May 24, 2012 Music Issue #41 - Yeasayer

San Francisco's all-femme post-punk trio returns with a third album, the first on their very own record label. More

May 23, 2012 Music Web Exclusive

Over their last two albums, Rich Machin and Ian Glover of Soulsavers have created epic soundscapes of emotion, filled out by guest singers who penned lyrics and sang to Machin and Glover's compositions. More

May 23, 2012 Music Web Exclusive

Ursprung is a new studio project from German electronic music producer/DJ Hendrik Weber, aka Pantha du Prince, and Stephan Abry of Workshop. Where this pair's creative leanings typically involve electronic music, Ursprung places the guitar at its center. More

May 22, 2012 Music Web Exclusive

Here's more plodding, plaintive, Pacific Northwest pabulum from Phil Elverum. This is the first of two full-lengths lined up to be released this year, both recorded in his new studio, a repurposed church in Anacortes, WA. More

May 21, 2012 Music Web Exclusive

Alexander Tucker's second Thrill Jockey release exhibits a continued lean toward brainy Anglo-pop, although it's most certainly still infused with his avant-garde past. More

May 21, 2012 Music Web Exclusive

One of the many frustrating things about Norah Jones is what appears to be a total unwillingness to push herself beyond her lyrical and vocal comfort zones. She's a gifted vocalist, a good-enough pianist, and a gracious performer, and yet—without exception—her first four studio albums sound like one long, tiresome song. More

May 17, 2012 Music Web Exclusive

In the drought since their last full-length album Bleed Like Me was released in 2005, Garbage has left fans reeling from quite a seven-year itch. It's not that the members (Shirley Manson, Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker) had gone into creative hibernation-Vig was busy producing, taking home a Grammy for Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown; Manson was acting out with a leading role in the short-lived TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles when not working on her yet-to-be-released solo album; and the band itself released a greatest hits compilation Absolute Garbage in 2007 to quell the pressure for new music amid an indefinite hiatus. More

May 17, 2012 Music Web Exclusive

Justin Paul Vallesteros has been studying his Radio Dept. How else do you explain the (very) subtle expansion of sound on Craft Spells' new EP Gallery? Embracing a floaty aesthetic not unlike the Swedish dream pop band's, Vallesteros and his cohorts seem to glide through six tracks, concerning themselves with (in no particular order), girls, loneliness, summer days—or, often, all of the above. More

May 16, 2012 Music Web Exclusive

Montréal-based DJ and electronic wizard Michael Silver (stage name CFCF) was once primarily associated with his remix work on tracks by the likes of Sally Shapiro, Crystal Castles, Azari & III, and tons of others. Of late, though, he's been slowly building on his own catalogue of gorgeous, synth-based atmospheric mood music, the best installment of which remains his 2009 full-length debut, Continent More