album reviews

Neil Young Peace Trail (Reprise) Despite his 1980s stylistic wanderings, Neil Young is one of rock’s great dependables. His output is perpetual (Peace Trail is his eighth album in 10 […]

Foxygen Hang (Jagjaguwar) I missed Foxygen’s last show in town: Some proclaimed it amazing; others, a joke. One friend threaded the needle, reporting that frontman Sam France came out blazing […]

Rebel Kind Just For Fools (Urinal Cake) The band name and green-black-yellow-red color scheme may suggest reggae, but Rebel Kind is straight lo-fi from the fertile indie scene of Ypsilanti/Ann […]

Real Numbers Wordless Wonder (Three Dimensional) Minneapolis’ Real Numbers declares its twee intentions from the first moments of “Frank Infatuation,” the leadoff track on Wordless Wonder. Brisk, strummy guitar chords […]

Big Star Complete Third (Omnivore) A legendary band’s most legendary turn. After Big Star’s brilliant 1972 debut, #1 Record, stiffed, co-leader Chris Bell quit, leaving Alex Chilton as the band’s […]

Cluster Kollektion 06: Cluster 1971-1981 (Bureau B) In the ’70s, Cluster’s Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius were part of Germany’s glorious outpouring of synth-based instrumental rock, simultaneously extending ’60s experimentalism […]

Sting 57th & 9th (Interscope) Listening to 57th & 9th is like joining your pretentious, albeit charismatic, uncle in his drawing room for a dram of some unfamiliar cordial. Uncle […]

Wilco Schmilco (dBpm) Wilco has always been a welcome sight, but I’ve never particularly invested much in Jeff Tweedy and his buds—Wilco’s ninth album, Star Wars, came out last year […]