Books – The Way Out
The Books have a terrific sense of humor– and it makes The Way Out, an album built on eccentric vocal samples, a good-natured discovery instead of a cheap piece of mockery. Imagine if a blog had posted these clips of goofball hypnotherapist and meditation consultants, or found a tape of a boy and a girl swapping violent threats with each other: You’d chuckle and move on. But when the Books use these samples, they give them integrity. You find yourself engrossed with people who are alien but also familiar. The flotsam and jetsam of American culture aren’t a cheap joke to the Books, but a source of endless discovery and joy. Read the full review

Sheryl Crow – 100 Miles From Memphis
If anything, 100 Miles is a sort of spiritual tribute to the Memphis soul and R&B Crow grew up with in the 70s, an album that conveys much of the sensibility and the mindset of those albums without painting itself into the corner of strict emulation. It’s clear from the outset that Crow considers this to be a vital extension of her own art– not, to return to the Detours metaphor, a side trip– and that the album is as much about exploration as it is winning radio hits. Read the full review

Dept of Eagles – Archives
This collection goes some way to confirming why Department of Eagles was seen as the less-important outlet for Rossen in the period between The Cold Nose and Yellow House. While sporadically as magical as the material on In Ear Park, Archive 2003-2006 is more a curio for converts to Grizzly Bear’s superb psych-folk/baroque-pop sound than an album proper. It’s a fragmented listen, several Practice Room Sketches breaking up the finished arrangements. Much doesn’t work – but there’s certainly ambition aplenty on show, which would later be refined into the In Ear Park experience. The first track here actually bypassed the Department of Eagles catalogue altogether until now, achieving completion as Yellow House’s opener Easier. Read the full review