Artist: The Morning Benders

Title: Big Echo

Label: Rough Trade Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Considering my iTunes started Big Echo in reverse, I thought the song order strange, but somehow fluid in its arrangement. After starting this article, I discovered I had the whole thing wrong and reversed the order only to find the album even better on the second listen-not because of the order, but because Big Echo is really really really good in any order.

After a chance meeting at Disneyland, ...

Artist: The Go Find

Title: Everybody Knows It’s Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight

Label: Morr Music

Genre: Pop/Electronic

The Indie pop of the last few years has risen to new heights with millions of people scouring the internet (much like myself) looking for the newest and hottest thing off the presses. As we enter a new decade, internet surfing is no longer the new thing as everyone and their third mothers cousin lays claim to being “in the know” about some little band from Germa...

Artist: Yeasayer

Title: Odd Blood

Label: Secretly Canadian

Genre: Rock/Pop/Electronic

Yeasayer is an oddity that is extremely hard to describe. There is no genre that this band fits into and on their sophomore album; they are trying yet again to bend without breaking a sound that possibly may be from Mars just as easily as it comes from Brooklyn. After All Hours Cymbals went mostly unnoticed in 2007, the band toured endlessly with fellow oddities MGMT and Man Man throughout the next ...

Artist: Rabbit!

Title: Connect the Dots

Label: Rock Salt

Genre: Rock/Pop/Electronic

Not to be cornered by the simplicity of their sound, Rabbit! conjures a grab bag of sound bites to be interspersed throughout their debut album Connect the Dots. These sounds provide a strange backdrop to duo vocals that can be best described as somewhere between Jack Johnson and Jack White of the White Stripes when he decides to be strange. Not altogether strange like Hannibal Lecter strange where th...

Artist: Everything Is Made In China

Title: Automatic Movements

Label: Self Released

Genre: Rock/Pop

Using what is probably the most obvious statement that has ever been uttered as a band name, Everything Is Made In China traverses the continents to bring their newest album to the United States shores. Being from Moscow, Russia raises an eyebrow to the  listener of even the most obscure indie rock music, and this band brings everything to the table as they want a piece of the listener...

Artist: Spoon

Title: Transference

Label: Merge

Genre: Rock/Pop

It took Spoon fourteen years and four record labels to find major success. While most bands would have conceded defeat and the band members would have left to pursue other projects, Spoon persevered and not only made one of the top albums of 2007, they were all over the radio and television with some of the catchiest tunes of the decade from their album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. While their last album title may have sounded like a ...

Artist: Surfer Blood

Title: Astro Coast

Label: Kanine Records

Genre: Pop/Rock

An early nineties romp through the grass of the chamber pop genre. Catchy and strangely named by a drunken singer, this band ebbs with all the flow. Sober singing will lead to more drunken parties, but they will be fun parties.

Artist: Vampire Weekend

Title: Contra

Label: XL Recordings

Genre: Pop

Proving you are no one time wonder is very hard to accomplish. Vampire Weekend gives us another dose of their infectious afro-pop and makes us look at a pretty girl on the front cover. A success yet again that makes me want to sip a bourbon and flip the vinyl from side to side all afternoon long.

Artist: Seabird

Title: Rocks Into Rivers

Label: Credential Recordings

Genre: Rock/Pop

Following up on their excellent debut ‘Til We See The Shore which featured several pop gems that were played all over the nighttime drama television landscape from Grey’s Anatomy to the now canceled Pushing Up Daises and scoring a coveted spot on one of Paste magazine’s cd samplers, Seabird returned to the studio with producers Paul Moak (Mat Kearney and Sixpence None the Ri...

These three EPs were our favorite from 2009. Though they be small, they are mighty with sound. As with our favorite ten albums, we do not consider this a “best of”, but a “most enjoyed.”

1)Artist: I Fight Dragons

Title: Cool Is Just A Number EP

Label: Self Released

Genre: Rock/Pop/Nintendo

There will never be a shortage of bands using a gimmick to promote their music. Sometimes the gimmick is in the music, and when it is, the music usually lacks any coherence from song to so...

Artist: Various

Title: Psychedelic States:  Mississippi in the 60’s

Label: Gear Fab

Genre: Rock/Pop

Gear Fab Records is one of the greatest reissue labels in the country. Continuing their series focusing on garage rock era bands from across the country, Gear Fab now concentrates on the southern state of Mississippi with their eighteenth release in the series. There are twenty-nine songs by twenty two artists encompassing cities from all over the state from 1964-1969.

Most of these so...

Artist: Asylum Street Spankers

Title: God’s Favorite Band

Label: Yellow Dog Records

Genre: Folk/Gospel

When a band calls itself a postmodern gospel band, there are things that come to mind that are not exactly endearing. Jug band usually indicates a kind of folksy twang that is reminiscent of Deliverance and gospel usually excludes most listeners to music in general as somewhat sentimental and hokey, but upon just one listen to God’s Favorite Band breaks all preconceived ideas.

Artist: For Against

Title: Never Been

Label: Words On Music

Genre: Rock

When trying to think of bands from Nebraska, very few come to mind. A quick Google search turned up a few notable bands such as Bright Eyes, Cursive, The Faint, and For Against. For Against started as all bands do with several name changes such as Glue which didn’t stick (yes, I know, a bad pun) and Four Against One that was shortened to its current incarnation. After the release of their criti...

Artist: Brilliant Colors

Title: Introducing…

Label: Slumberland Records

Genre: Rock

Introducing Brilliant Colors is an introduction to guitarist Jess Scott’s band with only twenty-two and a half minutes of fuzzy ripped music that may be a prologue to a great career. With so little time and so much to explore, Brilliant Colors delivers a pitch on each song that is defining to a degree and at the same time defines nothing. There are tinges from the pre-punk era where bands reverbed...

Artist: Gabriel Sullivan

Title: By the Dirt

Label: Fell City Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

The subtleties of Arizona are an inspiration for Gabriel Sullivan’s debut album on By the Dirt. To pigeon-hole Sullivan though as a singer of the southwest would be a disservice to a nuanced writer and artist who knows how to mix well a blend of blues country with the spice of seventies punk.

Owing a voice to the likes of Tom Waits and Nick Cave, Sullivan gravelly gravitates throughout his debut l...

Artist: Timber Timbre

Title: Timber Timbre

Label: Arts and Crafts

Genre: Folk

Taylor Kirk brings us yet another folk reminder of our pop blues from the past with his band Timber Timbre. A big difference here between Timber and everything else coming out in this new genre bending line is that Kirk and his band mates come from Canada and not the down home country delta. Being Canadian has no bearing on how good the music is though. Our neighbors to the north still feel the soul, still ...

