Trevor MacLaren

Darling ArmsAll the Ghosts(Blue Skies Turn Black)The female singer-songwriter has worn out her welcome on the national stage over the past few years, but that doesn’t stop the indies from putting out slabs of genius female folk. Darling Arms, or Christina Francis (formerly of Montreal’s One Candle Power), puts forth a disc of eloquent, sparse […]

Tom WaitsOrphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (Anti)Since his rebirth on the Anti label, Tom Waits has been pretty damn amazing. Orphans is without an ounce of doubt his finest release since Mule Variations, a varied dish that is a beautiful way to start off 2007. Three discs packed in a Cibachrome-tinted box contain 56 tracks, […]

Kim RicheyThe Collection (Lost Highway)Kim Richey falls under the ignored midwestern singer-songwriter genre. A best-of compilation shows that Richey is a fine songwriter who deserves more press than she gets, but it is also easy to see why she hasn’t been smashing down any doors. A rich texture of folk and country flows throughout, but […]

LunasaThe Kinnitty Sessions (Compass)Recorded before an audience in the legendary haunted Irish Kinnitty Castle, The Kinnitty Sessions is an absolute treasure of modern Irish folk. Lunasa are an exciting collective to hear; their arrangements are invigorating and take a fresh look at traditional pieces. Fans of folk will be enthused by their amazing musicianship, daring […]

CarsickCarsick(Drip Audio/Maximum Jazz) Carsick — the band and their eponymous album — is an interesting exercise is avant-garde jazz taken from an entirely new perspective. A guitar and coronet is an odd combination, but it is a combination that works because the playing is well-executed. Dave Sikula uses the guitar quite often as a brace […]

Flaming LipsAt War With the Mystics(Warner)What makes the Flaming Lips so damn good is their adventurous nature to try new sounds. AWM is an absolute mesmerizing trip with the punk-prog-rock of the last two records with a ’70s/’80s funk vibe. It is playful yet sometimes dark, but a whole lot of fun from the last […]

MarahA Christmas Kind of Town(Yep Roc)At first this record seems like a joke, especially standing beside Marah’s new masterpiece If You Didn’t Laugh You’d Cry. But they really are serious about this venture. Marah mixes some standards like “Silver Bells,” “Holly Jolly Christmas”‰and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”‰alongside originals such as “New York is a Christmas […]

Sex MobDime Grind Palace (Ropeadope)Sex Mob can be a hard band to wrap your head around. Essentially a jazz combo that pounces over the ideology of Miles’s Bitches Brew and Hancock’s Headhunters, Sex Mob isn’t that easily categorized; they twist and turn free jazz and avant-garde eclipses like a deviant cousin of The Shuffle Demons. […]