Recent reviews

Our latest album reviews, featuring the records we've most enjoyed (or not) over the past few weeks.

Reviews by score
Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)

LCD Soundsystem

Sound of Silver
DFA (2007)

This is the LCD Soundsystem experience; the more you test it and the more you take a sip, the more you become engulfed in it. Suddenly you realize you're singing LCD at your school, in your dorm, in your bathroom. Suddenly your shower is the best party you have ever been to. Your life turns over like an overdone pancake and you're hooked to James Murphy. You buy all the albums and you can't stop. It's so bad that you talk about LCD to all your friends, your mom, your dad, your grandma, and your dog. Then suddenly comes Sound of Silver. Your palms start sweating, your hair raises, and you forget your first name and start repeating your birthday just to make sure you remember that you're alive. This is a very big moment for you, why? Remember when your favorite band let you down with their new release? Remember the misery of realizing that the beauty and integrity of the band that changed your life, has now been traded for second hand commercialization? If you do, and you're obsessed with LCD Soundsystem like many of us, then relax, because this release is as promising as the previous. Sound … Read more

Champion

Different Directions | The Last Show
Bridge Nine (2007)

I'm not going to lie; I was never the hugest fan of Champion. Actually, I think Champion's greatest achievement lies … Read more

Arctic Monkeys

Favourite Worst Nightmare
Domino (2007)

Not many albums open with a song like "Brianstorm." I'm talking Dick Dale on angel dust. I'm talking a sentient … Read more

Arctic Monkeys

Favourite Worst Nightmare
Domino (2007)

If I am to believe Wikipedia.org, this album is one of the greatest albums ever released. If I have to … Read more

Volt

Rorhat
Exile on Mainstream/Southern (2006)

There are a lot of bands out there that sound like nothing more than the sum of their influences, without … Read more

Trash Talk

Walking Disease
Rumble (2007)

Some bands are like wine; they only get better with age. Trash Talk's new "full-length" effort is a great example … Read more

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One from the archives

Robert Pollard

Normal Happiness
Merge (2006)

After the now-legendary, myth-making years in the basement with a guy named Tobin and the other Mitch Mitchell working shamelessly towards what would become Bee Thousand (while still teaching middle school Social Studies, no less) and Spin's review naming same "Record of the Year," some say it's all been downhill for Pollard and his raving gangs of rockers. And how much ink has been spilled over the past decade regarding Guided By Voices and lead singer Pollard's penchant for what he calls the three p's: pop, progressive, and psychedelia. And of course when taking about dear old big daddy king shit himself, the sweet booze? Every now and then, Pollard rewards his fans and new listeners by giving them exactly what they want: a great album (in the old-time sense … Read more

More album reviews

The Dustheads

Tall Tales I & II
Don Giovanni (2007)

Peanut butter and chocolate; Hall and Oates; French fries and nacho cheese. Some things were meant to be together, but punk and stoner metal? That's kind of like touching two jumper cables together. Explosive! Tall Tales I serves as a nice introduction to what this New York City band is all about. Side A boasts the track "Save Our Souls," … Read more

Type O Negative

Dead Again
SPV (2007)

Alright, stop thinking about Pete Steele holding his wang in Playgirl - don't lie, you know you've Googled the pictures. Instead let's talk about better things, like Dead Again the "4 Dicks from Brooklyn's" seventh studio album, sixth if you're nit-picky and don't consider the faux-live Origin of the Feces a studio album. Anyone familiar with Type O Negative will … Read more

Cheap Tragedies

2000 and 7: Demo
Independent (2007)

Cheap Tragedies note that they formed shortly after the members ran into each other at this summer's Gorilla Biscuits reunion tour in Cleveland. Given this fact and their extensive collective resume of previous bands, one may be concerned that their current project might serve as nothing more than a nostalgia piece - worthy in its own right, but without any … Read more

Nine Inch Nails

Year Zero
Interscope (2007)

