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Alcian Blue
Self-Titled
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Elephant Stone
CD: $14.98
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Though this CD is Alcian Blues debut full-length, the Washington, DC based group, whose early limited-edition EPs drew favorable comparisons to the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain, have been been around for almost five years,
recording records in their basement and developing an underground fan base both locally and globally. Blending the neo-shoegaze influences from their past releases with the haunting landscapes of early 80s icons like Joy Division/New Order, The Cure, and prime time Depeche Mode, the new sound showcased on Alcian Blue presents a fresh perspective and groundwork for exploration.
Playing Relative Theory July 29. Tix $5 adv.
Genre/Style: Chamber Pop / Shoegaze / Post Punk
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Benevento Russo Duo
Play Pause Stop
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Reincarnate
CD: $13.98
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Sophomore album finds the band delving deeper into their roles as songwriters, eschewing sprawling improvisations of the past for a more focused pop sensibility, while still maintaining the musical wizardry that has audiences gaping in disbelief.
Genre/Style: Rock / Jazz/ Jam
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Aloe Blacc
Shine Through
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Stones Throw
CD: $14.98
| Aloe Blacc, main rapper to SoCal indie hip hop mainstays Emanon offers the soulful side of his multi-tasking recording personality.
Genre/Style: Soul / R&B
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Chromeo
Presents Un Joli Mix Pour Toi
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Eskimo
CD: $17.98
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Originally released in 2005. This is a crazed, disco-funk, genre spanning mix from Canadas sex jammin Chromeo. Featuring classic cuts from Sharon Redd, Jellybean, Herbie Hancock, Warp 9 and even Robert Palmer, this mix picks out divine disco funk oddities.
With Un Joli Mix Pour Toi, Pee Thug and Dave 1 go back to their collective roots with a selection of obscure boogie gems, old school slick 80s funked up pop and solid gold disco nuggets. Artists include Elektrik Funk, Chemise, Michael Jonzun, David Grant, Love Club, The Jets, Kleeer, Daddy Dewdrop, Temper, Total Contrast, Calloway and James Williams.
Genre/Style: Dance / Mix
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CSS
Cansei De Ser Sexy
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Subpop
CD: $13.98
LP: $11.98
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From Brazil CSS is the first South American band Sub Pop has foisted upon the global marketplace. The title is Potuguese for Tired Of Being Sexy and the sound is a thick pulsating thing full of haphazard synths and a come on of call and response that tears down any attempt at posturing. Its equal parts rock manta and throwback into something new transcending boundaries of genre and geography. Its goes full speed into dance territory into the unknown and untouched to emerge all hot and bothered with wild electro rock.
Genre/Style: Rock / Pop
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Cursive
Dorothy at Forty
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Saddle Creek
CD: $4.98
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The bands reemergence after 2003s critically acclaimed The Ugly Organ finds them self-assured and assertive as ever. Rather than retread familiar artistic ground, Cursive has unfurled their most adventurous and accomplished work to date. Happy Hollow is an expansion of the groups trademark discordant swell: dissonant yet distinctively melodic guitar sounds and front man Kashers ever cathartic yowl now mesh and clash with horns, piano, accordion, and other instrumentation. The new songs are marked by a new bounce, a buoyant strut, and a recognition that hey, this is fun.
Playing The Norva Tonight!
Genre/Style: Rock
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Cut Chemist
Audience Listening
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Warner Bros.
CD: $13.98
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The Audience's Listening is evocative of an era when sound enthusiasts put out records for the adventure. Varied, uplifting and unexpected, rooted in hip-hop but leaping into new sonic territory, The Audience's Listening offers musical magic created by the alchemist known as Cut Chemist.
Genre/Style: Hip Hop / Funk
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Ramblin Jack Elliott
I Stand Alone
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Anti
CD: $16.98
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Bob Dylan called him his long lost father. He's a living link to Woody Guthrie, Brownie McGhee, and the beat poets. Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney, Kris Kristoffersen, Bruce Springsteen, and Beck all cite him as an inspiration. Now more than ever Elliot stands alone a crucial reminder of a proud and dying American tradition a self made wayfarer whose fifty plus years of experience resonate in every note he sings. Elliott offers an introspective look back at his career through meditative takes on favorites and untied material.
