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Dave HeatonPopMatters Associate Music EditorAbout Dave Heaton Dave Heaton has been writing about music on a regular basis since 1993, first for college newspapers and DIY fanzines and now mostly on the Internet. In 2000, the same year he started writing for PopMatters, he founded the online arts magazine ErasingClouds.com, for which he is still the editor and main writer. He also writes music reviews for the print magazine The Big Takeover and has a blog column on their website, BigTakeover.com. He has a Bachelors degree in Journalism (1996) and a Masters degree in English (1999), both from Truman State University, in the underrated town of Kirksville, Missouri, Though he does enough music-listening and writing for it to be a full-time job, it is not one. He has held a series of editing, writing and business communications positions at small and large companies in Kansas, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He currently lives in Philadelphia. Features
Many Will See and Hear: U2’s Prescient YouthU2's first three albums are an opportunity to try and remember what their youth was like, to contemplate how they grew into mega-mega-mega-superstars, with action-figure-ready personas and their own blockbuster-sized iconography. [25 February 2009] Danger Heartbreak Dead AheadIf "I've Gotta Dance to Keep from Crying" could work as a slogan for Motown, the song itself works as both a dance song and a tearjerker. [27 January 2009] The Best Indie Pop of 2008There are many bands making music by their own means, on their own terms, enough so to be labeled “independent”. But in today’s music-industry climate, what does that independence mean? [10 December 2008] Survival of the Fittest: The Hard Country of John AndersonAnderson is a distinctive country music artist whose ample, if intermittent, hits have not given him the hallowed stature or name recognition of many of his contemporaries. [11 April 2008] The Best Indie-Pop of 20072007 was a year of independent thinking, where fresh and experienced bands alike stubbornly set off on their own course. [12 December 2007] Play It for Today: 10 Years of LabradorThe Swedish indie-pop label Labrador has been creating their own universe of imaginary blockbuster singles and celebrating the immortal power of "ba-ba-ba" for 10 years now. [17 October 2007] The Last Cowboy in Town: Chris LeDouxThe rodeo songs of bronco-riding champion Chris LeDoux may seem like the work of one man, but they offer a window into Country & Western mythologies, old and new. [13 July 2007] Growing Up Hurts: Dolly Parton’s Albums of “Independence”The songs in the new Dolly Parton re-issue series illustrate her story of attaining stardom, of growing up in a one-room cabin in the mountains of Tennessee as one of 12 children and then leaving that all behind for a career in Nashville. [17 May 2007] Best Indie-Pop of 2006Sprites, snow fairies, and pants that yell, oh my! Dave Heaton's picks for indie-pop albums of the years are an animated bunch. [13 December 2006] Waylon Jennings, Jukebox HeroThe Waylon Jennings boxset Nashville Rebel gives reason to consider Jennings as not just a country-music outlaw, but a Wurlitzer Prize winner, whose voice from a jukebox can erase all the pain in the world just by giving voice to it. [12 October 2006] Brilliant Colors: The Jesus and Mary Chain Beyond PsychocandyConventional wisdom says that Psychocandy will stand as the Jesus and Mary Chain's ultimate statement. Listening to five of their now-remastered albums in a row might make you wonder why. [8 August 2006] Tears of an Outlaw: Willie Nelson’s The Complete Atlantic SessionsWillie Nelson's mid-'70s albums for Atlantic - 'concept albums' built out of heartache - offer a sense of what it really means to be an outlaw. [14 July 2006] In a Different Place: Interviews with Andy Bell and Mark Gardener of RideAndy Bell and Mark Gardener of the legendary shoegazing band talk to PopMatters about the group's musical legacy and their current careers. [1 January 1995] Reviews
Q-Tip: Kamaal the AbstractFor all the talk of it as experimental, Kamaal the Abstract satisfies and soothes more than it challenges or questions. [19 November 2009] 
Dolly Parton: DollyThe most comprehensive portrait of her significant body of work yet, Dolly is the perfect opportunity to consider the rich bounty of stories and ideas that live in her songs. [13 November 2009] 
Israel Quellet: Soni SclavusIn his obsession with the possibilities of sound, Israel Quellet takes us to exciting places. [11 November 2009] 
