It’s amazing what a group of four British boys can do with guitars. Arising from a long list of iconic British foursomes whose names begin with “the” — The Clash, The Smiths, The Libertines, to name a few — The Vaccines are the most recent to conquer the landscape of Read More…
Northern Ireland’s three-piece indie rock group Two Door Cinema Club found huge success with their 2010 debut, Tourist History. The band is back with an emotionally deeper yet consistently catchy sophomore album, Beacon. On first listen, Beacon sounds like Tourist History: Part 2 with its abundance of boisterous choruses and Read More…
Radio ads and announcements are often the jabber between songs, the necessary evils that help listeners keep their stations in business. Physical CDs have assumed a similar role in music. If sales are what a band’s spirit is worth in cold, hard cash, then lately, that answer has been: nothing. Read More…
A Thing Called Divine Fits is no ordinary debut — these guys have been around the block a few times. Divine Fits combines the forces of Spoon mastermind Britt Daniel, Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs founding member Dan Boeckner, and New Bomb Turks drummer Sam Brown. The band oozes confidence, Read More…
Describing The Seer is an exquisite challenge. Swans’ follow-up to 2010’s My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky is primal. It’s as if the entire course of human history was recorded, the epochs at once discordant and harmonious with one another, the sounds of industry crashing Read More…
As a band, Yeasayer could be defined by little other than reinvention. From their first two releases, All Hour Cymbals and Odd Blood, the band has evolved each time. While their second album drew criticism for the band’s change from more psychedelic music to poppier sounds, Yeasayer has managed to Read More…
Is Kele Okereke confused? Has he been consumed by his own hipster irony? With the release of Bloc Party’s fourth studio album, the creatively titled Four, it appears the songwriter has lost his touch. After a drawn-out hiatus, the band seems to have forgotten itself. Turning to mismatched influences — Read More…
The intro to the new Insane Clown Posse album, The Mighty Death Pop!, predictably starts with a death. A Juggalo and his lady-friend are standing on a rooftop. After less than a minute of braggadocio, the man takes a running leap off the roof attempting to reach the next building and Read More…
Considering the group’s erratic success in the past, Sixpence None the Richer’s 2012 album Lost in Transition seemed like the perfect opportunity for a strong comeback, but falters in producing a directed effort at gaining widespread popularity. After mild success in the early 1990’s with full Christian pop albums, Fatherless Read More…
It’s been three years since electropop lovelies Passion Pit released a studio album. We’ve heard the band’s upbeat, sickly-sweet synth melodies, and have even delved into some of their “Little Secrets.” It’s hard to listen to their debut album Manners without at least cracking a smile at vocalist Michael Angelakos’ Read More…
