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Jer FairallAbout Jer Fairall Features
Get Holy: An Interview With John Darnielle of the Mountain GoatsUpon the release of the Mountain Goats' latest album, the band's founder and songwriter talks about the literary influences on his prolific output and the biblical theme of his latest opus. [3 November 2009] Wheat: Medeiros / Hope and AdamsIt would be tremendously heartening to view the Rebel Group's reissues of these albums as a corrective measure to the attention and praise that eluded them at the time. [10 June 2009] Adventures in Solitude: An Interview With A.C. NewmanSomehow Newman fits American literature, modern Swiss sculpture, and classic international cinema into a conversation about his latest work. [3 February 2009] Reviews
Owen Pallett: HeartlandIt is nothing short of astounding that Pallett’s music never comes off as precious, humorless or impenetrable, despite trappings that would seem to guarantee all of the above. [5 February 2010] 
Lights: The ListeningTrue to its title, The Listening is an album in love with the simple joys of listening to pop music. [29 January 2010] 
Zeus: Sounds Like ZeusDistant relatives of the Broken Social Scene collective make a pop-savvy debut. [27 October 2009] 
Sarah Bettens: Never Say GoodbyeFormer K's Choice singer offers up a mostly acoustic odds-and-ends collection. [22 October 2009] 
Spaceships Are Cool: 5-Track EPNottingham geek-poppers overreach and miss its mark. [22 September 2009] 
Dog Day: ConcentrationHalifax, Nova Scotia co-ed quartet looks to two decades' worth of gloomy indie rock for inspiration. [17 September 2009] 
Jay Brannan: In Living CoverOn In Living Cover, Brannan wisley scales back to a low-pressure coffeehouse setting where he is free to test out his own material amidst a selection of his well-worn favorites. [20 August 2009] 
tUnE-YaRdS: BiRd-BrAiNsWhere the vast majority of lo-fi acts remain comfortable to wade in the audio murk as if it were just one more tool at its disposal, Merrill Garbus claws violently against it. 
Themselves: theFREEhoudini"Party Rap Sucks", goes the title of one track here, but if anything this sounds like a wholly celebratory record. [3 August 2009] 
The Faraway Places: Out of the Rain, the Thunder and the LightningA collection of retro poses and flourishes that feel self-consciously recycled and derivative. [22 July 2009] 
Jeniferever: Spring TidesWhat should be gently captivating winds up being something of a chore. [12 July 2009] 
Fake Problems: It’s Great to Be AliveA manic sprawl of an album that might have wound up a total mess were it not simultaneously so much fun and anchored with such depth and unifying coherence. [18 May 2009] 
Plushgun: Pins and PanzersHowever late to the party, Pins and Panzers nevertheless stands as one of the most guileless and refreshingly unironic entries in the latest batch of retro new wavers. [17 April 2009] 
Nobunny: Love VisionsFun and catchy, but only a fraction of the Nobunny experience. [23 March 2009] 
Cursive: Mama, I’m SwollenIts high points undeniably high, the end result is nevertheless another mild disappointment from a songwriter who would do well to cut his songs loose a bit. [18 March 2009] 
Gentleman Reg: Jet Black / Little BuildingsGentleman Reg makes his introduction to the world beyond Canada with two releases, a past-works compilation and his new album proper -- a work that finally displays real maturity. [26 February 2009] 
Dar Williams: Promised LandAn album every bit as inward-looking as anything Williams has written, only now far more concerned with having arrived at the ultimate destination of adulthood than the arduous journey towards it. [20 February 2009] 
BARR: Skogsbo Is the PlaceImpossible as it is to fault the instrumentation on this record, it nevertheless remains all in the service of melodically inert songs [5 February 2009] 
Astronautalis: PomegranateAn album that it is far easier to appreciate than to actually enjoy. [27 January 2009] 
Best Music Writing 2008In a way this entire collection—not just Wilson’s standout piece—serves as its own elaborate response to Sasha Frere-Jones’ controversial charge. [15 January 2009] 
The Low Lows: Shining ViolenceComplete and utter chaos has never sounded so intentional. [5 December 2008] 
Lights: LightsLights infuses her music with both an unerring ear for tunefulness and a defiant conviction in her material that is genuinely refreshing. [2 December 2008] 
Rachael Sage: ChandelierSage is always agreeable enough company even on an album as disappointingly average as this one. [31 October 2008] 
The Porning of America by Carmine Sarracino & Kevin ScottFast forward 30 years and find that the behavior and attitudes we associate with pornography have only become more omnipresent since porn’s heyday. [29 October 2008] 
Plushgun: PlushgunLike unearthing a handful of outtakes from a John Hughes soundtrack. [27 October 2008] 
Jenny Lewis: Acid TongueThere's just enough good here to suggest that the next Jenny Lewis album might be something worth looking forward to. [25 September 2008] 
Nana Grizol: Love It Love ItCall it twee-pop if you like, but there is nothing fey or determinedly cutesy about Nana Grizol’s joyous racket. [11 September 2008] 
Haley Bonar: Big StarBig Star proves that Bonar’s refinement of her sound is on the right track. [10 September 2008] 
Veda Hille: This Riot LifeThat rare delight, an unabashedly arty record that avoids the stiflingly academic pitfalls that so often sink such things. [9 September 2008] 
Alias: ResurgamPleasant and occasionally quite captivating ear candy, but difficult to distinguish from the rest of the electronic crowd. [5 September 2008] 
Jay Brannan: GoddamnedIf indie rock were high school, and Kimya Dawson was the latest popular girl on campus, Jay Brannan would be her gay best friend. [21 August 2008] 
An Horse: Not Really ScaredNot Really Scared’s five songs recall the heyday of girl-fronted indie-guitar-rock bands. [5 August 2008] 
Subtle: ExitingARMIf ExitingARM fails as a pop album, it is only because Subtle refuses to ever be pigeonholed in such a way. [28 July 2008] 
33 1/3: Patti Smith’s Horses by Philip ShawOne of the most vivid and enduring products of that most exciting time and place in American popular music—New York City, late '70s—Patti Smith’s debut album Horses is ripe for this book-length dissertation. [23 June 2008] 
The Lost Supreme by Peter BenjaminsonA tellingly thin text, this book is content to coast along to the beat of the standard Behind The Music formula, complete with prose that feels readymade for Jim Forbes’ melodramatic voiceovers. [30 May 2008] 
Bobby and Blumm: Everybody Loves…Essentially 13 trivially minor variations on the same pleasantly listless song. [22 May 2008] 
Borko: Celebrating LifeLargely instrumental album that revels in the collision between electronic and organic instrumentation. [29 April 2008] BlogsConsuming Consumables: Gremlins: 25th Anniversary Edition [4 December 2009]Sound Affects: ‘Cause We All Just Wanna Be Big Schlock-stars: The Junos Strike Again [1 April 2009]Mixed Media: Voxtrot - “Trepanation Party” (MP3) [19 March 2009]Mixed Media: Inglorious Basterds (trailer) [4 March 2009]Mixed Media: Tinted Windows - “Kind of a Girl” (stream) [3 March 2009]Mixed Media: Cursive: “From the Hips” (MP3)Mixed Media: The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (trailer) [19 February 2009]Mixed Media: Neko Case - “People Got a Lotta Nerve” (MP3/video) [2 February 2009]Mixed Media: Neil Young - “Fork in the Road” (video) [30 January 2009]Sound Affects: So Long, Georgie James [6 August 2008] |
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