Lisa Germano: Magic NeighborMore than the backdrop to fiction, this seems a very individual soundtrack to lives lived with questions and conflicts: human beings as living musicals. [9 November 2009] 
David Nail: I’m About to Come AliveTrying to make his way in the world is clearly what Nail is doing, and it’s the album’s chief subject. [21 October 2009] 
Erik Satie: 42 Vexations (1893)The liner notes include a dare: “To hear the piece as it was originally designed, simply play the CD on repeat mode 12 times." [8 October 2009] 
Robert Earl Keen: The Rose HotelYoung folk singers, take heed: cover one of these songs in place of “The Road Goes on Forever” and set yourself apart. [2 October 2009] 
Kid Cudi: Man on the Moon: End of DayWelcome to Kid Cudi’s darkest dreams and their much brighter flip side. [30 September 2009] 
Still Flyin’: Never Gonna Touch the GroundParty we want to, not just because the band taps into a kind of quintessential party feeling, but because its members seem friendly and have a lot of positive energy, plus nice harmonies. [24 September 2009] 
Matteah Baim: Laughing BoyLaughing Boy has a mystical vibe that taps into something deeply frightening. [23 September 2009] 
Ant: These Long Dark Country RoadsThese are songs of love lost or sought and also going-away songs that musically ramble down the titular dark roads, going somewhere but not sure where. [13 September 2009] 
Peter Broderick: 4-Track SongsA grab bag of 25 early recordings, it represents a varied, channel-changing dive into Broderick’s artistic sensibility. [7 September 2009] 
George Strait: TwangOn the best songs, the lean approach leads to elegance, to delivering many feelings and stories with a small number of words. [4 September 2009] 
John Anderson: Bigger HandsOn Bigger Hands, John Anderson is in a more back-to-basics mindset. [27 August 2009] 
Loren Connors: The Curse of Midnight MaryGhosts and legends are forever twined with the blues. By its consistent strangeness, and nevertheless deep resonance, Connors’s blues are explicitly open to these ghosts. [17 August 2009] 
Brad Paisley: American Saturday NightThat hopeful melody returns at the middle and end of the album, marking this as a concept album about hope, about the past, present, and future and the paths between them. [6 August 2009] 
Jaden South: Leading the HorseJaden South have strong singing voices, far as I can tell, but there’s a murkiness to the whole endeavor that keeps anything from really hitting. [31 May 2009] 
Keith Urban: Defying GravityCall him the Fabio of country music, if you will, but Keith Urban's devotion to romantic fantasy is no joke. [24 April 2009] 
Eric Church: CarolinaIt’s a testament to the quality of the songwriting that, of Eric Church's two albums, Carolina actually qualifies as the more distinctive one and the better one. [3 April 2009] 
Maquiladora: St. Cecilia’s DrowningMaquiladora depict the desert as a strange place and embody that strangeness through their music. [30 March 2009] 
McCarthy Trenching: Calamity DrenchingRecorded at home on 8-track, the album humbly offers 12 songs about thunderstorms, drinking, and relationships crumbling. The facts of life, in other words. [24 March 2009] 
Josh Reichmann Oracle Band: Life Is Legal EPHe sings of a new god, of a new age, and the music seems purposely twisted to suit this direction. [17 March 2009] 
The Besties: Home FreeEven when the songs carry some sadness, or awareness of life’s difficulties, as these songs generally do, it’s with the feeling of a breeze that they hit us. [4 March 2009] 
Dierks Bentley: Feel That FireWithin the overall thrust of Feel That Fire, the moments of mood, texture, and feeling are brief stops along the road. [27 February 2009] 
Phish: At the RoxyWhat is lost when coveted archeological objects become widely available, easy to buy at your corner store? [25 February 2009] 
Tom Russell: Veteran’s DayA two-disc journey through the work of a great American storyteller in song. [23 January 2009] 
Tracy Shedd: Cigarettes and Smoke MachinesThe smoke references in the title fit the tone, which is anxious and moody. [20 January 2009] 
Murry Hammond: I Don’t Know Where I’m Going But I’m On My WayHammond’s guitar playing, whistling, and yodeling together become the sound of the wind, representing extreme loneliness and the echo of the great hereafter. [7 January 2009] 
