God Help the Girl – Stewart Murdoch (of Belle & Sebastian)

Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch has always been attracted to the understated, to music that slowly draws listeners in rather than reaches out to grab them. This is never more apparent than on his forthcoming God Help the Girl project, which he started by posted advertisements asking for girl singers and hopes to eventually finish with a full musical film under his arm. For now, he’s still working on the screenplay to the film, but he’s completed quite a bit of music that he’s rolling out, with the help of members of Belle and Sebastian, Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, Smoosh’s Asya, and a quintet of singers that includes contest-winners Dina Bankole, Brittany Stallings, and Catherine Ireton - Read Full Interview

Dinosaur Jr – Farm

Beyond, the first album to feature the original Dinosaur Jr. lineup since their 1980s heyday, was so surprisingly good it was tempting to call it a fluke. Tempting, but wrong– two years after its release, it still sounds great, on par with the early, hallowed triumvirate of Dinosaur, You’re Living All Over Me, and Bug. For any cynics still chalking Beyond up to luck, Farm should blast the scales from your jaded eyes. Energetic, confident, and catchy, it’s even more compelling than Beyond. Read Full Article

Sunset Rubdown – Dragon Slayer

to talk about Sunset Rubdown and only talk about Krug would be an injustice – a fact that has never been more evident than on Sunset Rubdown’s fourth full-length release, Dragonslayer. Sure, Krug’s influence (and voice) can be heard everywhere on the album. But compare this album to Krug’s first solo release under the Sunset Rubdown moniker, 2005’s Snake’s Got a Leg, and you will find yourself doing math with apples and oranges. The band has developed, blossomed, gained some flesh, and distinguished itself enough from Krug’s solo work that the fact that I’ve gone this far into my review of Dragonslayer only talking about him makes me a bit embarrassed. So onto the rest. Read Full Article

Deer Tick – Born on Flag Day

The title of Deer Tick’s sophomore effort, Born On Flag Day, can be interpreted as either a loving hat-tip to Americana quirks or as an eye-rolling Big Buck Hunter-style ironic embrace of homeland lovin’. And here’s where you should say, “But no country is authentic!” (or “Who cares if Brian Williams adores Deer Tick, what matters is McCauley’s songwriting!”) But honestly, at this point, country rock is the most unobjectionable music one can make. Float a slide guitar over a crunchy rhythm guitar, brush those cymbals, rasp some beery wisdom (“It couldn’t be much fun bein’ a millionaire to one / Cuz a million’s just a million of one thing”), and if the chord progression works, the song will probably speak to the heart of at least one person who hears it after precisely the right number of drinks. Read Full Article

Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship

Tortoise’s output since 2001 has included just one proper album, 2004′s water-treading It’s All Around You, and a collaboration with Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Despite being as distinctively Tortoise as their ancestors, these efforts were spotty at best. Both the 2004 album and the collaboration saw Tortoise’s once-thrilling compositional style lapse into self-parody. On It’s All Around You, all of the eclectic pieces—the jazzy fills, the dub breaks, the tempo shifts—came in exactly where you’d expect them to. In some ways, the band was shoehorned by its own good taste. In search of a sound that betrayed neither its influences nor the band’s emotions, Tortoise ended up with songs that were also incapable of surprising listeners. Thankfully, Beacons makes it clear that Chicago’s avant-vets still have some spark left. Nearly all of the tracks shake up the band’s formula, and that special feeling that comes from hearing a team of talented players fuse their restless visions permeates the record. Read Full Article