Album reviews: Thee Oh Sees, The Amazing, Cool Ghouls
Thee Oh Sees A Weird Exits (Castle Face) Led by John Dwyer, garage-psych wrecking crew Thee Oh Sees has churned out 15 albums, the latest being A Weird Exits. It […]
Album Reviews: William Tyler, The Earls of Leicester, The Moontrotters
William Tyler Modern Country (Merge) A tough one. As a member of Lambchop, guitarist William Tyler helped craft one of the more interesting sounds in alt-rock, a lush mélange replete […]
Album Reviews: Paul Simon, Santigold, The Mild High Club
Paul Simon Stranger to Stranger (Concord) Paul Simon was once called “one of rock’s great lightweights,” though I’d offer “one of lightweight rock’s greats” instead. While Simon has never shown […]
Album review: Radiohead, Betty Davis, Diarrhea Planet
Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool (XL) Gotta admit I haven’t adored Radiohead so much as I’ve admired them. The group has always written harmonically sophisticated rock music without ever sacrificing […]
The return of…
Mark Roebuck The World and All Within (Fear of the Atom) In 1980s Charlottesville, The Deal was a shining power-pop group poised for success: a Musician magazine conferral of “best […]
Album reviews: Glenn Jones, Holger Czukay, Free Pizza
Finding the way Glenn Jones Fleeting (Thrill Jockey) In the early ’90s, as a member of the mostly instrumental group Cul de Sac, Glenn Jones helped point out the possibilities […]
Album reviews: Dungen, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Julianna Barwick
Dungen Allas Sak (Mexican Summer) Dungen, meaning “grove,” is a suitably organic tag for this Swedish band, though its prog-and-folk-inflected psychedelia invokes the cerulean as readily as the sylvan—think early-’70s […]
Album reviews: Parquet Courts, Sonny and the Sunsets, Summer Flake
Parquet Courts Human Performance (Rough Trade) In a “Kids in the Hall” skit, a sarcastic- sounding partygoer struggles to explain that his vocal tone is just a tragic defect, haplessly […]
Album reviews: ’70s reissues
Various artists Studio One Showcase: The Sound of Studio One in the 1970s (Soul Jazz) The venerable Soul Jazz label has done the world yet another solid with this fantastic […]
Album reviews: M. Ward, Bleached, Boogarins
M. Ward More Rain (Merge) He’s covered Louis Armstrong, Daniel Johnston, David Bowie and Bach. He’s recorded Christmas albums with Zooey Deschanel. And for 15 years, M. Ward has also […]