Artist: Conceptual Drudgery

Title: Hallowe’en Party

Label: Self Released

Genre: Mashup/Sound Collage/Spoken Word/Pop/Rock/Psychedelic/Folk

This second dose of sound collage EP by Conceptual Drudgery is yet another fifty car pileup that has a nuclear nucleus that is ready to implode. The sound is something you may hear while visiting small Aboriginal tribes who are performing cannibalistic rituals to clowns who may or may not be laughing the whole time because they are high on cannabis a...

Artist: Sole & The Skyrider Band

Title: Battlefields

Label: Fake Four Inc.

Genre: Hip Hop/Rock/Electronica

Refreshing sounds emanate from the latest EP by Sole and the Skyrider Band called Battlefields. The title alone could be a statement against the prevailing piracy that squanders many artists out of profits. This is a statement posted by the band recently (With no editing):

“on behalf of soleone.org & fakefour inc, and musicians everywhere
in the spirit of thomas jefferson and jam...

Artist: The Nightgowns

Title: Sing Something

Label: Self Released

Genre: Rock/Pop

There has been a burgeoning scene lately of kids who went through an emo/punk phase in high school who are now going to college and discovering that there is something other than the music and clothing they have bought for years at Hot Topic. The overwhelming majority of the music they have latched themselves to though is an amalgam of horribly untalented bands regurgitating 80’s pop and trying to act...

Whatever audiophiles choose to call it, space age pop, exotica, cocktail, or lounge, it is, hands down, one of the most diverse and layered styles of music ever committed to vinyl.    A musical expression born out of the atomic age that attempted to push the limits of high fidelity recording.  Back in the days when stereophonic was thought of as nothing more than a fly-by-night novelty, artists such as Juan Garcia Esquivel, Martin Denny, Leo Diamond, Les Baxter and many more arranged and prod...

Artist: Exeter

Title: Grey Noise, White Lies

Label: Popup Records, Engineer Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Giving a band a genre title like Space Rock seems a bit misplaced on Exeter. On their debut Grey Noise, White Lies, the band does nothing to indicate that they are about to take off into the stratosphere and take over the vastness of space with their music. What they do produce in these eleven tracks is a sense of rock and roll that is misplaced with a name.

The whole world of music ...

Artist: Chet

Title: Chelsea Silver, Please Come Home

Label: Absolutely Kosher

Genre: Rock/Pop

British Columbia has a dollop of some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Western Canada is often overlooked for musical prowess as most fans would look to Toronto or Montreal for their steady diet of Canadian bands making the rounds. One forgets that just south of Vancouver is not one, but two meccas for any music fan in the cities of Seattle and Portland. The northwest region of th...

Artist: Latin For Truth

Title: We Are Sick…

Label: Pitfall Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 5.5/10

With only nine minutes of music, Latin For Truth makes a splash into the world of modern arena punk rock music. The band attempts to bring about a remembrance of late eighties and early punk, but really only serves as a bland reminder of how unoriginal most music is right now. It is a good thing that this EP is free!

www.myspace.com/latinfortruth

Artist: I Fight Dragons

Title: Cool Is Just A Number EP

Label: Self Released

Genre: Rock/Pop/Nintendo

Rating: 9.5/10

There will never be a shortage of bands using a gimmick to promote their music. Sometimes the gimmick is in the music, and when it is, the music usually lacks any coherence from song to song and any artistic value is lost in translation very quickly. I Fight Dragons is a new breed of band that uses re-purposed Nintendo systems as instruments in their music and for now...

Artist: Amadou and Mariam

Title: Welcome to Mali

Label: Nonesuch

Genre: Rap/R&B/Rock/Pop/World

Artist: The Animal Collective

Title: Merriweather Post Pavilion

Label: Domino

Genre: Rock/Pop

It may have taken nine tries, but the Animal Collective has blown the rock and roll scene to smithereens with Merriweather Post Pavilion. Abandoning all previous thoughts on album making, the band chooses a Pet Sounds type vibe to rush the listener with an hour of being washed with the music.

www.myspace.com/animalcollectivetheband

Artist: Team B

Title: Team B

Label: Tonacity Recordings

Genre: Rock/Pop

Between touring with outstanding bands The Arcade Fire and Beirut and stints in the recording studio with the likes of none other than Coldplay, Final Fantasy, The Macabees, and Bishop Allen, Kelly Pratt managed to put together his own band with Pat Mahoney, drummer of LCD Soundsystem, Richard Reed Perry, the bassist for The Arcade Fire, and Jon Natchez and Perrin Cloutier, who are both multi instrumentalist with...

Artist: Rural Alberta Advantage

Title: Hometowns

Label: Saddle Creek

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 10/10

The best unsigned Canadian band no more, Rural Alberta Advantage rereleases their full length debut Hometowns. What a way to introduce the world to your music! Led by Nils Edenloff, who is from Alberta, and with the accompaniment from Paul Banwatt on drums and Amy Cole filling in every other instrument, the Rural Alberta Advantage forges what could be one of the best albums of the deca...

Artist: Eskimo Joe

Title: Inshalla

Label: Warner Music Australia

Genre: Rock/Pop

Coming out of nowhere with their third album Black Fingernails, Red Wine, Eskimo Joe ripped a considerable tear through the world of stadium style rock and roll. While that may have not been their intention, it worked-considerably well. With their latest album Inshalla, the band is returning to their original sound that endeared them to their fans in Australia. While Black, Red may have propelled them to an i...

Artist: Dead Weather

Title: Horehound

Label: WEA/Reprise

Genre: Rock

With a rattle and the hum of blasting induced guitars drilling through the layers of rock, Dead Weather propels into the sunshine a soaked and dense album of pure rock and roll. Jack White continues to build his repertoire of music while not sleeping for a few more years (We guess this is how he continues to put out music seemingly every day, or he is a robot.)

www.thedeadweather.com

Artist: Metric

Title: Fantasies

Label: Redeye Label

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 6.1/10

It has been nearly four years since the female fronted Metric has produced a new album of original material. The Canada based band is now bringing us their fourth album in their career, and are trying to do the full crossover from indie to mainstream. Their albums have sold very well in the past, and with a good dose of relentless touring they have finally started to creep their way into the elusive �...

Artist: Naim Amor

Title: Soundtracks Volume 3

Label: Amor Music

Genre: Pop/Jazz

If you were asked to conjure a movie soundtrack in your mind based on the knowledge that the music came from a composer who grew up on France and was relocated to Tucson, Arizona, your mind might be a bit confused on what to produce as a set of songs set to an imaginary screen. Naim Amor now gives us his third installment of a series he started in 2000 with Soundtracks Volume III.

Naim sums his long last...

