Rachel HelmThe past few years of mellow European albums show the poorly-executed experimental turn that melodic pop has taken. Replacing the simple, guitar-accompanied vocals of bands like Death Cab for Cutie are the synthesized sounds of Phoenix and nameless...
Peter WoodburnThe Satanic Satanist is a heart-warming pop effort that also relies on one's ability to connect with the softness and imagery of Gourley's lyrics. Interspersed also are more "nerdy" things -- covert as they may be -- that are inspired by...
Greg HealeyA good way to see if a label’s music matches your tastes is to check out a sampler they’ve released, and 23 Seconds’ A Shortcut Past The Fear compilation album is certainly worth a click. Available from the label website as a free...
Ryan PangilinanInto It. Over It’s mastermind, Evan Thomas Weiss, is a member of Damiera and played in Up Up Down Down, a band that I consider one of the most underrated power-pop bands of all time. With that in mind, I expected some good songs, but was a bit...
Karla HernandezIf Aim And Ignite, the debut album by fun., was a character in a play, it would be the type of person that exaggerates every emotion. When that person is sad, he/she is really down in the dumps. When the person is happy, he/she skips around and does...
The instrumental, post-rock landscape is a bit crowded as of late. But in just three albums, the Chicago/Seattle trio Russian Circles have cemented themselves at the top, and this fact is readily apparent in their fantastic new album, Geneva...
Holy crap, this is lo-fi! The self-titled release from the trio Okie Dokie sounds like it was recorded in a human-sized garbage disposal unit. Somehow, that description is doing the sound quality a favor as well. This EP is a short-as-hell blast of...
Qichen ZhangSure, Canada gave the world Broken Social Scene, but analogously speaking, Canada may be to the crowd of Crystal Castles fans what the last decade of Sub Pop releases is to modern hipsterdom. Although both seemed to harbor the potential to redefine...