Album Reviews

Conducting from the Grave

When Legends Become Dust

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:22:40

In 2005, Sacramento-based Conducting from the Grave released their debut EP, Trials of the Forsaken. Around the same time in Sac-Town, With Passion, ...more

Nat King Cole

Re: Generations

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:50:08

Fusion cuisine is to modern cooking as mash ups are to modern music. Both are able to combine the old with the new. While some may cringe at the ...more

The Decemberists

The Hazards of Love

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:41:17

Ambitious is one way to describe The Decemberists’ latest album, The Hazards of Love. Concept albums usually walk a delicate line; they either work or ...more

Dent May

The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:50:23

Escapism seems to be the motivation for a lot of would-be musicians. Kids in basements from Ohio to Newcastle desperately want another option besides ...more

War Child presents Heroes

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:06:55

War Child Presents: Heroes benefits children affected by war. It’s written right on the album’s front cover. While one can argue just which children ...more

Watchmen (Soundtrack)

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:37:06

It seems that the silver screen adaptation of the cult graphic novel, Watchmen, has drawn a clear cut line between loyalists who have greeted ...more

Burn Halo

Burn Halo

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:32:07

It may seem like a contradiction on the surface, but ex-Eighteen Visions’ vocalist James Hart simultaneously switches gears and picks up where ...more

Jupiter Rising

The Quiet Hype

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:00:22

It's no surprise that MTV reality shows make use of Jupiter Rising music. The duo's hip-pop sound, a combination of R&B flava and electronic ...more

Peter Bjorn and John

Living Thing

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:38:36

Peter Bjorn and John's whistling "Young Folks" was an inescapable pop gem of 2006, and the new fans who found their way to the Swedish trio's Writer's ...more

Black Lips

200 Million Thousand

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:31:27

Thrashy, jittery, punk-influenced garage rock's on order from the Black Lips, a band known more and more for outré stage antics, but with a serious ...more

Melinda Doolittle

Coming Back to You

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:24:11

The 31-year-old Tennessee singer Melinda Doolittle is often held up as one of American Idol's more gifted rejects; in 2007 she finished in third ...more

These Are Powers

All Aboard Future

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:18:18

Despite its electronic structure, These Are Powers' second full-length release is fleshy and visceral. Anna Barie's repetitive vocals are more a chant ...more

Jim Jones

Pray IV Reign

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:16:30

For Jim Jones, the road to success was one that ran straight through Harlem, but even on the rapper's major label debut (fourth album overall) he ...more

Papa Roach

Metamorphosis

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:10:37

While the nu metal scene and its accompanying quiet-loud and urbanized sound is mostly a thing of the past, and perhaps often sheepishly remembered as ...more

Vetiver

Tight Knit

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:04:53

Songwriter Andy Cabic heads up San Francisco neo-folk band Vetiver, and it's a heady endeavor indeed that he undertakes. Over the course of three ...more

Julie Doiron

I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:46:58

Even with nearly a dozen albums under her belt, plus side projects, 7-inches, and collaborations, Julie Doiron still seems youthful, or perhaps it's ...more

The Prodigy

Invaders Must Die

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:19:37

While I'm sure nine out of ten doctors most certainly do not recommend dosing yourself up on enough X to kill a horse and then jumping feet first into ...more

Brother Ali

The Truth Is Here (CD/DVD)

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:03:47

Is there anyone in hip-hop who knows better the value of an EP than Brother Ali does? While the Minnesota-birthed emcee certainly knows the power of ...more

Mi Ami

Watersports

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:55:53

You need to have an ironclad tolerance for noise, discordance—and we know you're out there—in order to appreciate Mi Ami and Watersports . It's a ...more

MSTRKRFT

Fist of God

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:38:04

There are two ways to look at the MSTRKRFT phenomenon. Either you are one of the mildly post-pubescent fans of North America’s Diet Justice who gets ...more