Paul McCartney's collaboration with producer and founding member of Killing Joke Youth began as an electronic experiment in the early '90s. Their first two releases, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (1993) and Rushes (1998) were largely instrumental experiments, unacknowledged by McCartney himself. This year's Electric Arguments is a different beast - coming on the heels of McCartney's departure from Starbucks' Hear Music label, as well as a brutal public divorce, the album is direct in ways that restores our faith in rock monoliths. The first Fireman album in ten years, its songs are punchy, rockin' and out, paying subtle homage to everyone from Tom Waits ("Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight") to Brian Eno ("Lovers In a Dream"). ...

Four Tet/Fridge mastermind Kieran Hebden and legendary jazz drummer Steve Reid might seem like an unlikely duo, but one listen to their new album demonstrates their musical kinship. NYC is a six song love letter to the capital of the world, focused on the city's energy, moods and sounds....

When Arthur Russell died of AIDS in 1992, he left he partner, Tom Lee, with over 1,000 tapes of unfinished songs. For those that knew him, this isn't a surprise at all....

Nothing Happens for a Reason brings the young band into a much bigger space. They're still confidently mixing elements of big-room emo with more subdued indie-pop (the comparisons to Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab for Cutie aren't without warrant), but they've also warmed up to some heavier territories, revealing influence by bands like Explosions in the Sky and Sigur Ros....

Department of Eagles was started by Daniel Rossen and his college friend Fred Nicolaus before the former joined Grizzly Bear, and this collection of songs is as whole as any of GB's full-lengths, maybe more so....

Ray Raposa decided to record his next Castanets album -- the fourth full length for Asthmatic Kitty -- in a small Nevada town last year while on the road. Hunkering down in a locally owned motel in a no-stoplight town just north of Vegas, he proceeded to write the fifteen songs that wound up City of Refuge with minimal input from the outside world....

Though originally slated for release in 2001 Gift of Screws is finally out, though its parts are very different from the original version. Most of the tracks from 2001's album (never released on Reprise) wound up on 2006's Under the Skin, and those that didn't might never surface again. ...

A companion piece to last year's the Stage Names, Stand Ins finds the band stretching out into more energetic and urgent-sounding group. Bouncing bass lines, country-tinged swing and swaggering horns compliment Will Sheff's always dense lyricism....

Tussle's latest finds the band capitalizing on their malleable drum and bass roots, reaching new heights with a pastiche of urban trends. The result is a sort of psychedelic dance album that flirts with organics while remaining staunchly electronic. ...

Stereolab's Chemical Chords is also out today; and you can read our review here, in the event that you missed our listening party last weekend at Beauty Bar. ...

As Rilo Kiley's bassist, de Reeder has spent years in the limelight, supporting the group that he co-founded through success after success. Most recently, they've been everyone's darlings in the wake of Under the Blacklight's success. But forget about all that. ...

The walls and lockers of punk rock's past are lined with magazine pull-out posters of Jonathan Richman. Why not? He was straight before McKay, made wit and snark a cornerstone of indie rock, and combined his enduring embodiment of the past into the future of rock effortlessly. At this point in his life -- a completely anti-Internet old school musician of a considerable age, all things considered -- he has acquired enough life experiences to be honestly struggling, to be having doubts, to be absolutely startled by the way mortality can rear its head so suddenly, without concern for your state of mind. ...

Back in March during SXSW, Austinist introduced you to Flynn as part of our day party. Since then, the British folk revivalist has been busy. He's toured, traveled with his Shakespearean actor's company, and finished his new album, A Larum. ...

Back in October of last year, Nas announced at a concert in New York that the titled of his upcoming album (originally slated for release in February '08) was "Nigger." Since that time, the release date has been pushed back, the title has changed, and various members of the black community as well as his label have had plenty to say....

It's Beck's birthday, and this future Austin City Limits festival headliner is celebrating with the release of his latest, Modern Guilt. Produced by Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley), featuring none other than Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Guilt oozes pop noir. ...

When we talked to Gillis back in 2007, we spoke of the culture clash he used to experience when he was still spending 9 to 5 as a biomedical researcher in Pittsburgh, and the multiple lives he inhabited between friends, family and co-workers. "My mom listens to Night Ripper while jogging, and my dad jams it on his iPod while mowing the lawn," he said. This portrait of comfortable dichotomy exists with Animals as well, and its hinted at before you even press play -- the quiet suburban house and its flaming yard intimate the nightlife persona's intrusion into normalcy, but then again, no one ever said this whole thing wasn't about normalcy invading the party scene. Likewise, "Feed the Animals" can be mentally summoned with images of tigers or tabbys, and that subtle brilliance is exactly what has made Girl Talk the benchmark in party music. ...

Viva la Vida is supposedly a 'new direction' album for Coldplay, and for those that argue they are diluted Radiohead or The New U2, this is the Kid Achtung attempt at a revitalization. They hired Brian Eno to produce, and by all accounts have actively tried to stretch out a bit both musically and lyrically, entering (dare we say it) their experimental phase. Well, at least that's the premise....

