance-pop contemporaries Passion Pit and Junior Boys, Delphic’s sonics are defined by a sanguine, heart-aching …
Frank Fairfield wants nobody to know much about Frank Fairfield, which is his right, up to a point. His debut contains no bio, no liner notes, and damn few credits. From an online article I've …
Ah, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, how you bring a smile to my face and a movement to my hips. It’s hard to engage an audience for 45 minutes when you do not have drums, bass, or …
Whether it's defining their musical genre or deciding what to name themselves, Black Moth Super Rainbow is a band that is hard to pin down. The mysterious group from Western Pennsylvania is best known for …
“On the Loose” by hip-hop duo Clay Pigeons (featuring guest performer Main Flow) was the most-downloaded local MP3 from SDReader.com during December 2009. Songwriter Jimmy Powers provided some background. If you could sum up the …
The oldest member of the Enemy is 23, but this three-piece from England displays impressive musical maturity. Music for the People is the band's sophomore effort and it delivers, with high-energy crowd-pleasers such as “51st …
Lupe Fiasco makes relevant, conscientious, agreeable hip-hop music that anyone can get behind, regardless of exposure to -- or seclusion from -- the rap scene. That said, the emcee's latest "mixtape," Enemy of the State: …
Much as I want to get behind a band from my old Maryland stomping grounds (Wheaton, Rockville), I'm as bored as I am impressed by Hotspur. My feelings really don't apply -- these guys have …
Genial Sacramento eccentric Anton Barbeau travels to England for this one, and writes about same for his first song, no less. Other selections highlight the thin line between Esperanto and joyous gibberish, with backwards- and …
Ex Libras are the latest disciple of the new prog genre, and like their primogenitors Muse and Oceansize, they're more concerned with bombastic, stadium-crushing peaks than, say, making actual music. Their debut album Suite(s) is …
With beguiling rhythms and building-block layers, Oceanside-based band the Drowning Men stand out from the indie-rock pack. Over pure punk and Irish folk and through tasteful use of voice, drums, organ, guitar, accompanied by the …
The one-man space-ambient project of Daniel Lopatin, Oneohtrix Point Never, is more concerned with the background than the foreground. His debut Rifts smothers you with arcane haze, apocalyptic drone, and dementia-inducing synth for 27 difficult …
I Have Hands should appeal to Residents fans who need something to embellish their burns and to know-it-alls who've "heard everything." The Bran Flakes is a mix/mash-up creature conceived between 'zinesters in 1992. The resulting …
Mika's second album dials down excess (just a few hairs) to prove that nothing succeeds like forthrightness. Even more than his three-strip Technicolor debut Life In Cartoon Motion, Boy works best as an Original Cast …