People Under the Stairs: Fun DMCThe title Fun DMC is the first sign of many that this time they’re not trying to make a serious artistic statement. But in their own way they still do... [18 December 2008] 
From Bubblegum to Sky: A Soft KillIt becomes clear that Hernandez’s songs, sweet as they are, are going to poke incisively into human fears and foibles, with no qualms. [8 December 2008] 
Noah and the Whale: Peaceful, the World Lays Me DownEven with its mortality obsession, the album is mostly a statement of nothing, but at least it sounds good most of the time. [2 December 2008] 
Kanye West: 808s and HeartbreakOn 808s and Heartbreak, West might be making his own hip-hop version of a concept album where the concept is sadness. But he isn't fitting a cookie-cutter mold, he's innovating. [1 December 2008] 
Trace Adkins: XHere Adkins' tough-guy persona has some thoughtfulness to it, and he matches his own confident singing with music that’s at least as confident. [24 November 2008] 
Lee Ann Womack: Call Me CrazyShe's walking that traditional/modern tightrope, trying to decide where to land. [23 October 2008] 
Damon and Naomi: More Sad HitsThis is music for changing times, the soundtrack to the falling stock market, but also a call to make art. [20 October 2008] 
Patty Loveless: Sleepless NightsThese musical questions have been asked many times before, and they’ll continue to be asked until the end of time. [7 October 2008] 
Kimya Dawson and Friends: AlphabuttMonster babies, tigers in underwear drawers, farts that smell like the zoo...this is a kid's album, right? [24 September 2008] 
Boston Spaceships: Brown SubmarineRobert Pollard's best album may still be in the future, and may be born of the past. [19 September 2008] 
Soltero: You’re No DreamYou’re No Dream actually does carry some of the atmosphere associated with dreams: a strangeness both pretty and mysterious. [9 September 2008] 
Jamey Johnson: That Lonesome SongHurt is universal, and that lonesome tune just keeps carrying on, passed from generation to generation like a spirit. [29 August 2008] 
Glen Campbell: Meet Glen CampbellMarketing endeavor or not, Meet Glen Campbell is part of a long tradition of older vocalists tackling a younger set of songs. 
Mel Tillis: Me and PepperHe was already a star. With these albums, he was just trying to keep pushing things along, to make some more albums and have some more hit songs on the radio. [8 August 2008] 
Jean Grae: JeaniusThe idea of a seamless, flawless album is contrary to the nature of Jean Grae's entire career so far. [1 August 2008] 
Sugarland: Love on the InsideWith Sugarland, the more cynical we are, the more likely we are to miss their charm, and why they’re so popular. [30 July 2008] 
Randy Travis: Around the BendTravis’s presence, here and usually, is that of the steady hand. [18 July 2008] 
Sonic Youth: Hits Are for SquaresThe question this album provokes isn't, “Why Starbucks?” It's, “Why do I care what Catherine Keener’s favorite Sonic Youth song is?” [17 July 2008] 
Ricky Nelson: Greatest Love SongsThe title Greatest Love Songs is of course a misnomer, a marketing gimmick to justify the release of yet another repackaging of music from the past. [27 June 2008] 
Maybe It’s Reno: Maybe It’s RenoNineties legends Unrest sort-of reunite, for an eccentric, personal album by one of their own. [20 June 2008] 
The Real Tuesday Weld: The End of the WorldAs a live album, real or imaginary, it seems less “substantial” than the other Real Tuesday Weld albums, but it takes that stature to great heights. [19 June 2008] 
Montgomery Gentry: Back When I Knew It AllTo flip the words to one of Montgomery Gentry's songs around, it ain’t about tough, it’s about easy. [17 June 2008] 
Elemental Emcee: Hell on Your MentalBeing a feared battle MC is something entirely different from making hip-hop albums that will last. [16 June 2008] 
Tears Run Rings: Always, Sometimes, Seldom, NeverIt’s an example of playing genre right: using its tropes while adding new life. [12 June 2008] 
Michael Knight: I’m Not Entirely Clear How I Ended Up Like ThisA fancy package around a less distinctive album. [30 May 2008] 
Tom Paxton: Comedians and AngelsSentimental folkie sings love songs to his wife, his children, his friends, and folk songs themselves. [29 May 2008] 
Various Artists: BIPPPIt's the versatility of synthesizers that’s on display as much as the specific personalities these musicians created. [14 May 2008] 
Moreland & Arbuckle: Eighteen Sixty-OneI’m not sure what a specifically Kansan version of the blues would sound like, so I’m fascinated by the notion. 