Artist: Grizzly Bear

Title: Veckatimest

Label: Warp Records

Genre: Pop/Rock

When you are putting together songs on an album that is named after an uninhabited island off the coast of Massachusetts, they better be of some content worthy of taking your time to listen and imbibe. Veckatimest is the third album by the home tape master Ed Droste and friends, and is by far their most far reaching album in scope and adventure.

While one listen will not conjure much in the way of originali...

Artist: The Bronx

Title: III

Label: Original Signal Recordings/White Drugs

Genre: Rock/Pop

With their third album aptly titled III, The Bronx brings us another frenetic use of energy and wit to the table with yet another triumph of modern rock. Forming in 2002, the band is officially in change mode with outgoing bassist James Tweedy and the introduction of Brad Magers replacing him as well as a new guitarist in Ken Horne. The band’s first two albums, a self titled album and II, int...

Artist: Regina Spektor

Title: Far

Label: Warner Bro.

Genre: Pop

With her usual quirkiness, Regina Spektor has come a long way since her last album Begin to Hope. You may have heard her anywhere from the Prince Caspian soundtrack to her infectious ditty with Ben Folds on his last album. Using four of the best producers in the business in Jeff Lynne, Mike Elizondo, David Kahne, and Jacknife Lee, Spektor has once again made a classic pop album from the beginning to the end.

Now while som...

Artist: Jean-Paul & Things to Hear

Title: Leisure With Dignity

Label: Drip Kitty Music

Genre: Rock/Pop

There are sounds here that emanate from the classic cannon of rock with a touch of pop intermingled in the grand cache that is Leisure With Dignity. While this album may not be the hottest new item off the block, there is something here to listen to that you will not find every day-honesty and earnest in the things that all musicians are having fun while playing the songs they love....

Artist: Gonzales

Title: Check Mate

Label: Chorus of One Records

Genre: Punk/Rock

With the propensity of a classic punk band, Gonzales comes storming into America from it’s native land of Italy with a every bit of gruff vocals and tepid guitars. With its second album since their forming in 2004, the band is doing their best to conquer the world with a tone reminiscent of maybe Motorhead, or maybe just Motorhead with an Italian accent.

But let’s not compare Gonzales to Motorhead ...

Artist: Holy Modal Rounders

Title: Indian Way Whoop (Re-Released 2008)

Label: ESP Disk

Genre: Folk/Psychedelic

In the 1960’s psychedelia was a way of life for a huge part of the current generation. The era has its most well known figures that have risen to the top as icons, but trying to figure out what was happening by looking and listening to Joan Baez and Dennis Hopper is a bit hard to do. It seems most people from the decade of love have forgotten many things. Maybe it was cert...

Artist: Shawn Lee

Title: Soul in the Hole

Label: Ubiquity

Genre: Soul/Pop

Shawn Lee has easily been one of the busiest artist throughout the last two years. He has released three full length albums and is very busy getting noticed from one of television’s most popular shows Desperate Housewives to adding his musical talent to the cannon of movies on Bully. Now he brings us another dose of soul straight from the 1960s with Soul in the Hole.

To say this album is retro would be a gra...

Artist: Dave Matthews Band

Title: Big Whisky and the GrooGrux King

Label: RCA

Genre: Rock/Pop

With new production by Cavallo of Green Day and My Chemical Romance fame, the Dave Matthews band seeks out a new rock heavy image while trying not to part with the festival playing ways. Old fans fear not, just welcome your new rock brethren with open arms.

www.davematthewsband.com

Artist: Southeast Engine

Title: From the Forest to the Sea

Label: Misra Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Recorded in a small an abandoned schoolhouse in Ohio, From the Forest to the Sea is full of every noise and sound you would expect from such an abnormal studio. These little aberrations detract in no way from this finelly crafted piece of artwork that is reminiscent of everyone from the modern Wilco to a “singin’” on the back porch during an old man’s “Bible revival rememberin’...

Artist: Anderson

Title: It Runs In The Family

Label: U & L Records

Genre: Electronica/Pop

Consisting of two members, Anderson puts together a “family” for their second album aptly named It Runs In The Family. After receiving critical acclaim for their debut We Radio Anderson from their native Netherlands all the way to the dance floor of Japan, Bas van Nienes and Jeroen Van der Werken decided to craft ten songs from far flung relatives into a story that may be a bit strange at ti...

Artist: Pierre Sibille

Title: Since I Ain’t Got You

Label: Blues’ Up

Genre: Jazz

Beginning his career at the tender age of fourteen, Pierre Sibille has been singing and playing his way through France to all over the world. With his fourth release Since I Ain’t Got You, he combines his graceful French with an brass section culled from the United States in to a Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder soul infused album of greatness. While this may be his fourth release, this is his first v...

Artist: The Horrors

Title: Primary Colors

Label: Beggars XL

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 4.5/10

Strange House may have been the introduction to this weird band, but Primary Colors is a step in the right direction for a band trying very hard to please a finicky crowd. Antics will no longer suffice and the music must meet par. Primary Colors is a start; but the music is too generic to initiate a new feel to the old senses.

www.thehorrors.co.uk

Artist: Green Day

Title: 21^st Century Breakdown

Label: Reprise

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 4/10

Green Day makes a living at trying to quip on the current status of America. With 21^st Century Breakdown, we have yet another step into the direction of becoming a staple of the music that the current generation has to offer. After American Idiot summed up the entirety of what most mindless youths are willing to capture and dredge from three professors of nothingness, it is not surprising that ...

Artist: White Lies

Title: To Lose My Life

Label: Geffen Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Using the standard UK vocals of The Cure and Joy Division, White Lies comes up with an excellent contemporary view of their surroundings. All things British fall into two groups-trying to be too much and being too much. There is a hard line to accomplish when most modern music is rooted in the music of the isle.

www.whitelies.com

Artist: Cruiser

Title: Happy Robots: Smiling People

Label: KFM Records

Genre: Electronica

Hypnotic is the keys to the cupboard with the electronica of Cruiser. Emanating from Scotland with mainland Europe calling throughout their pop with synthetic beat, this band is on a precipice looking into the sky flowers.

www.myspace.com/cruiserland

Artist: Almost Charlie

Title: The Plural of Yes

Label: Words On Music

Genre: Rock/Pop

In 2003, Dirk Homuth answered an internet advertisement by Charlie Mason who was looking for a composer. From that initial meeting was born the band Almost Charlie and after a critically reviewed and self issued debut in 2006 with Loving Counterclockwise, the band follows up with their first record label album The Plural of Yes.

Upon first listen, most people will find distinct similarities to the vocal...