Genre/Style: Folk / Americana / Roots
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Every Move A Picture
Heart - Weapon
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: V2
CD: $13.98
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This San Francisco four-piece deliver their debut riding on an ever-growing industry and fan buzz. Before they even had a record deal, they had already taped a session for KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic", had their track "Signs Of Life" hammered on BBC Radio 1 and on modern rock station Live 105, played the Reading Festival and Live 105's BFD Festival, toured with The Futureheads, Radio 4, Stellastar, and Electric 6, and played shows with everyone from The Kaiser Chiefs and The Walkmen to Annie and The Rakes. All of this from a self-released EP!
Genre/Style: Rock
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Figurine
Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Plug Research
CD: $13.98 $10.98
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A letter from Jimmy,
In November of 2001, my band Figurine went on a short tour of Germany with Lali Puna. Our label there, Monika, set us up with a driver to get from show to show. She only brought three or four tapes to listen to on the drives, mostly techno. I'd never paid much attention to dance-floor oriented electronic music, but listening to the same tapes over and over again (especially Kompakt's pop-leaning Total 3 and some 7" vinyl on Parfum) while driving through Germany made a giant impression on me. So this record was supposed to be an extra melodic, minimal techno record with some sparse vocals. Instead, my technopop tendencies got the best of me, the songs slowly filled up, and this is what I ended up with. It's called Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake, because that's what I kept chanting to the beat while I worked on the tracks. John Tejada (Palette Recordings, Plug Research) assisted me along the way, adding sounds to some of the songs, helping write and arrange a few, and then mixing everything in the end. Sonya Westcott (Arthur and Yu) sang with me on "55566688833." Morgan Nagler (Whispertown 2000) contributed some lyrics and vocals to "Pretend It's A Race And I'm On Your Side." Erlend Oye (Kings of Convenience, Whitest Boy Alive) sang some words written by designer /animator/poet Geoff McFetridge on "All The Way To China." Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley, Postal Service) sang with me on "You Again." I think that's all you need to know before you listen to the record, hope you like it!
With Love, James Figurine
Genre/Style: Pop / Electro
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Greg Graffin
Cold As The Clay
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Anit
CD: $16.98
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At first listen Graffins record may seem a world apart from his punk rock roots as singer and founding member of Bad Religion. But the classic American music he pays homage to here forms the backbone of Bad Religions epic tales of the young an dthe poor mired in misery poverty and spit. Cold As The Clay honors traditional folk music with original rock composition that draw inspiration from the folk rock of Gram Parsons and Neil Young. His backing band is The Weakerthans and Jolie Holland signs on a few tracks.
Genre/Style: Yaw'ternative
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Kaada
Music for Moviebikers
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Ipecac
CD: $16.98 $10.98
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Norwegian sound artiste Kaada has carved out a niche for himself as a composer who can straddle the fine line between lush compositions and relevant pop music. As evidenced by his third release for Ipecac Recordings, Music for Moviebikers, Kaada provides listeners with serene single-song soundtracks that evoke the emotion of film where none is there to find. There are very little vocals – the main focus remains calm melodies played on exotic instruments. “I've made some of the instruments myself,” explains Kaada. One of them is made of springs and piano strings, which I'm actually hoping to get into production one day. Also I like to personalize devices and make adjustments in my sets of musical tools.”
For his latest, Kaada decided to not go at it alone, but instead, he assembled quite a supporting cast. “The ensemble consists of 22 musicians. There are traditional instruments, like strings, electric guitars, and of course, vocalists. But there are also many strange instruments involved. To get the sounds I wanted, I also had to hire folk musicians from different parts of Europe.” It also turns out that Kaada resisted the temptation to take the easy way out during the recording. “At these times of digital music productions and great software samplers, I find it even more important to actually play the instruments live, instead of programming them. It brings a life, uniqueness and soul to the songs, and it feels so much better to do it the organic way.”
Genre/Style: Post-Rock / Trip-Hop / Experimental
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Robert Earl Keen
Live at Ryman
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Koch
CD: $17.98
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Known as the King of the Texas Music Scene, Robert Earl Keen has been instrumental in developing the sound of Texas Country to a national level of awareness making REK country musics newest sensation. Hot on the heels of his 2005 studio release, Robert Earl Keen delivers Live at the Ryman. Recorded live at Nashvilles historic Ryman Auditorium, Robert Earl Keen delights a packed house with some of his biggest hits and best loved songs. Live at the Ryman offers fans the chance to experience or re-live the energy from a Robert Earl Keen concert.
Genre/Style: Country
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Muse
Black Holes and Revelations
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Warner Bros.
CD: $15.98
Limited Edition Price: $19.98
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Muse takes a bold new step with Black Holes and Revelations, a powerful, upbeat epic album, that takes the band's music to a whole dimension.
