One song is called “Naked Reagan”. If you get the reference, you’ll love this.
The Netherlands’ Sungrazer hands out sweet slabs of psychedelic heavy rock like pieces of warm chocolate – thick, almost sensual, but with enough air between the molecules to keep the sound from becoming oppressive.
We Creeling is quite possibly the best true psychedelic album recorded since maybe 1972.
It’s not unusual for an artist’s most popular record to contain a couple of classic singles and little else, but that’s not the case here.
Tenth Life, its ninth LP, offers ten tracks of good old-fashioned guitar rock – crunchy, loud and tuneful.
While not completely, thoroughly engaging, this compilation gives an interesting glimpse into the indie electronic underground of today.
While most folks were praising the pop genius of leader Sam Prekop I always thought him inconsistent, with dangerous leanings toward the worst 70s soft rock pap.
It’s a gnarly bit of New Zealand hardcore that’s a bit like having four crazy bums jump you on an empty subway while scream non sequiturs in your face.
Released to celebrate the blues pioneer’s 100th birthday, The Centennial Collection serves as one-stop shopping for newcomers to singer/guitarist Robert Johnson‘s brief but extremely important oeuvre.
Williams’ magnificent 2009 single “Sufferer” becomes Euphoria’s centerpiece, unchanged but even more potent amidst eleven more songs of the same shaky, yearning flush.
Jay is a strummer of great intensity, but I think it requires some extended attentive listening to hear the unaccountable heaviness of his playing, muted scratching between full blooms of pure, unchased electric guitar.
Funny how one generation’s soft-rock is another’s indie rock.
The sound of Should has always tended toward the delicate, but on Like a Fire Without a Sound, the popgaze duo has crafted a record so gossamer and sedate as to be almost fragile.
Quite frankly, Bilal is a brilliant, ambitious work that is as much a work of art as the paintings that grace the cover and inserts.
With his third solo effort, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore makes his most mature effort to date.
Almost impossibly lovely, Street of the Love of Days speaks loudly at low volume.
If you’re needing more instrumental funk in your life, this 19-song ten-year retrospective is a perfect place to begin.
Tallahassee dreampop combo Mira hasn’t existed in several years, but in, celebration of the eleventh anniversary of its debut LP, guitarist Tom Parker assembled The Echo Lingers On, a compilation of non-album cuts.
The Gospel of Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) is a series of hymns worth preaching.
With not a melody, harmony or note wasted, Sloan is at its memorable, well-crafted best on _The Double Cross.
There’s something to the music of Romania’s Negura Bunget that’s captivating, fascinating and unique in a way that most run-of-the-mill black metal bands can’t pull off.
ROCKABILLY- The Twang Heard ‘Round The World is an illustrated history of the genre.
Last Rape from Texas and the UK’s Pollutive Static join forces to unleash their individual wall-of-static sounds on ears that appreciate pain.
In case you’re wondering what could possibly justify such a cheeseball album title, The Case Files is a compilation of Peter Case‘s “demos, outtakes, one live shot & other rarities” from as recent as 2009 and as far back as the mid-80s.
Portland, Oregon trio Explode Into Colors existed for a brief time, and this collection documents why their split was and is unfortunate.
Lucas has flirted with pop on most of the Gods and Monsters disks, of course, but this is the first album on which he’s carried a vision of succinct, catchy songs all the way through.
This fifth full-length release shows the musickal magicians constantly refining their sound, but staying true to the original ideas behind the band.
Now that Rasputina has been in existence for nearly two decades, it’s obviously time to clean out the closet.
Some post-rock bands choose to concentrate on bright sounds of hope while others try to capture what doom feels like. This Will Destroy You falls into both categories.
British musician Alexander Tucker made his rep as an electronic experimentalist, but apparently the lure of the song was too strong.
Love Earth Music celebrates its 50th release with DOG‘s best and ugliest album.
The production is appropriately dirty and analog for a tribute to The Sonics, and all the essential elements of the music are in place: organ, guitar, saxophone, and gritty blues howl.
One of the best bits about this music critic gig is watching gifted artists get better and better.
Misogynistic, crude, racist, and generally offensive. But what did you expect from the final backing band of GG Allin? Did you even look at the cover? If you’re looking for subtlety, look away.
Confessions… finds head honcho Robbie Quine in a whimsical, dreamy mood delivering a psychedelic pop masterpiece that explores the outer regions of head music.
Jazz trumpeter Elliott Caine propels his music forward with passion, grace and that certain charm that seemed to disappear at the end of the ’60s when things went either “out there” or the fusion route.
A recent Record Store Day release, this tribute to Guided by Voices is a surprisingly strong, cohesive tribute to the Dayton, Ohio wizards.
Recording quickly and simply, Kilgour and his band don’t mess about trying to be innovative or genre-bending – they simply get on with the business of making great guitar pop.
It’s the kind of punk rock that makes you want to get extremely drunk and act like an idiot, and I love every second of it.
Boogie Monster packs a megaton of sounds, both loud and pleasing, and offers you something more with every listen.
Two hauntingly beautiful compositions by the late ambient composer Dani Long, under her moniker Chubby Wolf.
Clearly influenced by Radiohead and Porcupine Tree and sharing space with peers Engineers, Anathema and Nosound, Gazpacho is far more interested in melody and texture than in virtuosity or complexity.
Strong Oi! with more of a hard rock bent, i.e., a strong Rose Tattoo influence among the football chants and bar chords.
Power trio Tia Carrera has been serving giant fistfuls of improvised psychedelic heavy rock for long enough now to become grizzled veterans of the Austin music scene.
This collection of songs from LA’s first DIY punk label is almost more of a “Best of…” documenting classics from LA’s original vibrant punk rock scene.
Small Source of Comfort, his 25th studio album, hearkens back to his roots, with a variety of easy melodies set in acoustic arrangements that highlight his nimble guitar work as much as his carefully wrought lyrics.
If you like your punk rock to sound like it came out of England circa 1979, then this is for you.
