Radiohead: Hail To The Thief
Thom Yorke and Co.'s latest offering is an exquisite collection of melancholic songs.
Radiohead: Hail To The Thief
The arriving of a new Radiohead album is always an event, as the uncompromising and artistic approach of the band is singular in a musical world where "appearance" is much more praised than talent.
The Raveonettes: Chain Gang of Love
Their first LP find The Raveonettes still absorbing not only musical but film and literary influences as well, like Barry Gifford, David Lynch, the Beat generation and hundreds of road movies.
The Raveonettes: Whip It on
Combining sci-fi imagery with noisy guitars and drum machines, The Raveonettes are the fruit of the telescoping of the Jesus & Mary Chain and the Cramps.
R.E.M.: In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003
After several albums and artistic detours, the quartet from Athens is still around and their label is re-releasing 8 albums from their catalog with bonus DVDs featuring the same tracks remixed in 5.1 surround audio.
Ride: OX4
With the release of this compilation and given the new generation of bands contributing to the noisy pop revival, now is a good time to rediscover Ride, one of the major groups of the genre along The Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine.
Gavin Rossdale: Wanderlust
Once upon a time Mr. Rossdale was the singer of a band called Bush, whose main ability was to get hits from somewhat average songs.
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions: Bavarian Fruit Bread
First solo project from the ex-singer of the band Mazzy Star, Bavarian Fruit Bread is a bare album which reveals its beauty in the subtlety of harmonies on the edge of lethargy.
Saving Jane: Girl Next Door
Filled with memorable choruses, this honest production oscillates between acoustic and soft rock sounds—not meant as in "soft rock".
Seemless: Seemless
While nothing original in rock 'n' roll, Seemless' new self-titled album is pretty strong.
The Shins: Oh, Inverted World
New Mexico's The Shins are decidedly retro-minded, like many recent pop bands. Choosing the '60s as the decade to revisit, they nearly sparkle with pop effervescence, without being too precious or too arty.
Sigur Ros: ( )
Critics who called Sigur Ros a gimmicky flash in the pan may have been right—but so were the people who hailed them as genius.
Simple Minds: Cry
Unlike U2 and Depeche Mode, Simple Minds couldn't survive the 90's. Following the release of a succession of rather unnoticed and forgettable albums, the band is back with Cry, its most satisfying work since the Street Fighting Years back in 1989.
Six By Seven: The Way I Feel Today
Nottingham band Six By Seven has been compared to every band from Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine as well as to more recent acts B.R.M.C. and Doves. However, Six By Seven have their own distinctive sound of expressive vocals and cathartically dramatic music.
Earl Slick: Zig Zag Zig Zag is more proof that concert backup musicians and recording session musicians should keep to the background.
The Snake the Cross the Crown: Mander Salis
This album's songs don't stand much chance on the radio, but the CD overall is a good listen with lots of variety for fans of light alternative rock.
Various: Just Because I'm A Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton
This recently released effort separates itself from the pool of its genre ghosts by several key measures. First, it is artistically relevant. Second, it is an authentic and loving tribute.
Squirrel Nut Zippers: Bedlam Ballroom
Yep, they're back. And by now you should have figured out that they're doing more than swing shtick. All original songs, this new album is full of energy and will make you dance around.
South: From Here On In From Here On In, the first full-length album from South is full of lavish soundscapes that seep in—and then quickly drift out—of your consciousness.
Starsailor: Love Is Here
Like each year, the prolific English scene exports its latest harvest. While the crop does not always meet expectations, this time it's profitable since with Love is Here, the English band Starsailor offers an impeccable collection of well-crafted songs.
Stereo Fuse: All That Remains
Stereo Fuse is an old-fashioned rock band that spells Americana in a traditional way.
Cat Stevens: Gold
For anyone hungry to hear something new by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, his new release Gold offers a little nugget along with several classics.
The Stooges: The Stooges
Rhino gave this remastered classic album a bonus treatment by re-releasing it with a second CD that includes a series of 10 different variations of these songs.
Super Furry Animals: Rings Around the World
On their latest album, the one of a kind Super Furry Animals combine wit, intelligence and quirkiness in catchy melodies, acoustic, orchestral, & electronic music mixed with sampled noises, along with some unexpectedly strong views on religion and politics.
Sybarite: Nonument
The music of Sybarite, solo project of former Silver Apples Xian Hawkins, is a tense dramatic mix of steady pulsing beats, instrumental and natural samples, minimalist synthesizers, and airy detached whispers of mysterious phrases.
Teitur: Poetry & Aeroplanes
Gentle, understated drums; acoustic guitar; some well-chosen keyboard additions and strings; and, of course, a soft-voiced young man who just stepped off his stool at the local college-friendly coffee shop and onto his own record.
Tin Hat Trio: Rodeo Eroded
Tin Hat Trio seamlessly transcend borders of genre and time with their insistence on bleeding every drop of sound from their instruments.
Martina Topley-Bird: Anything Anything is the reedition of Martina Topley-Bird's Quixotic, a debut album that went unnoticed in the US, despite garnering rave reviews in the U.K. If you wonder who Martina Topley-Bird is, she is none other than The Voice behind some of Tricky's records.
U2: All That You Can't Leave Behind
Forget smooth arrangements and the artificial taste of their Pop-corny precedent album. All That You Can't Leave Behind is to the year 2000 what Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree were to the nineties and eighties; a major work, lyrical and mature, but above all a return to their roots.
Via Tania: True
Located between electronica and folk, Via Tania delivers a remix of "True", a ballad already available on her album Under a Different Sky and also present here.
Tom Waits: Used Songs: 1973-1980
I didn't hear these songs until 1993, when the world of heartbreak, alcohol, tobacco and bars opened up to me. You still have time to catch up.
Tom Waits: Mule Variations
Mule Variations is home to a new family of songs featuring classic barroom and lullaby Waits. The album proves haunting and rowdy. Listening it sounds like Waits is home.
Ween: La Cucaracha
Ween’s new album is a masterpiece that we would be stupid to forget behind our furniture.
Chuck E Weiss: Old Souls & Wolf Tickets
The "ubadubadoo" of "Congo Square at Midnight" sums up the album bravado best. Sultry, bluesy and full of sly winks, it's masterful in its simplicity. The man's got rhythm and it's heard on every second of this album.
Chuck E Weiss: Extremely Cool
Chuck E. doesn’t need to get lucky, cause he’s cool. More than cool, he’s L.A. cool, which is higher on the totem pool.
Lucinda Williams: Essence
Considering the years between previous releases, Essence shot out like a bullet. Though her hand may always be on the trigger, Williams takes her time taking aim. On this round she explores how it feels to be lonesome, heartbroken, addicted, homesick, longing, and raging with desire.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever To Tell
Post punk apparently still has beautiful days ahead of it, as the first feverish album by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs can attest, firing out their rough cuts with an unfeigned frenzy.
Warren Zevon: The Wind
In his final release before his death, Warren Zevon connects emotionally with his listeners for a heartbreaking record that leads us to a window with a view to the heart of man looking at death straight in the eye.
Zion I: True Livin'
On their third entry, Zion I deliver their smooth blend of hip-hop and jazz, mixing instruments, scratches, samples and seductive melodies.
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