White Fence, 'Cyclops Reap'– Album Review
Last year was a banner year for Tim Presley, the man behind White Fence. Operating under that moniker, he joined the three-records-in-a-year club, releasing 'Hair,' a sub-30-minute bark of weirdo...
View ArticleThee Oh Sees, 'Floating Coffin'– Album Review
John Dwyer and the merry troupe of bash-rock minstrels that make up the San Francisco garage psych outfit Thee Oh Sees have managed to put out an album every year for the past five years. Two in 2011....
View ArticleColin Stetson, 'New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light'– Album Review
You may have heard Colin Stetson before. The saxophone auteur is a touring member of the Arcade Fire and Bon Iver, and he’s recorded and performed with the likes of Tom Waits, Anthony Braxton, Fiest,...
View ArticleSavages, 'Silence Yourself'– Album Review
Savages make an immediate impression. That's true from their name to the glowering, haunted faces on the cover of their debut LP, ‘Silence Yourself,’ to their contortionist gothic post-punk sound to...
View ArticleSmall Black, 'Limits of Desire'– Album Review
With their tightly woven 2009 self-titled EP, Brooklyn’s Small Black rode in with a wave of hazy synth nostalgia-ists like Washed Out, Neon Indian and Memory Tapes. They followed it up a year later...
View ArticlePure X, 'Crawling Up the Stairs'– Album Review
The most prominent emotion on 'Crawling Up the Stairs' is frustration. On the record’s second track, 'Someone Else,' vocalist Nate Grace growls out the line “You know I earned it / So, c’mon, and give...
View ArticleJenny Hval, 'Innocence Is Kinky'– Album Review
The first words on 'Innocence Is Kinky' are “That night / I watched people f---ing on my computer / Nobody can see me looking anyway.” The Norwegian singer-songwriter Jenny Hval’s second full-length...
View ArticleDirty Beaches, 'Drifters/Love Is The Devil'– Album Review
On 2011’s 'Badlands,' Dirty Beaches frontman Alex Zhang Huntai was playing a character. He was acting the part of prototypical greaser on a dirt bike, spinning lone-wolf yarns over gritty...
View ArticleVarious Artists, 'After Dark 2′– Album Review
Whew. It’s hard not to feel like the last 18 months of activity related to the Italians Do It Better label has all been leading to this moment. So let’s recap. In late December of 2011, a two-hour,...
View ArticleBaths, 'Obsidian'– Album Review
Baths’ 2010 debut, ‘Cerulean’ was a sparkling gem of post-’Los Angeles,’ stumble-hop beat wizardry, combining liquid, ornate production with a kind of aching emotional sensitivity. Will Wiesenfield’s...
View ArticleMount Kimbie, 'Cold Spring Fault Less Youth'– Album Review
Mount Kimbie arrived with the post-dubstep (a short-lived descriptor) class of 2010, along with the likes of Parish and James Blake. Their full-length debut for Scuba’s Hotflush imprint, 'Crooks &...
View ArticleCamera Obscura, 'Desire Lines'– Album Review
Scotland’s Camera Obscura write songs about love, and they do it well. Their newest full-length, ‘Desire Lines,’ is their fifth album overall and first since 2009’s excellent ‘My Maudlin Career.’ On...
View ArticleBoards of Canada, 'Tomorrow's Harvest'– Album Review
It’s been long enough since U.K. electronic music pioneers Boards of Canada’s last album, 2005’s 'The Campfire Headphase,' that the duo has achieved classic status. BoC haven't been part of the...
View ArticleGold Panda, 'Half Of Where You Live'– Album Review
For better or worse, Gold Panda has always been defined by his predecessors. His 2010 Ghostly debut, 'Lucky Shiner,' was an excursion in basement, patchwork house music, techno and downtempo, drawing...
View ArticleAustra, 'Olympia'– Album Review
Toronto has proven a reliable source of goth-tinged electronic exports in recent years. The electro-punk-turned-dance-pop duo Crystal Castles is the most shining example. Last year’s 'Trust'...
View ArticleZomby, 'With Love'– Album Review
Zomby’s fourth full-length, 'With Love,' is a monolithic, daunting and unwieldy hour and a half of music. It’s one of the more ambitious projects to emerge from the vibrant, ever-changing landscape of...
View ArticleOverlooked Albums of 2013
It’s an unavoidable byproduct of today's hyperactive music coverage and the album release cycle: For listeners passionate about music -- especially the type of indie rock that floats under the...
View ArticleAirhead, 'For Years'– Album Review
Airhead’s debut full-length for R&S opens with ‘Wait.’ The track first appeared in 2012 on a 7-inch for R&S and helped catapult U.K. producer Rob McAndrews to the label's A-team. ‘Wait’...
View Article10 Best Post-Rock Albums
Post-rock is an unwieldy genre. The descriptor covers a broad swath of nearly 25 years of music that's manifested itself into skewed visions of jazz fusion, classical and even dance music. The things...
View ArticleMaya Jane Coles, 'Comfort'– Album Review
It’s honestly a surprise Maya Jane Coles still isn’t a household name. For the past couple years, the young Englishwoman has made a habit of stamping her name on every club bill, every festival roster...
View Article