Genre/Style: Rock
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Oneida
Happy New Year
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Jagjaguwar
CD: $13.98 $9.98
LP: $11.98
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No band has been so praised for such a wide range of music over the last ten years than Brooklyn's Oneida. Nobody has come close to matching their output of dazzlingly creative, uncategorizable music. Psychedelia, minimalism, maximalism, one-step, infinitewave, blah blah blah blah... it's all there, all the time; and Happy New Year, the band's ten billionth album, is Oneida's zenith. Simultaneously the most eclectic and most coherent album they have yet released, Happy New Year flows flawlessly from a traditional
hymn of grim beauty ("Distress") through hypnotic rounds, thunderous kraut grooves, severe ballads, and other, indescribable music.
Genre/Style: Rock / Experimental / Awesome
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Peaches
Impeach My Bush
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: XL Recordings
CD: $13.98
LP: $17.98
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Peaches is a phenomenon a self made self produced DIY leader of the electro punk movement and mistress of the original dirty lyrical classics. Unique with her minimal pumping beats and loved by true innovators and fans as Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, Bjork, Lil Kim, Kelis. You will be heartened to know she hasnt cleaned up her act on her new release. Guests on this record include Joan Jett and Josh Homme and Feist.
Genre/Style: Electro / Pop
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Brian Poshen
Live In: Nerd Rage
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Relapse
CD: $15.98
LP: $17.98
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Brian Posehn has been on hit sitcoms as Just Shoot Me and Mr Show. Live in: Nerd Rage features 2 music tracks featuring members of Anthrax, Shadows Fall, The Cult, Fight and more. Brian will continue touring as part of the critically acclaimed Comedian of Comedy Tour throughout 2006-2007.
Genre/Style: Comedy / Metal
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Phish
Live in Brooklyn
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Rhino
CD: $23.98
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Live In Brooklyn was recorded on June 17, 2004 at Keyspan Park at Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY. It marked the start of the final Phish tour and was the first date after the emotional news of their breakup was announced. Included on this CD are the two complete sets the band performed that day. Three noodle jammin' discs all together.
Genre/Style: Jam / Hippie / Patchouli
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Shapes & Sizes
Self-Titled
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
CD: $13.98
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From British Columbia come Shapes and Sizes. Theirmelodic pop inhabits a world of beauty noise whispers and elusive contradictory moods where the dynamic of a steam piston gives way to elegiac understatement often within one song. With three of its four members writing for the band their repertoire is one of constant surprise oftern going out on a limb but never falling off.
Genre/Style: Pop
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Sufjan Stevens
The Avalanche : Outtakes and Extras
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
CD: $13.98 $10.98
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These are tracks not used on the Illinois album some songs were finished others werent requiring substantial editing arrangements and or vocals. The centerpiece of course is the title track The Avalanche a song intended for the leading role on Illinois but eventually cut and placed as a bonus track on the vinyl release. Almost every song on Illnois has a counterpart on this outtakes release. In his own modest way Stevens has quietly become the master of micro over six years adn five albums his ornately detailed compositions hols a magnifying glass to the dusty ephemera in his curious scope and intermittently the center creases of his US atlas.
Genre/Style: Pop
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Thom Yorke
The Eraser
Release Date: 07/11/06
Label: XL Recordings
CD: $13.98
LP: $17.98
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Do I even need a gripping introduction to get you hyped on this album? I’d say no. There are few songwriters who have proven themselves as much as our limey friend from Oxford, given the 5 or 6 amazing albums already produced through Radiohead. So let’s get right to it:
Let’s say the producers of Bjork’s Homogenic got ahold of and revamped Amnesiac, told Thom Yorke that it wouldn’t kill him to use some political lyrics from which people can actually glean some meaning, and promised not to call him a little girl if he occasionally sings about love like he did on The Bends. I’m 99% positive without looking at any actual sources that Bjork’s producers didn’t touch this CD, and it doesn’t sound anything like The Bends, but I know exactly what I’m getting at here.The whole foundation of the music is laid with electronic beats and melodies with simple guitar and piano lines woven in (normally into the background). This album could easily sneak by as mediocre due to its relative lack of hooks and Radioheadesque anthems, but the subtlety is what makes it so interesting. Even Yorke’s vocals rarely delve into the fullness of his range or the emotional power of his signature croon, but this style provides the two best attributes of The Eraser:
1. The simplicity of the delivery forces you to focus on the gorgeous little intricacies of the beats and melodies.
2. The very few moments of intensity instantly grab your attention and leap straight into your chest as a direct result of their rarity (See track 8, “Harrowdown Hill.”)
