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Reviewed

Instruments of Science and Technology

Music from the Films of R/Swift (Secretly Canadian)

By Jonah Flicker

Published: February 6, 2008

Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Richard Swift is something of a Cole Porter–Paul McCartney hybrid, constructing pop tunes built upon a solid base of Americana and Tin Pan Alley. But his...

Music

Black Mountain's Psychedelic Sprawl Needs a Roadmap

By Jonah Flicker

Published: January 30, 2008

Vancouver's Black Mountain drew from a deep well of psychedelic-rock firewater when recording its self-titled debut, which was released in 2005. The group offered a rush of heavy, ethereal jams...

Reviewed

Saga of the Simian Samurai

Saga of the Simian Samurai Threshold Recordings

By Jonah Flicker

Published: December 12, 2007

The teaming up of venerated MCs with esteemed producers has reaped fantastic results over the past few years. From Kool Keith and Dan the Automator's Dr. Octagon project to Danger Mouse and MF...

Reviewed

Jose Gonzalez

In Our Nature (Mute/Imperial Recordings)

By Jonah Flicker

Published: November 21, 2007

It was only a matter of time before a Jose Gonzalez song appeared during the sappy monologue that closes every episode of Scrubs . His sensitive acoustic songcraft, built around contemplative...

Reviewed

Vanessa Carlton

Heroes & Thieves (The INC/Universal)

By Jonah Flicker

Published: November 7, 2007

Irv Gotti, the mastermind behind the infectiously nettlesome Ja Rule and Ashanti, now counts piano-playing chanteuse Vanessa Carlton as part of his talent stable. But judging from the saccharine...

Hear This

Hear This

By Jonah Flicker

Published: October 24, 2007

On its 2005 debut for Jagjaguwar, Canadian collective Black Mountain brewed up an intoxicating batch of homegrown rock. Stephen McBean's soulful voice and hypnotic song-visions create a...

Music

The New Pornographers' Feel Good Rush

Pleasure-centered pop singles

By Jonah Flicker

Published: September 12, 2007

A.C. Newman, the New Pornographers' driving force and principal songwriter, has a bone to pick with music critics who lump the band into the "power-pop" genre. "I'm not really sure what power-pop...

BeatBox

Beat Box

Hip hop's masked hero, MF Doom, scales Mezzanine's sound system

By Jonah Flicker

Published: August 15, 2007

In hip hop, having a variety of aliases is as common as talking about problems with shady record labels. MF Doom has plenty of the former (Viktor Vaughn, King Geedorah, Madvillain), seemingly...

Reviewed

Digitalism

Idealism (Astralwerks)

By Jonah Flicker

Published: August 8, 2007

These days, the rock clique feels no shame getting cozy with boom-thwack club tracks, thanks to the guitar- and synth-wielding purveyors of dance-punk. A purer form of electronic music, one firmly...

BeatBox

French robots rule! Daft Punk takes the lead at the summer's biggest dance party

By Jonah Flicker

Published: July 25, 2007

Daft Punk , the French faux-bot duo that's been tweaking knobs and lifting late-night spirits for more than a decade, has recently ventured into the world of film with Electroma . This meditative...

Reviewed

Art Brut

It's a Bit Complicated (Downtown)

Jonah Flicker

Published: June 27, 2007

Rock music OS X Version 10.8.9 landed with a lunar-module splashdown last year in the form of Art Brut's debut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll . This incarnation was stripped down to basic punk riffs,...

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Radio Birdman: still tuned into the good shit

By Jonah Flicker

Published: June 13, 2007

"Keeping it real" is overrated — better to keep it really retarded. The cryptic quartet No Doctors infiltrated the Bay Area in 2004 after a four-year stint in the Chicago area (where they...

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Two! Hyped! Bands! In! One! Week!

By Jonah Flicker

Published: May 30, 2007

Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn describes his band's brand of verbose, guitar-driven splendor as "classic rock with a small ‘c'." It's apt shorthand for the hedonistic-but-literate sprawl...

Music

Daring Daedelus

Shifty electronics define Alfred Darlington's wizardry

By Jonah Flicker

Published: May 16, 2007

Los Angeles laptop wunderkind Alfred Darlington, better known as Daedelus, is something of a knob-twiddling wisecracker in a genre known for being fairly stodgy. His albums reveal an assemblage of...

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The anything-but-subtle songwriting drama of Mr. Patrick Wolf

By Jonah Flicker

Published: May 16, 2007

Singer Sam Prekop's breathy vocals have anchored the Sea and Cake 's indie rock/jazz fusion over the course of the group's 14-year career. He and guitar player Archer Prewitt craft a breezy...

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Indie rock rules the roost: Modest Mouse and Meat Puppets

By Jonah Flicker

Published: May 9, 2007

A wealth of great talent has emerged from New Orleans over the years, but few artists from the last half century can match Allen Toussaint 's contributions. Toussaint quickly rose from teenage...

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Spooner Oldham: hitchhiking Drive By Trickers country rock ride

By Jonah Flicker

Published: May 2, 2007

Cloud Cult 's sprawling new album, The Meaning of 8, is a joyous affair, marrying '90s indie rock guitar jangle with quirky Unicorns-style electro-pop. Frontman Craig Minowa's wavering voice is...

Music

Breaking With the Safety Dance

LCD Soundsystem and !!! give new boosts to a languishing genre

By Jonah Flicker

Published: April 25, 2007

The dance-punk movement has received plenty of flak since its resurgence at the turn of this nascent century. Part of the problem is that it's easy to make this kind of music ... poorly. The mild...

Reviewed

Kaiser Chiefs

Yours Truly, Angry Mob (B-Unique/Universal)

Jonah Flicker

Published: April 25, 2007

The British Invasion of 2004-2005 was a brutal offensive. The Futureheads, Franz Ferdinand, and Maximo Park coordinated their melodic post-punk assault with Jam and XTC badges boldly emblazoned on...

Reviewed

The Fucking Champs

VI (Drag City)

Jonah Flicker

Published: April 4, 2007

The Fucking Champs lapped Led Zeppelin a few years ago in their quest for metal dominance. The muted power chord chops that the former band, now joined by Trans Am's Phil Manley, lift from weak,...