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DAN WEISS
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Sacred Bones (2013)
They're just a band, they insist; they didn't realize that a name as authoritative as the Men makes a band look, well, definitive and self-important.
Self-released (2013)
Twenty-two-year-old Mackenzie Scott's homemade music floats somewhere between the cathedral jangle of 10,000 Maniacs and the buzzy churn of EMA.
After a long phone conversation, the last thing I asked Josh Davis, was, if at age 40, he still had something to prove.
Young Money (2012)
Well, now it's official: the title of every record Nicki Minaj ever makes will include the title of every other record she's ever made.
XL Records (2012)
That intersection of punk and prog isn't new, but the prog/punk back-to-basics album is. Enter Titus Andronicus.
Los Angeles, California
When asked to name the best note for a one-note song, of course Britt Daniel is already sitting at a piano.
Omnivore Records (2012)
What if the Beatles didn't have an audience? That's a crude way of putting the seminal talent of Old 97's vs. the size of their cult, a small swatch of rock fans not put off by Rhett Miller's extra-Texan twang and country fans who could stomach Philip Peeples's steamroller rhythms in 1997, when they made this, their Rum Sodomy and the Lash .
Text Records (2012)
Ironically, this patchwork of 12-inch singles is Kieran Hebden's most delectable album-as-album.
Wind-Up (2012)
The most obvious strike against the Real Life Spinal Tap's reunion album (yup, first since 2005) is trying to find an excuse to care about it.
Merge (2012)
Don't let anyone who says every Pavement album is worth owning tell you that you don't need Archers of Loaf's final two albums.
Def Jam (2012)
Life Is Good is the album Illmatic fans have browbeat Nas into making while undervaluing an astounding number of achievements over a dozen "other" albums.
Anticon (2012)
The wondrous character rapper Serengeti is a study in the disparity between the real life a rapper lives and that of his escapist fantasy.
Merge (2012)
Two live shows, mucho B-sides, and the ferocious Beaster EP now all compressed into one gulp could leave even the biggest power-pop fan gasping for air.
Interscope
The only downside of Azealia Banks's mildly slept-on debut EP is that her wildfire YouTube classic "212" was anything but subtle (recall: "I guess that cunt gettin' eaten"), whereas the remaining 13 minutes of music here require more time to sink in than the average Grizzly Bear fan would assume.
Disques Hives (2012)
If there was ever a worry of the Hives maturing— or simply becoming less like the Hives — there isn't anymore.
Fat Possum (2012)
"It's like a fresh start in a new world," El Producto repeats on "Works Every Time," a track on this, his least ambitious record.
Mexican Summer (2012)
It was heartbreaking to see Bethany Cosentino's 2010 full-length debut, Crazy for You, questioned for lacking "overall intelligence."
Downtown/Atlantic (2012)
Holding the torch for unbridled eclecticism when spontaneity was out of style, Santogold — Santi White's out-of-nowhere 2008 debut —was a very good album that nicked from Tegan and Sara, No Doubt, and reggae-rap, and risked typecasting her even as she defied type.
Don Giovanni (2012)
It's nice to know a woman as talented as singer-guitarist Marissa Paternoster was influenced by Our Band Could Be Your Life, despite Kim Gordon being the only woman in it.
Merge
In all of indie rock there's no classic lyric more apt than Archers of Loaf's "Greatest of All Time": "The underground is overcrowded."
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