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DAN WEISS
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Fat Possum (2012)
"It's like a fresh start in a new world," El Producto repeats on "Works Every Time," a track on this, his least ambitious record.
Mexican Summer (2012)
It was heartbreaking to see Bethany Cosentino's 2010 full-length debut, Crazy for You, questioned for lacking "overall intelligence."
Downtown/Atlantic (2012)
Holding the torch for unbridled eclecticism when spontaneity was out of style, Santogold — Santi White's out-of-nowhere 2008 debut —was a very good album that nicked from Tegan and Sara, No Doubt, and reggae-rap, and risked typecasting her even as she defied type.
Don Giovanni (2012)
It's nice to know a woman as talented as singer-guitarist Marissa Paternoster was influenced by Our Band Could Be Your Life, despite Kim Gordon being the only woman in it.
Merge
In all of indie rock there's no classic lyric more apt than Archers of Loaf's "Greatest of All Time": "The underground is overcrowded."
Saddle Creek
Cursive blew their chance to get out of this town a long time ago when they let cellist Gretta Cohn go.
Zef Recordz
Moreso than any "controversially-lipped" chanteuse (to borrow from one of Lana Del Rey's many observers), South African rap/rave/meme/satire/knuckleheads Die Antwoord beg the question:"Is that all there is?"
A promising new voice
Once in a while, an editor will ask you to review an album by someone you've never heard of — just as a favor.
Merge (2012)
Like its title, fifth album Feel the Sound is as generic as doubters have probably always assumed — they sound both relaxed and exhausted.
4AD (2012)
The Big Pink's name is forgettable and their sound is too generic to describe. Sneering electronic dance-rock heavy on synths and slowed-down '90s rave beats? They might as well be the Klaxons.
Shake It (2011)
Wussy's a brilliant Cincinnati four-piece for whom the local record shop turned into a label.
Bar/None (2011)
Every so often a bright, nerdy, nasal-voiced and infallibly catchy male songwriter appears to less critical notice than he deserves for his remarkably concrete lyrics and thoughtful melodies.
Kanine (2011)
This is a literal holdover. A charming band of Floridians who realized their musical dream in a dorm room, they made the difficult push to Pitchfork ascendancy and won what they really wanted: a major label deal.
Verve (2011)
Bias alert: 1996's Endtroducing . . . DJ Shadow is one of the most firmly enduring perpetual motion machines in all of musical history, defying genre ("What was trip-hop, dad?") and all preconceived notions regarding an hour filled with turntablism, spoken word, and Metallica samples.
Sub Pop (2011)
Kristin Gundred, a/k/a Dee Dee, is no actual dum dum, so she made good where Vivian Girls didn't.
Hellfyre Club (2011)
"Smart" rappers are out of vogue — but many of them aren't nearly as un-fun as is claimed by the hordes who flock to Waka Flocka Flame mixtapes.
Shifting Focus
"I have less time to make music than I wish I did," says Steven Ellison, "so when I work on stuff, I mean it, you know?" Ellison is Flying Lotus, a soft-spoken 27-year-old from Los Angeles with a pause in his speech, like he just figured out where another piece goes in his puzzle.
Pompeii (2011)
Beirut's most tolerable album since the 2006 pairing of Gulag Orkestar and Lon Gisland (both featuring their best song, "Scenic World") keeps it tasteful.
Matador (2011)
Malkmus solo has always alternated concise "song" records between collections of the Jicks' sprawling jams (Pig Lib, Real Emotional Trash), but Mirror Traffic is the first time he's tried to make a Jicks-as-band record digestible.
Self-released (2011)
If anyone's earned the right to bitch about the limitations of being slotted "R&B," it's Frank Ocean.
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