Miracle :: Mecury

Miracle’s Mercury is a loving homage to early 80s synth pop, much like Quentin Tarantino’s loving film homages to 70s exploitation films and the entire career of Sam Peckinpah. Like Tarantino, Steve Moore and singer Daniel O’Sullivan have created a debut album that’s steeped in inspiration, all the while never blatantly aping that inspiration. Unlike […]

The Vickers’ “I Don’t Know What It Is”

A few months back I heard this great new psych pop/rock band out of Italy named The Vickers. They play a great mix of classic psych pop. Think a nice mix of Sgt. Pepper and Something Else by The Kinks and you’ll have a good idea of what these guys do. But along with that classic […]

The Flaming Lips :: Peace Sword

Welcome back, heartfelt Wayne Coyne. That’s the first thing that came to my mind as I listened to The Flaming Lips Peace Sword. Sure, it’s songs from and inspired by some lousy movie based on a cultish sci fi book from the 80s called ‘Enders Game’, but that’s not the point. It’s those ideas put […]

Andrew Bird :: I Want to See Pulaski at Night

I’ve seen Andrew Bird live twice in my life. The first time was at the Chicago Opera House back in early 2009. The second time was at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis, IN in the fall of 2009. Both shows were stunning, Bird displaying a mastery of musical art like no other. But both shows […]

Midlake :: Antiphon

So here’s the scoop in case you didn’t know or didn’t really care, Midlake was/is a band from Denton, Texas that was fronted by a guy named Tim Smith. They created strange worlds on their albums that were part renaissance fair and part Ray Bradbury novel. A renaissance fair that took place in another dimension […]

My Bloody Valentine: Live at the Aragon Ballroom

It’s not very often that one gets to see legends on stage. Not only that, but legends as prickly and fussy as a guy named Kevin Shields. A guy that took 22 years to release a follow-up to a record that pretty much helped create a genre. Sure, the argument can be said that Ride […]

Discovered :: Miles Davis’ Pangaea

If you’ve never been to Jazz Record Mart on Illinois St in Chicago, you don’t know what you’re missing friends. It’s a chunk of vinyl history tucked into a small building that if you blinked you’d miss it. I’ve been there three, maybe four times and each time I end up leaving knowing I could’ve […]

Yuck :: Glow & Behold

Yuck dropped one of the most surprising and enjoyable chunks of music nostalgia in 2011 with their debut album. There was plenty to sit back and get reminiscent about on that record. My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Lush, and even bits of Pavement’s DNA were found all over that ratty, scrappy record. But the nice […]

Earthless :: From The Ages

Earthless are like this massive scream of psychedelic squall that came from 40 years ago and is just now making its way to our ears. The music they make is no fuss, stoned, rock n’ roll that fans of Sleep and Cream alike can get lost in. Since 2005 guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton, […]

Porcelain Raft :: Permanent Signal

You know, it’s always kind of a bummer when someone releases a really promising debut only to follow it up with a not so promising sophomore release. It makes me sad, really. All that greatness you enjoyed about that first album just disappears in to the ether as a second album filled with schmaltz and […]