Wilco’s Dark Passenger :: A Ghost Is Born Ten Years Later

I don’t think there’s a more divisive Wilco record than A Ghost Is Born(maybe Wilco(The Album)). It was a record filled with claustrophobic silence, whispered musical intentions, and the sound of numbed pain. It was the record where people asked “What’s going on with Jeff Tweedy’s voice?” Well I asked it, anyways. It felt both […]

Craft Spells :: Nausea

Justin Vallesteros makes music that puts you in a particular place and time. He goes by the band name Craft Spells but like many younger, shy songwriters he’s really the only guy making all that magic and putting it to tape. Idle Labor was Craft Spells debut for the Brooklyn record label Captured Tracks and […]

My Favorite Albums of 2014 So Far…

Hi. I’m currently staying indoors as nature is most certainly trying to kill me. Cottonwood falling like snow in January, mold spores at an all-time high, the sky raining cats…okay, no cats. But all that other crap is real. Trust me. So instead of boo-hooing about my lack of allergen-fighting chromosomes I thought I’d look […]

Alex Calder :: Strange Dreams

The title of Alex Calder’s newest album couldn’t be more accurate. Listening to Strange Dreams is indeed like having a strange dream. The music wobbles and shimmers. It hops along like a hurt animal doped up on narcotics. It’s hallucinogenic demeanor oozes out of the speakers as if some symbiotic creature wanting to meld into […]

Wye Oak :: Shriek

So what do I know about Wye Oak? Well, I know Jenn Wasner has one of those voices you want to hear sing just about anything. It’s a dark and breathy kind of voice. It’s the kind of voice you want to crawl into and take a nap in. There’s an all-knowing maturity in her […]

Mac Demarco :: Salad Days

When I first heard Mac Demarco on Rock And Roll Night Club I felt kind of queasy. It was an uncomfortable feeling, really. Even the album cover with Demarco putting on lipstick put me in mind of Jame Gumb from Silence of the Lambs doing the same thing. You know, right before the tuck and […]

Causa Sui :: Live at Freak Valley

Causa Sui have been putting out true psychedelic rock for almost ten years. In those ten years they’ve transcended the genre into something completely their own. Starting out with a more fuzzed-out stoner rock vibe on their first two records the Denmark natives switched gears on 2008s Summer Sessions, Vol 1-3 by creating more mind-expanding […]

Miles Davis :: Miles at The Fillmore

I’m about 10 minutes into “Paraphernalia” on the recently reissued Miles at The Fillmore and I feel like I’m coming down from some bad trip. Not the kind of trip you’d have with your pals in mom and dad’s basement on a Saturday afternoon. Not a sugar buzz, or LSD. No, like some back alley […]

Jakob Skott :: Amor Fati

Hello. It’s good to be back from my mission to the fourth realm of Garzan. It was a rough flight, flying through the Araucaria Fire, just past the Eastman Oyster and landing near the Omega Oscillator. The native Garzanians call their home planet an “Earth of No Horizon”, which means if you look out […]

The War On Drugs :: Lost in the Dream

I think Adam Granduciel has a lot on his mind. Things that have laid heavy on his shoulders for a couple of years now. You wouldn’t know that at first listen to his excellent new album with The War On Drugs. “Under The Pressure” has an uplift to it that most current artists that would […]