So did Thom need the band? Short Answer: Radiohead is definitely greater than the sum of its parts, but that doesn’t make The Eraser any less wonderful. This is an album that elicits multiple focused listens (which of course requires that you buy it). I shouldn’t even have to write this stupid review. We’re talking Thom here. The man was on an episode of Space Ghost. I’m pretty sure that’s the be-all end-all of art. --James Monaco
Genre/Style: Pop / Electronic
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Growing
Color Wheel
Release Date: 05/09/06
Label: Megablade/Troubleman Ultd
CD: $13.98
LP: $18.98 |
Before I heard Color Wheel, I was already a fan, but this has cemented me as something more. Where they once played drone soundscapes, morphing and melding over each other, they have no broken up the tones, in favor of a multiple loops all playing various rhythms, melodies, and harmonies, bouncing off each other.My first taste of this album, and maybe one of the reasons for my love was when I saw Growing live, opening up for Mogwai. First off, they were the loudest band I have ever seen (which is a good thing, because no one seemed really into their performance and kept up their conversations, because if a band isn’t moving around on stage, they must be boring). They played almost, if not all of Color Wheel, and as a huge Mogwai fan, I will say Growing was much better. I immediately bought the album and the next day played it non-stop. The Shimmering textures, blasts of rhythmic noise, walls of sound, huge syrupy chords kept me mesmerized, and entranced. Even the titles of the albums lend themselves to evoke peaceful imagery (Green Pasture, Blue Angels, and Peace Offering).
This album really stays with me. When I listen to it, I feel calm and relaxed long after it ends. While it is 50 minutes of new texture, melodies and ideas to my ears, when I listen I feel as if I’ve heard this album my whole life, in a comforting kind of way. Just like the best of Brian Eno’s ambient work, this album is interesting and engaging when you want it to be, and unintrusive and soothing when you don’t. Get if or don’t.
Genre/Style: Ambient / Drone
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Minutemen
We Jam Econo
Release Date: 06/27/06
Label: Plexifilm
CD: $19.98 Sale $14.98
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When D. Boon fell out of a tree onto Mike Watt in a San Pedro, CA park in the early 1970s, the 13-year-olds began a friendship, resulting in one of the most unique collaborations in American punk music. After graduating high school, the two Blue Oyster Cult fans met gifted drummer George Hurley and formed The Minutemen, releasing five LPs in four years--including the highly regarded DOUBLE NICKELS ON THE DIME (named as a response to Sammy Hagar's "I Can’t Drive 55"). Too experimental and political for many young punks, they were often spit upon during performances for their jazzy, funky detours. Their growing success was cut short when Boon was killed in an auto accident in December 1985 after completing a tour with R.E.M.
WE JAM ECONO, directed by Tim Irwin, is a touching elegy to the trio. Structured around the remembrances of Watt, who recollects while driving his van around San Pedro, the film includes testimonials from Jello Biafra, Flea, John Doe, Richard Hell, and dozens more friends and followers of the band. With many archival performances capturing the considerable power of the band, Irwin allows those who missed them to see their influential and singular take on American hardcore.
Genre/Style: Punk / Rock / Documentary
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Robot Whales
Vehicle
Release Date: 04/25/06
Label: Collapse
CD: $13.98 Sale $9.98
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From the label that brought you Mind Eraser, Tarpit, and Victim come Jersey’s Robot Whales. Nine tracks of mid-90’s style hardcore picking up where Burn, Undertow, and 108 left off. Guaranteed to be one of 2006’s best hardcore records, I can see fans of Hot Water Music being just as into this diehard Cro-Mags fans. The mid-90’s spirit (and riffage!) is plentiful, but
hints of Turning Point and Into Another keep things from getting to chug-laden. This is hardcore with it’s feet on the ground but it’s head in the clouds; some kids looking to play something different but with the mentality of the bands they grew up loving.
Genre/Style: Punk / Hardcore
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Rye Coalition
Curses
Release Date: 04/18/06
Label: Gern Blandsten
CD: $13.98
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The boys are back with their long awaited fourth full- length Curses, produced by Nirvana drummer / Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl! Kicking out the jams way before American hard rock became fashionable again, this band doesnt follow trends— it destroys them. Curses wields the power of 70s era hard rock, backed up by the volatile modern punk that put Rye Coalition on the map. The guitars are on fire, the bass throbs, and the drums are positively Bonham- esque. Lather on a crazed frontman with a voice like Paul Stanley dipped in bourbon, a sprinkling of sardonic wit, and Rye Coalition is the recipe youre after. Curses is a twelve song bender that crushes the competition!
