AltWeeklies Wire
Los Tres Reyes: 'Romancing the Past'new

On the surface, the romantic trio/bolero tradition is the ultimate old-fashioned Latin genre that appeals more to corny romantics than those into serious musical chops.
San Antonio Current |
Enrique Lopetegui |
04-13-2012 |
Reviews
Selena: 'Enamorada de ti'new

Is it OK to mess with pre-existing Selena vocal tracks and songs? Should we touch them at all?
San Antonio Current |
Enrique Lopetegui |
04-13-2012 |
Reviews
The Mars Volta: 'Noctourniquet'new

The Mars Volta is back. Back from a three-year hiatus, back from the bad Ouija trip of two albums too full of concept, and back to where they left off with the eerily melodic and sculpted chaos of 2006's Amputechture.
San Antonio Current |
James Courtney |
04-05-2012 |
Reviews
Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (Young Money/Universal Republic)new

The politics of Roman Reloaded are fascinating and bewildering. On the cover, Minaj dons birthday-cake-frosted whiteface. She's Paris Hilton by way of FLCL.
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
04-05-2012 |
Reviews
Whirr: Pipe Dreams (Tee Pee)new

Guitarist Nick Bassett of San Francisco black-metal band Deafheaven has a new, wildly different project, a shoegaze-revivalist sextet called Whirr. This mysterious Bay Area band ambitiously seeks to return rock 'n' roll to the year 1991, when My Bloody Valentine pushed miasmic guitar-pop to its outer limits with the acclaimed Loveless...
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
04-05-2012 |
Reviews
Lost in the Trees' A Church That Fits Our Needsnew

If you've come to get your heartstrings tugged, you won't be disappointed.
Islands: A Sleep and a Forgetting (Anti-)new

Only a heartless pustule or jaundiced cynic would actively cheer for heartbreak. Still, the history of popular music teaches that albums inspired by heartbreak are often a prickly sort of brilliant.
Tucson Weekly |
Michael Petitti |
04-02-2012 |
Reviews
Caltrop's Ten million years and eight minutesnew

When it's exciting, Ten million years is a reminder of the energy to be found at the borders of hard rock and heavy metal. (Holidays for Quince)
Perfume Genius: Put Your Back N 2 Itnew

Out of desperation can come redemption. From challenges that threaten to break us, we learn resilience. Dangerous excess can lead to enlightenment.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
03-26-2012 |
Reviews
Bruce Springsteen: 'Wrecking Ball'new

Election years are good to the Boss. In 1984, he had his best commercial year ever with one of his best albums (Born in the U.S.A.).
San Antonio Current |
Bruce Springsteen |
03-18-2012 |
Reviews
Kaiser Chiefs: 'Start the Revolution Without Me'new

Start The Revolution Without Me is a schizophrenic trip through the hive mind of a band losing sight of itself.
San Antonio Current |
Nicholas Hall |
03-18-2012 |
Reviews
Madi Diaz: Plastic Moonnew

There's something reassuring about the traditional musical values -- catchy vocal melodies, bright hooks, bouncy beats -- that Nashville tunesmith Madi Diaz applies to her chosen form, which is hard to call anything but power-pop.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
03-16-2012 |
Reviews
Tags: madi diaz
Nedry: 'In a Dim Light'new

It's expected that any new electro-pop group is going to produce Portishead comparisons (no one wants to be compared to Moby or The Supreme Beings of Leisure), but Beach House?
San Antonio Current |
Adam Villela Coronado |
03-14-2012 |
Reviews