Battle of Mice
A Day of Nights
Label: Neurot
Release Date:10/31/2006
It’s already been established on this website that Made Out of Babies/Battle of Mice vocalist Julie Christmas is “awesome”, but let’s explore exactly what inspires such awe. Whether she’s whispering murder conspiracies, singing like the angel of mercy on judgment day or screaming from the deepest realms […]
Sufjan Stevens
The Avalanche
Label: Astmatic Kitty
Release Date:07/11/2006
When I read “Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album” under my copy of Sufjan Steven’s “newest” record, released last July, I was disappointed but excited all over again. We all know who Sufjan Stevens is; we all know we loved “Illinois,” no matter anyone else says. Sufjan, with this […]
Damsel
Distressed
Label: Temporary Residence Ltd.
Release Date:10/24/2006
One thought in all of this: man, that drummer is fast. I know nothing about Damsel but upon hearing the first track, the 11 minute “Enduring Freedom,” I had to get my friends in on this band. We bend and weave through riffing and soloing guitars, insane drum beats and off […]
Righteous Jams
Business as Usual
Label: Abacus Records
Release Date:10/17/2006
What the fuck has happened to hardcore?
Boston’s Righteous Jams dropped their demo in the Summer of 2003, alongside their brother band Dump Truck (later to be Stillborn Records’ “Wrong Side”), both on the coattails of Mental’s sudden success. Madball started getting hyped again around the same time, and I […]
Whitey
Light at the End of the Tunnel Is a Train
Label: Dim Mak
Release Date:10/10/2006
This album is arriving on our shelves from the UK at a time when the American (rock) clubs are filled with this new-wave revival movement - emo-derived, almost totally syncopation free, and seemingly created for the sole purpose of providing the soundtrack for […]
Jóhann Jóhannsson
IBM 1410 – A User’s Manuel
Label: Beggars Group
Release Date:10/24/2006
For those who aren’t in the know, Jóhann Jóhannsson is a composer from Iceland, but it’s much deeper than just that. His newest album is much like the inside of a computer, I know that it works but I have no idea how to explain it. […]
Helm
Grim Harvest
Label: Indecision Records
Release Date:09/26/2006
I don’t fuck around when it comes to this kind of punk. Well, hardcore. Whatever. Metal? I don’t know. All I know is that last Christmas Brad got me a 7″ that Hex put out with some dudes from Champion, Undertow, Ensign, and Ten Yard Fight playing supposedly crusty stuff. […]
Thunderbirds Are Now!
Make History
Label: French Kiss
Release Date:10/03/2006
Thunderbirds Are Now! Swarm across the stage with a million blinking lights strobing the band into stop motion photographs of earnestly self-conscious mouth-on-the-microphone lyricism backed by (much more worthwhile) indie-pop rambunctious noise. This is a soundtrack for the music scene of now, hipster hip shaking and foot tapping […]
Curtains
Calamity
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
Release Date:10/24/2006
A spaghetti western mixed with a dollhouse chamber pop vibe, and a prolific spattering of tongue-in-cheek sonic weirdness, the Curtains album Calamity conjures up a charmingly retro peek into the sitting room of some very talented musicians joking around and winking at one another. Curtains is a band with the ex-bass […]
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Broom
Label: Polyvinyl
Release Date:10/24/2006
After Of Montreal’s show at the Norva this summer, I realized how out of touch I am with indie pop. I had only gone because friend had gotten free tickets to the show and invited me to tag along. I walked in having never actually seen or […]
