Here We Go Magic is a five-piece band made up of members Luke Temple, Kristina Lieberson, Michael Bloch, Jennifer Turner, and Peter Hale. Several of them had collaborated consistently in years prior, but the five finally came together with a single unified vision in early 2009, buoyed by the release of the self-titled Here We Go Magic [...]

Recorded late last year at Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York, The Black Dirt Sessions is a deeply personal record from Deer Tick and most especially from lead vocalist and songwriter John McCauley.  It is the sound of a band coming into its own, finding its voice and pouring its collective heart out.  The comparisons [...]

The story of Milwaukee’s Jaill sounds like it was ripped straight out of a screenplay for the indie hit of the year: Vincent Kircher and Austin Dutmer realize they’re getting older and decide to finally get serious about their part-time band they started seven years ago which had, until then, only amounted to losing bass [...]

It’s been peeling away for a while, but at this point the tense, calculated, economic guitar blasts of Blonde Redhead have completely disappeared — as if swept under the doormat with the rest of the ‘90s. The Blonde Redhead of 2010 is a predominantly electronic affair, submerged in murky, downbeat synth-pop. The band’s latest effort, [...]

7:45 pm, Nashville, Tennessee, waiting in line. After a lengthy wait, which causes us to miss the opener, we’re finally in our seats: stage left, just below the balcony, and directly in front of the speakers. This could get loud, folks. At least, I hope so. By 8:30 the room is packed. The crowd is [...]

Mr. Wells is in the wrong business: he should have been a blues singer. On his homage to Louisville, Kentucky, he can’t live with your fears and worries, nor does he think its ever going to work out, and you will haunt him, how you will haunt him. His Daniel Johnston-style vocals showcase these both [...]

Nearly three years in the making, Abner Trio’s second full length was released on August 24, 2010. Available in LP, cassette, and digital (no CDs), The Giant Crushes You is hands-down the most accomplished documentation of their mathy, artsy, honest, and all-around original blend of indie rock. Abner Trio have created an album that triangulates exactness, rawness and beauty– building [...]

!!!’s name may be un-Google-able, but nothing better describes the band’s blend of spacey dancefloor rock, borrowing liberally from the explosive energy of punk and European clubs alike. This isn’t music that will wake you up — it’s music that won’t let you sleep. While indie rock was flooded with bands rediscovering dance in the [...]

Strange Weather, Isn’t It? is !!!’s first full-length release since 2007’s critically acclaimed Myth Takes and was recorded in several cities around the globe including Berlin, where, following in the footsteps of Bowie, Iggy and Depeche Mode, !!! sought to mainline the city’s dark energy (and legendary club scene).
“AM/FM” was the first single released off [...]

An exercise in genre-bending psychedelic madness, The Harvey Girls’ latest release, I’ve Been Watching A Lot of Horror Movies Lately, is the quintessential day-tripper’s soundtrack.  Filled with layers upon layers of miscellaneous instruments, African-inspired beats, and field recordings from the great outdoors of Portland, Oregon, The Harvey Girls cross the lines of shoe-gazing folk-rock, indie-pop, [...]

I really want to love this album.  It’s got all the standard elements of a fun indie record: the moody harmonies, the gritty guitar riffs, the pulsing bass, and, of course, the synth.  Social Studies even hail from San Francisco, where indie bands spring up like big white turbines on a NorCal wind farm.  But [...]

Joyful Noise will be releasing the new album from Of Montreal, titled False Priest, on cassette with a digital download.
From the 1996 Elephant 6 debut Cherry Peel, to the breakthrough Sunlandic Twins, to the instant classic Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Of Montreal is one of the most important bands making music today. For their 10th album, False [...]

Beginning in 2005, Omar Afzaal conceived of House of Bread as a noise-pop solo project with the use of guitars pedals and a simple eight-track recorder. 2006’s debut House That Bread Built ranged from ambient soundscapes to a barrage of unsettling chainsaw guitars. The follow-up, 2007’s Out of Sight: Because You Hear It,  introduced electronic [...]

Strange Weather, Isn’t It? is the fourth release from !!!, a Sacramento band formed from members of  Black Liqourice and Popesmashers after the bands toured together. The songs on the album are saved from being a complete digital mess by Nic Offer’s vocals. It also helps to break up some of the monotony that is [...]

The Posies premiere their first song “Licenses To Hide” off the anticipated CD Blood/Candy (September 28) with Ryko. The single, featuring angelic guest vocals from Lisa Lobsinger (lead singer of Reverie Sound Revue and vocalist of Broken Social Scene)
In addition to Lisa Lobsinger’s contribution, Blood/Candy is brimming with cast of guest musicians: Kay Hanley of Letters To [...]