On this album, Cornelius—Japan’s one-man band Keigo Oyamada—could have listened to just as much Herbie Hancock and Dream Theater as anything from his home country. The songs use every trick in the weird-rock book: all-over-the-place live drums, odd time signatures, delay pedals, ridiculous synths, electronic beats and even fucking slap…
Spanic Boys are an eight-eyed father-son duo from Milwaukee who fetishize vintage tube amplifiers, write economical country-rock songs of heartbreak and devotion like there’s no today, and sport bellies suggestive of their hometown’s most famous export. In the early ’90s, when they were signed to Rounder Records and appeared on…
A greatest-hits album from Mary J. Blige presents more problems than you’d expect. For one thing, very few memorable singles exist between her first huge single—1992’s sublime “Real Love,” which anointed Blige the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul—and her latest, last year’s “Be Without You.” Like many great singers, Blige depends…
Connecting the two enchanted bodies of water that encapsulate The Way the Wind Blows—one set in Galisteo, New Mexico, the other in France—the cross-cultural, cross-generational folk tales of A Hawk and a Hacksaw re-contextualize the traditional and classical into the modern age. Led by nomadic aural archaeologist and former Neutral…
There was a time in the Dallas music scene when it seemed like bands weren’t afraid to take chances and break the tried-and-true tradition of tight jeans, loud amps and drunk-rock swagger. A time when experimentation was spreading from band to band like a case of herpes. A time when…
In the rap game equivalent of Henry IV seizing the throne from Richard II, T.I., born Clifford Harris Jr., crowned himself King. The Rubberband Man’s fourth album dropped at a crucial moment in 2006: the week of his film debut in ATL, while Jay-Z was still “retired,” and before Ghostface…
Call it “The Nights of Guitar Rock.” The Strokes’ guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. and late-’90s rock best-sellers Incubus set up shop at the Tea Room this week. Both have new albums kicking around—Hammond supports his October release Yours to Keep, while Incubus tours behind its new top-seller Light Grenades. Selling…
Unless you spent 2006 under a rock—without the aid of an iPod, cell phone or BlackBerry—these two acts need no introduction. The “Go, go Gadget” success of Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere, the first collaboration between Goodie Mob’s Cee-lo and renowned producer and mash-up artist Dangermouse, provided the perfect summer soundtrack…
Sounding more like “the next big thing” from our Canadian neighbors than those crazy kids from down the street, Red Monroe’s self-titled, full-length debut album made jaws drop, including the Grammy nomination panel. Even if the record was chock-full of bittersweet Arcade Fire-like yelps and Wolf Parade-esque moments of crashing…
I’ll be honest: I’ve only been here a little more than three months. I don’t feel particularly qualified to give you a year-end retrospective about a town where I still don’t know the best way to get to the grocery store. But I will say this: Music-wise, this is a…
The revolution was not televised, nor was it sold at the local record shop. Colorful chamber-pop collective the Polyphonic Spree instead digitally released one of the best albums of the year, the five-song EP Wait. Bookended by two songs from the group’s forthcoming full-length, A Fragile Army, which is tentatively…
1. Midlake, The Trials of Van Occupanther 2. The Polyphonic Spree, Wait EP 3. Centro-matic, Fort Recovery 4. The Theater Fire, Everybody Has a Dark Side 5. The Paper Chase, Now You Are One of Us 6. Bosque Brown, Cerro Verde 7. Red Monroe, Red Monroe 8. The Drams, Jubilee…
So we only hit one in 10 with last year’s list (see “Death Pool for Cutie,” January 5, 2006), and it’s painful that it had to be the Godfather. And we failed to predict some final exits that seem obvious in hindsight. But we’ve learned from our mistakes and recalibrated…
1. The Theater Fire, Everybody Has a Dark Side 2. Midlake, The Trials of Van Occupanther 3. PPT, Tres Monos in Love 4. Burntsienna Trio, Gregor-Jotace Mission Cathedral 5. Money Waters, Swalhaggin 6. Sivion, Spring of the Songbird 7. Strange Fruit Project, The Healing 8. Red Monroe, Red Monroe 9…
It was either philosopher-poet George Santayana or actor-celebrity sibling Don Swayze that once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It’s also a popular quote amongst hack writers trying to drum up a quick intro to a “year-in-review” piece. With this in mind we peek…
1. PPT was neither calm, nor silent, nor filled with shame. They were, in fact, quite the opposite. 2. The Xaglaxian mothership did not retrieve the Polyphonic Spree and return them to their home planet of Quarzallium-72. 3. Despite our many phone calls and letters, the Burden Brothers did not…
It’s probably not the best thing to cop to owning all the tracks listed below; we don’t wanna end up on the RIAA watch list. So, let’s just say these things were all available, at some point or another, on the Web during 2006—most for as long as it took…
TOP 10 ALBUMS, by Darryl Smyers 1. Centro-matic, Fort Recovery 2. Kristy Kruger, Songs From a Dead Man’s Couch 3. The Cut*Off, The Rorschach E.P. 4. The Theater Fire, Everybody Has a Dark Side 5. The Drams, Jubilee Drive 6. Auto Escape, Turn It Off 7. Boys Named Sue, The…
TOP 10 NATIONAL ALBUMS Wolf Eyes, Human Animal Wolf Eyes & Anthony Braxton, Black Vomit Wolf Eyes just blew the field away this year. It’s hard to fathom how anyone could have better control over broken machines, creepshow thuds and squelching electric currents and weave it all together with such…
You hear it at the end of every year—the critical moaning and gnashing of teeth, as music writers and fans alike proclaim what has become a holiday mantra. “This was a bad year for music,” everyone cries, their hands clutching iPods lifted imploringly to the heavens. “Why have the music…
In 2006, the pop singles market continued to dominate, in no small part because the pick-to-click-driven mentality of online music stores and ringtone sites gave consumers unparalleled freedom to Choose Their Own Musical Adventure. What suffered in the meantime, though, was the quality of pop-rock albums. These platters frequently spawned…
This story, as originally conceived, was supposed to be a compilation of the year’s best boxed sets and other re-issues. But then it hit us: In today’s shuffle-driven iPod world, with the pace of pop culture moving at breakneck speed, it’s pointless to make such temporal distinctions. The past is…
