Jan 25, 2012 Music Issue #39 - Best of 2011

Those familiar with the two- to three-minute melodic power pop blasts of Dylan Baldi’s self-titled debut as Cloud Nothings will be mighty surprised by Baldi’s sophomore offering. More

Jan 24, 2012 Music Issue #39 - Best of 2011

To hear First Aid Kit is to undergo a restructuring of what geography means to music. It turns out that the best country-tinged folk album released in 2012 may very well come not from Georgia or the Carolinas or Nebraska or even Washington, but from Sweden. More

Jan 23, 2012 Music Issue #39 - Best of 2011

On sophomore album Something, Chairlift holds tight to their origin as the bastard child of Enya and Tears for Fears—or, if you believe press releases, creators of music for haunted houses. More

Jan 19, 2012 Music Issue #39 - Best of 2011

In Fellini's 81/2, the movie's protagonist, tired of being stuck in traffic, leaves his body and floats over the cars and out toward the sea. Italian musician Mauro Remiddi (who writes and performs as Porcelain Raft) might sympathize. More

Jan 18, 2012 Music Issue #39 - Best of 2011

Welsh singer/songwriter Cate Le Bon opens her latest album CYRK with the jangling, infectious "Falcon Eyed," a carousing rocker that sounds like Nico if she had stuck around with The Velvet Underground long enough to be a part of Loaded. More

Jan 15, 2012 Music Issue #39 - Best of 2011

It's actually kinda disheartening to think that The Big Pink have yet to cross over into chart-bound profitability. It certainly isn't for lack of trying; their ballsy 2009 debut, A Brief History of Love, was so thoroughly packed with confident hooks some writers were almost offended by the duo's perceived arrogance. More

Jan 04, 2012 Music Issue #39 - Best of 2011

It's about time! After a 15 year hiatus, the "classic lineup" of Guided By Voices-Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Greg Demos, and Kevin Fennell—has finally returned to the studio for its first album of new material since 1996's Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. More

Jan 03, 2012 Music Issue #39 - Best of 2011

There have been some mighty strange Christmas albums recorded: Bob Dylan's Christmas In the Heart, Twisted Sister's A Twisted Christmas, and Scott Weiland's recent Most Wonderful Time of the Year come to mind.  More

Dec 19, 2011 Music Web Exclusive

Boris fans are used to left turns, but New Album opener “Flare,” with its hyped-up J-pop plus Mars Volta mall-prog collision, could have them double-checking to make sure this is in fact a Boris album. More