Jamey Johnson is bringing brawny back. While many male country stars are getting in touch with their family-man sensitive sides -- see Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw -- this bushy-bearded Alabaman prowls grimmer terrain; he opened his last album, 2008's acclaimed That Lonesome Song, with a junkie's lament about how "the high cost of living ain […]
Linkin Park's fourth studio album (and second collaboration with producer Rick Rubin) contains plenty of aggressively arty material that might surprise fans of the megapopular rap-rock outfit: "Wretches and Kings," for instance, chops up spoken-word sound bites in a Bomb Squad style, while "When They Come for Me" layers post-NIN danc […]
Thirteen years in, Les Savy Fav's brutish, anthemic post-punk is as consistent as a cardinal direction. Tim Harrington still barks his best puns, Seth Jabour builds guitar lines from pure shrapnel, and neither get too caught up in clever rhythmic turns (as evidenced by the rousing chorus of "Let's Get Out of Here"). Root for Ruin's d […]
On early recordings, this New Zealand–born/New York–based gothtress exposed her inner Siouxsie Sioux. But with her debut full-length, she relocates to San Francisco, and producer Rex John Shelverton (formerly of screamo stalwarts Portraits of Past and garage-punks the Vue) leans more heavily on a patented 4AD combo of deep-focus guitar wash and remote drums, […]
These leading (black) lights of the Austin psych-rock scene clean up their murky production for album three, and cast their dilated gaze even further back in time. There's still plenty of Velvet Underground and Jesus and Mary Chain influence, but "Sunday Afternoon" feels like bad-trip Monkees, and the jaunty "Telephone Blues" would f […]
Album Reviews / Spin