Puro Instinct gets sweet, dreamy, Gaussian on Headbangers in Ecstasy

Jackie-O Motherfucker return with sonically rich Earth Sound System

Jackie-O Motherfucker has tapped a lot of neglected wells since they began in 1995. They’ve mined the depths of space-rock, various international sounds, folk music and traveled to psychedelic realms. This is a band that clearly does not want or need to be fenced in. On their 15th record, Earth Sound System, Jackie-O continues that [...] [...]

Jamie

tUnE-YaRdS evolves brilliantly on w h o k i l l

I once called tUnE-YaRdS “an art project gone very very right.” That was, of course, back when the music of New Englander Merrill Garbus was recorded entirely on a Sony digital voice recorder. No longer just an art project, Garber has released her second full-length, w h o k i l l, an album recorded [...] [...]

Jamie

The Strokes give rock music a mediocre eulogy with Angles

I’ll just go ahead and say what we all already know: Rock music is on it’s last legs. If you’re the kind of person who considers “rock” a genre that constantly evolves, from it’s earliest inception to the blues-influenced British scene to the awful mess that was hair metal to the indie rock scene of [...] [...]

Abby

J. Mascis dips pen into folky ink for Several Shades of Why

One of America’s most magnificent warblers has tripped me up a little. Best known for gems like “Tarpit” and “Severed Lips,” excessive feedback and distortion, Mascis has released what can only be described as a folk record in Several Shades of Why (Sub Pop). With nary a drum in earshot (tambourine is the only percussion), [...] [...]

Jamie

Wye Oak kicks it up a notch, but keeps things very Wye Oak on Civilian

I thought Wye Oak was a folk band? I mean, they’ve been described as “indie folk-rock,” I suppose, but what’s this I hear on their latest full-length, Civilian? Heavy guitars? Crashing drums? Moments of intense emotion? Sounds a little bit like rock and or roll to me. Ohhhh but that’s not to say the band [...] [...]

Tom

Kurt Vile strikes perfect balance on Smoke Ring for My Halo

What’s that saying? “Life is full of regrets, so eat your chocolates now?” (Close enough.) Well, my latest regret is not buying tons of stock in Kurt Vile. For three years, I’ve known about – and heard constant praise of – Philadelphia’s psych-folk rising star, yet I’ve skipped a half dozen of his shows and [...] [...]

Jamie

Beach Fossils show great, organic talent on What A Pleasure EP

Are Americans chilling out or what? I don’t what it means, but a lot of American indie music has gone from the jittery rock scene of the early 2000s to the chilled out scene of the early 2010s. One such act, Brooklyn’s own Beach Fossils, charmed us last year with their debut record, Beach Fossils, [...] [...]

Jamie

Rainbow Arabia has trouble juggling influences on Boys and Diamonds

On paper Rainbow Arabia sounds just fascinating. They’re a U.S. art/electronica/dance group with heavy Arabic and African music influences (apparently Syrian singer Omar Souleyman in particular). But in practice, the band is maybe a little less than fascinating. Rainbow Arabia has churned out a few decent singles across their two recordings so far, The Basta [...] [...]

Jamie

Tim Cohen croons odd pop on Magic Trick and Bad Blood EP

There are few things in this world I hate more than bland solo projects that just sound like a weaker version of the full band (I’m looking at you, Joe Perry Project). Just do something DIFFERENT, you know? So you can imagine my relief when I pressed play on the new material from Fresh & [...] [...]

Jamie