Artist: Conceptual Drudgery

Title: Archaic Sound Mosaic Vol. 1 EP

Label: Self Issued

Genre: Folk/Lounge/Rock/Pop/Spoken Word/Mashup

On this five song EP, each song captivates the wonderment of sitting in your sixties swag pad while downing copious amounts of LSD and grain alcohol. This small, but bombastic, set of tunes is perfect for driving with the top down or impressing your girlfriend that you listen to music other than Nickelback.

{Editors Note: We do not endorse taking LSD with gr...

Artist: Annabel

Title: Each and Everyone

Label: Count Your Lucky Stars

Genre: Rock/Pop

I will quote from my review of Annabel’s EP titled Now That We’re Alive that came out in 2008.

 “Ohio (I know firsthand) is not known for producing very many musical artists with much talent; but I think Annabel has added their name to the short list. With Ben Hendricks on guitar, Andy Hendricks on drums, and Scotty Moses on bass, Annabel puts together an impressive debut EP in Now That We�...

Artist: Bob Dylan

Title: Together Through Life

Label: Columbia

Genre: Folk Rock/Pop

The old sage of folksiness brings yet another set of tunes for his thirty-third album. The ever changing moods of Dylan still resonate through each word and he has not missed a beat in all his years.

www.bobdylan.com

Artist: Derek Jordan

Title: Identity

Label: Self Issued

Genre: Rock/Pop

When the liner notes of an album consist of only two words, one might think the artist didn’t have much to say. When those two words are “Fight Conformity”, the whole initial outlook of the music is tempered with an urge to see if the singer and wordsmith will actually live up to expectations.

With his red handprint emblazoned in paint upon his chest, Derek Jordan seeks to become his own man in a world that is ...

Artist: Wilco

Title: Ashes of American Flags (DVD)

Label: Nonesuch

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 9/10

There is nothing better than seeing a live show with one of your favorite bands. Wilco has been one of those staple bands to see since their inception in 1994. Ashes of American Flags is not only the remembrance of five great concerts, but also an intimate look into the lives of the Jeff Tweedy and his band mates.

Filmed during Wilco’s 2008 tour, the stops from Tulsa, Oklahoma to the 9:30 C...

Artist: Ben Folds

Title: Ben Folds Presents: University A Capella

Label: Epic

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 9/10

If you have watched The Office over the past few years, you are accustomed to Andy Bernard reminding everyone that he went to Cornell and he was the lead singer in the collegiate a capella group Here Comes Treble. There are times when he serenades his fellow workers, but mostly they are annoyed by his voice. Rest assured, there is no Andy Bernard here. These sixteen tracks were...

Artist: Andrew Bird

Title: Noble Beast

Label: Fat Possum

Genre: Rock/Pop

There is probably not a better whistler in all of pop that Andrew Bird. With a whistle and a hand clap, listening to music has never been so much of a breath of fresh air during a spring walk. Lyrically charged throughout, Noble Beast is noble indeed.

www.andrewbird.net

Artist: Neko Case

Title: Middle Cyclone

Label: Anti

Genre: Rock/Pop

Another celebrated release by Neko Case has all the hallmarks of an album that could be the greatest album of all time. Her folk sounds drenched with pop hooks yet again speak to everyone in a sound that is summed up in the title-a cyclone of wonder.

www.nekocase.com

Artist: Various

Title: Score! 20 Years of Merge Records-The Covers!

Label: Merge Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Time flies when you are having fun! For twenty years, Merge Records have discovered some of the best musicians in the industry and now they call upon some of their elite club to help them celebrate their birthday. Merge stands out among all other record labels as standing up for the small band and believing--believing in the power of music, and how it should sound.

Instead of do...

Artist: The Spinto Band

Title: Moonwink

Label: Park the Van Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

With xylophone and Hammond organ, this Deleware six piece traces fun roots through the clouds and down to earth with giddy lyrics cast over inspired musical tones from the heart. There is by far enough fun to drape the city with an afternoon of capers and trollops down the memory lane of how it feels to be in love during the summer.

www.spintoband.com

Artist: The Lonely Island

Title: Incredibad

Label: Universal Republic

Genre: Comedy Rock/Pop

 With sarcasm dripping from every word, the SNL digital short and mayhem of music makers craft three quarters of an hour of laughter and strange introspective into the hip-hop culture of extravagance. With guest appearances by E-40, T-Pain, Jack Black, Chris Parnell, Julian Casablancas, Justin Timberlake, and Norah Jones(!?!) these irreverent nineteen songs will fit nicely into the cannon of ...

Artist: Wild Light

Title: Adult Nights

Label: StarTime International

Genre: Rock/Pop

“Live Free or Die” is the state motto for New Hampshire. Wild Light definitely lives by this saying as they release their new and refreshing album Adult Nights. This debut by the New England quartet follows their endless touring with MGMT, The Gutter Twins, and Ambulance Ltd. They were even handpicked for a European tour with Arcade Fire where they were wildly accepted by fans. These thirteen son...

Artist: The Move

Title: The Very Best of The Move (EU Release Only)

Label: Salvo/Fly

Genre: Classic Rock

Rating: 10/10

Please read the review for the Anthology Box Set that came out last year here. These twenty-five songs are essential singles from the band and sum up the whole whirlwind that was The Move.

www.themoveonline.com

Artist: Andrew Lipke

Title: Motherpearl and Dynamite

Label: Mad Dragon Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Born in South Africa, Andrew Lipke showed his musical talent early in life and when he moved to the United States in the mid-80’s he decided to pick up a guitar and join the American tradition of the singer-songwriter. Since then he has been releasing music in his eclectic vision and now he is treating us with his nine song collection Motherpearl and Dynamite.

The simplicity of a man and...

Artist: Electric President

Title: Sleep Well

Label: Morr Music

Genre: Electronic

Rating: 7.9/10

Florida produces many drizzly nights during the winter. During each of these nights, you don’t feel like going out into the wet cold to do anything. I went to bed early many nights listening to the rain patter and many albums that eventually became some of my favorites. As those tunes turned, they provided an easy transition into my dreams. I can now add the Electric President’s sopho...

Artist: It’s A Musical

Title: The Music Makes Me Sick

Label: Morr Music

Genre: Pop

Rating:7.3/10

Robert Kretzschmar and Ella Blixt met on tour while they were in separate bands in 2006. There have been a lot of good happenings this way, and now the duo are releasing their debut The Music Makes Me Sick.  With pure pop they are taking their sweet and infectious vocals to a new level with harmonizing lilts and excellent arrangements to compliment the overall sound of the album.  Ther...

