Godspeed You! Black Emperor : Luciferian Towers

It’s always been difficult for me to describe the listening experience involved with Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Talking about their records as merely collections of songs doesn’t work. Each album is more like a visceral experience. A complex stream of emotions and feelings that come over you. Joy, menace, confusion, resilience, contentment, and chaos are […]

Grizzly Bear : Painted Ruins

Grizzly Bear came out of the great “bands with ‘Bear’ in their name” musical gold rush of the early 2000s. Minus The Bear, Bear in Heaven, Bearnaked Ladies(okay, that’s not a real band.) Grizzly Bear always seemed to have loftier goals. From starting out as just a bedroom project of Ed Droste’s to becoming a […]

Cymbals Eat Guitars : Pretty Years

I can remember hearing “…And The Hazy Sea” for the first time back in 2009 and being completely floored. Cymbals Eat Guitars had created this musical world that encapsulated all those wonderful elements that made the early 90s indie rock movement so magical. Bombastic guitars, quiet moments, tinkling keyboards, wobbly vocals that go from fragile […]

Alex Calder : Strange Dreams

Listening to Alex Calder’s Strange Dreams I had the strongest feeling of deja vu I’ve ever had. It was as if I’d heard the album before. Hell, it was as if I’d written about it in fact. But how could that be? How could I have written a review for an album I’d never heard […]

United Waters :: Sunburner

United Waters’ Sunburner is the sound of a hot apartment in July. With the air conditioner on the fritz the windows are wide open in the blazing afternoon and the sound of the neighborhood seeps in like the humid belches of heat that consume you. In the distance a guy cranks his stereo and blares […]

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 […]