Mercury Rev: The Secret Migration
Sure, Mercury Rev shares the same hot shot producer of The Flaming Lips,
on The Secret Migration. Sure, lead singer Jonathan Donahue was even once a roadie for the Flaming Lips. And sure, Donahue even sings in the same childish wonder of Wayne Coyne, while narrating like Bob Ross, with words of “swirling clouds” and “green forests.” But does that mean that Mercury Rev is a Flaming Lips clone? No way.
Nitty: Player’s Paradise
What Nitty has is a great party album for people to dance and get down to.
Victor Wooten: Soul Circus
Among Grammys with the Flecktones and numerous other awards, he holds the only chair for being named
Gorillaz: Demon Days
Damon Albarn calls Demon Daysa darker album than its predecessor, although it
Jerry Garcia Band : Pure Jerry: Merriweather Post Pavilion, September 1 & 2, 1989
In less than a few short years, the estate of one Jerry Garcia, at least in the vault material department, has upped its commercial status from sleeping giant to roaring juggernaut. This latest, four-disc collection
Ryan Adams : Cold Roses
Appearing with his new band The Cardinals, Ryand Adams gives us a natural, sporadic effort
Nine Inch Nails: With Teeth
With Teeth, the first album in six years from Nine Inch Nails, proves the band name still carries weight. Trent Reznor
Tony Furtado: Bare Bones
Merging the shuffling, lead-footed tales of the red-clay south with progressive songwriting and intricate, modern composition, Tony Furtado has joined peers like Kelly Joe Phelps as a new traditionalist genre bender of the finger-picked Delta blues style.
Doves: Some Cities
Some Cities holds an obvious departure from their prior two epic releases, as the eleven songs feature more live arrangements verse the overdub experiments of Doves past. Songs rooted in soul that haven’t been presented in Doves studio efforts illustrate a ray of country sun over their gray Manchester landscape.
Louis XIV: The Best Little Secrets Are Kept
Can you imagine Louis XIV going on tour with Ween? That would be as politically incorrect a duo as Larry The Cable Guy and Al Franken. On their new CD, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept, Louis XIV is more sexed up than Howard Stern interviewing Jenna Jameson at the Adult Video Awards.
Fischerspooner : Odyssey
Somewhere between The Chemical Brothers and the Pet Shop Boys, Fischerspooner interweave themselves within the Williamsburg art scene with robotic art-pop and ironic techno-melodrama.
Earlimart: Treble and Tremble
While the occasionally fuzzy guitars and heavy drumming on Earlimart
Aqualung: Strange and Beautiful
The “big break” for indie artists these days many times seems to happen after a feature in a Volkswagen commercial or other equivalent hipster car ad.
Love as Laughter: Laughter
Handclaps collide with raunchy guitars and surfboard vocals to create nothing less than a beach party for hippies, mod rockers, and emo kids wearing Chucks. Its pure Subpop.
Ben Folds: Songs for Silverman
After three very strong EPs that were only available online, Ben Folds follows up with a full release that sounds like he put his old band back together, but he hasn