Artist: Prince

Title: Lotus Flow3r/MPLSound/Elixir

Label: Self Issued

Genre: Rock/Pop

Without the help of any record label, Prince yet again embarks on an ambitious project involving three albums at one time. Will his guitar prowess prevail or will the whole works overshadaw the real music inside?

www.lotusflow3r.com

Artist: Bishop Allen

Title: Grrr…

Label: Dead Oceans

Genre: Rock/Pop

After releasing an EP for every month and then combining the best for their sophomore album The Broken String, Bishop Allen has established themselves as a standard of the modern indie pop movement. For their third effort, they have released Grrr… which is more of a sound than a title, but provides the bite for their next tour.

The songs of Justin Rice and Christian Rudder are infectious. This is the reason the...

Artist: Vulcano       

Title: Tales From the Black Book (Re-issued 2008)

Label: I Hate

Genre: Metal

Coming from South America, thrashing and biting metal bends the air in a comeback whirl. Vulcano rips through another album and is poised to stay around even longer than their twenty-six years with their trailblazing act of metal greatness.

www.myspace.com/vulcanobrazil

Artist: K’Naan

Title: Troubadour

Label: A&M/Octone

Genre: Hip-Hop

Hailing from Somalia, K’Naan brings his infection of hip-hop laced blitzed rap to the stage with a vim not seen recently. He is a true asset from Africa who speaks to each emotion time and time again to split your mind with shattering rhythms.

www.knaanmusic.ning.com

Artist: Wussy

Title: Wussy

Label: Shake It Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

To follow up their critically acclaimed album Left For Dead, Cincinnati band Wussy decided to not give their third album a title and let the music speak for itself. They are well known for crafting insightful lyrics with their wall of feedback tinged rock and roll. Formed in 2001, this small band has made many small waves throughout the industry and is now trying to fully integrate its sound into the indie rock main...

Artist: Red Red Meat

Title: Bunny Gets Paid (Deluxe Edition)

Label: Sub Pop

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  8.3/10

In 1995, Red Red Meat was on a tear through the music industry. Riding on the coattails of the success Sub Pop Records had with bands like Nirvana, they put out their third album Bunny Gets Paid. Bunny would turn out to be their greatest artistic triumph and become a standard of the alternative genre of the 1990’s. It is now getting the remastering treatment for a reissue as...

Artist: Obits

Title: I Blame You

Label: Sub Pop

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  6/10

Looking at the cover of Obits new album I Blame You may conjure up some inklings of the late 70’s punk rock scene. Upon listening, you may think this is something recorded in that era as well. Maybe the scene of New York City has crafted their sound, or maybe it is a bit of hero worship of Television and Roky Erickson. Either way, the Obits are releasing their debut to a world of vintage sound lovers.

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Artist: Handsome Furs

Title: Face Control

Label: Sub Pop

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  7.9/10

Dan Boekner, doubling as the front man of both Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs, has been very busy as of late recording and releasing albums. Face Control is his second release under Handsome Furs, and he is aspiring to join the ranks of the indie crowd that cannot get enough of his experimental rock sound.

Handsome Furs is more of a straight forward sound versus the high experimentation of Wolf ...

Artist: Josh Wilson

Title: Trying To Fit the Ocean Into A Cup

Label: Sparrow

Genre: Gospel/Pop

Rating:  6.9/10

With a praising baritone, Josh Wilson has put out music that he aspires to be uplifting and spiritually praising to God. His new effort Trying To Fit the Ocean Into A Cup, delves into the layers of praising and worshiping God in several styles that are standard for the Christian music genre and have been the staple for many singers for many years. On this album he gives the...

Artist: Tigers Jaw

Title: Tigers Jaw

Label: Prison Jazz Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  8.1/10

I thought the only thing good from Scranton, PA was the Dunder-Mifflinnites of the mockumentary The Office. Tigers Jaw is out to prove that there are more bands in this tiny steel city other than Scrantonicity (The band of accountant Kevin Malone in The Office). On their self titled third album, Tigers Jaw is taking up arms against the standard radio rock of today and making some modern day gr...

Artist: The Decemberists

Title: Hazards of Love

Label: Capitol Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  10/10

After finding critical acclaim and winning over millions of fans with The Crane Wife in 2006, Colin Meloy decided to take some time to pen some songs based on the obscure 1966 EP Hazards of Love by the English folk singer Anne Briggs. After some time, the handful of songs turned into a full blown rock opera. Meloy has said he does not intend to make a stage play based on the album; ...

Artist: Green River Ordinance

Title: Out Of My Hands

Label: Virgin Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  6.7/10

I wonder where the band members saw the term Green River Ordinance. These ordinances are laws that prohibit door to door sales within the city limits. It is a better name than some like !!! pronounced chk, chk, chk (how do you pronounce chk, chk, chk?) or my band in college, Whitley Schreiber and the Goat/Dogs. Putting the naming of a band aside, the Green River Ordinance produ...

Artist: Jeb Loy Nichols

Title: Parish Bar

Label: Compass

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  5.6/10

Jeb Loy Nichols brings us another singer-songwriter type album in his new homemade album Parish Bar. Born in Wyoming and now residing in the country of Wales, Jeb gives each album a mixture of his soul and longing to get through each genre he happens upon. There is not a lot of temperance in his manner as he flashes yet another sense of artist license.

Nichols says about his new album, “Some ...

Artist: The Lost Revival

Title: Homemade Confetti

Label: Champions of the Arts

Genre: Rock/Pop

The Lost Revival list themselves as a kind of experimental folk rock. They sound pretty normal to me. Maybe they are trying to not be normal? For their debut album, Homemade Confetti, The Lost Revival have pulled out their best Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan impression and added their unique and own twist to an interesting result.

This seven member band from Columbus, OH is doing the best thing to get out...

Artist: The Waking Eyes

Title: Hold On To Whatever It Is

Label: Coalition Entertainment Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  8.1/10

Ah, Canada. Our neighbor to the north has been producing a lot of good music lately, and there is no exception to The Waking Eyes. It has been four years since their last album, but the wait has been a good one for their fans as they have been greeted by a bevy of songs recently in a three cd set rarities compilation and the best of those sessions have cong...

Artist: The New Monarchs

Title: Blueprints

Label: Soup Bowl Records

Genre: Electronica

Rating:  5.5/10

I’m sure the winters of Minnesota with its several feet of snow and friendly but introvert people inspire many musicians to write all winter long and then showcase their talents during the summer months. The New Monarchs are no different with their debut album Blueprints as the duo of Seth Hogan and Taylor Nelson break down their dance album in true pent-up talent.

With producer...

Artist: Tor and Sufjan Stevens

Title: Illinoize EP

Genre: Folk/Hip-Hop

Rating: 10/10

Taking samples from three of Sufjan Stevens' albums, Tor produces an amazing collection of mix-tape mashups that only a true artist could unveil. Who would have thought that these seven songs could be formed out of the folkiness of Sufjan and re-imagined in a world with Outkast, Brother Ali, and Pete Rock?

