AltWeeklies Wire
You May Think the Idea of Box Sets is Passé... Until You See These Releasesnew
Given file-sharing and the growing number of digital-download Web sites, both legal and otherwise, owning a bunch of music by one artist on several CDs in a cardboard box (no matter how cool the graphics and extras) is so old-school.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
Devendra Banhart: 'What Will We Be'new
After making the transition from his early ramshackle folk into the bombastic shape-shifting of 2007's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, Devendra Banhart attempts here to appropriate his entire career, with mixed results.
Tucson Weekly |
Michael Petitti |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: What Will We Be, Devendra Banhart
Cold Cave: 'Love Comes Close'new
On Cold Cave's debut, the music works as minimalist dance pop, but everything about the way it's contextualized is awful. The title song, essentially a morbid exaltation of love and death set to disco beats, nicely distills the band's lack of imagination.
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
Reviewed: 'The State vs. Radric Davis' by Atlanta MC Gucci Manenew
Many have tried, but no other rapper quite matches Gucci’s reckless bravado and goofy charm. He’s got an uncanny ability to make light of the dazzling, chaotic storm that is his life.
Washington City Paper |
Ben Westhoff |
12-10-2009 |
Reviews
'Chinese Democracy,' the New Guns N' Roses Album: Not Badnew
It seems like thousands of truly twisted guitar solos decorate the riffs, attacking from all angles as Chinese Democracy's songs twist, break down and morph. Even the album's bad parts boast something interesting.
Converge Reaches for Diversitynew
Axe to Fall aims to recapture a bit of the profoundly alien sensibility and weird terror that consistently puts 2001's Jane Doe at the top of any metalhead/punker's desert-island disc list.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
12-02-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Axe To Fall, Converge
Quiet, Melancholy Moods of Orenda Finknew
Now based in Los Angeles, the ex-Azure Ray singer/guitarist recorded her second solo full-length in her old basement in Omaha, Neb., and the modest 8-track approach doesn't hurt the sonic quality.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
12-02-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Ask the Night, Orenda Fink
Yellow Fever's Retro Beach-Blanket Partynew
This little duo from Austin, Texas, is all about reviving the spirit of stripped-down, '60s California garage on their debut.
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
12-02-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Yellow Fever
Undeniably Listenable Weezernew
Even if you've always found Weezer irksome, you can't deny the pleasures of Raditude.
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
12-02-2009 |
Reviews
New Vistas Ahead for Rammsteinnew
With its sixth studio album, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, Berlin's Rammstein once again delves into a morbid sonic realm of disaffection, chaos and torture with 11 industrial-metal tracks.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
12-02-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, Rammstein
Found: Betty Davis' Lost Masterpiecenew
Davis railed against the male-dominated industry, while playing the come-hither, power-wielding goddess who stirs libidos everywhere. Far ahead of the social norms, Davis presented herself unflinchingly as a complex black woman who could not be held down.
Tags: Is It Love or Desire, Betty Davis
Wolfmother's Retro-Hard-Rock Proficiency Continues on 'Cosmic Egg'new
It's a record more steeped in romanticism than the band's eponymous debut, which had a lot of metal-schlock (unicorns, witches, ancient monoliths).
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
11-18-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Cosmic Egg, Wolfmother
With Neon Indian, 21-Year-Old Alan Palomo Makes Roots-Pop for the Internet Agenew
Psychic Chasms explores a landscape of romantic loss and betrayal rendered as authentically as any acoustic pop ballad. Still, the sonic diversity of that landscape stretches, mashes and digs beyond the known universe.
Tucson Weekly |
Linda Ray |
11-18-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Neon Indian, Psychic Chasms
The Melvins' Remix Record 'Chicken Switch' Breaks Every Rulenew
Chicken Switch is ideal for Día de los Muertos with highlights such as Merzbow's "SNOW REM REM IBVZ," which starts out sounding like a midnight game of goblin croquet and ends up hissing in the manner of an Atari 2600 console dropped from a tall building then plugged into a broken Zenith.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
11-11-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Chicken Switch, Melvins
Headlights Combines Electronica, Chamber-Folk and Drone-Popnew
Wildlife feels spacious, with an emphasis on concise melodies and building momentum.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
11-11-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Headlights, Wildlife
