Supergrass S/T Parlophone By: Eric G. This is classic British pop music on the same level as early Rolling Stones and even Abbey Road-era Beatles. "Moving" kicks off Supergrass' third album with a schizophrenic tone: the moody, string-laden intro slips effortlessly into the kind of funky rocker only Supergrass could pull off. Vocalist Gaz Coombes […]

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Those Bastard Souls Debt And Departure V2 By: Robert H. So there's a mixed bag of good news and bad, Grifters fans. First, some bad: word has it that the Grifters are, at least, temporarily, on hold, if not permanently disbanded. Dave Shouse evidently feels that his songwriting is going in a direction other than […]

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Andrea Parker Kiss My Arp Mo' Wax By: Eric G. Kiss My Arp is an amazingly stylized and brilliantly crafted debut album by DJ and sometimes vocalist Andrea Parker. She began her career as a DJ back in 1993 and released her first single for Mo' Wax almost four years ago, entitled "Melodious Thunk." Parker […]

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Fracasos El Sexy Dyspepsidisc By: Eric G. Fracasos is an upstart band from Evansville, Indiana with many influences but little direction. Any band that evolves out of something called ‘Fernspank’ is already off to a bad start. El Sexy is full of genre-hopping, slightly self-indulgent instrumental interludes, acoustic guitars that sound like they were recorded […]

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Pinehurst Kids Viewmaster 4 Alarm By: Eric G. Having ‘kids’ in your band’s name is kind of a stigma these days in light of the whole emo/punk debacle (the Getup Kids, etc.), but the Pinehurst Kids really have nothing to do with that unfortunate genre, excepting the aforementioned name problem. Pinehurst Kids are a trio […]

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Low Christmas Chair Kicker's Union/kranky By: Robert H. In a year sponsoring releases by apparently infallible talents like Luna, Beck, and The Magnetic Fields, a band consisting of an undistorted guitar, a plodding bass and a snare drum might seem likely to fall through the cracks. But, damn, if Low isn't a surefire nominee for […]

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Macha See It Another Way Jet Set By: Eric G. Mixing traditional Eastern music like Javanese Gamelon Gong with experimental indie rock sounds like a bad idea, but this quartet from Athens, Georgia makes a strong case for it on its second album. The impact of Macha’s music is far more effective live than on […]

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