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CD Reviews

Wavves | Afraid of Heights

Mom + Pop (2013)
"I Can't Dream," the closer on Wavves' fourth studio album, opens in a drunken lo-fi stupor — Nathan Williams warbling bratty, tone-deaf nonsense over hissy acoustic power chords.

By: | March 18, 2013

Brown Bird | Fits of Reason

Supply & Demand (2013)
Brown Bird, a boundary-pushing Americana duo from Rhode Island, make music that touches upon that can't-put-my-finger-on-it amalgamation of past and future sounds.

By: ZETH LUNDY | March 18, 2013

The Strokes | Comedown Machine

RCA (2013)
The Strokes burst out in a post-9/11 musical world with a sound that was compact and airtight, melodies coiled frictionlessly in beats and fuzzed vocals.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 18, 2013

How To Destroy Angels | Welcome Oblivion

Columbia (2013)
Whereas the monsters and ghosts of NIN songs can scream in your face and rip you to bits with their fangs, Welcome Oblivion tracks like techno-folk haunter "Ice Age" and the doom-pop jaunt "How Long?" make uncredited cameo appearances in your nightmares until you go insane and eat your own hands.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | March 13, 2013

Marnie Stern | The Chronicles of Marnia

Kill Rock Stars (2013)
In the arena of charming and entertaining indie-music figures, Marnie Stern stands unopposed.

By: REYAN ALI | March 13, 2013

The Mary Onettes | Hit the Waves

Labrador (2013)
Hit the Waves is so heartfelt as a pastiche of '80s alternative music that it almost muscles its way into being brilliant.

By: JONATHAN DONALDSON | March 13, 2013

The Men | New Moon

Sacred Bones (2013)
They're just a band, they insist; they didn't realize that a name as authoritative as the Men makes a band look, well, definitive and self-important.

By: DAN WEISS | March 06, 2013

Pissed Jeans | Honeys

Sub Pop (2013)
On one hand, the album is a dazed Frankenstein's monster — the frantically paced "Health Plan" shows half-man, half-creature savagery.

By: PERRY EATON | March 06, 2013

The Virgins | Strike Gently

Cult Records (2013)
After a half-decade of semi-obscurity, frontman Donald Cumming is redefining his band as the hipster sultans of swing.

By: RYAN REED | March 06, 2013

Atoms for Peace | AMOK

XL (2013)
Kid A , Radiohead's confounding electro-rock masterpiece, is officially hitting puberty.

By: RYAN REED | February 26, 2013

Shout Out Louds | Optica

Merge Records (2013)
Stockholm's Shout Out Louds have always been a curious but consistent act.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | February 26, 2013

Torres | Torres

Self-released (2013)
Twenty-two-year-old Mackenzie Scott's homemade music floats somewhere between the cathedral jangle of 10,000 Maniacs and the buzzy churn of EMA.

By: DAN WEISS | February 26, 2013

Johnny Marr | The Messenger

Sire/ADA (2013)
Going solo is rarely a good decision. For every exception to the rule of who flourishes after unburdening themselves of the half-talents that have been holding them back — Justin Timberlake, for one — there are dozens of embarrassing Dee Dee Ramone rap albums that exist because Joey and Johnny Ramone weren't around to kibosh a terrible idea.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | February 25, 2013

Atlas Genius | When It Was Now

Warner Bros (2013)
Atlas Genius are schooled students of modern pop architecture, seamlessly bouncing from Coldplay-styled acoustic rock to fizzy Phoenix funkiness to deadpanned Strokes-ian guitar chug. But When It Was Now is more like an alt-pop NOW compilation than a joyous synthesis.

By: RYAN REED | February 20, 2013