Articles tagged with indie-rock

High Violet

David Coleman — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:32:38 +0100

I didn’t connect with The National’s 2007 breakthrough Boxer at the first time of asking. It wasn’t until I revisited the album after its strong showing in our Top 50 Albums of 2007 feature that I began to understand what a landmark achievement it was. Listening to Boxer now, as I still do on pretty much a monthly basis, I’m struck by how expertly judged it all is.

Stemwinder

Andrew Baer — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:54:59 +0100

Scattershot albums are tricky things. They can be wonderfully harebrained images of broken perfection or they can be spread thin, sinking under their own unfocused weight. They’re rarely anywhere in between, but somehow Rob Padgham’s debut manages to land somewhere in that sparsely inhabited grey area.

Total Life Forever

Ryan Pratt — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 23:05:10 +0100

I’ve never heard Antidotes in full and, as it turns out, I don’t need to. For all intents and purposes of this review, that 2008 record may as well not exist since I’m not even going to blather about contrast and how its brass-addled, white-boy funk has been discarded this go around. It hasn’t.

La La Land

Juan Edgardo Rodriguez — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:34:08 +0100

Parc Avenue, debut album by Montreal trio Plants and Animals, was one of the most remarkable debuts of the last decade, propelled by a young band that had its roots planted on classic rock, yet were contemporary enough to play around with their earthly sensations. They took their time in letting their mostly slow jams develop with ease, executing some of the finest folk-laden acoustic melodies in recent memory, echoing British folk and baroque instrumentation with exactitude.

Junior

Nate Adams — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:31:04 +0100

True story: I had a friend in college who was the worst with women. I mean, just absolutely, mind-fuckingly terrible. It was as if this guy would go out of his way to shoot himself in the foot when it came to meeting ladies. In fact, to this day I can only remember him ever having what could be charitably referred to as a “girlfriend.” Really, she was more of a one-night-stand that he couldn't let go of. You might be surprised to hear that their relationship, such as it was, didn't last more than a month.

Fang Island

Nate Adams — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:20:41 +0100

(Author's Note: This is, far and away, the goofiest review I've written. It is rotten with hyperbole and probably not very good. That being said, I cannot stress enough how excellent Fang Island is. It is not only a must-have record, but a mortal lock for everyone's Top 20 lists at the end of the year. Get this shit today.)

Fang Island's latest album both begins and ends with the sound of fireworks going off. Never in the history of music has an album had a more fitting preamble and epilogue.

The Monitor

Nate Adams — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:26:46 +0100

“I'll write my masterpiece some other day”
-Titus Andronicus from Titus Andronicus off The Airing of Grievances, 2008

Two years removed from its breakout nihilistic indie/punk debut, Titus Andronicus returns with The Monitor, an album that inspires feelings of violence, excitement, despair and righteous vengeance, often all within the same song.

Brutalist Bricks

Gabbie Nirenburg — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:25:49 +0000

Ted Leo's politics are starting to clash with his music. I felt the pangs of heartache last time around, when Living with the Living came out and no songs stood out for me. On the eve of a major political overhaul, Leo lost himself in the shuffle and released a disjointed album of frantic ideology. I hoped that, with the dust settling, his new effort would be more cohesive. I was hungry for a Hearts of Oak redux, and I was disappointed. See, the thing about Ted Leo is that he doesn't do messy very well.

Time To Die

Brett Oronzio — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:23:15 +0100

This time last year, The Dodos were a band to watch. Creating pop songs shrouded in complex fretwork and primal drumming, they made acoustic guitars rock. Surrendering the urgency and hominess of last year’s Visiter, Phil Ek is brought in to produce and fill in the lo-fi spaces with some sheen. Like a waiter bringing you a fresh soda before your first is even half empty and then giving you some artificial sweetener on the side, none of it’s really necessary for this band. Sometimes holes don’t need to be filled. Oh, and the soda is flat and watered down.

Album

David Coleman — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:36:50 +0100

So by now I’m guessing you’ve heard all about Girls. No? Oh come on, where have you been for the past few months? Which hot new band have you been listening to? Ok, a quick recap for the uninitiated – Girls is a San Francisco-based duo comprising Christopher Owens (long hair, languid vocals, Children of God cult background) and Chet “J.R.” White (short hair, bass, er, used to be a chef). Is that enough back-story for you? No?