Silkworm It'll Be Cool Touch And Go By: Eric Greenwood
Silkworm records come and go every few years. Touch and Go just keeps releasing them out of habit, I suppose. They never make much of a splash, and barely anyone even notices, apart from longtime fans. I imagine they press and sell [...]

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U2 How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb Island By: Eric Greenwood
After spending the bulk of the '90's experimenting itself into a caricatural hole, U2 responded to tapering record sales and a hopelessly cartoonish persona with a self-proclaimed return to form on 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind. Wisely, the band ditched the [...]

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Le Tigre This Island Universal By: Eric Greenwood
Le Tigre is sort of like a minor fender bender. You might crane your neck around to catch a glimpse of the damage, if you're bored, but you won't feel left out if you don't because, after all, it's only a fender bender. On its [...]

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Travis Morrison Travistan Barsuk By: Eric Greenwood
I really didn't want to hate this record, especially after all the hyperbolic negative hype. I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt because, well, Travis Morrison made some damn good records in his stint with The Dismemberment Plan (most notably 1999's tour de force, [...]

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Delays Faded Seaside Glamour Rough Trade By: Eric Greenwood
One of Rough Trade's recent signings, Delays, harkens back to that brief period in the early '90's when fuzzed-out guitars married Byrds-esque harmonies. Shoegazer rock: Bands that stood still and stared at the floor while they played incredibly loud, feedback-drenched rock with varying degrees of [...]

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Elvis Costello The Delivery Man Lost Highway By: Eric Greenwood
It's hard to put the beat down on Elvis Costello. I mean, look at what he's done for us. He's made misogyny "artistic." He's given bad teeth a good name. He's duetted with Darryl Hall. Ok, so he doesn't always [...]

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Elliott Smith From A Basement On The Hill Anti By: Eric Greenwood
Elliott Smith died of two stab wounds to the heart just over a year ago in his Los Angeles apartment. Whether those stab wounds were self-inflicted or the result of someone else’s rage is irrelevant. Smith is dead, and he left behind his [...]

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Helmet Size Matters Interscope By: Eric Greenwood
Chalk up another needless reunion as Paige Hamilton resurrects Helmet — his deafening early ‘90’s tour de force — with a new cast of assclowns, sporting embarrassing pedigrees like White Zombie and Anthrax. Technically, though, it’s not even really a reunion since Hamilton is the only original remaining [...]

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Newgenics Every Girl In The World 7 Inch Level Plane By: Eric Greenwood
Newgenics is a Columbia, South Carolina quartet with massive punk and indie rock pedigrees under its belt, as its members hail from such underground diversions as In/Humanity, Guyana Punch Line, Marion, Damn The Sun and Martian Death Lyric. It's first single on [...]

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Ova Looven 58:34 10:22 Catune By: Michael Jones
Antarctica’s breakup in 1999 was a crushing blow to the cult audience that worshipped and analyzed every note of the 104 minutes and 6 seconds of music the band recorded during their short but influential career. New recruits continue to be initiated, and this rabid [...]

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Batter The Drag Unfathomable Depths Self-released By: Eric Greenwood
Batter The Drag's energy is contagious. Each song on this Mesa, Arizona quartet's debut EP, Unfathomable Depths, prickles with dynamism and controlled aggression. The cerebral guitar work serves as the backdrop for Ryan Richardson's husky, guttural voice. Wisely avoiding the trappings of typical [...]

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Schooner You Forgot About Your Heart Pox World Empire By: Eric Greenwood
With a yelping aggression and a jangly indie pop flair, Schooner blasts out of the gate sounding like an odd cross between Brother Danielson and Black Francis. On "My Friend's Band", lead singer Reid Johnson sounds hopped up on speed, while his [...]

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Q And Not U Power Dischord By: Eric Greenwood
Q and Not U hinted at the creative growth spurt evident on its new full-length, Power, in the opening moments of its sophomore release, Different Damage, on the song “Soft Pyramids.” The angry post-punk bleating of its Discord debut, No Kill No Beep Beep, had [...]

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Duran Duran Astronaut Epic By: Eric Greenwood
Expectations for a Duran Duran reunion with all five original members are admittedly low- those classic early albums, Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger, notwithstanding. It has been 21 years, which was more than enough time for the remaining members who soldiered on to have dragged [...]

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Interpol Antics Matador By: Eric Greenwood
For a band that is so self-consciously meticulous about every aspect of its public persona, Interpol sure did whore itself around generously in support of its 2002 debut, Turn on the Bright Lights. From commercial fluff like Pepsi Smash to episodes of Six Feet Under to relentless touring, [...]

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Funeral For A Friend Casually Dressed Ferret By: Eric Greenwood
There are few shticks in rock that I despise more than the oxymoronic sensitive tough guy; it’s just so contrived and played out. (Alex may be on fire and everything, but he’s still a total wuss.) Funeral for a Friend is the Welsh answer to [...]

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Talking Heads The Name Of This Band Is The Talking Heads Rhino By: Eric Greenwood
Despite the accolades for Jonathan Demme’s artsy live document of the Talking Heads’ 1984 tour, Stop Making Sense, this New York quartet has never really been given its due as a live powerhouse. This under-appreciated 1982 live album should rewrite [...]

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Mike Watt The Secondman's Middle Stand Epic By: Eric Greenwood
Whether you agree with his outspoken politics or not, it's hard to begrudge much about anyone as affable as Mike Watt. As the bassist of one of America's most revered punk bands from the early '80s, The Minutemen, Watt will carry the weight of [...]

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The High Water Marks Songs About The Ocean Eenie Meenie By: Eric Greenwood
Just barely too fuzzy to be called twee, The High Water Marks straddle the line between light Elephant 6 psychedelia and the preciousness of pretty much any band on Darla. With The Apples In Stereo drummer Hilarie Sidney moving from behind [...]

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Bjork Medulla Elektra By: Eric Greenwood
Bjork’s phenomenal trajectory has been utterly uncompromising and truly visionary. There's no debating that. On paper, it may look as though Bjork is shunning commerciality and moving forward musically with her gimmicky new album, Medulla, which purports to eschew the use of traditional instrumentation in favor of [...]

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