NOTE:These songs can be downloaded for free at www.Illinoize.biz

Artist: Alaska in Winter

Title: Holiday

Label: Milan Records

Genre: Electronic/Pop

When you are from New Mexico, maybe there is a little bit of wishing for the snow of the great Alaskan state. Brandon Bethancourt, the lead singer and composer of Alaska in Winter, spent a semester in Alaska studying art; but upon returning to his home state of New Mexico, he put the musical thoughts he had penned while in an isolated cabin to work with friends Zach Condon, of Beirut, Heather Trost, of...

Artist: International Jetsetters

Title: Heart is Black

Label: Planting Seeds Records

Genre: Alternative Rock/Pop

Rating:  7.2/10

It has now been a little over a year and half since Mark Crozer decided to start a new band called the International Jetsetters. Most people have absolutely no idea who Mark Crozer is, but you may know him better as the lead guitarist from the legendary indie rock band, The Jesus and Mary Chain. After several years performing in obscurity throughout our ne...

Artist: Victor Krummenacher

Title: Patriarch’s Blues

Label: Magnetic

Genre: Blues/Rock

Within the span of about a month, Victor Krummenacher lost both his father and step-father. With these losses weighing heavily on his mind, Victor went to his recording studio and in two days, put out what is possibly his best collection of songs for his seventh solo album. It’s strange what loss can do to your mind and talents; especially when you lose someone as close as your father and the...

Artist: Titus Andronicus

Title: The Airing of Grievances

Label: XL Recordings

Genre: Rock/Punk

Rating: 8.7/10

There is something strange in the do-it-yourself punk genre of music that draws you in with a wonder and excitement that you cannot explain with mere words. There is the sincere need to throw up your fist and dance around uninhibited to the strange music that is coming through the speakers, and shout every lyric until your throat is scratchy and you can’t talk the next day...

Artist: M. Ward

Title: Hold Time

Label: Merge Records

Genre: Folk/Pop

Rating: 8.8/10

Since M. Ward’s last album Post War in 2006, he has been very busy collaborating with several artists to add his touch to the indie music scene. His biggest triumph was last year’s duet with Zooey Deschanel as the band She & Him which brought accolades from around the globe for Volume One. Many thought that maybe his solo career was on the back burner, but now he has brought forth another stunni...

Artist: Obscured By Clouds

Title: Psychelectric

Label: Psychelectric Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  5/10

Nearly all new music is inspired by someone or a band that is admired by the artist. Some influences are hidden in the subtext or maybe the liner notes while others are very obvious from where their creative flow is emanating. Obscured By Clouds not only takes their name from the great progressive rock band Pink Floyd, but also writes music that is right in line with the classi...

Artist: Starling Electric

Title: Clouded Staircase

Label: Bar None Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 7.7/10

In 2006, Starling Electric, a quintet from Ann Arbor, Michigan self issued their first album Clouded Staircase. Since then the band has grown in popularity while touring and their album was picked up by Bar None Records for a full scale release. I’m glad record labels like Bar None go out of their way to discover talent that can make a truly great album and not just the single...

Artist: Readymade Breakup

Title: Alive on the Vine

Label: Self Issued

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 7.9/10

The last time I went through New Jersey, it smelled. That is about all I remember of my short stay in the Eastern state. Readymade Breakup is doing their very best to get away from the armpit of the United States and onto your radio. Alive on the Vine is their second effort and it is by far their best.  I always love when a band uses the do-it-yourself method and comes through with a true...

“Without doubt, it was The Beatles, the Stones, and The Move, in that order, in England.” –Tony Secunda (Manager of The Move, The Moody Blues, and T. Rex)

Artist: The Move
Album: Antholgy 1966-1972 (EU Release Only)
Label: Salvo/Fly
Rating: 11/10

The above quote is a wallop. You may dismiss Secunda since he was the manager of The Move; but it should be noted, this quote came years after he was fired by the band. That’s right, Tony Secunda was fired by The Move and he still revered thei...

Artist: Old Ghost

Title: Hearts and Coffins EP

Label: Infinite Universe Records

Genre: Country/Folk/Pop

Rating:  8.8/10

Just the band’s name Old Ghost conjures up the images of their influences. Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Will Oldham are very present living ghosts in the works of Paul Hutzler and his band toiling around Seattle with their brand of folksy and country tinged pop. The Hearts and Coffins EP is a follow up to their 2004 debut album Light Returns.

Influence is always a g...

Artist: Ben Folds

Title: Way to Normal

Label: Epic Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  7.3/10

After garnering tons of attention from critics and radio listeners alike, Ben Folds decided to reform Ben Folds Five around his own name and call his act solo. Ben Folds Five was a great band in its own right, but being a solo act required Ben to seriously focus on his writing talent and career. Way to Normal is yet another glimpse into Folds life as he croons about falling off his piano, gett...

Artist: Lucy Woodward

Title: …Is Hot and Bothered

Label: Barnes and Noble

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  5.9/10

For her second album, Lucy Woodward signed an exclusive deal with Barnes and Noble booksellers. I was under the impression that Barnes and Noble was a bookseller, not a viable record label. After viewing the album on their website, I am not happy with what I see. It is extremely obvious the “user” reviews are fake to bolster the “image” of this album to the public. I k...

Artist: Jaugernaut (a.d)

Title: Contra-Mantra

Label: Self Issued

Genre: Progressive Rock

Rating:  5/10

In 1984, Jaugernaut released the album Take Em There. The album garnered some attention in Europe, but record labels were not looking for progressive rock bands with twelve minute songs. Every record executive of the time was looking for the three minute pop song with a hook like Madonna and Micheal Jackson, and that was enough to make Take Em There become a cult classic of vinyl c...

Artist: U2

Title: No Line On The Horizon

Label: Interscope Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  6.5/10

The newest album from U2 is probably the most anticipated album around the globe in a long time. The last such album with this much hoopla worldwide was U2’s last album in 2004, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which went on to win every imaginable award known to music. It must be a great world in which everything you touch turns to gold and Grammys, and now Bono and company are givi...

Artist: Hotel Lights

Title: Firecracker People

Label: Bar None Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  6.2/10

Ben Folds Five was easily one of the best “outsider” bands of the 1990’s. Ben Folds himself has gone on to a very successful solo career and the former drummer, Darren Jesse, is doing his best to make a niche for himself with his band Hotel Lights. Firecracker People is the second album for Hotel Lights after their self titled debut in 2006.

Jesse shows his knack for songwri...

