Results tagged “nrt”

After four years, Brian Chippendale (drums) and Brian Gibson (bass) are back with their follow-up to 2005's Hypermagic Mountain. Luckily, time hasn't caused the Providence-based duo to forget their roots. They're still pummeling listeners with raucous, unabashed noise and fuzzed-out low ends. On Earthly Delights, they venture a bit closer towards the metallic fringes of rock, offering what sounds like a bit of Albini-influenced tone. "Sound Guardians" rips through the history of punk rock, turning it on its head a couple times over (with speed), and "Colossus" comes close to being a rock ballad, oozing happily distorted bass lines drenched in Gibson's howl. All in all another solid release from a pair of hyper-metal noise rockers.

The Philadelphia-based sextet has returned with their fourth LP, III (excluding covers record, Weed Tree) on Drag City. The sprawling psych-folk release continues the group's revitalization of the psychedelic revival, proving their place as leaders in the retro-indie folk revolution.

Since the 1990s Built to Spill has issued some of the most dramatic, hopeful and ambitious indie rock ever. In recent years, Doug Martsch and his unchanged lineup have been content to quietly continue down the path they started on with 1997's Perfect From Now On.

Conor Oberst, Jim James, M. Ward and Mike Mogis have partnered in a pubescent version of the Traveling Wilburys and have so far been met with underwhelming response. It's a shame, considering they decided to name their band something worthy of arenas and used their own faces as album art. Never fear, though, the quartet delivers jaunty soft-rock (and better-than-expected) tunes on this long player. Sample "Say Please" at Pitchfork.

David Sylvian has been fluttering around the avant and esoteric edges of pop music since the '70s, fronting Japen. Since then, he's worked with everyone from Ryuichi Sakamoto to Robert Fripp.

The idea for a Gainsbourg/Brigitte Bardot-inspired duet album with Johansson actually came to Pete Yorn long before her collection of Tom Waits covers (Anywhere I Lay My Head, reviewed here) released last year. This album's single, "Relator" is a jaunty pop duet that sticks, with little depth. The album also has a cover of Big Star's "I Am the Cosmos", which sounds deeper than we're betting this duo can muster.

You can also head out to buy Bob Dylan's The Best of Bob Dylan Limited Edition Collector's Crate edition which comes packaged with a t-shirt, or go economy and nab the The Essential Bob Dylan which is a mere 3-disc set. Also out this week are a handful of Radiohead gems, including Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, and Kid A all in 2-CD/1 DVD packaging today. Finally, don't miss the Wilco Being There and Summerteeth 2xLP vinyl reissues.

Wild Beasts are a quartet hailing from Leeds, UK, featuring above all else an enormous, show-stopping falsetto from vocalist Hayden Thorpe. There's lush, dynamic pop tunes -- all bearing fruit -- on Two Dancers, but there's no denying the centerpiece. Moaning, yelping and cooing about girls, the night's dirty underbelly and the pretty things that destroy our innocence, Thorpe offers a sort of answer to The The's desperate Dusk; he trills and woos the dangerous side of attraction and temptation with boyish charms.

Vampire Weekend keyboardist/producer Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot singer Wes Miles collaborate on this gorgeous electro-pop album; referencing Tom Tom Club, Postal Service and the Specials. There’s nothing deep here: it’s two white kids working out their R&B and pop aspirations with Auto-Tune, a lot of synths and some simple lyrics about dance floors and girls that drive us insane.

You might have already caught the Drive By Truckers September 26, 2008 performance on Austin City Limits, but today you'll be able to purchase your own copy. The release includes a DVD of the show as well as a CD; featuring the Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, Shonna Tucker, John Neff, Brad Morgan and Jay Gonzalez lineup from the Brighter Than Creation’s Dark tour. Lots of hits here from that album and previous works, including “Let There Be Rock”, “18 Wheels Of Love”, “Marry Me” and more. Currently the band is touring with Booker T. Jones, and will perform at the Jazz Aspen fest in September.

The album opens with a love note to the fans, which is perhaps an explanation of the self-referential title. "Wilco will love you baby," croons Tweedy as the band rolls through Verlaine-esque guitars and familiar Wilco-ishness.

Lots of neat vinyl reissues this week, as well as other notable first-runs. B is for Bob comes out today, which is the first collection of Bob Marley's music to be rearranged for children. Also of note is a 7-cd Creedence Clearwater Revival box set, the first two R.E.M. albums remastered and reissued on vinyl, and much more.

Sadly, the Dark Horse still hasn't received a proper collection of his work. This album (one of a string of half-hearted EMI releases) includes a handful of songs considered by many to be some of his greatest, but offers them as "2009 digitally remastered" versions that either a) poop on the Spector-produced originals or b) poop on the Harrison-produced versions.

