Built To Spill Live Warner Bros. By: Eric G. Let’s pretend for a second that live albums are a necessity. Let’s also pretend that they sound good. Built To Spill’s version of the bloated beast that is the live album makes it easy to suspend disbelief and accept these as givens. Since leaving the Treepeople […]

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Herrmann Kickboard Girl Ep Morr Music / Darla By: Eric G. This Berlin-based duo cranks out soft, gelatinous beats with escapist melodies and warm synthetics. One of the fundamental functions of electronic music is to make you forget where you are so that you aren’t aware of the technical aspects of the recording. It’s hard […]

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Fontanelle S/T Kranky By: Eric G. I was so hoping that Fontanelle was going to be an electronic tribute to Babes In Toyland, but as you can imagine (from glancing at the label) I am extremely disappointed. That is not to say that Kranky is a bad label, but it’s not exactly known for its […]

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The Concretes Boy, You Better Run Now Up By: Eric G. I’m always apprehensive about bands that have more than five members. Maybe that’s close-minded of me, but I like the unity of close-knit ‘bands.’ When you start crowding the stage with backing singers and horn sections, things inevitably start to decline. If you’re not […]

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Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come Epitaph / Burning Heart By: Eric G. Politics and music make strange bedfellows, but when the delivery is as phenomenal as this, I can listen to wacko pinko rhetoric all day long. Throughout the history of punk, politics has plagued the pens of everyone from The Sex Pistols […]

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The Jazz June The Medicine Initial By: Brent R. Ask twenty different music critics to define “emo” and the only common link among their definitions would be the negative connotations of their adjectives. However, Pennsylvania’s The Jazz June just might have added enough math rock experimentation for said critics to think twice before dismissing its […]

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Assfactor 4 Sports Old Glory By: Eric G. This is frantic, frenzied, and spastic hardcore played with chaotic craze. The boys in Assfactor 4 scream their often-hilarious stories with absolutely no regard for their vocal chords. You can hear the nodes forming as they shriek against a backdrop of bracing guitars and super-fast changes. The […]

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