Ticklah vs. Axelrod may not break any new ground, but it’s a solid addition to any dub collection and will certainly be of interest to Antibalas and reggae fans.
Caribou continues a tradition of 1960s-inspired indie music – but where Andorra divulges is in the fact that this album follows the psychedelic tradition of early Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane and others, all while maintaining a strong sense of unusually syncopated, playful sounding melody.
Piper at the Gates of Dawn is almost universally accepted as a great album. Certainly, "Astronomy Domine" is amazing in its own right. The three group compositions in the middle of the album are good, though somewhat underdeveloped, indicators of where Pink Floyd would be headed after Syd Barrett's departure.
riginally released in 1999, M. Ward’s debut, Duet for Guitars #2—which was reissued in July by Merge Records—is certainly a low-key affair. Almost entirely acoustic, with a couple of fuzzy electric tracks and the occasional hint of mandolin and dulcimer, the album drifts from track to track in a near weightless manner.
A lot of bands these days have been rehashing the 80s, but very few of them bring anything particularly new to the table. For me, it's really dull to have your own teenage years spit back to you as if it's new, so it's refreshing to hear a band do something interesting with it. Foreign Born are pretty steeped in the 80s, but they are most definitely not regurgitating it back. Instead, they take that era of post-punk, new-wave and pop, dig back to its influences and come up with their own sound.
Save for a couple pleasing exceptions – "Joker and Clown" and "By the Time I Get Home." – most of this Grand National sounds like Turin Brakes. Either that, or present-day ponderous Electric Soft Parade. Unappealing touchstones. Perhaps most troublesome of all, there are gruesome conga breakdowns that recall Guster. Nice legs on the cover art, though.
Say what you want about the Dave Matthews Band, and their rah rah “Ants Marching,” frat rock clap-a-longs. Stripped to the bone, you’ve got one of the best singer-songwriters around. Live at Radio City is further proof.
lay It as It Lays is a light bluesy rock album with touches of country, folk, soul and even gospel, but the whole thing is really just a vehicle for her voice with it's nice movement, mild rasp and country twang.
if Elliott Smith was the front-man for your band, they’d surely sound like Earlimart’s bag of introspective indie pop bliss. On their follow-up to 2004’s critically acclaimed Treble & Tremble, L.A.’s Earlimart revamp their ELO meets west coast indie on Mentor Tormentor.
Released in 1970 to fill the gap between Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On, Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits compiles many of the top tracks from the band's early years. While every song on this album is also contained on the later Anthology release along with selections from their later catalog, this is in most ways a superior album.
