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Recordings

Toro y Moi

by Raurri Jennings March 30, 2011

With Underneath the Pine, Toro y Moi’s follow-up to 2010’s chillwave classic Causers of This, it’s clear we’re not in for a sequel. “Intro Chi Chi” begins with distorted, wall-of-sound synths and chromatic washes of Rhodes ...

Elite Gymnastics

by Taylor Morris March 30, 2011

Neu! ’92 On Neu! ’92, James Brooks and Josh Clancy, the Minneapolis duo operating under the name Elite Gymnastics, offer electronic music with elements of pop, chillwave, gaze, house, and hip-hop, but not enough of ...

Club d’Elf

by Jeremy D. Goodwin March 30, 2011

Electric Moroccoland / So Below For only their second studio release after 13 years of regular gigging, Boston ensemble Club d’Elf unloaded a whopper, an honest-to-goodness double album, or rather, two full-length CDs packaged together, ...

Vinicius Cantuária & Bill Frisell

by David Greenberger March 30, 2011

LAGRIMAS MEXICANAS Restless explorer Bill Frisell has found a resonantly simpatico collaborator in Vinicius Cantuária. Frisell’s multiple guitars and loops are braided with Cantuária’s percussion, vocals and acoustic guitar. With both men questing beyond the music ...

James Blake

by Raurri Jennings March 16, 2011

James Blake From track one of James Blake’s self-titled debut, he proves himself to be a master knob twiddler and soulful vocalist. Choruses of digitally manipulated vocals gather, fragment and ...

Gabriela Montero

by B.A. Nilsson March 16, 2011

Solatino The first striking thing about this recording was visual: The EMI logo, usually framed in bright red, is bordered instead by black, as is the spine of the CD’s jewel case. ...

Does It Offend You, Yeah?

by David King March 16, 2011

Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You Naming a band Does It Offend You, Yeah? could lead people to think you take yourself very, very seriously. Fortunately/unfortunately, this is not actually the ...

Major Lift

by David King February 23, 2011

Hi, my name is Dave. I’ve been an avid reader of Metroland for more than half my life and a writer for the paper for about seven years. When I started at the paper as ...

Standards of Symphony

by B.A. Nilsson February 2, 2011

There’s much to love and a little to hate about this set, which collects, in 60 compact discs, Leonard Bernstein’s entire symphony repertory with the New York Philharmonic (and a couple of other ensembles) recorded ...

Ben + Vesper

by David Greenberger January 19, 2011

This second full-length release (there have also been some EPs) by Ben + Vesper is my entry point. I’ve heard nothing prior, but now most likely will, once I’m over being intrigued by the catchy ...

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Thomas Giles

by David King January 19, 2011

Apparently, no one told Between the Buried and Me frontman Tommy Rogers that a passable Roger Waters impression is not a strong enough base for an album. Pulse, his second solo record, released under ...

Glam Slam

by David King January 19, 2011

Its not like the world needed any more artists bent on copping the bopping beats, fuzzed-out guitar squeal, elfin vocals, and pompy backup singing of T. Rex. But if someone is going to do it ...

Universal Doldrums

by David King January 12, 2011

If you are familiar with New York City techno-rap-punk act Mindless Self Indulgence, you know they have an off-kilter, sometimes offensive sense of humor. But if you thought MSI’s bizarre sexual lyrics were the apex ...

Universal Doldrums

by David Greenberger January 12, 2011

No longer affiliated with any label, Cowboy Junkies are flexing their muscles as they pass their 25th anniversary. They launched a series of four albums last year, the rest of which will be appearing over ...

Universal Doldrums

by David King January 12, 2011

Matt and Kim sure know how to squander goodwill. They are the couple everyone loves to love. Their last dance-punk album, Grand, was ready-made for an iPod commercial, but they delivered it with such sincerity. ...

Smashing Pumpkins

by David King August 18, 2010

So the whole non-reunion thing didn’t work out for Billy Corgan. The band failed to explode again; the bombastic, Sabbath-inspired major-label release bombed; Corgan got nasty when fans asked for the hits at the band’s ...

Moby Grape

by David Greenberger August 18, 2010

Moby Grape’s spectacular flame-out is an often-told tale in the annals of rock music history. It’s not hard to imagine its elements of good and evil, bright expectations, dashed hopes, and madness becoming a bedtime ...

Crystal Castles

by David King August 18, 2010

The first time I heard Crystal Castles, the Palladia channel was showing footage of their set at some Hipsterpalooza-type festival. The sound sucked, and the image of a young girl in a short skirt throwing ...

Spur

by Mike Hotter August 18, 2010

Storied indie label Drag City has set itself up as a sort of underground version of Rhino Records in recent years, digging through the rock & roll vaults and reissuing albums it deems to be ...

The Major Lift

by John Brodeur August 4, 2010

In the waning days (or we should hope) of a seemingly ceaseless heatwave, one wouldn’t be blamed for thinking summer has all but reached its end—though we’re only about halfway there. On the bright side, ...

Yeasayer

by Josh Potter February 18, 2010

With Odd Blood, it’s tempting to say that Yeasayer “pulled a Veckatimest.” Much in the way Grizzly Bear followed up the considerable promise of early experimental records with last year’s art-pop magnum opus of that ...

Baby Beats

by Josh Potter February 18, 2010

A computer-music professor once told me never to use visual or narrative metaphors to describe what was happening in a piece of electronic music. The rationale was that, as soon as you assign a sound ...

This is the New Year

by John Brodeur January 28, 2010

Spoon Transference The Austin, Texas, band Spoon reached the apex of their studio mastery, I think, on “My Little Japanese Cigarette Case,” a song from their 2007 album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. While the whole album ...

Off the Rail

by The Staff January 21, 2010

‘Americana” is a genre often donned by singer-songwriters with an affinity for classic country music but whose respect for artistry resists any association with CMT and all that country has become. However you choose to ...

The Major Lift

by Erik Hage January 14, 2010

As the mainstream record companies’ grip on music gatekeeping steadily loosens due to the egalitarian influence of the Internet and social media—as well as, well, taste—what’s most evident is that they have less of an ...

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