Kings Of Leon Aha Shake Heartbreak RCA By: Eric Greenwood
As an avid despiser of "southern rock" and pretty much anything that holds onto the south as the root of its identity, I was skeptical of Kings of Leon's schtick from the get go. Ostensibly from Nashville (yet none of my friends deeply involved [...]

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The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan V2 By: Eric Greenwood
I just saw The White Stripes for the first time at Music Midtown in Atlanta a few weeks ago. Admittedly, it wasn't the best environment to see a band. Everyone knows that festivals are awful concert experiences, so my expectations were low. [...]

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The Evens The Evens Dischord By: Eric Greenwood
Despite his intimidating pedigree in counter-culture music, Ian Mackaye is very easy to talk to. There was no awkwardness in my recent telephone conversation with the punk rock icon. Mackaye's eagerness and passion to discuss music is palpable. He returned every question I asked [...]

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The Blood Brothers Crimes V2 By: Eric Greenwood
Depending on your perspective, The Blood Brothers are either musical terrorists or the punk equivalent of Terrance and Phillip. It's a tough call. But, then again, any band that polarizes on extreme levels is doing something right. It's better to be either loved or [...]

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Spoon Gimme Fiction Merge By: Eric Greenwood
Britt Daniel’s minimalist hooks and snarling vocals (think Elvis Costello without the pomposity) have evolved past the imitative on to the inventive on its close to perfect, fifth album Gimme Fiction, which drops some of the dilettantish electronics for a more tribal yet eclectic rock punch.
In [...]

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Sleater-Kinney The Woods Sub Pop By: Eric Greenwood
Returning from the creative slump of One Beat, Portland, Oregon's Sleater-Kinney has jumped from long-time label, Kill Rock Stars, to almost-major-label, Sub Pop, and surprisingly churned out its most explosive album in years with The Woods. Even if Corin Tucker's flailing vibrato wail grates on your nerves [...]

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Oasis Don't Believe The Truth Sony By: Eric Greenwood
Idiotic album titles aside, the music is even worse (I still can't shake the grammatical fiasco of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants). Mediocre melodies ride atop formulaic songwriting on Don't Believe the Truth, Oasis' latest bombastic trash. Liam Gallagher's voice has even lost [...]

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Gorillaz Demon Days Virgin By: Eric Greenwood
It must feel strangely ironic for Damon Albarn finally to find success in America with his fluke cartoon side band Gorillaz, while his true love, Blur, struggled for a decade only to make a commercial dent with that “woo-hoo!” song ("Song 2" off 1997's Blur), which now only [...]

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Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Of Natural History Mimicry By: Eric Greenwood
At heart, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is a metal band, but your typical mullet-headed Metallica fan would probably not agree. An easy and honestly lazy reference for the band is Mr. Bungle, whose brand of artsy, pretentious, metal-tinged prog-rock made musically adventurous yet technically superior [...]

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Dinosaur Jr. Dinosaur You're Living All Over Me Bug Merge By: Eric Greenwood
It seems like it would have taken so much more than a trio of reissues on Merge to reunite the original line-up of Dinosaur Jr. The notoriously acrimonious split between J Mascis and Lou Barlow has been the stuff of legend [...]

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Dinosaur Jr. Dinosaur; You're LIving All Over Me; Bug Merge By: Eric Greenwood
It seems like it would have taken so much more than a trio of reissues on Merge to reunite the original line-up of Dinosaur Jr. The notoriously acrimonious split between J Mascis and Lou Barlow has been the stuff of legend [...]

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Nine Inch Nails With Teeth Interscope By: Eric Greenwood
Sure, Nine Inch Nails is gospel for self-anointed rejects that tend to wear too much white face paint, oversize black t-shirts, and have too many zippers on their tapered black pants from Hot Topic, but to discerning music obsessives, Trent Reznor is a pretentious schmuck with [...]

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Coldplay X EMI By: Eric Greenwood
For me, Coldplay has always seemed stuck inside Radiohead's 1995 classic "Fake Plastic Trees." The falsetto, the nuanced acoustic sway, and the general malaise of that song sort of lazily encompass Coldplay's entire worldview. I didn't give the band's safe, girlfriend rock much credit until I heard [...]

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Weezer Make Believe Geffen By: Eric Greenwood
If you've heard Weezer's comeback single, "Beverly Hills", and think it's good, please stop reading now. You're obviously a glutton for aural punishment, and there's nothing I could say to fix your taste. For the rest, who full-body cringed at the embarrassing lyrics, the lame, chant-along [...]

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