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CD Reviews

Taken By Trees | East of Eden

Rough Trade (2009)
Truth be told, I get a little crumply whenever I hear of Western indie types going off on East-bound inspirational jaunts.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | September 02, 2009

King Cannibal | Let The Night Roar

Ninja Tune (2009)
King Cannibal is the latest incarnation of the artist formerly known as Zilla, a mixtape prodigy (check the supremely eclectic mid-'00s One Foot in the Fire, One Fist in the Air , if you can track it down) who managed to impress even the jaded Warp Records honchos a few years back.

By: GUSTAVO TURNER | September 02, 2009

Beat Circus | Boy From Black Mountain

Cuneiform (2009)
The subjects of the stories sung on this second installment of Beat Circus's "Weird American Gothic" trilogy attain greater awareness of family, culture, and the world by voyaging across schisms in perception.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 02, 2009

David Bazan | Curse Your Branches

Barsuk (2009)
The "Christian music" tag is still a puzzling cross on David Bazan's back. Sure, he writes a lot about Christianity, but he mostly sticks to its failures in the face of depression, death, and doubt.

By: JAKE COHEN | August 25, 2009

A. A. Bondy | When the Devil's Loose

Fat Possum (2009)
I just don't get most of alt-country — what is it even alting us out of at this point?

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | August 25, 2009

Little Dragon | Machine Dreams

Peacefrog (2009)
Sometime in the not too distant future, we can finally put to rest the endless speculation regarding what machine music will sound like.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | August 25, 2009

Review: Monty Python's Flying Circus: 30 Musical Masterpieces from the Infamous Television Series

DeWolfe (2009)
Such is the legendary status and posthumous influence of the original run of Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBC One in the early '70s that it's easy to forget how low-budget British comedy production was in those days.

By: GUSTAVO TURNER | August 25, 2009

Jay Reatard | Watch Me Fall

Matador (2009)
Jay Reatard is the Lil Wayne of the Memphis garage-rock scene.

By: MIKAEL WOOD | August 25, 2009

Adrian Soiza and Dani Umpi | Dramatica

Los Años Luz (2009)
Uruguay, a small nation often shadowed by neighbors Argentina and Brazil, is home to a thriving music scene that has produced some of the best performers and composers of the "southern cone" of South America.

By: GUSTAVO TURNER | August 19, 2009

Jack Peñate | Everything Is New

XL (2009)
Not everything is new on Everything Is New , this young London singer's sophomore set, but enough is to make you wonder what on earth persuaded Jack Peñate to ditch the ample charms of his terrific debut.

By: MIKAEL WOOD | August 19, 2009

Sally Shapiro | My Guilty Pleasure

Paper Bag (2009)
One of the best things about Disco Romance , the 2007 debut album from Sally Shapiro, was its effortless channeling of the wistful spirit of vintage Italo-disco.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | August 19, 2009

Woody Guthrie | My Dusty Road

Rounder (2009)
The agit-pop songwriter of "This Land Is Your Land," "Going Down the Road," "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Philadelphia Lawyer," and a passel of other bedrock American folk classics carried a business card that identified him as "Woody, Th' Dustiest of the Dustbowlers."

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | August 19, 2009

Yo La Tengo | Popular Songs

Matador (2009)
Yo La Tengo are articulate, thoughtful purveyors of highbrow pop.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | August 19, 2009

Various Artists | Ze 30: Ze Records Story 1979-2009

Strut (2009)
Impromptu dance parties have begun to interrupt the domesticity of my household, and my family would like to thank Strut for supplying the soundtrack.

By: ZETH LUNDY | August 19, 2009

Review: Amanda Blank | I Love You

Downtown (2009)
Like many a party person before her, Philly-based electro-rap filly Amanda Blank wants you to know that she has a sensitive side.

By: MIKAEL WOOD | August 11, 2009

Review: Robert Pollard | Elephant Jokes

Guided By Voices Inc. (2009)
Pollard doesn't care whether you listen to his music. The entire world could be rendered deaf and he'd still put out a half-dozen albums a year, driven by a need to express the twisted melodies and schizophasic lyrics that clutter his brain.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | August 10, 2009

Review: Buffy Sainte-Marie | Running for the Drum

Appleseed (2009)
Recent live appearances by Buffy Sainte-Marie show her, once again, setting herself apart from early colleagues like Joan Baez and Judy Collins.

By: GUSTAVO TURNER | August 10, 2009

Review: Fresh Daily | The Gorgeous Killer in Crimes of Passion

High Water Music (2009)
Despite yielding at least half of contemporary hip-hop's subterranean and major-label kingpins, the New York underground is often overlooked when it comes time to dole out props.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | August 10, 2009

Review: Cobra Starship | Hot Mess

Fueled by Ramen/Decaydance (2009)
Are Cobra Starship's gleeful Day-Glo appropriations and their unbridled enthusiasm really indications of a disparity between intention and expression? Or is their crime simply the meta-mania of their fusion of '80s retro kitsch and '00s celebrity worship? Really, it's neither.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | August 03, 2009

Review: Howling Bells | Radio Wars

Independiente/Nettwerk (2009)
Australian dream-rock dudes (and dudette) toured North America earlier this year with Coldplay — and like Chris Martin's not-so-merry men, Howling Bells on their sophomore album attempt to dress up what might otherwise be a clutch of dour, namby-pamby white-person ditties with all manner of spicy studio-side textures.

By: MIKAEL WOOD | August 03, 2009

Review: Pissed Jeans | King of Jeans

Sub Pop (2009)
Billy Joel told us that the future of Allentown was bleak, but he could never have predicted that out of the decaying Pennsylvania steel mills and a crumbling economy, a sound as ugly and exciting as Pissed Jeans would emerge.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | August 03, 2009