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CD Reviews

Brite Futures | Dark Past

Turnout (2011)
A few years ago, the cutesy teens in Natalie Portman's Shaved Head slid out of Seattle on the hot pink shoulders of robo-bounce kinda-hit "Me + Ur Daughter" and the cheap intrigue of a ridiculous moniker.

By: MICHAEL MAROTTA | January 24, 2012

Cloud Nothings | Attack on Memory

Carpark (2012)
With Attack on Memory , the third full-length from Cleveland-based Cloud Nothings, 20-year-old frontman Dylan Baldi approaches new, drastically darker material with the same empty-bottle angst that made his previous releases so appealing.

By: PATRICK MCDERMOTT | January 24, 2012

Hospitality | Hospitality

Merge (2012)
On their homonymous debut, Hospitality sound like 800 different trendy bands at once (from Twin Sister to Tennis to TV on the Radio), so if it's pure originality you're after, you've come to the wrong department.

By: RYAN REED | January 24, 2012

Imperial Teen | Feel the Sound

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.

By: DAN WEISS | January 24, 2012

You Me at Six | Sinners Never Sleep

Virgin Records (2011)
Sinners Never Sleep is a transitional album, though such efforts rarely bode as well for the future as this does.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | January 24, 2012

The Walkmen | Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone (Vinyl Re-issue)

The Walkmen (2011)
The Walkmen released their debut record Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone 10 years ago this month — they're celebrating with the release of a limited run of high-fidelity vinyl.

By: P. NICK CURRAN | January 17, 2012

Chairlift | Something

Columbia (2011)
"You lost your focus, but I got a plan for it," sings Caroline Polachek in a crystal-clear chirp on "Amanaemonesia," hovering over a dark, winding bassline and iceberg synths.

By: RYAN REED | January 17, 2012

Future of the Left | Polymers Are Forever

Xtra Mile (2011)
Since we last heard from Future of the Left, Cardiff's greatest non-furry export lost founding member Kelson Mathias and gained two new ones.

By: ZETH LUNDY | January 17, 2012

Kathleen Edwards | Voyageur

Zoe/Rounder (2011)
It's unfair, even sexist, to assume the expanded sonic palette of Kathleen Edwards's fourth album, Voyageur, is due to the presence of Justin Vernon.

By: ANNIE ZALESKI | January 17, 2012

Seeker Lover Keeper | Seeker Lover Keeper

Spunk Records (2011)
Singer-songwriters forming supergroups is always risky.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | January 17, 2012

The Duke Spirit | Bruiser

Shangri-La Music (2011)
Don't be tricked by Bruiser's title. On album number three, the Duke Spirit are in no hurry to get into a scuffle.

By: REYAN ALI | January 17, 2012

Alex Chilton | Free Again: The ''1970'' Sessions

Omnivore (2011)
Post–Box Tops and pre-Big Star, Alex Chilton was an 18-year-old Memphis boy on his way to his dual identity: former #1 pop hitmaker, perpetual underground hero.

By: ZETH LUNDY | January 10, 2012

Cardinal | Hymns

Fire Records (2012)
After a nearly two-decade silence, chamber-pop duo Cardinal emerge from their near-mythic hibernation with the sleepy-eyed, Beatles-underwater gem "Northern Soul," which crawls out of the speakers as if to say, "Yeah, we've been gone since 1994 — but really, don't mind us!"

By: RYAN REED | May 21, 2012

Guided by Voices | Let's Go Eat the Factory

Guided By Voices, Inc. (2012)
The GBV name on Let's Go Eat the Factory' s label indicates two things to those fans: this is the first record to feature the "classic" Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes line-up since 1996, and this is the first Pollard album to deserve the GBV moniker since the break-up.

By: GARRETT MARTIN | January 11, 2012

O'Brother | Garden Window

Triple Crown/Favorite Gentlemen (2011)
O'Brother's bio for their debut album, Garden Window, reads in part: "Native American tradition believed taking a picture of someone also took a piece of their soul. O'Brother views this album in the same vein. It captures a piece of them at a time in their lives that they will never get back."

By: ANNIE ZALESKI | January 10, 2012