Strategy: Music for LampingStrategy prefers the descriptor "meditative" to "ambient". That distinction makes sense here. [12 May 2008] 
Willie Nelson: One Hell of a RideFour jam-packed discs still represent a truncated guidebook to the maze that is Willie Nelson’s life work. [25 April 2008] 
George Strait: TroubadourMassive in his hit-making legacy, yet enigmatic for his seeming ordinaryness, George Strait returns with his 37th album in 27 years. [23 April 2008] 
Alan Jackson: Good TimeAn at-ease variety show of an album, with fantasy in the driver's seat, but the cold wind of reality right behind. [28 March 2008] 
Dolly Parton: Backwoods BarbieBackwoods Barbie has dramatic cheatin’ songs and giddy fun alike, with Parton tapping into both her tacky-glamour persona and her serious songwriting skills for a varied collection of songs that ranks among her best. [27 March 2008] 
Mahjongg: KontpabMahjongg run with an elaborate mythology, but what they really care about is taking a groove and spotlighting its strangeness. [18 March 2008] 
Various Artists: A Number of Small ThingsThis is the collected memory of a series of small creative acts. [13 March 2008] 
Laura Bryna: Trying to Be MeOn her debut album Tryin' to Be Me Laura Bryna plays a variety of cards in her pursuit of country or pop audiences. [10 March 2008] 
Pieces of Peace: Pieces of PeaceHip-hop's use of the music of the past has led to the remembrance and rediscovery of so many lost funk and soul masterpieces. [28 February 2008] 
Various Artists: Airport SymphonyAnyone who has traveled by air understands the strangeness of it -- the way airports make you feel lost. This music captures that perfectly. [22 February 2008] 
Jazzanova and Dirk Rumpff: Broadcasting From Offtrack RadioBroadcasting... is ultimately less about showcasing any particular artist than about communicating one basic mood. [20 February 2008] 
Willie Nelson: Moment of ForeverMoment of Forever is stunning, for its spare demeanor and how well it shows off Nelson's talents. [8 February 2008] 
Wax Poetics AnthologyThroughout Wax Poetics there is the sense that hip-hop was built on secret, sacred knowledge. [4 February 2008] 
Hey Willpower: PDAFun, disposable pop music should sound fresh and new, but this sounds old already ... partly because it is old. [22 January 2008] 
The Magnetic Fields: DistortionDistortion is a game, a question, a provocation, a distortion, a fable, a fake, and a collection of pop songs. [14 January 2008] 
Lucky Soul: One Kiss Don’t Make a SummerThe fifth single from Lucky Soul’s breakthrough debut album The Great Unwanted was the right way to close out the summer, or to pretend that it hasn’t left us yet. 
