Lloyd Cole - Music in a Foreign Language
The latest album by urbane singer/songwriter Lloyd Cole wouldn’t have been possible a few short years ago, but digital technology now enables artists to create expensive-sounding records on a shoestring budget... read more
Michael Fracasso - A Pocketful of Rain
There’s simply no other voice in pop music like Michael Fracasso’s. Its pure, clarion tone gently but insistently demands your full attention... read more
Of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic
From the acoustic whimsy of The Bedside Drama to the large-scale psychedelic exploration of Coqueliquot Asleep In The Poppies and the concise, lysergic pop-rock gems of Aldhils Arboretum, Of Montreal’s sound has twisted beautifully in a constant flux of evolution and devolution... read more
Joe Jackson Band - Afterlife
When Joe Jackson burst onto the New Wave scene in 1979 with Look Sharp!, his sophisticated songcraft and the turbocharged assault of his three-piece backing band drew inevitable comparisons to Elvis Costello & the Attractions... read more
Sharks and Minnows - The Cost of Living
Indie-rock band Sharks and Minnows transcends its emo roots on The Cost of Living, relocating to the deeper end of the musical pool... read more
Hound Dog Taylor - Release the Hound
It’s 1974 at the Smiling Dog Saloon in Cleveland, Ohio. The small-but-enthusiastic crowd cheers as the emcee announces Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers... read more
At the Close of Every Day
The debut of Dutch songwriters Axel Kabbord and Minco Eggersman, Zalig Zijn De Armen Van Geest (translated as “Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit”) is a luminescent collection of slowly awakening, soothing textures... read more
Radiohead - Com Lag
Radiohead offered listeners a heap of worthy b-sides while releasing singles for its first few albums. Tasty leftovers like “Bishop’s Robes” and “Talk Show Host” continue to inspire audience frenzy at concerts... read more
Yo-Yo Ma - Obrigado Brazil: Live in Concert
The road to Hell is paved with well-intentioned classical “crossover” albums. But here Yo-Yo Ma displays—in a well-paced live recording of material from his two earlier Latin-tinged records... read more
Calexico - Convict Pool
Calexico’s new EP, Convict Pool, encompasses the band’s diverse songbook best as it can in 20 short minutes... read more
Blonde Redhead - Misery Is A Butterfly
Blonde Redhead has often been compared to Sonic Youth, but on Misery Is A Butterfly they’ve forged a new, darkly romantic sound... read more
Steve Forbert - Just Like There's Nothin' to It
Building on 26 years and 10 studio albums since his 1978 debut, Alive on Arrival, Steve Forbert has matured into a canny observer of the human comedy... read more
Raul Malo and Friends- The Nashville Acoustic Sessions
Mavericks frontman Raul Malo downshifts here into a subdued batch of acoustic covers recorded with Nashville session pros Pat Flynn, Rob Ickes and Dave Pomeroy... read more
Mascott - Dreamer's Book
On her third release, Mascott’s Kendall Jane Meade still sounds charmingly vulnerable, and still writes like she’s dotting her verse with unusually romantic British vernacular... read more
Zero 7 - When It Falls
If, like countless others who discovered Zero 7’s debut, Simple Things, you’ve been using it as mood music during “strategic moments” with the opposite sex... read more
The Ladykillers: V/A - The Lady Killers: Music From the Motion Picture
Who says lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice? Once again producer T Bone Burnett has collaborated with filmmakers Joel & Ethan Coen in an effort to invest contemporary cinema with the soulful roots music of a previous age... read more
Jim Lauderdale - Headed For the Hills
Jim Lauderdale has always followed his muse wherever it moseyed. In recent years he’s collaborated with bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley and rootsy jam-band favorites Donna the Buffalo... read more
Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova - One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels
More a collaboration than a split release, with the two bands condensing their rosters into one amazingly tight-sounding amalgam bridging both Bright Eyes’ rousing folk-dramatic style and Neva Dinova’s somnambulistic sadcore... read more
Elf Power - Walking With the Beggar Boys
Athens, Ga.-based Elf Power paints a swath of Mark Bolan’s dark-red rouge across a sunset of psychedelic garage noise... read more
Catie Curtis - Dreaming in Romance Languages
Catie Curtis hasn’t enjoyed the commercial success of Shawn Colvin, but her songs define the term folk-pop just as precisely... read more
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Kim Taylor - Days Like this
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Moon Song
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
David Bazan - Hard To Be
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
