Matt Charlton

Bloc PartySilent Alarm (Vice/Dim Mak)Bloc Party isn’t as much about its influences as its execution. While the band has been accused of drawing influence from just about every British group that has ever written in a minor key, it’s ultimately the songwriting that makes them worthwhile. Matching aggressive melodies, manic drumming and geometrical guitar work, […]

The KillersHot Fuss(Island)The Killers are bound to have one guy in every group who just loves them. He first heard Franz Ferdinand on Regis and Kelly and discovered the White Stripes when they played the MTV Video Awards. A buzz band for the almost-in-crowd, every song on Hot Fuss sounds remotely like something else that […]

Dr. OctagonThe Return of Dr. Octagon(OCD)There no point skirting around the fact that The Return of Dr. Octagon is pretty fucking weak. Seeing that Doctor himself (Kool Keith) had almost nothing to do with the disc’s creation, it seems a little more understandable, if not any more listenable. The Return is apparently a collection of […]

Love as LaughterLaughter’s Fifth(Sub Pop)First it was cool to be signed to Sub Pop, then it was cool to be a retro-rock band. Now it’s cool to be a retro-rock band signed to Sub Pop. None of this has helped Love as Laughter much in the hype department. Still, the group has shown consistent development […]

The Jessica FletchersWhat Happened To The (Rainbow Quartz)The Jessica Fletchers are a Norwegian psych-pop quartet taking on pieces of The Dukes of The Stratosphere and Of Montreal. What Happened To The offers interesting instrumentals and shows the band’s knack for a well-written tune. But psychedelic music has turned into an ironically over-rehearsed formula due to […]

John VanderslicePixel Revolt(Barsuk)Listening to Pixel Revolt, it quickly becomes apparent that John Vanderslice posseses the kind of command over minimal-yet-powerful song textures that could make even Rob Thomas’ most soul-searching moments sound brilliant. This is part of the reason you can get halfway through the first listen before realizing how talented a songwriter Vanderslice is. […]

The DelgadosUniversal Audio(Chemikal Underground)Universal Audio is a decent release from The Delgados, but not up to most of their past work. While their last album, Hate, was full of sonic experiments, Universal Audio is more clearly rooted in pop concepts and feels slightly thrown off as a result. This mainly stems from the fact that […]

BeckGuero (Geffen)Odelay was like a really good knock-knock joke—as great as it may have been, there was no point in hearing it more than once. An expertly crafted style collision, it brought Run-DMC, Woody Guthrie and The Talking Heads together in songs so densely perfect that they left no room for the listener. Guero remedies […]

Burning BridesLeaveNo Ashes (V2)The Burning Brides’ debut, Fall of the Plastic Empire, offered a lot of great songs, but the album didn’t feel whole. On its sophomore release, the band takes the great songs out of the equation and goes for a frumpy series of half-assed tracks. It’s too bad, because the Brides’ past work […]

The Sleepy JacksonPersonality. One Was a Spider. One Was a Bird. (Virgin)There are few people that fit the insane genius tag as snugly as Luke Steele. After alienating line-up after line-up of musicians signing on to make up The Sleepy Jackson, the religious fanatic Aussie has returned with Personality. One Was A Spider. One Was […]