Artist: Donal Hinely

Title: Blue State Boy

Label: Atom Records

Genre: Country/Pop

When you make your album title Blue State Boy, the political assumptions are present in your mind. Donal Hinely is giving the world a new taste of his liberal views while living in a conservative state yet again on his most recent release. Over the years, Hinely has been revered as a lyrical wordsmith who makes every song a memorable quote and has no qualms in making his opinion well known.

Starting wi...

Artist: Chris Letcher

Title: Harmonium

Label: 2Feet Music

Genre: Experimental Rock/Pop

Rating: 7.1/10

South Africa is not the usual breeding ground for experimental musicians weaving the traditional set of instruments with odd ones like kalimbas (a small “hand piano” percussion instrument), coke bottles (I’m assuming the old fashioned glass ones), glockenspiels (somewhat like a xylophone), and baritone saxophones (normal for a band, right?) while dripping them with synth sound...

Artist: dOUBT

Title: Box of Headaches

Label: Johann’s Face Records

Genre: Rock

In the 1990’s, Steve Albini was one of the newest recording engineers in the business to do albums that were done quickly and very inexpensively. This method allowed him to get a true noisy, grungy, and almost straight from the garage sound. Over the years he has worked on thousands of albums for hundreds of bands including Nirvana, The Pixies, Bush, and The Stooges. Just mentioning those names conjure...

Artist: Sound & Shape

Title: The Love Electric EP

Label: Engineer Records

Genre: Progressive Rock

Nashville, Tennessee is a breeding ground for a myriad of artist with a wide range of talents. Sound & Shape is no different in their offering up music they hope will draw in a thinking crowd with their ambient sounds and honest lyrics compiled over pure rock. There are several bands that come to mind in this approach on making an album-Pink Floyd, Yes, and recently The Mars Volta. With ...

Artist: Annabel

Title: Now That We’re Alive

Label: Self-Issued

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 7.7/10

I can honestly say I had never seen a hand sewn cd cover until today. They had me at plaid. That was all it took for me to load this EP into the iPod and take a listen. Ohio (I know firsthand) is not known for producing very many musical artists with much talent; but I think Annabel has added their name to the short list. With Ben Hendricks on guitar, Andy Hendricks on drums, and Scotty Moses ...

Artist: Slightly Stoopid

Title: Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid

Label: Stoopid Records

Genre: Reggae Rock

Rating: 7/10

Sitting on the sunny beaches of California has inspired many musicians to write music of the summer. The sun bathing, surfing, lazing in the sand genre spawned Slightly Stoopid in the mid 1990’s and since then they have blended acoustic rock sensibilities with a reggae overtone. Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid is the...

Artist: Beirut

Title: March of the Zapotec/Realpeople:Holland

Label: Badabing Records

Genre: Folk/Pop/Electronica

Rating: 8.2/10

First there were gypsies, then Parisians, and now Mexicans. Zach Condon, recording under the name Beirut with his small band of musicians, has made his band known worldwide for its truly indie sensibilities with his ukulele and playfully lilting vocals. March of the Zapotec is Condon's take on the Mexican funeral processions he saw while visiting a few yea...

Artist: The Bigger Lights

Title: Fiction Fever

Label: Doghouse Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating: 7.9/10

There are a ton bands floating around the country doing everything from playing in small bars to opening for larger acts in huge venues. The only difference between the majority of those bands and The Bigger Lights is the fact that they can write a very infectious tune. This trio from Virginia is starting out their career in the right way with their bright and powerful debut EP titl...

Artist: Portugal. The Man

Title: Censored Colors

Label: Equal Vision Records 

Genre: Progressive Rock

Rating: 8.2/10

Alaska doesn’t produce a lot of rock musicians and especially ones with a progressive flair. Portugal. The Man produces an excellent record for their third effort, Censored Colors. Some people may have listened in the past and not liked the quirkiness of the band or maybe they didn’t like the fact that their name is actually two sentences. Whatever your nonsense r...

Artist: The Pretty Things

Title: Philippe DeBarge and The Pretty Things

Label: UT Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  9.5/10

The Pretty Things were on a run in 1969. They had released several singles that charted over the past five years in the United Kingdom and Australia, had four albums under their belt, and even had a secret pseudo band called Electric Banana that made stock music for B-rated horror movies. But even with their mild success in their homeland of England and around Europe,...

Artist: The Creepshow

Title: Run For Your Life

Label: Stomp Records

Genre: Rock/HellBilly

Rating: 8.9/10

When it comes to explaining a musical act straight from a 1960’s B-rated horror movie, it is not easy to come up with words to describe such a strange way to make music. The Creepshow have been exploring the pop horror movie scene with their instruments since 2005. Since that time they have carved out a true niche in modern alternative punk niche with their tunes. For their sec...

Artist: The Heartless Bastards

Title: The Mountain

Label: Fat Possum

Genre: Pop/Rock

Rating: 9.4/10

When critical members of a band split, most musical creativity gives way to albums that are less artistic and lack true continuity. Usually after only one additional album, the remaining artist gives up and starts a new project. I’m glad Erika Wennerstrom decided that only a change of scenery would be best to give new life to her band The Heartless Bastards. For her third album, Wen...

Artist: Martha Wainwright

Title: I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too

Label: Zoe Records

Genre: Pop/Rock

Rating: 5.8/10

There will never be a dirth of jazzy, sexy, and sultry women crooning songs about forlorn lost love and love they cannot attain. But, there are not many that can claim such a musical family. Martha’s dad is Loudon Wainwright III, the folk singer and actor mostly known for his work in the sixties and seventies and her brother, Rufus, is well known t...

Title: Hit Mann! Essential Singles 1963-1969
Label: Raven
Genre: Pop/Rock
Rating: 8.4/10

The British Invasion brought a huge influx of music across the pond in the early sixties and infused the United States with an influence that still lasts until this day. The modern pop and rock genres closely follow their roots back to The Beatles, The Who, even Herman’s Hermits; but Manfred Mann somehow has been lost in the vast shuffle. Raven Records is seeking t...

Artist: Head Like a Kite

Title: There is a Loud Laughter Everywhere

Label: Mush

Genre: Electronic Rock

Rating: 6.9/10

Seattle will never have a lack of musical entertainers. The music capital of the northwest cranks out bands and musicians so fast, it’s hard to keep track, let alone, listen to them all. Head Like a Kite has risen from the pile. On his second album, David Einmo has gone forward in his quest for musical nirvana.

Einmo’s first album Random Portraits of the Home Mo...

