Reviews

VariousStart Your Own Country(Loose Music)Loose Music’s compilation has a great cross-section of Americana. The artists here put the label in the same league as Yep Roc and Eleven Thirty. Some of the highlights include San Francisco’s Two Gallants, sounding a lot like Bright Eyes, as well as Steve Ketchen and The Kingston Hillbillies covering The […]

Hawksley WorkmanTreeful of Starling(Isadora)Hawksley Workman has crafted a wistful, humble and uncluttered album by stripping down his eccentric cabaret songwriting approach and dipping into his antique collection. This is a phonographic recording, laced with images of hope, honesty, sobriety and nostalgia for a way of life lived long ago. “When These Mountains Were the Seashore” […]

Matt CostaSongs We Sing(Brushfire)It wasn’t until a broken leg cut Matt Costa’s skateboarding career short that he decided to seriously pick up a guitar. In the 18 months after his accident, Costa set in motion the events that would lead to the release of a couple indie EPs and now his full-length debut, Songs We […]

I Love You But I’ve Chosen DarknessFear is on Our Side (Secretly Canadian)ILYBICD is a post-punk revival band heavily influenced by Joy Division. Unlike most of the repetitive shit the genre has been producing lately, this band is more original in its approach. They slide in odd dashes of shoegaze pop while injecting moments from […]

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 […]

RihannaA Girl Like Me(Def Jam)Signed to Jay-Z’s Def Jam roster after winning talent competitions in her native Barbados, teenage R&B siren Rihanna made a modest debut last year with the dancehall-inflected Music of the Sun. Few would have predicted her quick ascent into pop’s upper echelon, but that’s exactly what she and executive producer the […]

MuseBlackholes and Revelations(Warner)Overly bombastic? Check. Classical piano riffs? Check again. Emotive Thom Yorke singing? It’s there. That’s right, it’s another Muse record, complete with prog-rock flourishes that would make Yes proud and lyrics that recall doom, gloom and the apocalypse of a broken heart. That’s not saying this is a bad record. In fact, it’s […]

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 […]

John MayerContinuum(Sony)After his massive success with sap singles “Your Body is a Wonderland” and “Daughters,” it would be hard not to see John Mayer as anything more than just another pop artist. But the formation of the John Mayer Trio helped Mayer scratch the creative itch that he felt was being neglected. Upon returning to […]

Sandi ThomSmile…It Confuses People(Columbia)The energetic UK singer has already clicked at home with “I Wish I was a Punk Rocker with Flowers in my Hair.” In it, she laments the prominence of accountants and computers, and longs for a time “when we didn’t know everything.” In your face, Google! Where Zager & Evans’s “In the […]

VariousMarie Antoinette OST(Verve)The union of new wave and royal courts fits like a pair of worn-in Chuck Taylors. Turns out that the 1980s were as vapid and vain, but just as much decadent fun, as Versailles, thanks to the candy-sweet soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s movie Marie Antoinette. Wisely dodging familiar retro night material, the songs […]

Rose CousinsIf You Were for Me(Farm Pony)This is one from the heart. An honest and thoughtful musical statement, like one side of a deeply involved and very enjoyable conversation. You listen close and hear the songs clearly in your head. That’s a good sign, an indication you’ll be back many more times to consider all […]