Tender Forever: WiderAn album of love songs, Wider is more like an invitation, Valera welcoming a lover to come create a new universe with her. [3 January 2008] 
Phosphorescent: PrideThe pretty, mysterious and spiritual sides of Phosphorescent have been multiplied by a thousand. [2 January 2008] 
Various Artists: Summer Records Anthology 1974-1988The music ended up sounding like Jamaica, and not. [21 December 2007] 
Wu-Tang Clan: 8 DiagramsCan we stop talking about the Wu-Tang Clan’s “decline” now? 8 Diagrams is as exciting as they’ve ever been. [11 December 2007] 
Robin and Linda Williams: Radio SongsRadio Songs is a time capsule as much as a music collection, capturing specific moments from the past decade and songs from long ago. [29 November 2007] 
Goldmund: Two Point DiscriminationThis is the sort of minimalist music that fills a room with even the faintest of its sounds. [28 November 2007] 
Common: Thisisme ThenHerein lies another industry rule. Record companies count on us to buy the same music (at least) twice. [27 November 2007] 
Damon and Naomi: Within These WallsOn Within These Walls Damon & Naomi look inward and outward, forward and back. [6 November 2007] 
Saturday Looks Good to Me: Fill Up the RoomThe album seems possessed by the notion that the snappy little pop songs of the band’s past were baby steps towards something greater. [29 October 2007] 
Carolyn Mark: Nothing Is FreeAt the heart of Nothing Is Free is the philosophical question of choice: where does having them put us? And what happens in the modern-day world of limitless choices? [17 October 2007] 
Saturday Looks Good to Me: Cold ColorsA common approach: make the single stranger than the album it precedes, setting fans up to accept the new sound when they hear the album itself. [9 October 2007] 
Majesty Crush: I Love You in Other CitiesA welcome celebration of an atypical dream-pop band. [8 October 2007] 
Someone Else: Pen Caps and Colored PencilsThe sonic equivalent of colored pencils, combined with sleek, modern, minimalist techno. 
California Snow Story: Close to the OceanThis may resemble a vacation, but one where you spend much of it with your own thoughts. [5 October 2007] 
PJ Harvey: White ChalkIt’s rare that music this supernatural is also this visceral. White Chalk wields ghostly knives, but they cut deep. [2 October 2007] 
Waylon Jennings and the Waymore Blues Band: Never Say DieIt’s doubtful that Jennings meant this show to be the grand statement and legacy-capping event that the record label is hyping it as. [19 September 2007] 
Kanye West: GraduationFor all of his apparent ego-tripping, awkwardness is the key quality of Kanye West’s persona, whether he’s aware of it or not. [10 September 2007] 
Various Artists: Guilt by AssociationSongs we've heard enough times make a permanent imprint on our consciousness -- you'll find you can sing along to a song you haven't heard in decades. [4 September 2007] 
Butcher Boy: Profit in Your PoetryThe songs’ protagonists wander through fogs of worry and indecision, and the songwriting makes us care. [21 August 2007] 
Bad Religion: New Maps of HellHave our punk-rock heroes given up on changing the world? [6 August 2007] 
Calvin Johnson and the Sons of the Soil: Calvin Johnson and the Sons of the SoilMaybe there's an alternate universe where Calvin Johnson's shining achievement wasn't Beat Happening. [23 July 2007] 
Fred Thomas: Sink Like a SymphonyPhil Spector-like maestro picks up a guitar and rambles. [12 July 2007] 
Watoo Watoo: La FuiteTheir songs have picked up a relaxed state of sophistication, like they've been listening to a lot of cocktail jazz and bossa nova, fancy cocktails in hand, letting the vibe seep into their songs. [5 July 2007] 
Panther: Secret LawnsOn one song I think I hear him call his style "mechanic soul"; whether he does or doesn't, that description works. [26 June 2007] 
Plants: PhotosynthesisTheir odd, spooky-peaceful style of truly freaky new-folk music stretches out before our ears. [25 June 2007] 
Walker Kong: Deliver Us From PeopleConsider the album a cry of help from our animal friends -- but with an arena-rock slant. [21 June 2007] 
