Album Review: Friends – Manifest!
After releasing singles “I’m His Girl” and “Friend Crush” last year, Brooklyn, NY’s Friends garnered massive attention- their jangly 90’s-inspired pop and self-directed lo-fi videos began appearing just about everywhere. It’s no surprise…
Album Review: The Tallest Man on Earth – There’s No Leaving Now
The Tallest Man On Earth created high expectations for himself with his first two albums and with his skilled live performances (if you haven’t, watch his NPR Tiny Desk Concert from after he…
Album Review: Mystery Jets – Radlands
Mystery Jets’ back catalog is full of upbeat, fun tracks: the kind of indie tunes that get you moving. With Radlands, Mystery Jets add another dimension to their music and expand on their…
Album Review: MV & EE – Space Homestead
MV & EE’s latest offering, Space Homestead, is hardly an album full of contradictions. For as ramshackle as it is, there’s no sound or instrument that seems unexpected or out of place. Still,…
Album Review: The Hive Dwellers – Hewn from the Wilderness
Calvin Johnson has made a 30 plus year career out of his endearing impulsivity and his do-what-feels-right mindset. The earliest Beat Happening songs sounded as if they might be totally improvised or at…
Album Review: Gemma Ray – Island Fire
In listening to Gemma Ray’s newest album, Island Fire, out now on Bronzerat, the word chanteuse comes to mind. Perhaps misrepresentative, since the album isn’t loungy at all, but it is a collection…
Album Review: Shannon Stephens – Pull It Together
Shannon Stephens’ new album, Pull It Together, out now on Ashmatic Kitty Records is a folk-rooted, blues-leaning effort full of soulful melodies and sparse, aching guitar riffs. With her superb singing ability, Stephens…
Album Review: Jonti – Sine & Moon
While promoting Jonti Danilewitz’s debut album Twirligig at the end of 2011, Stones Throw made available a compilation of the artist’s older material called Sine & Moon Mix. The South African-born Australian resident’s…
Album Review: Mount Eerie – Clear Moon
Prolific songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Phil Elverum has donned both the monikers Mount Eerie and The Microphones as recording aliases over the years, also tampering with the spelling of his own given name…
Album Review: Beach House – Bloom
With Bloom, Baltimore’s Beach House has achieved the pinnacle of musical accomplishments, issuing what is arguably the finest record of the year so far, and is likely to remain so. However, Bloom is not…
Album Review: Maps & Atlases – Beware and Be Grateful
Maps & Atlases have been a slowly productive quartet throughout the past half-decade, releasing a handful of EPs and only one full-length, Perch Patchwork (2010). Now, the group brings us their sophomore LP…
Album Review: I Break Horses – Hearts
I Break Horses are upfront about their influences. They list My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Jesus and Mary Chain on their website and are signed to Cocteau Twins’ Robert Gutherie’s Bella Union label. …
Album Review: Father John Misty – Fear Fun
Over the past six years, Josh Tillman has directed a quietly prolific career, releasing seven albums while holding down responsibilities as the drummer of the wildly successful band Fleet Foxes. Tillman’s eighth album…
Album Review: Craft Spells – Gallery EP
In 2011, California-native Justin Vallesteros released his debut album, Idle Labor, under the name Craft Spells. Craft Spells is one of many bedroom solo projects to recently join the ranks of New Wave…
Album Review: Reptar – Body Faucet
It isn’t often anymore that I encounter a band with fans as enthusiastic as Reptar’s, and if you’ve ever attended one of their live shows, you know why. Graham Ulicny (guitar and vocals),…
Album Review: Toro Y Moi – June 2009
June 2009 is a retrospective of songs recorded around the same time as Toro Y Moi’s acclaimed debut Causers of This. The assemblage of ten tracks feels like anything but a collection of…
Album Review: Lotus Plaza – Spooky Action at a Distance
When you have a band with a member as prolific and celebrated as Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, it’s hard to remember there are other pieces that make up the unit….
Album Review: Allo Darlin’ – Europe
Following the highly successful release of their debut album in 2010, Allo Darlin’ embarked on a yearlong tour across the US, UK, and Europe. It was during this intense period of time that…
Album Review: Hospitality – Hospitality
Hospitality’s self-titled debut album employs indie-pop sensibilities, infectious hooks, and dynamic rhythms to achieve a well rounded and convincing first effort. Hospitality has been long anticipated in some regards, since the band formed…
Album Review: Shearwater – Animal Joy
Austin based, genre-fusing indie outfit Shearwater has again produced one of the finest albums of the year, or the past few for that matter. Claiming that Shearwater is inaccessible (as some might) is…
Album Review: Tennis – Young and Old
Opener “It All Feels the Same” from Tennis’s new effort, Young and Old, accurately pinpoints the potential dilemma for any band facing the dread of the sophomore slump. The question of how to…
Album Review: Gotye – Making Mirrors
Gotye’s 3rd full-length album, Making Mirrors, gives listeners more reason than ever to proclaim the talents of creative force Wouter “Wally” De Backer. Even so, the Australian waves from the album’s first single, “Eyes…
