Category CD Reviews

Band of SkullsBaby Darling Doll Face Honey Artist First By Eileen Tilson Never judge a book by its cover, or in this case, a band by its name. Britain’s Band of Skulls are not a bunch of death-metal skeleton-heads. They…

School of Seven Bells Alpinisms Vagrant By Beverly Bryan School of Seven Bells is a welcome refuge from all of the bland pop coming out now. The airy songs on Alpinisms, released last Octobeer, may melt on the tongue rather…

The Delfields Ogres Independent By Chris Homer Listening to Ogres, the newest album from New Jersey’s The Delfields, it is difficult not to compare the band to The Shins. Right away, the group hits you with “A Slippery Slope,” a…

Jeff MerchantCity Makes No Sound By Al Kaufman Imagine crystalline water flowing down a rocky waterfall surrounded by lush greenery on a blue-skied summer's day. Pretty, isn't it? So is Jeff Merchant's music. Merchant's sound is a mix of the…

Bat for LashesTwo SunsAstralwerks By Micah McLain Natasha Khan used to love telling fairy tales to her students as a nursery-school teacher. Things have not changed much; now she simply goes by the name Bat for Lashes and tells her…

CKY Carver CityRoadrunner Records By Eileen Tilson It was only last year that the future for CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) was left uncertain. After a major feud between band mates, there seemed to be no silver lining for these Pennsylvania…

Kava KavaForwardsMidnight Swimming By Al Kaufman Michael Hutchence has been gone for almost 12 years now, but his ability to intertwine pop with club has never been duplicated. While Hutchence leaned more toward his pop tendencies, Kava Kava, a six-piece…

Drug Rug Paint The Fence Invisible Tell All Your Friends Records By Scott Roberts The press release for Paint The Fence Invisible, the second release from Cambridge, Mass.’ Drug Rug, wants you to know that the CD was mostly recorded…

Black Moth Super Rainbow Eating Us Graveface By Noel Wurst Black Moth Super Rainbow is an interesting bunch.  At one’s first listen to their latest offering, Eating Us, it comes across as a fairly “chill” and simple “background worthy” album…

Akron/Family Set ‘em Wild, Set ‘em Free Dead Oceans By Samantha Parvin A friend recently made the claim that Akron/Family is the new Beatles. Coming from a devout Beatles lover, this is quite a bold statement. But in fact, there…

Tom Jones24 HoursS-Curve Records By Leila Regan-Porter Late last fall we were graced with a new Tom Jones record. For the most part, it may have gone unnoticed. Though he has had recent success with "the kids" thanks to his…

The Cranes Are Flying Banging My Head Independent By Chris Homer The musical project of Columbia, S.C. resident Trevor Lee, The Cranes Are Flying presents a unique take on electronica with its second EP Banging My Head. While it sounds…

Megafaun Gather, Form and Fly Hometapes By Julia Reidy Megafaun’s albums feel like a flocking of musical ideas rather than a linear expression of them. Good thing for the Durham, N.C. trio, then, that the migration it has made compositionally…

The Dead Weather Horehound Third Man By Eileen Tilson In Latin, Lucifer means “Day Star” and is linked with pre-Christian story that Lucifer rose early and was the shiniest star in the sky, outshining Jupiter and Saturn, and then would…

Craig Jackson Damn The Roses Green Records By Scott Roberts Proverbially speaking, a book cannot be judged by its cover. The same cannot be said as often or as confidently about judging a CD by its cover. If you see…