Voxtrot: VoxtrotMeet the album-format version of Voxtrot's music: Polaroids made grand for the arena stage. [23 May 2007] 
Michael Penn: Mr. Hollywood Jr. 1947; Palms and Runes, Tarot and TeaReturning to the scene of the crime, where Alfred Hitchock and Ian Fleming joined the Beatles for a love-letter-writing session. [18 April 2007] 
El-P: Ill Sleep When Youre DeadClassic hip-hop sounds a lot different after you've filtered it through 1984, through the War in Iraq, through the Patriot Act. [13 April 2007] 
Lucky Soul: The Great UnwantedUK-based Lucky Soul offer more pop songs about the broken-hearted on their debut LP, but these are something truly special. Witness soulful, mod pop at it's best and brightest. [9 April 2007] 
Various Artists: International Sad HitsEven in this supposed global information era there's still music of stature and depth being made in other countries without our knowledge. [29 March 2007] 
Eluvium: CopiaI can think of few musicians of any genre making instrumental music as involving as Matthew Cooper's ambient compositions under the name Eluvium. [28 March 2007] 
Lucky Soul: Aint Never Been Cool1950s girl-group pop gets a modern-day reworking on the delightful title track of the UK pop group Lucky Soul's three-song Ain't Never Been Cool EP. [27 March 2007] 
Rjd2: The Third HandWhen a musician brings other genres into hip-hop, how many can he add before the music is no longer hip-hop? [9 March 2007] 
Jill Cunniff: City BeachIt's hard to resist comparing the Muzak-ization of Cunniff's music with the gentrification and Disney-fication of New York City itself. [23 February 2007] 
Harry Connick, Jr.: Oh, My NolaPretty-boy crooner sees New Orleans as a rich stew, marked by cycles of life and death. [9 February 2007] 
Gang Starr: Mass Appeal: The Best of Gang StarrGang Starr's populist, universal style of hip-hop emulates the daily operations of city life. [26 January 2007] 
Sloan: Never Hear the End of ItOnward to infinity... the melodies and rock-star poses never stop, and neither do the emotions. [3 January 2007] 
Pipas: Sorry LoveA love letter, an afternoon at the cinema, a dream: music built from scraps of memory. [19 December 2006] 
Sonic Youth: The Destroyed RoomSonic Youth's accidents and mistakes add up to an exciting new statement of their own. [18 December 2006] 
Etta Jones: Dont Go to StrangersDon't Go to Strangers is the power of the human voice, revealed yet again. [13 December 2006] 
Phish: Colorado 88Fairy tales, rock-star mythology, corny jokes and, occasionally, a miracle. [7 December 2006] 
Sven Libaek: Inner Space: The Lost Film Music of Sven LibaekThere's a lightness of touch and a breezy, jazzy atmosphere to these 12 Sven Libaek Australian film-score compositions from the '60s and '70s. [12 November 2006] 
No Wait Wait: About YouThe dark About You is at its best when it mixes fragile country-rock in with the bigger pop-rock sound. [8 November 2006] 
Awesome Color: Awesome ColorIt's aggressive, energetic music, but also rather one-dimensional, nowhere near as colorful as the name implies. [27 October 2006] 
Parenthetical Girls: Safe as HousesThis is dark, challenging, ugly, pretty pop music. [24 October 2006] 
Bright Eyes: Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998 – 2005)Rewarding hodge-podge of treasure and trash continues the journey of Bright Eyes. [20 October 2006] 
Damien Jurado: And Now That Im in Your ShadowEverybody leaves, gets left, or worse... within the stories told on this stark, sad, gorgeous album. [19 October 2006] 
Various Artists: The Kids at the Club: An Indiepop CompilationThis is how it feels to fall in love with a song. [12 October 2006] 
My Morning Jacket: OkonokosMy Morning Jacket, taking their high-powered live show into your home and setting it ablaze. [25 September 2006] 
Stereolab: Serene Velocity: A Stereolab AnthologyStereolab's discography is a maze, and this is meant as a guidebook. But it's missing a few pages, at least. [20 September 2006] 
Method Man: 4:21… The Day AfterLiving among ghosts of MCs past, remembering every harsh word a critic ever uttered, Method Man races to prove his relevance. [1 September 2006] 