Genre/Style: Rock / 70's revival / Hair Metal
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The Shoot Horses Don't They
EP
Release Date: 2004
Label: self-released
CD: $6.98
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They shoot Horses Don’t They is an 8 piece band from Vancouver BC Canada. Their startling energetic live shows have won them listeners and even dancers throughout Canada where they have a distinctive noisy oompa sound thanks to a horn section. The band has been compared to the likes of The Danielson Family, Captain Beefheart, and Thinking Fellers Local 242.
Genre/Style: Rock / Pop
/ Experiemental
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Black Angels
Passover
Release Date: 05/09/06
Label: Light in the Attic
CD: $11.98 |
Ten songs, weighing in just shy of an hour of pure bleak hallucinatory pleasure. These songs are crafted with dense waves of reverb, drone and tortured hedonism. They could be the songs of the desert or the fog after a bottle of bourbon. Whatever the case, The Black Angels ARE going to be the band to watch this year.
Genre/Style: Rock / Psychedelic / Drone
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Handsome Family
Last Days of Wonder
Release Date: 06/12/06
Label: Carrot Top
CD: $13.98 Sale $8.98
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The Handsome Family returns with a collection of country folk love songs sung in airports, garbage dumps, drive-thru windows and shark-infested waters. Composer Brett Sarks draws from medieval melody, country-politan string arrangements, tin-pan alley crooners, and dusty hillbilly records to weave together the fabric of this record. Lyricist Rennie Sparks makes magical realism from polar adventure stories, turn-of-the-century electricity wars, pagan hunting songs and her own time spent (like most people) riding up elevators, staring out hotel room windows, and driving interstate
highways.
Genre/Style: Country / Yaw'ternative
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Mar
The Silence
Release Date: 2006
Label: Ring Road
CD: $9.98
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Somewhere between the soft elegance of Sigur Ros, the ominousness of Mogwai and the mesmeric gaze of Slowdive - lies Mar. A few Americans in Iceland, Mar, have an inherent ability to create lush and hypnotic soundscapes, full of hope and promise.
Features Jimmy LaValle Of The Album Leaf and Samuli Kosminen Of Múm
Genre/Style: Post Rock / Ambient
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Milosh
Meme
Release Date: 03/07/06
Label: Plug Research
CD: $13.98 $8.98
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You Make Me Feel, was a work reveling in the joys of new love. Celebrating everything from his girlfriend's taste to her positive presence in his life, it was a great record to make love to. But then they broke up and Meme was recorded in the 12 months after his relationship's collapse, Meme explores all facets of the newly-single male experience: heartache, loneliness, lust, guilt, soul searching, and eventually, romantic rebirth. Says Milosh, "It begins with "It's Over" a song about my breakup with the girl "You Make Me Feel" was about, and ends with "Run Away" about that need to get away from pain, from the dull routine of life, to be in a new place with my new
girlfriend." The truly fascinating and voyeuristic moments, however, happen in-between these two big life changes.
Genre/Style: Pop / Electro
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Radio 4
Enemies Like This
Release Date: 05/18/06
Label: Astralwerks
CD: $12.98 |
Numerous bands took inspiration from the Clash, P.I.L., and Gang of Four, and did something new and inspirational with that post-punk, herky-jerky rollercoaster anthemic style of funk bravado. Take Holland's the Ex, for example: over twenty years after starting as anarchist squatters railing against what sell-outs Gang of Four were, they're infusing their music with new textures borrowed from improvised and African music, and in many ways are more politically relevant than ever. On the other hand, New York-based Radio 4--whose name is borrowed from Public Image Limited and their sound a cleaned- up walk through of the greatest hits of the Clash and Gang of Four-- fail to bring much that is new or interesting to their third album. It makes for decent-enough music to ogle pretty people in slanty haircuts out of the corner of your eyes to, while also trying to get the bartender's attention. But surely there are higher things to aspire to in music, especially when one rather clumsily apes music that was trying to make some sort of a difference. --Mike McGonigal
Genre/Style: Post Punk / Trance Punk
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Feist
Open Season
Sale $9.98 |
Lisa Germano
In Maybe World
Sale $16.98 |
Golden Smog
Another Fine Day
Sale $13.98 |
Helmet
Monochrome
Sale $13.98 |
MSTRKRFT
Looks
Sale $13.98 |
The Bronx
self-titled
Sale $9.98 |
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