‘B3’ by Placebo
Returning with five-track EP, B3 (their first release of new material since 2009 LP, Battle For the Sun), Placebo offers fans what we love: A surprise gift to tide us over while we wait for the UK alt-rock trio’s 7th studio album to arrive in Spring 2013. Surprise gift or not, truth be told, there...
‘Strange Kind of Focus’ by Time and Energy
Time and Energy, I do applaud you. If there’s one thing that I can say with certainty about Strange Kind of Focus, the sophomore album from this California-based experimental indie rock duo, is this: it’s aptly named. I can’t say that this album is for everyone, or even say that it’s all that accessible, but...
‘No Can Do’ by Ladyhawk
Shots, the 2008 sophomore album from Kelowna-bred, Vancouver-based indie rock outfit Ladyhawk, was one of those albums that changed my life. That’s not hyperbole; like Arcade Fire’s Funeral or The New Pornographers’ Twin Cinema, Shots, to me, is a near-perfect album. (So, you know, no pressure or anything.) Happily, No Can Do, Ladyhawk’s third album...
Reviewed: ‘Love and Regret’ by Cold Showers
Los Angeles–based Cold Showers released their sophomore album Love and Regret last week (full stream below), and to be quite frank—nay blunt—I don’t get it. Every track is written in 4/4 timing, and nearly all of them start in the same formula: Begin with one instrument, play four bars; add another instrument, play four bars,...
‘July Talk’ by July Talk
Here’s something fun: Take a listen to Paper Girl, July Talk’s first single from their forthcoming self-titled debut below, and try to imagine what the Waitsesque-sounding dude looks like… Done? Based on my own experience, I’m guessing whatever you visualized is off — the first frame of the video posted below will reveal just how...
‘Diluvia’ by Freelance Whales
Diluvia, the sophomore album from Queens, NY indie-pop romanticists Freelance Whales is about “the possible survival — or peril — of space-
faring humans and other arguably fantastical scenarios.” With that in mind, it makes sense frontman Judah Dadone (vocals, guitar, banjo, synthesizers) and his fellow Whales Doris Cellar (bass, vocals), Chuck Criss (guitar, synthesizers, vocals),...
‘Colored Emotions’ by Night Moves
Minneapolis-based retro-rock group Night Moves will release their debut album, Colored Emotions, October 16 via Domino, and this is an event I find myself actually counting down to. When I first pressed play on this album and heard the electric guitar, bass and toms of Headlights (the quite mellow first single from the album), I...
‘Cokefloat!’ by PAWS
Cokefloat!, the debut album from the self-described lo-fi-garage-punk-rock group PAWS, won’t disappoint fans of this, errr…these genres. The Scottish three-piece has pulled together 13 tracks from its past two years of writing, and the result is a collection of relatable life experiences. Distorted guitars and raw vocals are signatures of this urgent but under-produced record....
‘Melody’s Echo Chamber’ by Melody’s Echo Chamber
Released today via Fat Possum, the self-titled debut from Melody’s Echo Chamber (full stream below) is the epitome of the much-loved shoegaze sound, which, if I am to be honest, isn’t really my scene. The album has its obvious merits — creative ingenuity, audible dedication and telling honesty — but lacks a definitive, chills-up-the-spine revelatory...