Shiner The Egg De Soto By: Eric Greenwood I met this guy at a party recently who absolutely freaked out because I had never heard of Shiner. Bands slip through the cracks. It happens. You can’t know about every good band all of the time; otherwise, life would be boring. But this guy really could […]

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The Natural History S/T Star Time By: Eric Greenwood The Natural History's raw, angular rock might seem suspect amidst the flurry of Strokes and White Stripes copycats popping up out of nowhere these days, but just chalk it up to coincidence because, apart from the band's recording aesthetic, there's truly little in the way of […]

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Mclusky Mclusky Do Dallas Too Pure By: Eric Greenwood What year is it again? 2002. Hrm. Looks like Mclusky missed the Chicago noise rock boat by about a decade, but they're English, so it's ok, right? Rudeness and shock value have little effect these days unless you're a white rapper with a nasal problem and […]

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Idlewild The Remote Part Parlophone By: Eric Greenwood On its second album, 100 Broken Windows, Idlewild burst out of British rock's middling indie community and demanded your attention with an arsenal of anthematic choruses and rip-roaring dynamics. Granted its weapons had R.E.M. and Nirvana spray-painted on them in giant block letters, but Idlewild revealed a […]

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Gogogo Airheart Exitheuxa GSL By: Eric Greenwood Bands whose ideas tend to outweigh their talents typically lose any semblance of charm after two records or so, but GoGoGo Airheart has somehow managed to buck that trend over the course of four albums and remain fascinating, despite its seemingly limited means of expression. In generic terms […]

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Sonic Youth Murray Street DGC By: Eric Greenwood Oh, where have you been, Sonic Youth? For a full decade you've languished in the shadow of your own glory, spitting out half-assed records every few years that magnified your flaws while pushing the memory of your swollen greatness ever further away. Finally, you have released an […]

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The Please Never Complete Self-released By: Eric Greenwood The Please couldn't have worse timing for its retro-new wave guitar pop, considering that the quintet sounds shockingly, disturbingly like The Strokes. If The Strokes hadn't just created a firestorm of polarizing press last year with its reinterpretation of The Velvet Underground and The Feelies complete with […]

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