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CD Reviews

Shadows Fall | Fire From The Sky

Razor & Tie
Are Shadows Fall still feeling the fan backlash from two albums ago?

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | May 23, 2012

Sun Kil Moon | Among the Leaves

Caldo Verde (2012)
The first thing you'll notice about Mark Kozelek's fifth LP as Sun Kil Moon are song titles that would give Morrissey a boner.

By: ZETH LUNDY | May 22, 2012

The Toxic Avenger | Angst

Little Owl Recordings (2012)
The Toxic Avenger is a fitting moniker for French DJ/producer Simon Delacroix.

By: MICHAEL MAROTTA | May 25, 2012

Cooking Vinyl
Second acts are hard enough to deliver successfully in the pantheon of hard rock, so it's surprising then that the Cult, now well into their third go-round, still give their audience exactly what they crave.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | May 15, 2012

The Figgs | The Day Gravity Stopped

Stomper (2012)
These days Mike Gent, Pete Donnelly, and Pete Hayes are involved in enough extracurricular activities (Graham Parker, NRBQ, countless side/session-men gigs) that you could hardly blame them if they closed their two decades-plus Figgs chapter.

By: ZETH LUNDY | May 15, 2012

Zambri | House of Baasa

Kanine Records
For those of us of a certain age who remember when school dances had a strict four-fast-songs-then-one-slow-one policy, the memory of bouncing around to "Let's Hear It for the Boy" with the anticipation of "One More Night" or "Take My Breath Away" still makes our palms sweat with hormonal anxiety.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | May 15, 2012

Craft Spells | Gallery

Captured Tracks (2012)
Craft Spells certainly live up to their name on this six-song EP, with the charm of its effortless, pixie-light production and the warm, plangent harp sounds of their major-key melodies.

By: JONATHAN DONALDSON | May 15, 2012

El-P | Cancer For Cure

Fat Possum (2012)
"It's like a fresh start in a new world," El Producto repeats on "Works Every Time," a track on this, his least ambitious record.

By: DAN WEISS | May 15, 2012

Motion Sickness Of Time Travel | Motion Sickness Of Time Travel

Spectrum Spools (2012)
It's long been said that Southerners perceive time differently, that because the industrial clock never crept below the Mason-Dixon Line, time down there is less regimented, more relaxed.

By: JUSTIN F. FARRAR | May 15, 2012

Best Coast | The Only Place

Mexican Summer (2012)
It was heartbreaking to see Bethany Cosentino's 2010 full-length debut, Crazy for You, questioned for lacking "overall intelligence."

By: DAN WEISS | May 08, 2012

Damon Albarn | Dr Dee

Parlophone
"I think my greatest achievement is to keep ensuring that I am beginning again," conceded director Rufus Norris, one half of the creative partnership behind Dr Dee, an opera delving into the life of 16th-century alchemist and astrologer John Dee.

By: RYAN FOLEY | May 08, 2012

Father John Misty | Fear Fun

Sub Pop (2012)
J. Tillman's new solo outfit, Father John Misty wastes no time taking chances.

By: PERRY EATON | May 08, 2012

Here We Go Magic | A Different Ship

Secretly Canadian
On paper, at least, it's a match made in psychedelic alt-rock heaven.

By: RYAN REED | May 08, 2012

Japandroids | Celebration Rock

Polyvinyl (2012)
When I was a teenager who truly cared only for emotions-on-the-sleeve punk rock, I came up with the dumbest idea: if I ever reviewed records by breaking down individual categories (production, lyrics, whatever), I'd include a grade for "heart" or "passion."

By: REYAN ALI | May 08, 2012

Pantera | Vulgar Display Of Power [20th Anniversary Reissue]

Rhino (2012)
By 1992, metal fans were in desperate need of fresh bombast. Metallica had gone mainstream with radio-friendly singles like "Nothing Else Matters," Rob Halford left Judas Priest the year prior, and Iron Maiden had long ago stopped delivering vital material.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | May 08, 2012