Melochrome Stay A Little Longer Loose Thread By: Eric Greenwood
This is not good. It's not that I hate slow music either- it's just that this music lacks any recommendable qualities, and the fact that it's predominantly slow is merely a coincidence. "Seasonlong" has a pretty opening riff. I'll give it [...]

[Read more →]

Cursive Burst And Bloom Saddle Creek By: Eric Greenwood
Tim Kasher obviously takes himself way too seriously, but, wait, he's deconstructing himself in the first song. The title track of this EP is a disclaimer that eliminates any mystery between musician and fan. Kasher's tongue in cheek take on the self-proclaimed "marketing [...]

[Read more →]

Hefner We Love The City Too Pure By: Eric Greenwood
Somehow, over the course of three albums Hefner has managed to transform its awkward, bookish charm into a grating chore on the ears. We Love The City is both a heartfelt and cynical exploration of the band's love/hate relationship with giddy London, but [...]

[Read more →]

Saves The Day Stay What You Are Vagrant By: Eric Greenwood
Congratulations, Saves The Day- you are going to be rich. It took five guys to create this ingratiating, starry-eyed mess. While clinging onto only the vaguest semblance of what can be construed as punk, Saves The Day serves up a batch [...]

[Read more →]

Pinehurst Kids Bleed It Dry Barbaric By: Eric Greenwood
Pinehurst Kids express teen angst and common sentimentality in far less obnoxious ways than peers and emo darlings, the Get Up Kids, despite the similarly poppy punk formula. Songwriter Joe Davis has a lightly strained voice when he punches it, and he writes poignant [...]

[Read more →]

Swell Everybody Wants To Know Beggars Banquet By: Eric Greenwood
I seriously doubt that anyone still cares, but Swell has never been a band that paid much attention to the masses. As underrated and under-appreciated as Swell has been over the past decade, I continue to be amazed every few years or so [...]

[Read more →]

Bonny Billy More Revery Temporary Residence By: Eric Greenwood
When a lauded songwriter puts out a collection of covers it usually indicates a bad case of writer's block, but since this EP follows hot on the heels of the long-awaited full-length, Ease Down The Road, Will Oldham proves that he's merely paying homage as [...]

[Read more →]

Idlewild 100 Broken Windows Capitol / Odeon / Food By: Eric Greenwood
To say that Idlewild follows through on the “expect good things” promise of its debut full-length, Hope Is Important, is a bit of an understatement. With a focused sense of how to blend melody and noise on its second album, 100 [...]

[Read more →]