Martín Perna's (Antibalas, frequent collaborator with TV on the Radio) latest project, Ocote (o-KOH-tay) Soul Sounds, is a collaboration with Adrian Quesada of Grupo Fantasma and features a group of seven plus musicians, offering a sound that comes from somewhere in between downtown and the dance floor. The duo are following up their debut, El Nino Y El Soul, which received primarily wonderful reviews. ...

This week's band to watch is The M's and their Real Close Ones long-player, out today on Polyvinyl. The Chicago-based quartet's retro psych is garnering lots of attention, and this release is most likely the gate-crasher. Also out this week are Fleet Foxes' self-titled record and Shearwater's Rook (Matador), please check back with us later in the week for reviews. ...

Colored by a near fatal bout with pneumonia and periorbital cellulitis, Jason Pierce's sixth release (and first since 2003) as Spiritualized covers well-tread ground in many ways. References to medication, God, pain and eidos are all present, but there's a sense of revitalization, too. ...

What's more appealing than a beautiful girl singing Tom Waits songs? For some, nothing. Though much has been said (and speculated about) regarding Miss Johansson's decision to record an album of Tom Waits covers (well, there is one original tune on there, but you wouldn't be able to pick it out if you weren't at all familiar with Waits), the actual reviews are pretty much split down the middle. ...

In the five years that have passed since their last studio album (Waiting for the Moon, 2003), Stuart Staples and Tindersticks have shed three members and constructed a studio in France. They've also managed to write a record that doesn't stray too far from the soulful ballads of their past, but breaks new ground with some "not so serious after all" tunes about the devil's hunt for your literal heart. ...

Costello has already released Momofuku on vinyl (2xLP), but the CD release arrives today. Those who purchased the vinyl two weeks ago had codes to download digital versions then, but not much has "leaked" to the web yet in terms of reception. Costello's 24th official release features collaboration with new friend Jenny Lewis, who enlisted EC to help with her upcoming solo release. ...

Tel Aviv's Monotonix have been touring since early February. If you missed them during SXSW (they played 9 times, so you really have no excuse), you missed one of the world's most thrilling live sets and one of the loudest bands you'll ever see, but we're sure you'll get another opportunity. ...

Glasgow's Frightened Rabbit are a a three-piece outfitted by siblings Scott and Grant Hutchinson (guitar/vocals and drums, respectively), and like a handful of rock outfits past, lack a bassist. Their 2006 release, Sings the Greys, was well-received critically, but lacked the distribution to properly permeate initially. Luckily, Fat Cat stepped in and helped the band re-record and re-master Greys, setting them on their way to record Midnight Organ. ...

Liverpool's music history is dense and storied, chronicled by Beatles fanatics, Merseybeat followers, new wave scholars and Brit-punk alumni. The long reach of this little Wales/England border town's influence on popular music remains unmeasurable, and perhaps no band proves this point more than Clinic. Across their rich catalog, the quartet has borrowed from the archives of their homeland's discography readily, crafting an intricate web that utilizes its own patterns and flourishes with precision and calculated attentiveness. Their sound has always been haunting, dark and teeming with rough edges, but a joyful noise is always present: they excel at the fine art of repetition and detail. Collecting the parts they love, they have redistributed and reorganized their sound in finely tuned, subtle increments over time, polishing the same framework on each album they release. Across these albums, they've proven their devotion to the theory that the whole is greater than the sum of their parts. ...

Xachua’Bsh, Washington's quintet has quickly become a buzzing glimmer of hope in a massive onslaught of post-SX dance rock fervor, offering ornate instrumentation and traditional folk elements in non-traditional ways with their EP, Sun Giant. Thick vocal reverb (which earns them unfair Band of Horses comparisons), Fleetwood Mac inspired harmony, and layered instrumentation (tin pans, fiddle, piano, shakers, mandolin) lend the songs a focused yet limber vibe. "White Winter Hymnal" borrows from traditional folk songs and church choir on the front porch purity, but the precise execution of the harmonized round and the pristine production give the track a feeling of soaring perfection....

R.E.M.'s fourteenth studio album in twenty-eight years, the first studio effort since the loss of former drummer Bill Berry, and the first since their induction into the oft-considered meaningless Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame is like a time capsule thrown back from the future. The Athens-bred folk rock heroes have become a stadium rock band over the years, and at long last, they've stopped writing songs like one. ...

Brain-teasing intellectual weirdos all, the quartet we call Singer has taken it upon themselves to dispel the rumors that independent music was doomed to cough up its predecessors. The band (composed of some ex-U.S. Maple folks) summons all the greats of obtuse, atonal and jazz-influenced punk rockers: the machinations of subtly Albini-ish guitars grind against Karate'd strums and twinkles, the relentless kick drum bellows out for Slint while the cymbal work (while minimal) and snare-tom exchanges flirt with pure jazz. Robt A.A. Lowe's vocals flatly ignore convention, cooing in high registers like a bratty young Craig Wedren. ...

Austin's own Weird Weeds spent seven months in the studio working on their latest full-length, I Miss This, and by their own admission, the effort asserted towards this record is by far the most intense in their history. One listen demonstrates their devout attention to detail in regards to both production and songwriting amply. "Red" oozes thick guitar dirges, sweetly tempered percussion and odes to Indian sitar harmonies (and carefully executed dissonance) with equal precision....