Also out this week: Neil Young's Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972, spanning the first decade of the legendary artist's career and featuring eight CDs with loads of previously unreleased and rare material. Another album we recommend checking out is Elvis Costello's latest, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, produced by T Bone Burnett and currently streaming on Costello's Web site.

Austinites have watched Loxsly grow up. Since the early days (when they were almost always referred to as 'those kids from Waco'), fans of the group have been treated to a constantly evolving and progressing sound. Tomorrow's Fossils proves that the prolific young group is soon going to reap the rewards of their hard work in the trenches of the over-saturated Austin scene.

Local label Dead Oceans is releasing Vanderslice's latest effort today, and fans of the singer/songwriter will be thrilled upon listening to opening track, "Tremble and Tear". A wistful collection of harmonious vocal layers, Fleetwood Mac-ish acoustic guitars and patient percussion open the album with familiar Vanderslice lightness and attention to detail. Recording for the first time in his home studio, Vanderslice left the comforts of his studio, Tiny Telephone (in San Fransisco) to work on this record, and the results are brilliant. "Fetal Horses" oozes early Smiths melody, but its complicated subject matter and happily discordant piano and sudden, jerky guitar accompaniment make the song undeniably JV. "D.I.A.L.O." combines more vocal harmonies, synths and addictive melody, this time against a slightly more robust percussive section. Closer "Hard Times" brings everything back around full circle, its spacious reflections lending credence to the common claim that Vanderslice is writing some of the smartest, most thoughtful and emotionally wrought songs out there.

Andrew Kinney is an Austin native that most of us recognize when we hear him sing. His previous work in American Analog Set is forever cemented in the minds of indie music lovers. Though he's spent a spell in NY, performed with a wide variety of other groups since AmAnSet went on hiatus (Broken Social Scene, Ola Podrida, Album Leaf), and had a lot of time earlier in '09 devoted to reuniting AmAnSet for SXSW, he's found the time to put together a new collection of songs on Barsuk.

TJO has been one of Portland's (well, the world's) darling creatives for years, beginning as part of the legendary post-hardcore Rodan, as well as Retsin, the Sonora Pine, and King Cobra. She's worked with Come, Mirah and Ida and is a modern day renaissance woman. She plays guitar and bass, sings, paints, travels, works in the darkness of folk and the open-endedness of ambient sound play and her latest offering, A Ways Away is a brilliant amalgamation of all her previous experience and ongoing talent.

Scottish (and mawkish) pop outfit Camera Obscura have released their fourth full-length on 4AD, and singer/songwriter Tracyanne Campbell is as love-struck and befuddled as ever. After three years of silence, My Maudlin Career revives the band's tortured but idyllic approach, carrying on the tradition most notably perfected by The Smiths, Galaxy 500 and of course Belle & Sebastien. Flourished with (yep) maudlin scenes (heartthrob French sailors on a moonlit sea anyone?), baroque reveries and Shakespearean plot lines, it's a wonder bands like the Decemberists can still get a room in the Antiquarian Hotel.

Right away on "Jim Cain," it's hard not to notice the less angular and gritty approach on this record compared to Woke on a Whaleheart. There's a bit of ethereal mist in the air, misty horns and strings swirling about, but since this is a Bill Callahan record, things get a bit darker (and proceed that way) until the end. He's singing about dreaming and waking to an empty room, imagining a woman who may or may not be there, asking for a handbook on mental clarity and noticing the birds have nowhere to land -- everything is in the sky, a mind, a cloud.

Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock are three of Texas' most respected and reliable names in music. All three have had thriving solo careers (as well as other collaborative efforts) since the '70s, but as the Flatlanders, their unique gifts combine to create unforgettable country.

Auerbach spends the majority of his time as one half of the gritty Ohio-based duo the Black Keys, but now that he's built his own studio--Akron Analog--he's indulged himself in a solo record full of low-down soul, neo-psychedelia and heartfelt Nashvillian country.

J. Tillman has been writing songs and releasing them in one way or another (some on the Autumn Tone label, some on his own) since 2004, but his other gig playing drums for Fleet Foxes slowed the release of Vacilando Territory Blues.

Goudie has been writing, performing and producing in Austin since the early '90s, and though his luck has been something plenty of bands probably turn green over, he's still looking for the last break into the lexicon of household names. Being discovered by Lars Ulrich at SXSW years ago, signing to Electra, and tours with Veruca Salt, Blur and Supergrass filled the bulk of the '90s before Goudie (the group) broke up and Johnny went on to pursue a solo career.

JT’s boyish, tuneful vocal style, floating atop perma-fuzzed guitars and cavernous lo-fi production, gives Cosmic Lightning the uncanny aura of a lost Sex Pistols collaboration with David Cassidy.

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.