Jennifer OConnor: Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the StarsIt isn't hard to find a musician writing songs "from the heart", but how often do those songs feel genuinely heartfelt to you, and really hit you in your own heart? [21 August 2006] 
M. Ward: Post-WarThe ups and downs of life's rollercoaster -- world wars and all -- are captured brillantly here by the out-of-time, transcendent troubadour M. Ward. [16 August 2006] 
Adam Green: Jacket Full of DangerAdam Green wants to be your Elvis, your Paul Simon, your Jim Morrison, your Sammy Davis, Jr., and your Raffi, all at once. [26 July 2006] 
Phish: Live in BrooklynA philosophical question: can one reach enlightenment through virtuosity and spectacle? [21 July 2006] 
The Impossible Shapes: TumAn artifact from the recent past, pulled from the ground... or maybe the sky? [12 July 2006] 
Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys: Turntable MatineeDance your tears away while the steel guitar plays and the band finds its groove. [10 July 2006] 
Maher Shalal Hash Baz: Kunitachi Kibun: Live 1984-85Write music like your kid fingerpaints, record it from across a crowded room, and keep that recording buried for two decades. [13 June 2006] 
Sonic Youth: Rather RippedA graceful question-mark to round out the Geffen era for Sonic Youth. [9 June 2006] 
Tilly and the Wall: Bottoms of BarrelsExuberant music that's always in motion, but also seeks to be a rock of support for the fragile and restless at heart. [25 May 2006] 
Filastine: Burn ItFilastine's international approach to protest music makes us want to travel the world, but does it make us want to change it? [12 May 2006] 
Kimya Dawson: Remember That I Love YouDoes a song have the power to save people from suicide? Kimya sings like it does. [8 May 2006] 
The Coup: Pick a Bigger WeaponThe Coup's back to bomb the system, and they've brought the funk with them. [25 April 2006] 
Boyracer: A Punch Up the BracketStill think mohawks and boots are punk rock? Not compared to making music entirely on your own terms. [24 April 2006] 
Sonic Youth: Sonic YouthThree reminders of the multiple ways that Sonic Youth has played around with popular music over the last 25 years. [5 April 2006] 
Casey Dienel: Wind-Up CanaryA debut album that dazzles with imagination, heart, and a style that's genuinely unique. 
The Caribbean: Plastic ExplosivesThe Caribbean turn pop songs into ghosts, life's most mundane aspects into spy fiction. [29 March 2006] 
Willie Nelson: You Don’t Know Me: Songs of Cindy WalkerWillie sings from the Great American (Country and Western) Songbook. [14 March 2006] 
Stereolab: Fab Four SutureLike all their best recordings, this sounds both like a ‘typical Stereolab album’ and like nothing they've done before. [3 March 2006] 
The Elected: Sun, Sun, SunHere we are, inside The Elected's idyllic world, where the song is the thing and the natural wonders of America are the backdrop. [27 January 2006] 
O.C.: Smoke & MirrorsIncessently rhyming about how "complicated" you are can be dangerous, but O.C. eventually backs up his claim. [14 December 2005] 
Talib Kweli: Right About NowRight About Now is Kweli's attempt to free himself from the burden of expectations, and just make music. [7 December 2005] 
Kammerflimmer Kollektief: AbsencenAbsencen is free from the qualities that would allow its music to be summed up in one sentence, or a genre name. [11 November 2005] 
Public Enemy: New Whirl OdorSome thought Public Enemy had become irrelevant 10 years ago, but they hadn't. Now, though, they're getting dangerously close... [4 November 2005] 
Múm: Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today is OKMùm's debut may be five years old, but it's so alive and adventurous it sounds like it was recorded today, or tomorrow even. [24 October 2005] 
Little Brother: The Minstrel ShowLittle Brother is looking for an instant seal-of-approval that'll place the group among the legends of hip-hop, but do they deserve it?" [5 October 2005] 
