AltWeeklies Wire
Breakthrough Record: Backyard Tire Fire's 'Good to Be'new
An all-too-common trap for Americana bands is to lay down an easy beat and dial in some twang. Backyard Tire Fire settles in miles away from that cookie-cutter approach, mixing barreling roadhouse rockers with lean, catchy, soulful tunes.
Tucson Weekly |
Eric Swedlund |
03-25-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Backyard Tire Fire, Good to Be
The Tradition of Essential Music That's as Mechanized as it is Carnalnew
I hate electronic music that's devoid of any humanity; the best electronica reframes human experience in a compelling way. Think Tricky's derelict spacecraft love ballads on 1995's Maxinquaye.
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
03-17-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Causers of This, Toro Y Moi
Xiu Xiu's Albums Have Never Been Anything Less than Subversivenew
Xiu Xiu's seventh album of new material is among its best, embracing synth pop and avant-garde noisemaking more than ever.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
03-17-2010 |
Reviews
Good Background Music: Efterklant's 'Magic Chairs'new
If Denmark exists primarily in the imagination of Hamlet's "unweeded garden" of "things rank and gross in nature," then Efterklang is here to put a shiny veneer over those dark currents.
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
03-17-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Magic Chairs, Efterklang
'My Primitive Joy,' by Michael Tarboxnew
My Primitive Joy's songs are minimal, and almost entirely acoustic; the resulting album, recorded in Nashville, is pleasantly spacious. On the title track, Jimmy Clark's pedal steel weaves meltingly between two-and-four snare drums as Tarbox's lazy guitar strums.
Dig Boston |
Eli Badra |
03-17-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Michael Tarbox, My Primitive Joy
'Plastic Beach,' From Gorillaznew
Gorillaz’ first album in five years is neither light nor easily digestible. It has hooks, but none as immediate as past Gorillaz hits Feel Good Inc. or 19-2000.
NOW Magazine |
Richard Trapunski |
03-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Plastic Beach, Gorillaz
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's 'Beat the Devil's Tattoo'new
In case your faith in Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was traumatically shaken by their courageous but thoroughly unlistenable 2008 experimental instro album The Effects Of 333, you’ll be relieved that BRMC are once again revving their rock ’n’ roll engines.
NOW Magazine |
Jason Keller |
03-12-2010 |
Reviews
Laura Veirs Gets Excited for Summernew
Classic finger-picking and Laura Veirs' girly vocals characterize the feather-light songs she's written about sweet summer days on her seventh album, July Flame.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Amber Schadewald |
03-10-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: July Flame, laura veirs
How Dancing Desert Stars Informed YACHT's New Albumnew
“YACHT is not a cult,” reads the mission statement of the electronically inclined Portland, Oregon pop duo, who perhaps protest too much. They have a philosophy, a belief system, followers, mystical symbols, a grand council (the YACHT Trust) and a work method that involves trance states
Montreal Mirror |
Lorraine Carpenter |
03-07-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: YACHT, See Mystery Lights
Xiu Xiu Pulls Off the Theatrical, Self-Loathing Thing Pretty Wellnew
Look past the twittering electronic blips and beeps on Xiu Xiu’s latest record and you find some pretty heavy, caked-on, manic-depressive drama (not to mention just plain batshit-crazy weirdness).
The Inlander |
Leah Sottile |
03-05-2010 |
Reviews
The Fidgety Sound, the Sudden Change-Ups: This is Why You Love Quasinew
The fidgety sound, the sudden change-ups: This is why you love Quasi.
The Inlander |
Leah Sottile |
03-05-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: American Gong, Quasi
The Static Minds' 'Rich Girl Blues'new
Here, on the debut 7" from Raleigh quartet The Static Minds, there are two. A-side reasoning: She's too busy being rich and, memorably put, "dying in her own bad taste." B-side reasoning: She's too busy being a bore.
Tags: Rich Girl Blues, The Static Minds
Hayward Williams' Songs From a Long Winternew
Milwaukee’s harsh winters take a well-documented toll on us physically, numbing our limbs, wearing out our backs and testing our immune systems. They can be just as rough on us psychologically. Singer-songwriter Hayward Williams’ latest album was born of this annual seclusion.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
02-26-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Cotton Bell, Hayward Williams
Muted Melancholy: Tindersticks' 'Falling Down a Mountain'new
After 18 years of releasing elegantly dark mood music, Tindersticks sound happier than ever. The slow-dance Keep You Beautiful is an enchanting love song that comes off as a tender lullaby, and the R&B-flavored Harmony Around My Table shuffles appealingly along.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
02-24-2010 |
Reviews
Slacker's 'Start a New Life' Has a Backstory Worth Tellingnew
Shem McCauley burned out of progressive house and club remixes, then packed up and disappeared in Bangkok. Two years later, he emerges with a release for the ages.
Dig Boston |
David Day |
02-24-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Slacker, Start a New Life
