The National works out of a dour stoicism- a nervous, crackling energy that spits just beneath the surface of its slow, grinding majesty. The music could easily be considered dull and lifeless by a clueless, casual listener. But anyone with an ear for the haunting splendor of, say, Joy Division will recognize like-minded individuals at […]

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I wanted to wait to listen to this record so as not to judge it too quickly. Admittedly, it took more than a few listens to sink in. At first I thought it suffered from too much sameness, but today is the day it finally clicked. And I think it might even be better than […]

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Isaac Brock sounds strangely detached from this, his band’s fifth album. At first, I wasn’t sure what the problem was. It sounds convincingly enough like Modest Mouse on the surface. The quirky, off-kilter guitars are as jittery as ever. And Brock’s guttural wail is, perhaps, even testier than usual. So what’s the problem? Well, this […]

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Bands don’t often burst out of the gate with this much confidence and finesse. So it follows that bassist/vocalist Shingai Shoniwa and guitarist Dan Smith had already formed a musical bond in the band Sonarfly before starting the Noisettes in late 2003. Meeting up with drummer Jamie Morrison gave the new trio its matching manic […]

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Like Cat Power, it’s not so much about the music as it is the voice for Leslie Feist. She has a voice that makes you pay attention. She can pull off simple, saccharine lines like “we could hold each other tight tonight” (“So Sorry”) simply because her inflection makes it mean so much more than […]

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The first release in The Social Regsistry’s new Social Club singles subscription is from actress Jena Malone, who has sustained her career with low-key roles in off-beat films like Donnie Darko, The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys, and Saved! With such an innocent, almost child-like onscreen presence, it’s hard to imagine she’d create music anywhere […]

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After seeing Ian Williams play guitar with Don Caballero on the What Burns Never Returns tour, I told anyone within earshot that I wanted to have his babies. Now, I realized this did not follow the natural order of things, as we were both men. I said it in jest openly and loudly, and I […]

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