Salvo Beta Abrasive Stuttering Some Odd Pilot By: Eric G. Salvo Beta enters the instrumental electronic scene on the offensive. His beats are aggressively overdriven and his melodies are sinister. Clearly taking cues from fellow deconstructionists like Mouse On Mars, Salvo Beta's noisy audio show is a pummeling and spastic display of rhythm and texture. […]

[Read more →]

Reproductions- Songs Of The Human League Various Artists March By: Eric G. Unsurprisingly, 80's junkie, multi-instrumentalist, and Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt ran with the idea of a Human League tribute, appearing no less than three times under his various guises. You know tributes have gotten out of hand when bands whose contribution to the […]

[Read more →]

Mark Robinson Tiger Banana Teenbeat By: Eric G. Mark Robinson finally emerges from the shadow of various bands and pseudonyms with his first proper solo album. It's another batch of eccentric pop tunes played with surgical precision and recorded with sterile clarity. Robinson performs most of Tiger Banana on his guitar alone. Occasionally, electronic beats […]

[Read more →]

Gaza Strippers 1000 Watt Confessions Lookout By: Eric G. Too bad all the young punk bands on MTV didn't listen to the Didjits. Few things suck worse than watered down punk. When you've got a generation of bands that think Green Day and The Offspring started it all, you're in for bad times indeed. Sum […]

[Read more →]

The Good Life Novena On A Nocturn Better Looking Records By: Eric G. Honestly, Tim Kasher's shameless sensitivity is better suited for music that rocks. Cursive's Domestica would be nothing short of embarrassing without the explosion of guitars lending credence to the high school poetry. The Good Life is Kasher's side-project. I hate that term […]

[Read more →]

Magnetophone I Guess Sometimes I Need To Be Reminded Of How Much You Love Me 4ad/earworm By: Eric G. Retro-futurism meets the chaos theory on Magnetophone's debut full-length. The Birmingham, England duo makes its noise with dated synthesizers and wildly erratic rhythmic dysfunction. The tone is dark, of course, as Magnetophone meanders through showers of […]

[Read more →]

Pele The Nudes Polyvinyl By: Eric G. Pele's jazzy, instrumental rock is perfectly adequate yet wholly unnecessary. There are just too many similarly motivated bands that aren't making any strides. I guess the same could be said of any number of genres and micro-genres, but the light jazz-rock instrumental bin is especially inundated lately. That […]

[Read more →]