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 are actually a frayed-round-the-edges rock trio hailing from Southampton, England. Their debut album, Baby Darling […]

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 than stay with you, but they’re still far more than flavorless background noise. Electronic tribal […]

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 track that earns the aforementioned comparison with its sunny, psychedelic-tasting guitar riffs and heavily reverbed […]

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 Decemberists and Death Cab for Cutie after they've been listening to a lot of latter […]

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 stories to a growing number of older kids, albeit with a wide range of musical […]

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 boys. Luckily for their fans, they reignited the passion and dedication they have had for […]

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 Britpop band making its US debut, tend to start in the club/electronica camp and sprinkle […]

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 in a house in the Catskills, but not just any old house — a haunted […]

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 that tends to get listened to while cooking, or doing yardwork with a boombox playing […]

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 are several characteristics that this indie band share with the Founders of Pop. Akron/Family pulls […]

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 DJ Mousse T's collaboration on "Sex Bomb" from his popular duets album Reload, things may […]

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 contradictory, the best way to define Lee’s style is one of folk-electronica. He often injects […]

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 takes it in all kinds of fascinating directions; ones that perhaps aren’t visible without binoculars. […]

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 disappear before the Sun came up. The story, of course, has evolved into Lucifer as […]

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 a guy with a tight t-shirt and a cowboy hat on a cover, or four […]