Ryan PangilinanWhat’s in a name? Well, if you have a great name like, let’s say, The Beatles or Fucked Up, it can lead you a place of legend, hearsay, and an always welcome presence on Fox TV. This Time Next Year apes their name from an old song by The...
Vee Hua 華婷婷Eskimo Snow is an album full of what I would call “unseeming pop songs.” WHY? have managed to craft an album of songs that aren’t particularly graceful or classically poppy, but somehow, it works. A couple lines from this song or...
The last time REDEFINE checked in with Let Go, they had released their Bleed Americant-esque album on The Militia Group. Now, they’re back with the Story Changes and a neat little split EP called Analogies. I don’t know what happened...
Wes AndrewsWith Setting The Paces, BOAT has written an album that slots into my demographic with an almost startling precision. Did you spend your mid-to-late-twenties in the Pacific Northwest? How about a wannabe Northwest town like Madison, Wisconsin? If you...
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...
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...