Music
▼ National Reviews
Review: Brianna Lea Pruett – Gypsy Bells
The sparse sounds of Pruett’s voice with her acoustic guitar reflect the topography of the West, with her folk tales coming across as a lone traveler passing through those vast landscapes. … read more
Review: The Breakup Society – So Much Unhappiness, So Little...
I had no idea how to put this band into a certain genre—this album had a mixture between indie rock and pop/rock, with little sprinkles of this and that in the mix. … read more
Review: Black Hearted Brother – Stars Are Our Home
After fronting the legendary shoegaze band Slowdive, and then moving on to the delicate folk on Mojave 3 and his own solo output, Neil Halstead has returned to the free-floating psychedelia of heavily affected guitars and synthesizers with his new band, Black Hearted Brother. … read more
Review: Black Books – Self-Titled
Black Books write big songs confined to small places. There is an epic and anthemic quality to Black Book’s cloistered little pop songs: a driving, pulsing urge to express something too huge for words written in broad brush strokes of soaring choruses and the diffused light of atmospheric passages oozing out of guitars and synths that blend ambient colorings into vital, crunchy power chords. … read more
Review: the band in Heaven – Caught in a Summer...
Annoying name aside, the band in Heaven combine dream pop with California nostalgia. Straightforward lyrics about ocean swells and summer romanticize adolescence. Honestly, it’s something I’ve heard a million times before, and the band’s whole image is something I grew tired of, like, five years ago. … read more
Review: 3:33 – Bicameral Brain
While listening to this, I realized I had been taken on a journey into deep ambient darkness. The sounds of rain, thunder, hollowed echoing of the drumbeats, sizzling snare and pulsating bass had carried me into a sort of void. … read more
November 2013 National Music Reviews
November 2013 National Music Reviews … read more
“Hark! The Herald(ed) Angel Sings”: Review of Erasure’s Snow Globe
For Erasure fans, a full-on Christmas album has always been something of a dream. Now that the concept of an entire holiday album is a reality for their 15th full-length album, the results show it has been well worth the wait. … read more
Review: Willis Earl Beal – Nobody Knows
With his sophomore album, Willis Earl Beal has shown that he can deliver powerful hits without sacrificing the raw honesty that was delivered through CD-Rs scattered throughout Albuquerque before he got a record deal. … read more
Review: VIZA – Made in Chernobyl
I bought the album Made in Chernobyl from VIZA when they were opening up for Gogol Bordello last August, and I fell absolutely in love with it. … read more