The Cardigans Long Gone Before Daylight Stockholm / Koch By: Eric Greenwood
After the inexplicably lukewarm reception to The Cardigans' 1998 detour into dark, atmospheric trip-hop the band all but disappeared. Vocalist Nina Persson released the country-tinged collaboration with her husband, ex-Shudder To Think guitarist, Nathan Larson, and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, entitled, A Camp, [...]

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The Cardigans Long Gone Before Daylight Stockholm/Koch By: Eric Greenwood
After the inexplicably lukewarm reception to The Cardigans' 1998 detour into dark, atmospheric trip-hop the band all but disappeared. Vocalist Nina Persson released the country-tinged collaboration with her husband, ex-Shudder To Think guitarist, Nathan Larson, and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, entitled, A Camp, while the [...]

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Eleni Mandell Afternoon Zedtone By: Eric Greenwood
Chances are you've never heard of Eleni Mandell, and I'm recommending that you change that as soon as possible. She may be a singer/songwriter from L.A., but don't hold that against her. She has an impressive pedigree of collaborators and influences, ranging from Tom Waits to [...]

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The Starvations Get Well Soon GSL By: Eric Greenwood
The Starvations may hail from plasticine L.A., but they better represent its seedy underbelly than the phony blond sunshine that colors your prejudice. For six years the band has churned out its anachronistic punk rooted in blues and bar rock angst, producing only two full-lengths [...]

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Fletcher Friends Don't Speak Esperanza Plantation By: Eric Greenwood
Wise beyond its teenage years, Jackson, Mississippi's Fletcher produces a challenging set of gut-wrenching rock played with astute technical precision and a penchant for off-kilter time signatures and unexpected stops and starts. The band goes out of its way to distance itself from all that [...]

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Pretty Girls Make Graves The New Romance Matador By: Eric Greenwood
The opening riff of "Something Bigger, Something Brighter" off the Phil Ek-produced The New Romance recalls the gothic reverberation of Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead", even down to the ominous drumstick click against the side of the snare. When the guitars kick in and [...]

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The 101 The 101 The Self-Starter Foundation By: Michael Jones
Eric Richter possesses one of my favorite voices in modern music and applies said voice to wildly differing projects: Richter's first band, Christie Front Drive, is often heralded as one of the best emo bands that ever existed (editor's note: the irony of the oxymoronic [...]

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The Hives Tyrannosaurus Hives Interscope By: Eric Greenwood
Overlooking the questionable fashion sense and the awful cartoon cover art, Tyrannosaurus Hives moves Sweden's The Hives above and beyond the throwback garage rock revivalism that threatens to suck them into utter obsolescence the very moment the fad wanes, even though, to their credit, The Hives had [...]

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Mclusky The Difference Between You And Me Is That I'm Not On Fire Too Pure By: Eric Greenwood
My, how we've toned down since Mclusky Do Dallas. Andy Falkous' full-throttle shriek has morphed into a far more digestible, dare I say, singing voice? The ghost of The Jesus Lizard is alive and well [...]

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Junior Boys Last Exit Kin By: Eric Greenwood
Invariably, when you invoke synthpop in any context the discussion turns retro, but with a record like Last Exit by the Canadian trio, Junior Boys, one can look to the future without seeming too out of touch. The synths are glassy and oblique, underscored by beats [...]

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Fitzgerald Light A Match And Let It Burn Slowly 2024 By: Eric Greenwood
Most of the time it's easy to guess what genre an album is just by glancing at the artwork. This is, admittedly, a pretty shallow practice, but it's a knee-jerk reaction, deeply imbedded in my brain. I've always done it, [...]

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Fuck Those Are Not My Bongos Future Farmer By: Eric Greenwood
Ignoring the fact that this band is called Fuck would be way too passive aggressive. But at the same time, I hate being forced to comment on it. It's neither shocking nor particularly clever. It's just awkward- like when a retarded [...]

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The Cure The Cure Geffen By: Eric Greenwood
Why can't Robert Smith ever quit while he's ahead? If The Cure had broken up after The Prayer Tour in 1989, supporting its masterpiece, Disintegration, the band would have an unshakable, absolutely bulletproof legend. But, no, Smith had to keep pushing and pushing until his [...]

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Mission Of Burma OnOffOn Matador By: Eric Greenwood
Seeing Mission of Burma last year was truly one of the most exciting concerts of my life. I couldn't believe it was actually happening. I'd long since given up the idea that a band I was too young to have experienced in its heyday would [...]

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Muse Absolution Warner Bros. By: Eric Greenwood
Matthew Bellamy's voice is so similar to Thom Yorke's that it makes me uncomfortable for him. He even has Thom Yorke's exaggerated, breathy gasp and awkward facial ticks down pat. This is not news to Muse, however, who have been beleaguered with the Radiohead imitators tag [...]

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The Magnetic Fields I Nonesuch By: Eric Greenwood
On 69 Love Songs, Stephin Merritt all but abandoned his signature tinny electronic sound in favor of the baroque setting yielded by cello, guitar, and that unmistakable baritone. Five years later, Merritt revisits his most substantive moniker with a collection of songs linked loosely by the [...]

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The Good Life Lovers Need Lawyers Saddle Creek By: Eric Greenwood
The Good Life is Tim Kasher from Cursive's less, abrasive, more emotional (if that's even possible) "other" band. Kasher feels he can't quite express his "softer" side in Cursive (though, I'm not sure how much softer one can get than bearing one's soul, [...]

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The Walkmen Bows & Arrows Record Collection By: Eric Greenwood
The steady speed of the opening guitar strum on "The Rat" sounds exactly like something from The Wedding Present's heyday, circa Sea Monsters in 1991. Once those sixteenth notes on the high-hat kick in, I am so sold. It's an instant classic. [...]

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The Walkmen Bows + Arrows Record Collection By: Eric Greenwood
The steady speed of the opening guitar strum on "The Rat" sounds exactly like something from The Wedding Present's heyday, circa Sea Monsters in 1991. Once those sixteenth notes on the high-hat kick in, I am so sold. It's an instant classic. [...]

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Pixies Bam Thwok iTunes By: Eric Greenwood
As utterly anti-rock and roll as reunions are, I was positively giddy when I heard that the Pixies were actually going through with it after months of teasing and rumors. Upon hearing evidence of the new live show, my fears were somewhat quelled: the Pixies still rock [...]

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