20 Minute Loop / Decline of Day / Fortune Decline of Day is so good, catchy, lighthearted, well executed and fun to listen to that even my internal Leather Tuscadero is tapping her foot. This Bay Area five-piece is as poppy as poppy can be. Their sound is an updated blend of classic college rock heroes like They Might Be Giants, XTC, early REM and even the Pixies. While their overwhelming tendency is to be cute and playful, they are not entirely without sonic backbone. "Jubilation", the album opener, is just that. It’s a hooky celebration of all things melodic and quirky...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Beulah / The Coast is Never Clear / Velocette The Coast is Never Clear is an easy album to love, a well-balanced mixture of new ideas and familiar sounds. Overall, the record is mellower and more mature, reflecting changes in the band's writing and recording process. Rather than assembling the songs cut-and-paste style from bits and pieces floating around in his head, as he did with Heartstrings, frontman Miles Kurosky holed up in Japan to write and demo each tune...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Milemarker / Anaesthetic / Jade Tree Anaesthetic is the sound of automatons rocking out so hard they break through their polyurethane skins, exposing their frazzled circuitry and aluminum skeletons for the entire world to see. It is a caliginous journey through a time and a place where roving gangs of androids rule the streets and humans are forced to dwell in the underground -- the perfect soundtrack to Neil Gaiman’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece, Neverwhere...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		SIM_01 / Radiophonic Oddity / Cyclotron Honestly, the opening song, "Twilight", is disturbing as hell; a sample from The Twilight Zone -- actor Earl Holliman screaming "Somebody help me, please somebody help me" -- does not make for easy listening. However, according to his website, SIM_01 intended for it to represent fear, and he definitely succeeds. All of the tracks create specific ambience: fear, peace, happiness -- your basic gamut of emotions. SIM-01 sources some incredible sounds...more» FEATURED ON THE BOOMBOX!
		Ian Epps / Audiophone / Dead CEO This is a strange piece of plastic, but it comes from a record company that puts Commodore 64 programs onto vinyl, so one cannot be too surprised. In the now-classic "beeps and clicks" style, the music is sometimes violent and disorienting in its apparent randomness, while other moments seem playful and innocent. While listening to a piece of electronic audio art like Audiophone, your mind has nothing to do but wonder. Epps seems to approach his composition more like an audio sculpture than proper "songs"...more»
		Four Tet / Pause / Domino "Glue of the world" lays a typewriter sample over smooth drums, new-agey synths and guitar picking. It ends with a strange little section of dueling guitars, which leads directly into the crashing waves and manic windchimes that introduce "Twenty three". "Twenty three" is one of those dance tracks that accrues its elements gradually, one at a time; first the windchimes, then the guitar and a percussive, repeating flute sample, and finally a funky beat...more»
		Hannah Fury / The Thing That Feels / Mellow Traumatic Although I have doubts as to the validity of Hannah’s "Fury" moniker, you can’t fault her for blatantly trying to associate feminine aggression and songwriting; as Patti Smith, Ani DiFranco and P.J. Harvey all find themselves at the receiving end of critical lashings for purportedly "going soft", any aspirant follower with an ounce of commercial prowess would make similar amends. Fortunately, The Thing that Feels goes beyond hollow pretenses...more»
		Rebecca Gates / Ruby Series / Badman Recording Co. Ruby Series' biggest and best surprise is a brilliant pop song called "Lure and Cast". Its sound won't be entirely unexpected if you've read the album's credits, which reveal the participation of Tortoise's John McEntire, as well as Red Red Meat's Brian Deck, the Chicago Underground Duo/Trio/Quartet's Noel Kupersmith and organist/vibraphone player Mikael Jorgensen. On "Lure and Cast", McEntire contributes "electronics", while Jorgensen chips in with crystal-clear vibraphone accents and droning organ...more»
		Landing / Circuit / The Music Fellowship It's not surprising to discover the Connecticut-based Landing and their unreconstructed penchant for the slow build, the chiming plateau, and the soft, fuzzbox-laden coda. That description might make this music sound undifferentiated and boring, but that's not the case. The band's four members make the kind of astral sound that seems to emanate, fully formed, out of nature. Circuit's songs have a steadfastly low-key feel, as if they were circling seasons instead of indie rock anthems...more»
		Leo Nine / Self-Titled / Toupee Perhaps Leo Nine has the right idea. Their website contains no information about them, apart from a link to their label and a sound clip. Their album came without a press kit to introduce the members (Either that, or I fucked up. -- Ed.). Even the liner notes offer little help, revealing only the names of the band members and the fact the album was recorded in Australia. Thus, when listening, one must approach the record without any sort of preconceptions as to who Leo Nine's members are...more»
		Love as Laughter / Sea to Shining Sea / Sub Pop The album's title betrays its scope -- the band is, as the first track implies, going "Coast to Coast" stylistically, while maintaining a unity of intensity throughout. The aforementioned song is a scorcher, a four-on-the-floor scream of distorted guitars; it's the kind of song that has you singing along to the "ba-da-ba-da-ba" chorus midway through your first listen. "Temptation Island" follows, even faster, even more distorted, even more enervating than the first...more»
		Rilo Kiley / Take Offs and Landings / Barsuk I first realized how much I liked Jenny Lewis's modest sound during "Plane Crash in C", a relaxed number in which she calmly berates herself for becoming involved with an ass, breaking off the relationship with lines like "Please forgive me/ for laughing at your jokes" before the song erupts into a boozy trumpet line. As odd as it sounds, what I enjoy most about her style is the way she approaches her notes from the bottom. This gives her voice a breathy quality reminiscent of Shelley Duvall's Olive Oyl from the criminally underrated Popeye movie...more»
		Ross and the Hellpets / Teddy Bears Gone Bad / Self-Released If David Byrne took any randomly-selected Elephant Six band under his wing, the result would probably sound a lot like Ross And The Hellpets. Head Hellpet Ross Beach is no stranger to Elephant Six formula, himself playing a significant role in their early years, but here he injects enough individuality to separate Ross and the Hellpets from the rest. There is a definite strangeness to Teddy Bears Gone Bad -- even the title hints at that -- but this is no novelty act...more»
		Rick Rose Rude / Have Faith / Bleeding Rose Rude's songs are an interesting mix of lo-fi styles. At his most complicated moments, there's just enough variation of notes to produce a hook, suggesting pop. Rude's singing, on the other hand, implies a punk rock influence. Have Faith is consistently minimalistic; if you can do it with three chords, why use a fourth? Rude's website describes the music surprisingly well (and with an unexpected lack of hyperbole): "a mixture of punk, power-pop & glitter"...more»
		Strike Anywhere / Change is a Sound / Jade Tree With no artwork (I received an advance copy) and an unusually angular hardcore sound, Change is a Sound was headed straight for the has-been hardcore bin. And then, like some wild premonition, the album suddenly became the number one resident of my CD player. It's still cloudy as to what caused this radical reversal and changed my take on Strike Anywhere from "washed out" to "ground-shaking". Perhaps it was an uncommonly bad day or a heated conversation with a tepid friend...more»
		Various Artists / In The Beginning: A Songwriter's Tribute to Garth Brooks / VFR The achievement of this tribute album -- sixteen stripped-down "interpretations" of Garth Brooks songs performed by the original songwriters -- is that it shows how Brooks built the reputation that can make fifty-year old moms buy his records without hearing them first. As Chris Gaines should have already proved, it has nothing to do with Brooks' business sense, but everything to do with his amazing ear for good radio and concert music. Even in their new, down-on-the-porch settings, you can smell the commercial appeal...more»