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CD Reviews

The Handsome Family

Last Days of Wonder | Carrot Top
Attentive indiephiles and alt-country fans will soon realize that lyrics about tying a captain to a tree and trying hard not to hear his screams could only be the observations of Albuquerque’s husband-and-wife team the Handsome Family.

By KEN MICALLEF | July 11, 2006

Ozric Tentacles

The Floor’s Too Far Away | Magna Carta
This is one of the best tickets to intra-cranial space travel since the heyday of Yes and Tangerine Dream.

By TED DROZDOWSKI | July 11, 2006

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band

The Phat Pack | Immergent
From the band name and the title, you wouldn’t be wrong to expect Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Orchestra.

By JON GARELICK | July 11, 2006

The Bouncing Souls

The Gold Record | Epitaph
The Bouncing Souls are to Jersey what Dropkick Murphys are to Boston — tattoo’d middle-aged punks who craft barroom anthems about days gone by, friendships lost, and popping open another cold one. Bouncing Souls, "The Gold Song" (mp3)

By JULIA KAGANSKIY | July 11, 2006

Azita

Detail from the Mountain Side | Drag City
No one familiar with Azita Youssefi’s previous band, Chicago’s prescient neo-no-wave Scissor Girls, could have foreseen her solo work’s sharp veer toward piano-based art song.

By FRANKLIN BRUNO | July 05, 2006

Pedro Luis Ferrer

Natural | Escondida
Sixteen gem-like songs — concise, witty, and wise — offer more evidence that Pedro Luis Ferrer is one of the most appealing songwriters working the folky outfields of today’s world music.

By BANNING EYRE | July 05, 2006

Billy Cox and Buddy Miles

The Band of Gypsys Return | Experience Hendrix
The heaviest music Jimi made was with his Band of Gypsys.

By TED DROZDOWSKI | July 05, 2006

Dabrye

Two/Three | Ghostly International
Dabrye is one of a handful of aliases used by Michigan-based knob twiddler Tadd Mullinix (a name so cool, you could be think it too must be a nom de guerre ).

By MIKAEL WOOD | July 10, 2006

P.F. Sloan

Sailover | Hightone
P.F. Sloan sings about as well as Jimmy Webb — which explains why both are known mainly for the late-’60s hits they wrote for others.

By BRETT MILANO | July 05, 2006

Mark Farina

Sessions | Ministry of Sound
Mark Farina has been making his mixes in the DJ booth and as a hired remixer for other artists for so long, it’s a wonder this two-disc session didn’t appear sooner.

By MICHAEL FREEDBERG | June 30, 2006

Kaki King

. . . Until We Felt Red | Velour
Although she’s barely larger than her guitar, New Yorker Kaki King is a monster stylist. Kaki King, "Gay Sons Of . . . " (mp3 via MySpace)

By TED DROZDOWSKI | June 27, 2006

Zombi

Surface To Air | Relapse
Zombi’s unwavering momentum has as much to do with house or electro as with heavy metal. Zombi, "Surface to Air Part I" (mp3)

By ZACH BARON | June 27, 2006

Richard Swift

The Novelist/Walking Without Effort | Secretly Canadian
This young singer-songwriter is a member of the school of West Coast pop eccentrics who count Tom Waits, Harry Nilsson, and Van Dyke Parks as professors emeritus. Richard Swift, "As I Go" (mp3)

By MIKAEL WOOD | June 27, 2006

Camera Obscura

Let’s Get Out of the Country | Merge
Oh Tracyanne, why do you torture us so? Camera Obscura, "Let's Get Out of This Country" (mp3)

By BILL JENSEN | June 28, 2006

The Ark

State of the Ark | Rebel Group
The Ark are the Platonic ideal of what you’d want from a glam-rock band: wrapped in leather and lace, unabashedly queer, with ridiculous hooks and brashly sweet guitar riffs.

By ELISABETH DONNELLY | June 29, 2006

Cam'Ron

Killa Season | Atlantic
When misogyny runs this in-your-face, it’s hard to make a case for metaphors.

By NICK SYLVESTER | June 20, 2006

Head Automatica

Popaganda | Warner Bros.
Lead singer Daryl Palumbo has referred to Head Automatica’s debut CD, Decadence , as “electronic cock-rock”; the album suffered for it.

By SAM MACLAUGHLIN | June 20, 2006

Asobi Seksu

Citrus | Friendly Fire
In the two years since their debut, NYC’s Asobi Seksu have found solid footing for their dreamy, effervescent mixture of coy indie rock and shoegazer noisemaking. Asobi Seksu, "New Years" (mp3 via MySpace)

By MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | June 20, 2006

Psapp

The Only Thing I Ever Wanted | Domino
Psapp's assured and charming second album boasts weirder beats and more danceable rhythms than similar efforts by UK ingénues Imogen Heap and Dido.

By ELISABETH DONNELLY | June 20, 2006