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Music
Tuesday, February 9 2010
By Ian Mathers
Opening their hearts and streamlining their sound at the same time, Hot Chip make their most unabashed and colourful record, and maybe their best.
By Zachary Houle
The Go Find somehow sounds familiar -- one more Europop band mining a bedroom indie pop sensibility -- and yet wholly distinct in a simultaneous space.
By Adrien Begrand
The sludge greats' notorious debut album finally gets a proper release after nearly 17 years.
By Timothy Gabriele
The dyschronia one experiences listening to Oneohtrix Point Never is similar, but not completely reverent, to the hypnagogic/glo-fi/chillwave axis in that it is music that is strangely familiar and familiarly strange.
By David Amidon
The mastermind behind Alicia Keys' "Teenage Love Affair" and John Legend's "P.D.A." steps out form behind the curtain of songwriting and his Plant Life alias to prepare audiences for his upcoming album.
By Alan Brown
This, his 57th studio album, is meat-and-potatoes Mayall -- a solid record, albeit a non-adventurous one, from a spirited veteran bluesman who still has things to say and songs to sing.
Monday, February 8 2010
By John Bergstrom
The Bristol downtempo legends return. Still attacking. Only now, less massive.
By Ben Schumer
Vancouver dance-punk troupe parties like its 2002.
By Adrien Begrand
One of the Middle East's best metal bands returns with their first album in six years.
By Joshua O'Neill
For better or for worse, Susan Boyle is you and me.
By Andrew Dietzel
Gloomy and forceful, Songs of Synastry and Solitude is as much about the space between the notes as it is the notes themselves, and as much about Pavone’s own story as it is yours.
By Steve Horowitz
Subtlety has nothing to do with sobriety and these songs are positively liquid in their clarion call for having fun as the only logical response to a lousy economic situation.
Friday, February 5 2010
By Jer Fairall
It 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.
By Estella Hung
How to Make Friends seems neither to have the galvanic spirit of great dance music nor the lyrical substance to make it a qualifying pop record.
By Thomas Britt
The tension between Longstreth's difficulty with the art of self-editing and the expert realization by his bandmates arises again on this EP.
By Andrew Gilstrap
The Hawks keep the spirit of cosmic country alive.
By Steve Leftridge
From the on-hiatus String Cheese Incident and Leftover Salmon, two jam-grass all-stars get together to make strong new newgrass.
By Ross Langager
The overall tone of Billy Talent III is, at best, one of stagnation and, at worst, one of regression.
Thursday, February 4 2010
By Mike Newmark
Robert Henke's seventh album as Monolake is a stunner, busting him out of the minimal techno ghetto with pulse-pounding rhythms and sound quality that would make most speakers blush.
By Joshua Kloke
Another dance-rock band cranks out some gnarly and intense synth-laden jams, but, it's yet another dance-rock band.
By Cody Miller
Call it his “Coat of Many Colors” if you want, but whatever you call it, there’s nothing ambiguous about it.
By Will Layman
Out-Jazz saxophone in a funky stew with two Guadelupian drummers and blues singer Taj Mahal: funky, aimless, goofy lyrics and, finally, just not enough fun.
By John Bergstrom
Think the minimal house movement is played out? The venerable German label means to convince you otherwise.
By Michael Miller
This is the worst album of 2009.
Wednesday, February 3 2010
By Adrien Begrand
Not only is the Norwegian band's fifth album their most aggressive, but it's also their most focused effort to date.
By Mariana Gudino
The Bristol duo’s debut LP is eccentric, apocalyptic and self-indulgent… And that’s okay.
By Saxon Baird
The Snow White of freak-folk gets her Emily Dickinson on.
By Richard Elliott
This excellent compilation provides a passport to a unique time and place, providing a useful insight into a relatively unknown musical world.
By Stephen Haag
This garage foursome deliver an album that truly lives up to their up-from-the-bowels-of-hell name.
By Steve Horowitz
The cuts here are the best kind of children’s songs. They are fun without being cloying, innocent without being dumb.
Tuesday, February 2 2010
By Saxon Baird
Formerly known as the Muslims, this four-piece grow into their new name on their second LP with their unique brand of beach-y, garage-punk undercut by a heavy dose of dry and dark sarcasm.
By Mike Schiller
While the decidedly middle-of-the-road mood of A Chorus of Storytellers won't get anyone fired up, the way that mood is constructed is the album's primary appeal.
