Matt Charlton

The Mars VoltaFrances the Mute(Universal)There are bad albums, but not many have voyaged into the pretentious regions of superfluous fodder that make up Frances the Mute. The Mars Volta have gone beyond disappointing fans to giving them a cold, hard slap in the nuts. Want a hook? Try and find it amidst what feels like […]

Neil YoungPrairie WindRepriseNeil Young has always worked best in broad strokes. Emotional songs like “Tell Me Why,” “Motion Pictures” and “Don’t Be Denied” all have an elusive quality that allows each listener to create their own ties to the music. Young’s audience has had to accept his recent work on much different terms. Following Greendale’s […]

Paul WesterbergFolker (Vagrant)Hey, hey, hey, Paul Westerberg is back again! And this time it sounds just like… Paul Westerberg. It’s true that he writes great tunes, but four albums in two years could tap out even the biggest Replace-ments fan’s tolerance for gravelly grump pop. Folker feels slightly underdeveloped: Westerberg has at least one great […]

Cerys MatthewsCockahoop(Rough Trade)Catatonia spent most of its ca-reer being equally out of touch with both the mainstream and the underground. It is with no great anticipation that the band’s singer, Cerys Matthews, releases her solo debut. Despite the low expectations from her previous band (and the tragic title of this album) Cockahoop is excellent. It’s […]

WeenLive in Chicago (Sanctuary)Ween manages to combine Guided by Voices, Foreigner and half-assed Hendrix impressions into a sound that’s always interesting. Here the band offers up a bizarre cross-section of tracks from their sprawling career. While “Voodoo Lady” and “Spinal Meningitis Got Me Down” are recognizable favourites, “The Grobe,” “Baby Bitch” and “Ocean Man” find […]

SparklehorseDreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain(Capitol)Mark Linkous has never been the picture of mental health. After releasing Sparklehorse’s debut album, Vivadixiesubmarinetrans-missionplot, he overdosed on Valium and anti-depressants and fell unconscious with his legs pinned under himself. The incident nearly crippled him and began a lengthy recovery process. His next two albums, […]

Josh RouseNashville(Ryko)Nashville has all the makings of a terrible album. Rouse’s voice is reminiscent of Ryan Adams’, his alt-country owes to the bastardized Nashville sound that nearly killed the genre and his lyrics have a boringly upper-middle-class slant. Yet Rouse makes this recipe for faux-urban hayseed garbage work. His writing is charming and relaxed rather […]

Dixie Chicks Live (Columbia)It’s a strange world in which the Dixie Chicks have gone on to succeed Rage Against the Machine in terms of political outspokenness. While it has bought the band some credibility, their music continues to be cutesy country-pop fodder. It may bring a smile to the face of a LL Bean-draped 40-year-old, […]

The TydeThree’s Co.(Rough Trade)Hundreds of records come out every year under the broad moniker “indie pop.” While some fans relish in the sameness that 95 percent of the releases share, most people will only pay any real attention to the few albums that attempt to take their sound into a realm beyond the usual mixtures […]