The year I was born, Trent Reznor, under his Nine Inch Nails alias, released Pretty Hate Machine, an album which through the iconographic concept of the mix tape circuit launched his career. Fueled by a nihilistic sense of self-realization, and far too much booze, Reznor produced tracks which resonated with audiences for their highly inter personal lyrics and the "industrial" … Read more

Nine Inch Nails

Year Zero
Interscope (2007)

Let me bring you up to speed on the world of Nine Inch Nails. 2005 saw the release of With Teeth, an album which boasted three number-one singles, a Grammy award nomination, and respectable position on many 'top albums of the year' lists. Like the widely acclaimed The Downward Spiral before it, With Teeth showcased distinct pop-sensibilities in frontman Trent … Read more

Bright Eyes

Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998-2005)
Saddle Creek (2006)

If I had a bunch of superfans crocheting armwarmers for me I could sell my half-assed b-sides just like Connor Oberst. Connor/Imaginary Successful Me: Remember that song we made when we were drunk and then that girl came over? And that one where I was learning how to make drum sounds on my iMac but we got drunk and that … Read more

Maria Taylor

Lynn Teeter Flower
Saddle Creek (2007)

One of the first reviews I ever did for this website was for Maria Taylor's debut solo album, 11:11. It's been two years since our respective efforts and I think it's safe to say that we've both matured. On Lynn Teeter Flower, a record named for a family friend, Taylor succeeds in capturing her own sound, rather than borrowing from … Read more

Insect Warfare

Endless Execution Thru Violent Restitution
625 Thrash (2006)

Insect Warfare is back bringing their Gulf Coast grindcore obliteration in the form of a new 7" EP entitled Endless Execution Thru Violent Restitution on 625 Thrash. Although their fanbase and popularity soared in the wake of their debut EP, At War With Grindcore, this EP is sure to make them into the legends that they deserve to be. The … Read more

Mayhem

Ordo Ad Chao
Season of Mist (2007)

Black Metal: (n) a subgenre of heavy metal music that uses screamed Satanic lyrics, fast guitar playing and drumming, and heavily distorted music with a focus on satanic imagery and occult themes. For some, the above definition is redundant. Some of you reading this review are already familiar with Mayhem and their, shall we say, tumultuous history. For the rest, … Read more

Pagoda

Pagoda
Ecstatic Peace (2007)

It's 2005: Gus van Sant releases another part of his Death Trilogy: Last Days, a movie depicting the demise of a very Cobain-like character called Blake. It tore the fans of Nirvana apart; some loved it, others hated it. Arguments ranged from "Peeing on Kurt's legacy" to "a beautiful homage to Kurt's final days." During the movie Blake plays a … Read more

Drawing Voices

Drawing Voices
Double H Noise/Hydra Head (2007)

Drawing Voices is easily one the most experimental and groundbreaking projects that I have come across in all my years of listening to and reviewing music. Mastermind Craig Dongoski with help of Aaron Turner of Isis/House of Low Culture has taken the art of drawing and writing and transformed it into an auditory experience. The two as Drawing Voices have … Read more

Stars of the Lid

And Their Refinement of the Decline
Kranky (2007)

When it comes to currently running ambient acts, they do not get any more prolific than Stars of the Lid. Having released material since 1995, the duo made up of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie have relocated since releasing their last album and absolute masterpiece The Tired Sounds Of... and found themselves living more than 6,000 miles apart. This distance … Read more

Jesu

Sundown/Sunrise
Aurora Borealis (2007)

Justin Broadrick and company has been extremely busy. Sundown/ Sunrise is a two-song 12" EP that Aurora Borealis is releasing. These songs are also available on the Japanese import version of the latest Jesu album, Conqueror. The tracks are not remixes of songs on the album, but rather they are entities to and of themselves. With a combined running time … Read more

El-P

I'll Sleep When You're Dead
Definitive Jux (2007)

Nas' latest release makes the claim that hip-hop is dead. If he paid attention to the underground, he'd know the genre is not only alive and well but with a pulse fresher than ever. Five years after the release of his first solo release, Fantastic Damage, El-P returns with I'll Sleep When You're Dead, an album proving why El's label … Read more

Reviews by score
Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)