By Mike Newmark
Before Excepter's full-length Presidence arrives, the NYC noise collective offer an LP/DVD of their open-air performances along the beaches of central California.
By Craig Carson
Slick production and shrieking howls: A necessary re-release and a chance to discover an influential American original.
By Craig Carson
An album by any other name would sound as sweet…
By Andrew Zender
Nineteen tracks of pure, unhinged good-time music with an infectious energy that recall the earliest days of jazz.
Monday, February 1 2010
By Michael Miller
Charlotte Gainsbourg gets in the studio with Beck to record a collection of pop songs that surpasses both artists' previous work.
By Adrien Begrand
On Priestess's second album, it's a case of one step forward and two steps back.
By Justin Cober-Lake
Keb' Mo' doesn't fail, but he's too safe and limited in launching his new label.
By Ben Child
The third in a string of remarkable Soundway releases documenting the catholic impulses of Panamanian calypso, guaracha, and cumbia from the third quarter of the 20th century.
By Estella Hung
The arbiters of cool bring something to the dancefloor that's unlikely to suffer a fickle audience.
By Ron Hart
Soundgarden gone gospel? The Stone Roses given a boogaloo makeover? Inside Kearney Barton's house of entertainment in Seattle, anything goes.
more  Short Reviews
Tuesday, February 9 2010
Monday, February 8 2010
Friday, February 5 2010
Thursday, February 4 2010
Wednesday, February 3 2010
more Features
Monday, February 8 2010
By Thomas Britt
PopMatters sits down with Yoko Ono to discuss her most recent artistic output along with the big ideas of life, death, and the Beatles.
Friday, February 5 2010
By Adam Conner-Simons
OK Go talks about breaking instruments in the studio, rocking out with musical idols, and the surreal sensation of playing glow-in-the-dark guitars rigged with lasers.
Thursday, February 4 2010
By C.L. Chafin
As Owen Pallett releases his first new full-length in years, Heartland, the maestro himself sits down with PopMatters to talk about his lush new album, what it's like to be a one-man symphony, and how he finally set out to make a record that he can play for anyone, anywhere.
Wednesday, February 3 2010
By Evan Sawdey
After years of being pop music's "best kept secret", the 88 are now breaking out with their theme song to the NBC show Community.
Tuesday, February 9 2010
By Timothy Gabriele
Deemed music that is “not real”, electronic sounds have come to occupy and permeate spaces focused on alterity, from the fringes of academia to the disposal heap of exotica.
(more The Difference Engine)
Monday, February 8 2010
By Steve Leftridge
At 77, Willie's hair is now down to his tailbone, and you can see his trademark red locks fade to gray about midway up his back -- it's like examining the rings of a tree.
(more Kickin' Up Dust)
Thursday, February 4 2010
By Alan Ranta
Welcome to the new Soundscape Mixtape Series where we step beyond criticism. In the great tradition of the mixtape, we are going to present these explorations with their actual sound.
(more Soundscape)
Tuesday, February 9 2010
By Greg M. Schwartz
After the show, the band shakes hands, bumps fists and exchanges high-fives with numerous fans, demonstrating once again that Anti-Flag is most definitely a band for and of the people.
Friday, February 5 2010
By Jennifer Habicht
Ali’s mantra of united love and acceptance is how he lives his life. He communicates this without irony or looking weak. That takes the sting out of an otherwise overdone concept.
more DVD Reviews
Monday, January 25 2010
By Chris Conaton
A solid document of a 2007 performance from the Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen-fronted band. But with only two albums out, a live CD/DVD seems a bit superfluous.
Wednesday, January 20 2010
By Jeff Carter
This two-disc set is a decent attempt at encapsulating the group's early career -- a formidable task given the complexities of both the band and the era.
Tuesday, January 12 2010
By Sean Murphy
Out of time and possibly out of touch, Jethro Tull was a band for people who craved intelligent and occasionally challenging music, played convincingly by exceptional musicians. How quaint.
Tuesday, February 9 2010
Monday, February 8 2010
more Tour Dates
Tuesday, February 9 2010
Thursday, February 4 2010
Tuesday, February 2 2010
Friday, January 29 2010
Thursday, January 28 2010
Monday, January 25 2010
Friday, February 5 2010
Thursday, February 4 2010
Wednesday, February 3 2010
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