Ezra Furman: The Year of No Returning

When Ezra Furman and the Harpoons’ first record came out, there was a good argument to be made that the scene could actually use a dead-on Violent Femmes doppelganger. In a scene with a lot of yelp, to have the brand of yelp that comes with a blistering sense of humor and vaguely pervy garage-rock abandon was a good palate cleanser and a nice antidote to the last decades’ raft of monochromatic Englishmen in tight jeans. Years later, though, Furman has the sense to branch out and try to seek his own less referential voice and broaden his sonic palette.  read more

Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral

Careful fans of modern indie rock probably think they know Mark Lanegan fairly well. Better, even, than the Screaming Trees from whence he once came. Latter day Lanegan, the guttural purveyor of dark night of the soul music, the voice of swamp wind on a muddy graveyard, the sin-stoked demon growl that howitzers through the weird holes Isobell Campbell, Greg Dulli or Josh Homme leave for him in their music together.  read more

Chuck Prophet: Temple Beautiful

Not since Lou Reed paid homage to the city and era that forged him with New York has there been a song cycle dedicated to a place and reality that offers the core immediacy with the thump, churn and ferocity of Chuck Prophet’s Temple Beautiful. A stripped down rock & roll record - where the drums pump and echo, guitars slash and buzz and horns squawk like geese with rhythm - the former wunderkind of progressive cosmic cowboys Green On Red bristles with an intensity that makes great rock burn.  read more

Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom

Neil Young once said if you live long enough, you’ll be so far behind the times that eventually things will come around and you’ll be on the cutting edge again. He could have been talking about his pal, Paul McCartney.  read more

Bahamas: Barchords

If you expect a guy called Bahamas to make laid-back, tropical music, you’d be half-right. On Barchords, Bahamas (or Afie Jurvanen, as his mamma calls him) crafts a collection of light, sometimes even breezy tracks infused with blues (“Lost in the Light”), pop (“Your Sweet Touch”) and country (“Any Other Way”). Oddly, one of the most notable things about Barchords is how much silence it contains. In an effort to create space for the songs’ sentiments, Jurvanen has taken quite the stripped-down approach to instrumentation, favoring vocals high in the mix and at times leaving long moments of silence between...  read more

Air: Le Voyage dans la Lune

What marriage of film and music could be more perfect? Evidence: Air, the pioneering ambient French duo, released a debut album called Moon Safari way back in 1998. Ever since, they've reveled in an assortment of soundtrack work, spicing up the acclaimed projects of director Sofia Coppola (Just imagine the masterful Lost in Translation without "Alone in Kyoto.")   read more

of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks

Paralytic Stalks, the eleventh album by Athens, GA-based of Montreal, does not suffer from lack of ambition. The length — just under an hour for nine songs, the first five of which take up only twenty minutes — gives the band's centrifuge, Kevin Barnes, ample time to stretch his musical legs, and stretch he does.  read more

Sharon Van Etten: Tramp

For most of these 47 minutes, Van Etten's right there with you—whispering her tortured lullabies into your ear in the most intimate way possible. More than just about any high-profile indie-rock release in recent memory, Tramp feels like an artful exchange, a private conversation between artist and listener.  read more

Ben Kweller: Go Fly a Kite

Kweller infuses just enough smattering of symbol-crashing alt-country to keep from sounding exactly like Paul McCartney fronting Fountains of Wayne.  read more

Dr. Dog: Be The Void

Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog has been churning out jangly, earnest pop with a less-than-subtle nod to classic influences such as Neil Young, The Band, The Beach Boys, etc. for six records. And on its seventh, it seems, they seem content to continue down that same path.  read more

Ruthie Foster: Let It Burn

When you call Grammy-winning producer John Chelew, the man behind John Hiatt’s career-resurrecting Bring The Family, you’ve got to want to be real. Thankfully, Ruthie Foster - also a Grammy nominee for the blues - knows no other way.  read more

pacificUV: Weekends

If each person moves through the world at their own speed, then pacificUV’s Clay Jordan and Howard Hudson operate at a decidedly slow tempo. The Athens, Ga., dreampop outfit have released only three studio LPs in eight years -- each offering features various droning walls of sound, but the two have managed to imbue every album with their own distinct style.  read more

Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas

Anyone who was hoping that Old Ideas, the long awaited new studio album from Leonard Cohen would reveal a poet who finally realized that the glass might be half full after all, will be sorely disappointed with these ten new songs. The rest of us who harbor no such expectations or illusions are in for a treat as the Montreal singer’s newest collection is - hands down - his best studio album since I’m Your Man came out in 1988.  read more

Lana Del Rey: Born to Die

Let’s table opinions for a few paragraphs and talk about facts. It’s a fact that I’ve played Lana Del Rey’s songs 58 times this week and 76 times this month. It’s a fact that I’ve caught myself singing or humming several tunes off Born to Die during this period. In the shower: “Light of your life/ Fire of your loins/ Tell me you want me/ Give me them coins.” Making toast: “Diet Mountain Dew/ Baby New York City/ Never was there ever a girl so pretty/ Do you think we’ll be in love forever? Do you think we’ll be in...  read more

Foxy Shazam: The Church of Rock & Roll

Foxy Shazam is a band best enjoyed loud. And raucous. And slightly insulting, like when frontman Eric Nally proclaims, “That’s the biggest black ass I’ve ever seen and I like it.”   read more

Cloud Nothings: Attack On Memory

It’s hard to avoid reading too much into a record cover when its name is proudly proclaiming an Attack on Memory. It also helps that the 2012 version of Cloud Nothings sounds a lot less like 2011. What was once bittersweet and charmingly affected is now atonal, strung-out and stuck in a dour mood. Downward-spiral guitars, roomy drums, a voice summoned from the depths of Dylan Baldi’s core. Naturally he booked the omnipresent Steve Albini to work behind the boards, essentially the perfect person to snag the ragged noise the band was aiming. When Baldi was asked if we ought...  read more

Lost Lander: DRRT

It’s amazing how often production value is overlooked when considering an artist’s musical output. In the case of Portland’s Lost Lander and their debut LP DRRT it’s impossible not to address it—the production is as palpable as the vocals. It literally becomes another instrument.   read more

Craig Finn: Clear Heart Full Eyes

Clear Heart Full Eyes, an album title more sincere than it might appear, features many of the same themes and imagery that Finn might supply for his main outlet, but it's not a redundant listen.  read more

Rodrigo y Gabriela: Area 52

Rodrigo y Gabriela has expanded from two fast-paced guitar maestros to a composition of an expansive sound that includes a 13-piece band called C.U.B.A. on their latest studio album Area 52. While they were once able to be considered an easy-listening duo, this latest album pushed the duo into the realm of a salsa club with even faster paced rhythms and Cuban influenced beats.  read more

Laura Gibson: La Grande

It's no mystery—you don't name your new album _La Grande_ unless you plan on expanding your sonic palette. Nor do you enlist a virtual who's who of veteran overdub buddies (The Dodos, Calexico's Joey Burns, two Decemberists). On her first handful of releases, Oregon-based folkie Laura Gibson has made a career out of barely playing, with a lonesome country-jazz voice that floats softly, like a ghost through a windowpane.   read more