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Ross LangagerAbout Ross Langager Reviews
Wolfmother: Cosmic EggThis is not a new castle, but it's a fairly impressive renovation of the existing foundations. [6 November 2009] 
Two Hours Traffic: TerritoryAn album that should have been a sweet Friday night party instead skips the entire weekend. [23 September 2009] 
Mute Math: ArmisticeEnjoying Mute Math involves disavowing the bad, and disliking them likewise involves disavowing the good. [17 September 2009] 
Barcelona: AbsolutesColdplay is popular. Barcelona sounds like Coldplay. Surprisingly, this is not a bad thing. [31 August 2009] 
The Sounds: Crossing the RubiconThe Sounds have a powerful self-image of themselves as swaggering, pioneering visionaries, but their perspective tilts backwards, not forwards. 
Melissa McClelland : Victoria DayMcClelland tends to brush aside the mournful lilt of her female singer/songwriter peers. She aims for something more audacious: Tom Waits in a skirt. [29 July 2009] 
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs: Under the Covers Vol. 2These are power-pop covers of power-pop songs; straightforward versions that usually lay the guitar-pop sugar on even thicker than the originals did. [21 July 2009] 
The Broken Family Band: Please and Thank YouThis is not your run-of-the-mill upper-middle-class disaffection, but flat-out exasperated ditch-dwelling. [22 June 2009] 
Pilot Speed: Wooden BonesWooden Bones is pleasing enough to the ear, but it's really barely worth talking about. [3 June 2009] 
The Enemy: Music for the PeopleFrom its opening cut onwards, Music for the People proves altogether too heavy to achieve much lift. [1 June 2009] 
The Tragically Hip: We Are the SameThe Tragically Hip make even the hoariest of modern-rock conventions seem like tossed-off abstractions. [12 May 2009] 
Arcade Fire: Miroir Noir: Neon Bible Archives [DVD]Miroir Noir is a self-aware tone-poem essay on the Arcade Fire's navigation of the post-millennial liminal spaces between commercial capitalism and independent art. [1 May 2009] 
Great Lake Swimmers: Lost ChannelsGreat Lake Swimmers make great music to listen to as you lie in the grass and fall asleep. [22 April 2009] 
Gomez: A New TideGomez is not a band well-served by reviews that pass around generic terms like they're secret passwords. [2 April 2009] 
Malajube: LabyrinthesThe crafting of the songs is the point here, not the language in which they are crafted. [30 March 2009] 
Hot Panda: Volcano… Bloody VolcanoVolcano… Bloody Volcano simmers more often than it blows its top, and tends to linger in the liminal space of its titular ellipse rather than risk venturing into the blunt syllables that surround it. [23 February 2009] 
Sebastien Grainger & the Mountains: Sebastien Grainger & the MountainsMost of Grainger's gestures are aimed at gaining the approval of the indie populists who seem poised to welcome him with open arms. [9 January 2009] 
Plain White T’s : Big Bad WorldIt's easy to dump on the Plain White T's. It's even easier to read as someone else does it. Please join me. [8 January 2009] 
Previously on Lost : The Tale of Season Four and the Oceanic SixPreviously on Lost is that rare novelty act that transcends its own self-constructed novelty. [15 December 2008] 
Vancougar: Canadian TuxedoVancougar want to be one of the best, but far too often, they can't see the forest for the trees. [8 December 2008] 
Gomez : Bring It On: 10th Anniversary Collector’s EditionGomez, like the Beatles, hijack the warm russet tones of Americana, but adapt these elements to a British perspective. [21 November 2008] 
Matt Mays & El Torpedo: Terminal RomanceNo doubt this album would have sounded much more momentous in 1974, but it does fairly well for itself, even today. [5 November 2008] 
Stereophonics : Pull the PinThe Welsh rockers' last album put to bed whatever hints of singular creative direction could be descried on their first three releases, so why should their latest be any different? [28 October 2008] 
Snow Patrol: A Hundred Million SunsWhether or not this album contains a hit as massive as "Chasing Cars", it's a confident, balanced work of mass art with only extremely minor flaws. [27 October 2008] 
Damien Jurado: Caught in the TreesJurado's idiom is as worn and familiar as a favored old coffee table. [20 October 2008] 
Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams: The Great UnravelEntirely enjoyable easy-listening folk-rock band makes specious claims to the psychedelic. [14 October 2008] 
The Goo Goo Dolls: Greatest Hits Vol. 2: B-sides and RaritiesTiny shreds of esteem separate the Goo Goo Dolls from, say, the James Blunts of the adult-contemporary galaxy. [17 September 2008] 
The Subways: All or NothingThe Subways rock undeniably out, without a hint of either hipster pretense or mainstream recumbence and with plenty of hopping. [16 September 2008] 
Donna the Buffalo: SilverlinedUpstate New York jam-folk veterans strike their preferred targets rather easily. [3 September 2008] 
Bloc Party: IntimacyIntimacy might not actually be all that intimate, but it is a thing of rough, recycled beauty. [29 August 2008] 
Oxford Collapse: BitsBrooklyn trio offers a snapshot in mid-stride, action photography with no particular context, arc, or closure. [25 August 2008] 
Caesars: Strawberry WeedCaesars are not so much the soundtrack of our lives as the soundtrack of our lives if we were all dancing silhouettes in iPod ads. [22 August 2008] 
The Duhks: Fast Paced WorldWinnipeg neo-folkies mesh traditions together into an elusive mosaic that appears more forward-looking than it actually is. [21 August 2008] 
Augustana: Can’t Love, Can’t HurtSan Diego trad-rockers take the path of least resistance. [15 July 2008] 
The National Rifle: Wage LifePhiladelphia power-punks evade pigeonholing with bratty dexterity. [2 July 2008] 
The Black Angels: Directions to See a GhostThe Austin-based dark-psych-rockers hunker down in their foxhole to wait out the heavy bombardment and feast on the spoils of survival. [21 May 2008] 
Frank Sinatra: Sinatra at the MoviesTen years after Ol' Blues Eyes exited the world stage, a compilation of his movie songs reminds us of his signature vocal talents, but lacks vital context on Sinatra himself. [9 May 2008] 
Soundpool: Dichotomies & DreamlandThere may well be an intriguing band hidden somewhere behind all of these sound washes, but a tad more structure is necessary to tease it out. [7 May 2008] 
Tokyo Police Club: Elephant ShellFor a debut so long on anticipation, Elephant Shell is short on a lot of things. [23 April 2008] 
Joel Plaskett Emergency: Ashtray RockWitty Nova Scotian minstrel makes the perfect party record for people who are tired of party records. [3 April 2008] |
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