Head of Femur: Hysterical StarsHead of Femur transforms from a power trio to an orchestra at the drop of a hat, making their music both sexier and more heartbreaking. [22 September 2005] 
Doug Hoekstra: Su Casa, Mi Casa: The Official Live BootlegAt his best, Doug Hoekstra shakes off the folk music clichés and demonstrates how songs can transport listeners to a specific time, place, and state of mind. [21 July 2005] 
Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation: The First London Invasion Tour 1987 [DVD]With flame in their eyes and clocks around their necks, Public Enemy were setting stages on fire, as showmen with a larger sense of social purpose. [14 July 2005] 
Architecture in Helsinki: In Case We DieBy painting their already imaginative songs with dazzling new colors, Architecture in Helsinki are quietly reinventing the pop song. [19 May 2005] 
Beck: GueroThe emotional scope of Beck's discography is further broadened by Guero, which places his schizophrenic party music under a more solemn cloud. [29 March 2005] 
The Perceptionists: Black DialogueThe Perceptionists' Black Dialogue is gimmick-free, frills-free hip-hop from self-proclaimed 'black orators' who have important things to say and aren't afraid to say them. [17 March 2005] 
Adam Green: GemstonesAdam Green comes off like a 'blue' comic trapped inside the body of a folk singer who wishes he were a Vegas showman... but his songs are weirdly affecting. [21 February 2005] 
De La Soul: The Grind DateThe Grind Date has an economy to it that suits De La Soul's new workmanlike perspective; at 12 songs it's the most concise album they've made yet. [1 November 2004] 
Mos Def: The New DangerMos Def's desire to expand the boundaries of hip-hop is admirable, but The New Danger too often feels like it's taking hip-hop backwards, not forwards. [28 October 2004] 
Guided by Voices: Half Smiles of the DecomposedHalf Smiles of the Decomposed feels like Pollard making peace with GBV’s legacy and taking steps in the direction of progress and reinvention. [14 September 2004]
Pole: self-titledPole might throw you for a loop if you’re overly attached to the “Pole sound” of the past, but that might be a good thing. It’s an album about forward motion and learning. [29 August 2003]
Akrobatik: BalanceAiming barbs at hypocrites, phony MCs and power-hungry politicians alike, Akrobatik is skilled at cutting through the glitz and hype to get to what’s genuine and important, in music and life. [20 May 2003]
Robert Pollard: Motel of FoolsThe more time you spend with Motel of Fools, the more all of these feelings of incompleteness begin to make sense. [31 January 2003]
Talib Kweli: QualityQuality is filled with songs that are ripe for the radio, at least in an ideal world where radio paid any attention to songs. [27 December 2002]
The Green Pajamas: In a Glass DarklySeattle’s The Green Pajamas should be near the top of any Most Underrated Band in America list. [1 May 2001]
Gossip: That’s Not What I HeardThe Gossip take a fast-and-furious approach to the blues, and will knock you off your feet before you realize what’s going on. [22 January 2001]
De La Soul: Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic ThumpIf Mosaic Thump doesn’t stand out quite as strongly as their previous albums, it’s because it’s obviously meant as the first chapter of a book, not the whole thing itself. [8 August 2000]
Anarchy! An Anthology of Emma Goldman’s Mother Earth by Peter GlassgoldThe story offered here is not just a depiction of idealists trying to change the world, but a convincing portrait of government repression in the United States, one which should not only enlighten readers about our country's past but make them look closer at the present. [1 January 1995] 
Neil Young: Landing on WaterEven at the album’s worst moments, though, you have to give Young credit for trying new things, for not being afraid to shake up his act a bit. BlogsMixed Media: Top 5 Videos of 2008: Dave Heaton [26 November 2008]Consuming Consumables: Wax Poetics Anthology, Vol. 1 [$39.95] [4 December 2007]Consuming Consumables: LISTEN - Waylon Jennings: Nashville Rebel [6 December 2006] |
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