AltWeeklies Wire
When Tristan Prettyman Get So Popular?new
a) Who is this chick? b) Why is she suddenly so insanely popular? c) Why do I have no idea who she is? d) Why does this unfamiliarity make me feel so inadequate?
Philadelphia Weekly |
Caralyn Green |
05-05-2008 |
Reviews
Dizzee Rascal Returns to His Promising Startnew
Maths + English has its flaws -- focusing a little too much, yes, on how much cred Rascal has (or should be seen as having) -- but it mostly serves as a resounding return to form for an oddly voiced rapper.
Dallas Observer |
Pete Freedman |
05-05-2008 |
Reviews
Portishead is Back and More Depressing than Evernew
As a minimalist distillation of the emotional judo that's the band's specialty, Third is an undeniable coup. Beth Gibbons and company have graduated to a new sophistication, conveying with tiny gestures and rough stabs what used to take them long builds and whole songs.
Chicago Reader |
Brian Nemtusak |
05-05-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Third, Portishead
Handmadenew
Yeltsin is still the tight as sardines band that they've always been; they just rock a little harder now.
Eugene Weekly |
Jeremy Ohmes |
05-02-2008 |
Reviews
Colin Meloy Tries His Hand, Er, Voice at Sam Cookenew
The EP is very Colin Meloy, which is exactly why it doesn't really work.
Willamette Week |
Amy McCullogh |
05-01-2008 |
Reviews
Matmos Has Intellectualized its Art to Perfectionnew
What makes Supreme Balloon interesting is that it doesn't sound like a bunch of synths being played by two guys. It sounds like a pirate radio broadcast from a hipster alien art collective, or Sigur Ros shot into the future and brought back to the present to teach us about technology.
Santa Fe Reporter |
Patricia Sauthoff |
05-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Matmos, Supreme Balloon
Music to the Extremenew
Otep's growling third album dances along the knife-blade edge of metalcore and pop, without descending into glammy hair metal.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
05-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: OTEP, The Ascension
Tinker and Playnew
Rather than expanding on the syrupy, big sound the Breeders do so well, on Mountain Battles, they stay in a noncommittal, midtempo zone that fails to engage
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
05-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Mountain Battles, The Breeders
Prepared to Take on All Comersnew
On their second album, the formerly jittery, casual rockers have abandoned some of their tossed-off charm and replaced it with a dire, roaring sound that suits them.
Tucson Weekly |
Michael Petitti |
05-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Tapes 'n Tapes, Walk It Off
Blowing Trees Goes Grandiosenew
They set the bar for themselves pretty high, and on their debut release for the New York-based Glassnote Records, they achieve their objective more often than not.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
04-30-2008 |
Reviews
Portishead Forgets Everything It Knows About Dreadnew
Third feels like an exploratory exercise and a reintroduction rolled into a somewhat flat, frowny package, wrapped in rough burlap. In 2001 or '02 it might have registered as a rudderless junior slump; in 2008, it's just lame.
Baltimore City Paper |
Raymond Cummings |
04-29-2008 |
Reviews
Is Monotonix the Best Live Band?new
Though a studio recording, Monotonix's Drag City debut EP Body Language is best appreciated as a memento of the delirious tumult this band puts on live.
Houston Press |
John Nova Lomax |
04-29-2008 |
Reviews
Does It Offen You, Yeah? Offers Dance Punk Blueprintnew
In a market full of electro-dance outfits, Does It Offend You, Yeah? finds a way to keep it fresh.
Dallas Observer |
Pete Freedman |
04-28-2008 |
Reviews
Murder by Deathnew
By the light of the moon…I’m comin’ home.
Howlin’ all the way…I’m comin’ home. - So begins Red of Tooth and Claw, the latest neo-noir/Peckinpah-soaked/ baroque spaghetti western mini-epic from Indiana’s Murder by Death. Though I feel compelled to admit that I swiped this thing from my editor’s desk primarily due to my all-too-obvious affection for the 1976 murder mystery farce (starring Peter Sellers and Maggie Smith, among others) of the same name, I was nearly as enthused regarding the subtle buzz that the group has been generating since early in the decade as a surprisingly literary alt-country goth outfit. Seriously… think REALLY-early-Bad Seeds Nick Cave in a head-hanging contest with the entirety of the Cure in a frontier-boom saloon. And Tom Waits slumps in the corner, drunkenly lighting a cigar with his own kerosene-soaked pinkie.
Metro Spirit |
Jason Sumerau |
04-27-2008 |
Reviews
The Breeders Make a New Splashnew
The box-office returns of the Pixies reunion apparently roused the sleeping ambition of bassist and Breeders mastermind Kim Deal.
The Memphis Flyer |
Werner Trieschmann |
04-25-2008 |
Reviews
