section: Discs
In this section you'll find articles about all sorts of discs: CDs, vinyls, DVDs, laser discs, Blu-rays, frisbees, etc. (But mostly CDs.) Album and track reviews are found in here.
posted this Week
Raymond Raposa's Manifest Destiny: Castanets' latest reviewed
November 18 – City of Refuge is the latest work by Castanets, the name under which Raposa releases his music. Written and recorded in its entirety by Raposa alone in a Nowhere, Nevada motel, Refuge is a meditation on a dark, primitive American west. by Laura Bliss
last Week
Digital music collective Kicksville brings sonic, experimental movement to citizens
November 13 – Kicksville literally presents itself as a town complete with executives, a city council, a poet laureate, and citizens. As of this writing, the population count is at 54. by Taylor Hofmann
Songstress Rebecca Martin solo again: The Growing Season reviewed
November 10 – With the release of her sixth solo album after her short career as one half of the musical duo Once Blue (the other half being Jesse Harris), Rebecca Martin reflects on her life and lets us into her world. by Bailey Pennick
last Month
A rumbling hour of tribal drumming, crawling and unearthly vocals: the debut album from Apse
October 31 – Two months of owning the new album Spirit from Apse and occasionally my brain will click to Robert Toher's ghostly voice-"Little child, little baby." by Taylor Stacey
On Of Montreal's "Id Engager" – October 9 – by Cy Fard
August 2008
On The Shys' You'll Never Understand This Band the Way I Do – August 22 – by Thomas Riker
Coming Up: Tracks from Johnny Cash Remixed
August 12 – Purists may not be pleased, especially if they are the kind of Johnny Cash purist who isn't too into Snoop Dogg. by John Vining
June 2008
Out This Week: Wolf Parade's At Mount Zoomer
June 18 – “In my head is a city at night.” After the quiet, yet intriguing keyboard and guitar introduction of “Soldier’s Grin,” Boeckner passionately utters this phrase, setting the theme and tone of the newest studio recording of Wolf Parade. by Bailey Pennick
EP: Blue Scholars' Butter&Gun$ – June 4 – by David Buker
May 2008
The Black Keys: Quite All Right
May 31 – The Black Keys' fifth record, Attack & Release, is a departure from blues rock, and it also happens to be one of the strongest records of the year. by Bailey Pennick
The Dandy Warhols return to Earth, bearing rocking new gifts
May 21 – And crack some douchey alien skulls along the way. by Kevin Jaffe
The Teenage Prayers' Everyone Thinks You're the Best – May 18 – by David Outting
Dgenetics does it right – May 17 – by Israel Lopez
All of a sudden it's NIN's The Slip
May 12 – When you look "prolific" up in the dictionary, Trent Reznor's picture won't be anywhere near the definition. But here we are a little more than a year since the phenomenal Year Zero, and Nine Inch Nails arrives with their third record in thirteen months, The Slip. by Cy Fard
Out Today: Prolyphic and Reanimator's Ugly Truth – May 6 – by Taylor Hofmann
April 2008
The Racontuers bring more... Racontuing
April 27 – If there is one word to describe the new Raconteurs album, Consolers of the Lonely, it is without a doubt “more”: more dynamic, more energetic, more cohesive, more upfront, and more importantly…more rock n’ roll. by David Buker
Clinic's newest reviewed
April 23 – Clinic, a quartet of Liverpool locals, has been in what seems like a battle for self discovery. Forget the critics, forget the fans, they are doing what every band should do, exploring their potential. by Anthony Ferreira
Out Today: Bad. Dudes. Eat. Drugs. – April 22 – by Taylor Hofmann
Weezer's newest single reviewed: "Pork and Beans"
April 20 – Expectations! It's all anyone thinks about when the newest Weezer release hits the airwaves. Every album since Pinkerton has carried the hoped "comeback album" hype. Could this be another dick tease for Weezer fans, signaling a return to form both aesthetically and musically to the supposed "glory days"? by Cy Fard
Phantom Planet: Interested in both fame and the macabre
April 19 – You’ve already heard Phantom Planet a million times; their song “California” is the theme of that all-consuming cultural tornado known as The OC. But you might not know that Raise the Dead is the fourth album from the Californian quartet most famous for the unashamedly poppy, ironically optimistic rock of The Guest (2002). Since then, Phantom Planet spent their third record exploring a Strokes-like assault on audio quality that resulted in a gorgeously-textured exploration of their darker side. by Tyler Theofilos
The decline of Gnarls Barkley's Odd Coupling
April 11 – Danger Mouse and rapper Cee-Lo have joined forces once again to form their latest creation as Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple. Though their debut album St. Elsewhere surged with dynamism and liveliness, this time the soul-experimental project faintly backfired. by Kimberly Haddad
Dark Meat's eco-friendly farming universe
April 8 – Dark Meat is a seventeen-person ensemble from Athens, GA; and, fortunately, Dark Meat could serve as an approximate antithesis to the fleeting Polyphonic Spree. But, the band members do live together on a sustainable eco-field where everyone participates in farming duties and bio-diesel conversion. by Taylor Hofmann
Polysics eat it "Pretty Good"
April 4 – Japanese new wave synth rockers Polysics come back with "Pretty Good," the second single of their upcoming We Ate the Machine. by Cy Fard
March 2008
R.E.M. moves out of tar and away from the sun with Accelerate
March 29 – Most of the buzz surrounding 2008's Accelerate has been that R.E.M. has finally regained a sense of urgency again. But, considering the lumbering autopilot of Around the Sun and the safe studio pop of the post-Berry period in general, I wasn't exactly quivering in anticipation. by Cy Fard
Fuck Buttons' dirty words and non-music
March 25 – When functional, sing-along, danceable music becomes boring there are other places to turn. One of them is Fuck Buttons, whose debut record Street Horrrsing many will find un-listenable, and some will consider an achievement. by RJ Rodriguez-Lewis
February 2008
Crashing Into Consciousness (I Am the Pilot)
February 27 – Poughkeepsie is a funny name for a town. Sure, there might be a perfectly good reason to name a town Poughkeepsie, but who would ever care enough to find out what it was? There are actually tons of towns with fun names that no one cares about... by Brett Bertucio
The Days and Nights of Everything Anywhere (31Knots)
February 27 – Portland’s 31Knots latest release The Days and Nights of Everything Everywhere speaks with heavy, brooding, and well, knotty intensity. by RJ Rodriguez-Lewis
The Burning Hour (Test Your Reflex)
February 27 – With an intuitive sense for structure, young rockers Test Your Reflex are sure to have a fast reaction time. Writing for two years before laying down any tracks is proof of a driven band that refuses to settle—add to the mix a concoction of affable songwriting talent and unbridled enthusiasm. by Taylor Hofmann
Sweet Bills (Kristoffer Ragnstam)
February 27 – Swedish pop rock musician Kristoffer Ragnstam’s Sweet Bills is easily one of the strongest albums of the year. From his humble beginnings as a fifteen-year-old who could barely play the drums, Ragnstam proves that he has finally unleashed his musical talent throughout the album’s thirteen songs. by Bailey Pennick
Zootime (Mystery Jets)
February 27 – England’s alternative rockers Mystery Jets prove to all music lovers “across the pond” that they have a strong and catchy sound with Zootime. With a driving backbeat and intricate layering of various instruments, Mystery Jets secure their place as a solid rock band; nothing more, nothing less. by Bailey Pennick