Artist: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Title: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Label: Slumberland Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Many bands like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart aspire to be like the past in their noisy, do-it-yourself aesthetic. Few can rip the music into a fury and conjugate the sounds into something everyone would want to listen to more than once; but somehow their energy pushes them to forefront of the crowded world.

www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com

Artist: Bowerbirds

Title: Hymns for a Dark Horse

Label: Dead Oceans

Genre: Folk/Pop

Rating: 6.1/10

North Carolina has produced its share of folksy backwoods farmers and hunters who love to pick on guitars around the campfire. Bowerbirds is the latest installment, and they deliver a very good performance on their debut album, Hymns for a Dark Horse.  Phil Moore and company deliver a vast array of melodies using harmonicas, an old accordion, and sleepy violins. Hymns for a Dark Horse ...

Artist: Yoav

Title: Charmed and Strange

Label: The Verve Music Group

Genre: Alternative Rock/Pop

Rating:  6.8/10

After listening to the debut album Charmed and Strange by the artist Yoav, most people will have to check their ears. It’s true; there is no spinning of vinyl or keyboards on this disc. There are no instruments except the acoustic guitar. Using a complex use of loops and different reverb techniques with his six strings and soulful voice, Yoav crafts a very unique sound ...

Artist: The Apes

Title: Ghost Games

Label: Gypsy Eyes Records

Genre: Art Rock/Pop

Rating: 6/10

On Ghost Games, the Washington D.C. quartet, The Apes, give us an odd assortment of artistic musical license from jangly art pop to over use of a moog synthesizer to true rock and roll straight from your next door neighbor’s garage. This fourth effort by The Apes showcases the new talent in lead singer Breck Brunsun who replaced Paul Wiel at the helm. Brunsun guides fans and casual liste...

Artist: Demians

Title: Building an Empire

Label: InsideOut Music

Genre: Progressive Rock

Rating: 7.5/10

The great minds of the French have given humanity many things over the years - modern diplomacy, the model constitution for countries around the world, mustard, mayonnaise, and other condiments- but they have now given us a wonderfully interesting progressive rock quartet, Demians. What started as an individual project for Nicolas Chapel, who sings with a growl here and there and ...

Artist: The Bad Plus

Title: For All I Care

Label: Heads Up International

Genre: Experimental Jazz

Rating:  8.5/10

What do Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Jeff Tweedy, the Bee Gees, Roger Miller, Yes, Heart, and The Flaming Lips have in common? Before you blow a fuse trying to connect this random group, listen to The Bad Plus’s new album For All I Care. The Bad Plus has regularly covered other artist from other genres, but their latest with Wendy Lewis singing lead vocals is a new take on the...

Artist: The Flamin’ Groovies

Title: Groovies Greatest Grooves

Label: Sire/ Rhino

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  9.6/10

The Flamin’ Groovies came to the front of the American music scene at the wrong time and in the wrong place. In an era dominated by hippies wanting their rock and roll to be authentically strung out and psychedelic, The Flamin’ Groovies insisted on playing bluesy rock with the tinges of pop they enjoyed from the British Invasion a few years earlier. The hippie crowd...

Artist: Charles Manson

Title: LIE: The Love and Terror Cult

Label: ESP-Disk

Genre: Folk

Rating:  8/10

If you listen to LIE: The Love and Terror Cult without actually knowing the creative artist, you might like the folk music done by Charles Manson with a little help from his groupies. There were many days tripping on various drugs and jamming along with local musicians in those days trying to score the big record label deal. Some have surmised his lack of success was one of his reas...

Artist: San Kazakgascar

Title: Greetings from Beautiful…

Label: Lather Records

Genre: Folk

With music straight out of a Middle Eastern movie set in 1972, San Kazakgascar puts its strange flavor of quirky music to the test on its album Greetings from Beautiful... The goofy character shows through from the cover art all the way to the lyrics; but there are spots of sunshine poking its rays through to the sunny beach on which this band must play.

www.myspace.com/sankazakgascar

Artist: Pas Chic Chic

Title: Au Contraire

Label: Semprini Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  8/10

Those silly Canadians. At first you think they use English with a funny accent, and then they come out of nowhere with their French. Pas Chic Chic is made up of members from several Montreal bands and delivers on their second full length album, and first on a music label, an odd psychedelic mixture of pop music straight from 1960’s France with Au Contraire.

Since the entire album is su...

Artist: Jeb Loy Nichols

Title: Days Are Mighty

Label: Compass Records

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  6.9/10

Born in Wyoming and being raised in Missouri is an odd way to end up in Wales. Most people have no idea where to find the country of Wales on a globe (HINT: It’s next to England). Maybe the rolling hills of Wales remind Nichols of his home in the Midwestern United States or maybe he is trying to get away from an American ideal. Either way his trips throughout the world have provid...

Artist: Ford and Fitzroy

Title: Canyon

Label: The Cougar Label

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  4/10

Brooklyn has an abundance of bands doing their best to break out with the next big album. Most bands toil for years and years without ever even getting an EP to a record company. Ford and Fitzroy finally found a company willing to put out their full length debut Canyon in The Cougar Label. The Cougar Label discovered them in a practice room at a recording studio and immediately wanted them t...

Artist: The Fray

Title: The Fray

Label: Sony

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  6.4/10

It is very hard for a band to follow up an album that was twice platinum and had singles hit number one all over the world. You can hear songs by The Fray embedded in movies and television. You can hear them while shopping for groceries or while you are sipping your latte at your favorite coffee shop. In short, you cannot escape The Fray four years after their debut How to Save a Life. To follow their debut...

Artist: Vetiver

Title: Tight Knit

Label: Sub Pop

Genre: Folk

Rating:  5.4/10

The state of California has been well known since the early 60’s as a hotbed of the light folk sounds emanating through troubadour bands and experimental songwriters. Working with California’s best such as Devendra Banhart and Vashti Bunyan, Andy Cabic has honed his brand and now is set to release his fourth album for his band Vetiver, titled Tight Knit, under the revered Sub Pop label.

Vetiver’s tru...

Artist: Creaky Boards

Title: Brooklyn Is Love

Label: Self-Released

Genre: Rock/Pop

Rating:  9/10

There is no better way to get publicity for an obscure band than to whip up a fury of accusations against one of the biggest touring acts in the world. Andrew Hoepfner, the lead singer of Creaky Boards, accused Coldplay of stealing the basic tune of his song, ironically titled, “The Songs I Didn’t Write” for their new album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. Since all of Co...

Artist: Bon Iver

Title: Blood Bank EP

Label: Jagjaguwar

Genre: Folk Rock/Pop

Rating:  8/10

There are only so many songs an artist can squeeze onto an album.  Justin Vernon juiced every note and chord out of For Emma, Forever Ago for one of the best crafted album of this decade. This is no small feat since it was also his debut. To follow such a work of art, Vernon has now issued a small four song EP titled Blood Bank to compliment his first work. It is kind of like discovering the s...